Huck Finn Audio Book

Here is the link to the audio book for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  We have made a change to the reading routine in class.  You will have a choice of reading the audio version of the book on one of our laptop, or read silently in your Huck Finn book, or participate in a shared read aloud with Ms. Wood. 

Whatever your choice, on Friday we will finish reading chapters 11 and 12 in class, and we will complete a study guide for those two chapters.  Anyone who does not finish should take the book and study guide home for completion before next Tuesday's class.  You can hand the guide in at the end of today's class (Friday) or at the beginning of class Tuesday.  The activities in the booklets we made in class can be finished on your own time or during class time if you read ahead!

Welcome to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Today marks our journey down the Mississippi River with Huck Finn.  Each day we'll read several chapters in class, and most days you'll have some pages to read on your own.  As you read, you'll look for interesting superstitions, colloquialisms, and tricks, which you can chart in your Huck Finn portfolios.  You'll also record questions, identify the characters, and keep a travel journal occasionally (dates on the handout) in the voice of our narrator, Huck.

You now have a book checked out to you for your outside-of-class reading, and you'll be responsible for turning it in at the end of this project.  Don't lose it unless you want to pay for it!  On this home page in the right hand column is a link to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ebook,.  If that's more convenient, you can read the assigned chapters online.

There you are!  Happy reading!

Finding Articles and Summarizing

Today (2/5)- 

Below is a copy of the activity we will be doing in class. Feel free to print this off if you are ill or miss a day. Once you have completed this assignment, you will do an alphabox summary of today's independent reading. Once this is completed and handed in, then silently read at your computer.

Directions:  Go to the class blog and look at your peers’ interesting facts if you do not have an idea for your research topic.  Look at the additional information found on their blog posts for articles. Use resource links found on the blog, such as NPR, National Geographic, and so forth. The library databases will also have a lot of information on your topic. Print two articles related to your research topic. Read each article carefully, selecting the nine most important words for each, using those words write a paragraph summarizing the information you found. Please staple this sheet on top of your two articles.

Research topic: ________________________________________________________________________

Article Title: ___________________________________________________________________________

9 most important words

Summary (4-5 complete sentences):

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Research topic: ________________________________________________________________________

Article Title: ______________________________________________________________________

9 most important words

Summary (4-5 complete sentences):

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did you know? You are more likely to get attacked by a cow than a shark!

Monday, February 25 - Your task today is to look up 20 interesting facts (5 from each website listed below) and post them to your blog. The next step is to then take two of the twenty facts and find additional information on the subjects. The main purpose of this exercise is for you to become experienced with search engines and to begin thinking of a possible topic for the research paper. You are to take the two articles and post the URL (website address) to your blog for others to read. Please also include 2 pictures related to the articles and a brief description of each. Here is a step by step guide on how to accomplish these tasks as well as an example of the assignment:

1. Go to the following websites:
http://hookedonfacts.com/
http://www.interestingfacts.net/
http://www.nicefacts.com://
http://www.amusingfacts.com/

2. Write 5 interesting facts from each of the four websites (20 total)

3. Find additional information on two of your facts by searching a website, such as National Geographic, PBS, New York Times (and so forth. 

4. Include these two articles'/websites on your blog with a brief summary/description.

5. Create a link to the websites by copying and pasting the URL (website address) into your blog.      

6. Add two images that relate to the two articles you have linked.

7. Title your blog entry: 20 interesting facts!


Here is an example of the assignment:

                                                                    TWENTY INTERESTING FACTS!

1. In 1938, Time Magazine chose Adolf Hitler for man of the year.
2. Twelve people have walked on the moon.
3.  Kilts are not native to Scotland. They originated in France.
4. During a typical human life span, the human heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times.
5. Many people who read the word yawn or yawning begin to feel the urge to yawn.
6. Cold weather makes fingernails grow faster.
7. Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors.
8. Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, was afraid of mice.
9. Albert Einstein never wore any socks. 
10. More than 2,500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people. (That is unfortunate since Ms. Wood is left handed)



Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of an armored car in the year 1487


The article depicts Leonardo da Vinci's inventions including the first armored car. The article gives 12 other interesting inventions such as the helicopter. I find it really fascinating that many know of his artwork but few know that he was also an inventor. I wonder what it would have been like for the citizens of Italy to be driving or even flying 500 years ago! I can only imagine what would have happened with our own technology if society would have progressed at a much faster rate!

