Tuesday, December 21, 2010

LITERARY TEA

We will be having a Literary Tea celebration during our next book club meeting this Thursday, December 23rd. I will provide the (iced) tea and you may bring in "finger foods" such as tea sandwiches, cupcakes, and cookies which we will enjoy during our meeting.












Information on the history of afternoon & high tea:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HighTeaHistory.htm
http://oldfashionedliving.com/teatime.htm
http://elmwoodinn.com/books/NewYorktopten.html
http://entertaining.about.com/cs/coffeesandteas1/a/teaparty.htm

HOLIDAY BREAK HOMEWORK



Complete the following by Monday, January 3rd:

  • 3 Annotated Bibliographies (place in the portfolio/looseleaf)
  • 3 Assignments from the Holiday ELA Choice Board - the middle one + 2 more (looseleaf/typed/construction paper)
  • Completed FIRST DRAFT of the ADVERTISING PROPOSAL - ready to be edited/revised (looseleaf with subheadings)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Progress Reports

Your progress reports were distributed Wednesday, December 15th. They are due signed by your parents by Friday, December 17th. Any missing work is to be attached to the back of the report. All late work is due no later than Friday.


Extra credit work is due this Monday, December 20th.

Book Club Meeting Tomorrow - Thursday, December 16

I will be out of the building tomorrow attending a class in Manhattan. So, I've left instructions with Mr. Rodriguez for you to have a 90 minute Book Club Meeting. You are to read in your group and create a mini-poster advertising your Book Club Book. (If no one in your book has their mystery novel, then you are to work independently and create a mini-poster based on your own independent reading book.)

Book club book must be completed by January 1, 2011. You will be an annotated bibliography on this book as well as a book project over the holiday break. So, make sure that you make a plan with your group as to how much you will read for your next meeting next week.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Zit-Away Practice Survey

If you would like to take the practice survey for my "fictional product"
which I will be advertising, you may by following the following link:
the world's leading questionnaire tool.


If you would like to create your own free survey in order to collect
your own data for your fictional product, go to www.surveymonkey.com.

Friday, December 3, 2010

READING SUPERSTARS!



Congratulations to the following students for meeting their monthly reading goals:
September: Cesar, Vallery, Lesly, Guianina, Jonathan, Raphael, Mitchelangelo, Divanur, John, Daniela

October: Vallery, Lesly, Solangie, Guianina, Jonathan, Mitchelangelo, Margarita, Jaqueline, Divanur, John, Daniela
November: Lesly, Solangie, Guianina, Margarita, Jaqueline, Divanur, Daniela






Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

I will be attending a meeting tomorrow, so I won't be in class. Please remember to bring your book club books. I'm planning on a 90 minute block for your club.

Classwork Assignment:
1) Discuss your Joanne Fluke or Diane Mott Davidson book with your group.

2) Read individually, in pairs, or in a whole group. Last week I heard one of the groups taking the roles of the characters and reading it as if it were a play. Remember if you do that to choice someone to be the narrator.

3) One letter per group: On looseleaf, compose a letter to the author of your novel. Write about how your class is reading her novel in your 7th grade class as part of a book club. Discuss the book you're reading. Include your thoughts on characters, setting, situations, and/or writer's style as well as parts of the book your group most or least enjoyed and why. Sign all of your names at the end of the letter.

Homework: Independent reading only

Friday, November 19, 2010

COOL ADVERTISING WEBSITES


TEACHER TUBE Videos:

Advertising the “truth”

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=34342&title=ADVERTISING_THE_TRUTH

message/medium:

http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=167866&title=Cracking_The_Advertising_Code

Persuasive advertising*

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?title=persuasive_advertising&video_id=81885

the beginnings of advertising

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=15404&title=The_Beginnings_of_Advertising

subliminal advertising

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=44325&title=Subliminal_Advertising

How Advertising
Influences Consumer Choices And How To
Avoid That Influence.

