Gretchen Buis - Language Arts

A quick update:  The sevens and sixes have continued working on grammar this week in conjunction with rethinking either Roll of Thunder (sevens) or rethinking history papers (sixes).   As  the sixes have already researched and written a paper for history, I am hoping to reinforce with them a taste of research procedures: citing sources (don't forget page numbers!), outlines (format, content, thesis), rewriting the paper heeding Mr. K's comments, comments from English class (third person not first person writing), and correcting mechanics (paragraphing, punctuation). The sevens are working to develop a more complex, interesting writing style ,yet, still working to implement basic mechanics  of writing.  The eights are on overload: Dickens (5 sets of questions, quiz/ Friday) and term paper - the beginning.  More will follow on the term paper.  This week and next, the eights should be in the serious prereading stage of term paper writing.  Though they may think they have nothing to do, "just read,"  I am trying to convey that these 2 weeks are perhaps the most critical in achieving overall success in writing their papers.  Their goal: finding a topic which they will really enjoy for the next 2 months as well as a topic which assures them of myriad sources easily attainable.  Two handouts will follow next week.  The first is a timeline of what is  due when.  The second will a step by step explanation of the process involved.  The overall objective of the paper is learning and following the process for writing a major paper.  If the process is followed, the "task" is not quite so formitable and, at least in terms of the an eighth grade term paper, if past experience proves true, the students really do write nice  papers, papers  which include outlines, footnotes, bibliographies, and a body of approximately 15 pages.