The National Geographic website has a ton of interesting and exciting information about Albert Einstein. I was unaware that he was good friends with Edwin Hubble and actually helped with the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope allowed Edwin Hubble to discover that the universe is much more massive than we had ever imagined. Hubble's work included the discovery of other galaxies and they are constantly expanding. I was even more surprised that Albert Einstein had thought of this five years earlier in 1919 and actually wrote his theory down on the back of an envelope!

I love books! How about you?

Thursday (February 14, 2013)

First off, Happy Valentine's Day!

Today, you will be blogging on the books that you have been reading. Please let Ms. James or Ms. Wood know if you do NOT have a blog yet or are unsure of how to make blog posts.The blog post is worth 40 points and needs to be finished by the end of class! The directions for the reading blog post are as follows:

1. A short summary of the book you are currently reading.

2. A passage or a quote  that is more than two or three words and an  explanation for what it means and why you chose it.

3. A picture that is NOT the cover of the book! It needs to be an image that is related to what is happening in the book or a symbolic representation of a character.

4. Please title your blog post with, "Reading Response #1"

Fifteen minutes before the bell rings we will begin generating possible ideas for the research topic. I want you to write down five things that you are interested in researching and freewrite about one of those things. Please use the sheet provided and hand it in at the end of class!

Monday's Work: Read, Blog and Trivia

Hello and welcome to my first blog post! I wanted to fill you in on a few things that we will be doing today.

TODAY (1/28)- Reading Response blogs. Please look over the scoring guide so that you know how to get an “A” on the blog. You may use this 90 minute class period to read silently and post to your blog.

Some helpful hints: be sure to include a photo that is NOT the cover of a book; have it be related to the author, the theme of the book or even a symbol. Please also include a quote and be sure to put it in quotations. Also, a quote is not merely two words but it is a phrase or a passage. Explain why you included the quote in your post. Once you are done with your reading response blog post, I want you to watch and read the following links about The Crucible. I think that these will be interesting and some of the trivia may be asked on a later test! Hint, Hint.






Movie Trailer

 


 



Interesting Trivia







 With any extra time you may have today, please read more about Ms. Wood! Here are 10 (and counting) things about me!

· I am from a small Dutch inspired town called Pella, Iowa.

· I have a orange tabby cat and he is named after one of my favorite songs, Mr. Bo Jangles.

· Mr. Bo Jangles knows how to come when called and will fetch pens. He rules the apartment.

· I also have a Cuban Havanese dog named Daisy. She knows all of her toys by name.

· I have an older sister, Ashley, in the Air Guard and she recently got back from a tour in Afghanistan.

· My kitchen is done completely in cupcakes. I am obsessed with them.

· I was involved in Choir, Show Choir, and Theater throughout high school.

· My first job was at a Dairy Queen, so I know how to do the "Q" on top of ice cream cones.

· My parents live in Monett, Missouri.

· If I could do anything, I would become a jazz singer.

Second Semester Thoughts...Welcome Back!

Welcome back bloggers.  It has been a while since we posted.  Though we are busy composing our descriptive narratives about home, I am also anxious to read about what you are reading.  I just started a book I was given over Christmas break, A Dog's Journey, which is a sequel to A Dog's Purpose.  I haven't had much time to read, but I am looking forward to starting it this weekend.  By the way, it was given to me by my secret pal here at school...Think she knows me well?

Several of you read A Dog's Purpose, and as you know, it traces a dog's life through many rebirths and poignant stories about a dog's relationships with his families. It is told through the dog's point of view.  Right away I think of Katie, my dog who took it upon herself to babysit my new grandbaby when she lived her first year at my house.  Katie laid under her crib, sat by her high chair, waited by the bathroom door, and stayed as close as she could to her "new baby."

So dive in!  Tell us about the book you are reading independently this quarter, any connections you have, predictions you make, and so on!

More later...I made a video of the two of them and pasted it above!  Indulge me; grandmothers like to show off their pictures!)