DWA is on its WAY!

Time to get mentally prepared for the District Writing Assessment.  You are going to take the knowledge you have about persuasive essay writing from 6th grade and move it up a notch to 7th grade level expectations.  We are working to write strong position and thesis statements, elaborate on your arguments, include a meaningful counterargument and end with a passionate call to action. Please watch the following video to review the organization of persuasive essays.  Leave an appropriate comment or question below regarding what you learned or what you still may have questions about.

Perfect Timing...

Well, many of us wanted the 49-er's to win this past weekend, but life must go on...except this week we are starting to look at themes in poetry--starting with Baltimore's most famous poet, Edgar Allan Poe!  There were many groans when I told students that the Ravens were named after Poe's most famous poem--and that the three bird mascots for the team are actually named Edgar, Allan, and Poe.  Once we started reading information about his biography and his poem "Annabel Lee" students were intrigued.  Here is a great website with more information regarding the author and links to his other stories/poems if interested.

 http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/default_flash.asp

We also took SOAPS notes this week to help us analyze and better understand difficult poetry.  Here is a link to a webpage in case students missed the notes.

http://parkrose.orvsd.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=1142

EXTRA CREDIT / EXTENSION ACTIVITY:  Memorize and recite the poem "Annabel Lee" or "The Highwayman".  If you'd rather make a video version of the poem that would be awesome.  Be creative.

We've hit the halfway point in the year, so I'd like to announce students who have read 20 or more books--40 is the challenge!

Rory O'Toole, Charlotte Cosca, Katie O'Donnell, Dulce Chocooj, Jason Pridy, Ivan De Haro, Cierra Pena, Ruben Topete, and Logan Zampa.

Also, Charlotte Cosca hit the 2-million word mark this week!  Amazing!