news and notes 10/17/06

Homework

Reading and Writing: 15 Minutes of each daily.

Writing notebooks will be collected on
Mondays for Table 5
Tuesdays for Table 1
Wednesdays for Table 2
Thursdays for Table 3
and Fridays for Table 4.

Bring your reading book Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Math:

5 minutes of math facts practice daily.
Estimation, due every Thursday.
Stumper (optional), due whenever you get unstumped.
Problem Solving, due every Monday.

For Wednesday SL 2.
For Thursday SMJ p 46, 47 #1 & 2, Test corrections with signature.
Start your search for Tough Numbers.

Humanities: Reread Farmfolks handout. Write selected questions in your writer's notebook with space for answers, due the day of your Farm Field Trip.

Grammar: Part of speech, due 10/24.

French:

Spanish:

Science: Read Chapter 1 and answer questions in complete sentences.

Tech:



To quote: "It's not reading that's important, it's the story."

We had a really interesting conversation about the meaning of reading today. Shannon strongly argued her position that the act of reading is not special, it's the story that is important. She was able to hold her own even with most of the class disagreeing with her idea. We touched on the idea that literature is not just written words, but film, tv, the oral transmission of stories, etc. We also discussed how and why books stay with you, and what you bring to the novels that you read (or experience through other media.) These are questions that I talked about at length while studying literature in graduate school. We raised and discussed some fundamental questions about the experience of being both reader and writer. Students may not be in awe of what they did today, but I am.

Now for a joke:
Q: How do young wizards and witches correct their homework?
A: They use a spell-checker.