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=72807&title=Media_Literacy_and_Advertising

Poses in advertising (cute)

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=103246

Soap, Sex & Cigarettes: A Cultural History of Advertising

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=5684&title=Add_Video_to_QuickList_________Soap__Sex___Cigarettes__A_Cultural_History_of_Advertising

Propaganda examples

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=82689

PBS Don't Buy It: Get Media Smart!


Tips on tricks advertisers use to get us to buy products, creating your own ads, and free stuff


New American Dream Blog

Discussion about Kids and Commercialism


Movie Mom Blog: "Teach Kids About Advertising"
blog

Time Magazine - "Captive Audience: Has Advertising in Schools Gone Too Far"
article



Friday, November 12, 2010

Parent Teacher Conferences Next Week



Parent Teacher Conferences are next Tuesday, November 16th. The first session begins at 1 PM and ends at 3PM. The evening session begins 6 PM and ends at 8:25PM.

Remember that you should be attending the conference with your parents so we can go over your progress together.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Veteran's Day Rememberance

National Veterans Day Ceremony

The Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year on November 11th at Arlington National Cemetery . The ceremony commences precisely at 11:00 a.m. with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns and continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater with a parade of colors by veterans’ organizations and remarks from dignitaries. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all who served in the United States Armed Forces.

Source: The United States Department of Veteran Affairs http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

MYSTERY SHORT STORY

Finished 1st Draft due: Monday, November 1st

Final Copy w/ story maps & drafts attached due: Friday, November 5th

Assignment: Write a short story in the mystery genre. There is no set length. But, it should contain a well-developed beginning, middle, and end. Use your "project rubric" as your guide.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Progress Reports #2

If you received a progress report this time, it was only if you have work that is overdue. Please make sure that all work is handed in on Monday, October 25th with the signed Progress Report.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Websites to help you with writing your "Sources Cited" page

This will actually put it into the different formats for you:
http://www.easybib.com/

This site makes it easy for you to cite your information sources by helping your search out books by ISBN numbers.
http://citationmachine.net/

Look at this instructional video on BrainPop:
http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/citingsources/preview.weml

Sunday, October 10, 2010

DETECTIVE TASK PAPER



Project due Wednesday, October 20th.

Project Components:
  1. Research a task detectives do in order to solve crimes. For example, if you were to choose fingerprinting you would look up the origins as well as how the process is done. This is to be at least a five paragraph essay.
  2. You are to include a "Sources Cited" page attached to the back of your essay.
  3. You are also to attach the writing frame and any other drafts to the back of your finished essay + sources cited page.


Wednesday, October 6, 2010





IDIOM ESSAY (due Wed, October 13th: Final Copy + Edited/Revised First Draft + Writing Frame)



According to www.dictionary.com, an idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket or hang one's head, or from the general grammatical rules of a language, as the table round for the round table, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics. It is also

a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people.


One of the reasons ESL learners have trouble in group conversations is that the native English speakers frequently use idioms, aphorisms, phrasal verbs, and colloquialisms. When native English speakers use these, the second language learner is at a loss. English has so many rules that students have learned (and tons more exceptions), but then these rules go out the window when native speakers are talking to one another. 



Why are idioms important? Idioms are important for ESL learners so that they can understand what everyone is saying. (http://www.esl-tutor.com/2007/05/why-are-idioms-important.html).


Here are some idiom sites to research:

http://www.idiomsite.com/

http://www.idiomconnection.com/money.html


The assignment is to write a short story either using ONE idiom as the central theme of the story OR choose 5 or more idioms to use within the story. Idioms need to be underlined or highlighted.





Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Happy 120th Birthday, Agatha!

Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She has sold over two billion books worldwide and has been translated into over 45 languages. In a writing career that spanned more than half a century, Agatha Christie wrote eighty novels and short story collections.
Check out her website to find out more: http://www.agathachristie.com/


Introducing...Neil Gaiman




Introducing mystery author, Neil Gaiman. He started his career writing for graphic novels, but now writes young adult, adult, children's novels as well as short stories. We've read so far: "Don't Ask Jack" and "The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds". If you'd like more information on Mr. Gaiman, visit his website: http://www.neilgaiman.com/




Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Sample Annotated Bibliography

IS 145 Ms. McNulty
Class 751 September 9, 2010

SAMPLE
Annotated Bibliography
Title: Year Zero
Author: Jeff Long
Genre: Thriller/Action/Adventure (fiction)
Number of Pages: 498
Date Finished: September 20, 2009

Summary:
Nathan Lee Swift and his partner, David Ochs, are archeologists who decide to take advantage of an earthquake in Jerusalem which unearths a rare artifact thought to contain evidence of the historical Jesus. Instead of presenting their find to the academic community and offer it to a museum to be studied, they steal the object and sell it to a private collector on the black market. When a secret compartment in the ancient relic is opened, a two-thousand-year-old plague is unleashed and begins to decimate the world’s population.

Nathan Lee begins a personal journey to somehow try to make up for his lack of judgment by trying to find a cure and to save his daughter from being another victim of the disease. He is driven across the United States to Los Alamos where all scientists, leaders, surviving military, and other key people are taking shelter, riding out the spread of the disease. Scientists are frantically working on attempting to clone human genetic material found beneath the crucifixion site known as Golgotha where the relic was original discovered by Swift and Ochs. When the clones are brought back to life and studied, Nathan Lee confronts a clone that might hold the answer to plague and he calls himself Jesus Christ.

Personal Response:
Year Zero is written in the style of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. It contains elements of the political thriller as well as a medical thriller with religious/moral undertones thrown in to the mix. In some ways, this novel also reminds me of Jurassic Park written by Michael Crichton where scientists cloned the DNA of dinosaurs. In that novel, Dr. Ian Malcolm and Dr. Alan Grant questioned the validity and morality of reanimating something long dead – basically playing God – for the purpose of study and ultimately profit. Similar themes and concerns are within Year Zero when DNA is cloned and people are created to be used as test subjects.

Although the original premise of the novel was good, I think there is too much going on in the plot and it becomes difficult to follow. I really liked the novel in the beginning and was eager to read on, but the last six chapters were muddled especially in regard to the characters and I found myself continually returning to other parts of the book to clarify specific facts in the book. In my opinion, the closing of the novel seems to lose its focus leading to an unsatisfying conclusion.

Welcome Class 751

Ms. Kelly McNulty English Language Arts Grade 7

As we enter this school year there are certain expectations for both the student and the teacher. I will strive to meet all of your expectations. I pledge to treat all students with respect and manage my classroom in a respectful and professional manner. As students, you have certain responsibilities as well. Below are some of them. Others we will discuss as we go along. Let’s make this a successful and enjoyable year together!

1. CLASS WEB PAGE/BLOG
All assignments and announcements will be listed on our class blog. Blogging and teacher contact is also available through this site. http://mcnultyis145.blogspot.com/

2. SUPPLIES
All supplies are due Monday, September 13, 2010.
Ø DARK BLUE or BLACK ink pens
Ø Sharpened pencils
Ø Post-its
Ø 2 SPIRAL notebooks (any color/style)
Ø Colored pencils, highlighters, or different colored gel pens
Ø Glue stick
Ø Looseleaf (8 ½ x 11)
Ø Binder or folder to bring home notices and carry work in progress
Ø IS 145 Daily Student Planner (this is provided free by the school)

