Mrs. Brown

English Language Arts

(253) 583-7200

ELA Classroom Newsletter

May 2019

Events

aibrown@steilacoom.k12.wa.us

Water Bottle Drive May 6-20 School Social May 10 SBA test ELA May 14, 16, 17 School IS in session May 24 (Snow make-up day) No School Memorial Day May 27 SBA test Math May 30 & 31 Every other Friday is Class Library Day No more Spelling Quizzes!

We have begun reading our third and final class novel for this school year: The Giver by Lois Lowry. We started the unit with a discussion about the terms: utopia and dystopia. As we read this book, we will review the literary devices and story elements we learned about while reading the other two class novels. We will also revisit the skill of summarizing.

We will continue studying poetry this month as well. So far we have explored the limitless possibilities of poem topics, ranging from Spiderman to the broken pieces of a bottle. We will try our hand at writing our own poetry as well, using William Carlos Williams’ poetry as inspiration.

Things to discuss / practice at home:

How poetry can be about anything, and doesn’t have to rhyme

The difference between a utopia and a dystopia

How to select the key ideas from a text to write a summary

Review literary devices: foreshadowing, flashback, irony/sarcasm, euphemism, symbolism, hyperbole, allusion, figurative language

Review story elements: dynamic vs. static characters, direct vs. indirect characterization, point-of-view, types of conflict, setting, theme

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ELA Classroom Newsletter

EELA Classroom Newsletter

Student Work Sample

Best Boy Narrative:

Students have been writing short narratives inspired by the chapters in the novel Boy by Roald Dahl. Below is one of Megan’s stories. She earned a score of Mastery for both content and conventions. Earlier that day, Arkle, Wragg and I decided that it would be a great idea to prank the Matron again. The last time failed, with the sugar and all. But this time, we were going to be stealthier and have a better plan. The layout was that Wragg and I would distract the Matron by saying that one of us had scraped our knee in our dorm. Once she was out of her room, Arkle would grab his pet frog that he kept in his tuck-box and put him under the blankets on the Matron’s bed. He would send a signal, which was two taps of his toe, then we would wrap everything up and go to sleep. I felt slightly apprehensive about it, but played along otherwise. Now, Wragg and I have already set up the fake blood, which was merely catsup, on the floor and on Wragg’s knee. We saw Arkle sneak with the frog and hide in Tweedy’s dorm and wait for the Matron to exit her room. Once the blood was spread out, we were ready. “Oh dear!” I shouted. “Wragg has split his knee!” I heard footsteps coming down the hall. “He needs help now!” “What happened?” the Matron grumbled when she appeared at the doorway. She “Where is he hurt?” I heard the very light footsteps of Arkle as he tiptoed to the Matron’s room. The plan was going stupendously. “I hit my knee on the bedpost,” Wragg whined. “The pain is unbearable.” The Matron inspected the fake blood, then ran to get a bandage. We heard the two taps on the floor, which meant Arkle had finished the mission. “I got the bandage.” the Matron told us angrily as she arrived at the door. “I’m going to wrap this around your knee.” We already carried out the plan successfully, so we had to quicken the pace. “Oh, um, I can do it myself,” Wragg explained hastily. “It’s not too bad.” There was a slight hint of relief in the Matron’s eye, and she did not hesitate in agreeing. “All right then, when you’re finished, go straight to bed.” “Yes ma’am.” She ambled back down the corridor, opened the door to her room, closed it, and turned on the light. There was a scream. “Snake! Snake! There’s a snake in my bed! Somebody help me!” My friends and I laughed. That was one of the most outstanding days of my time at St. Peter’s.

Students were instructed to write about their favorite candy or chocolate. I chose finalists in each class, and another class voted on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. These winners won the candy or chocolate they wrote about! Blue class (Periods 1&2): 1st place: Owen Raschke 2nd place: Leah Hansen 3rd place: Cassidy Chaney Honorable mention: Olivia Cruzan Honorable mention: Alex Evers Purple class (Period 4): 1st place: Issy Anderson 2nd place: Collin Bryant 3rd place: Rachel Crow Honorable mention: Rene Cordero Honorable mention: Beau Herig Green class (Periods 5&6): 1st place: Paitun Gale 2nd place: Megan Gottshall 3rd place: Harper Pike Honorable mention: Kaylynn Morfin Honorable mention: Emma Morrison

To prepare for SBA testing…

Continue to read 30 minutes every day, including weekends and holidays! Reading books that are the right level for you will help you build your reading skills. Continue to do 45 minutes of iReady lessons each week. These lessons are tailored to your reading skill needs, as determined by the winter diagnostic. There will also be a spring post-test in June. Be on time on testing days! Get a good night’s rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and bring a snack and/or a water bottle.

Candy Contest Winners!