3. CLASSWORK AND HOMEWORK POLICY
Ø Written and/or independent reading homework is given every night.
Ø Homework will be checked daily and handed in on looseleaf paper unless otherwise directed by me.
Ø Homework is to be handed in on time. Points will be taken off on your report card for late work.
Ø Absence from my class (illness/in-house/appointment with guidance councilor or dean/special assignment from Academy Director) is not an excuse for not handing in assignments. All students will have 2 days to bring in missing work due to an absence. Any student who is absent for an extended period due to an illness, other arrangements will be made between your parents/guardian and myself.
Ø Work will not be given out in advance if you are leaving New York earlier or returning from a vacation later. You are responsible for obtaining and completing all assignments upon your return.
Ø All homework and classwork is to be completed ONLY IN BLUE/BLACK PEN OR PENCIL. Any assignments done in other colors will not be accepted and will need to be done over. Homework may also be typed unless there are frequent problems with your printer or you are told it must be handwritten.
Ø Any classwork not completed in class becomes homework unless directed by me.
Ø You must have an independent reading book every day. If you do not like the books available in my classroom library, you may ask to permission to visit the school library during your lunch period or visit your local public library (www.queenslibrary.org.). An annotated bibliography or book report chosen from a choiceboard needs to be completed on looseleaf and placed in your portfolio after the completion of each book read by the due date.


4. GRADES
Ø Grades are based on ALL WORK done by the student, which includes: daily classwork/notebooks (40%), homework (10%), and all formal tests, project, quizzes, and presentations (50%).
Ø Extra credit work will be available during vacation periods and upon request. See details in class and on the class web site.
Ø Tests – oral and written may be given at any time. Not all tests are announced.
Ø Progress reports will be sent home between report cards. These must be signed and returned to me.

5. CLASSROOM RULES
Ø Be on time and ready to work. After you are late 3 times during any marking period, you will be given a dean’s referral for all times afterward.
Ø You are expected to have all materials – pens, notebooks, looseleaf, and homework – everyday. If you are frequently missing these items, you will be marked as unprepared which will result in my contacting your parents/guardians. If you continue to be unprepared for class, a dean’s referral will result and/.or will need to attend a morning/afternoon homework detention.
Ø Personal belongings including book bags, knapsacks, handbags, coats, and sweaters are to be stored neatly on the back of your chair, in a book bag, or on the floor. At no time are bags to be on your lap or attached to your back. If a bag is too precious to be put on the floor, then you should choose a canvas or plastic bag that can be cleaned more easily.
Ø Cell phones and electronic devices are not permitted in class (except with special permission) and will be confiscated and given to the dean for a parent to pick up if found on your person.
Ø No gum chewing, combing of hair, or applying cosmetics in class.
Ø No eating or drinking is permitted (unless with special permission or with a doctor’s note). Water bottles are permitted as long as they are kept in book bags and the privilege is not misused. Students may not leave class to drink water or refill water bottles during class.
Ø You are to be in FULL UNIFORM everyday (white shirt, tan pants/skirt, shoes, beige/maroon sweater). Your attire should be neat and clean. Not having time to wash your uniform is not an excuse for not wearing it. If you are wearing anything in “uniform colors” that is too tight or revealing or too loose where undergarments are exposed, your name will be given to the dean.
Ø Respect yourself by doing your best at all times. The only classroom room you need to remember is “respect” – respect for yourself and other people. This term covers all other rules. I understand that we won’t always agree with people and may not like everyone, but we have to make an effort to get along with others in the classroom. Talking badly about others, name-calling, fighting, and arguing for the sake of arguing in class is a misuse of class time and is not acceptable. Disciplinary actions will be taken immediately.

6. BATHROOM POLICY
Ø Unless you have a signed note from a doctor, you have two “emergency” bathroom visits per month.
Ø If you misuse/abuse the classroom policy, then your name will be given to the dean and you may not be allowed use of the facilities during this class.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Cut at the line. Sign and return to school by Monday, September 13, 2010)
I understand Ms. McNulty’s classroom procedures and my/my child’s responsibilities in her classroom.
Student’s signature:______________________________________________

Parent/Guardian’s signature:______________________________________
Parent cell phone number:___________________________ Parent email: _________________________