Lisa Bijit

Digital Story Project

There will be three grades for the digital story project.

Prewriting - needs to include theme (2 to 3 sentences summarizing the story), characterization (an explanation of how the main character(s)' personality contributes to the plot of the story), plot (an explanation of the main events in the story), conflict (an explanation of the main conflict in the story).

Storyboard - an outline of the pictures and text that will be used in the digital story. I will give the students a large white sheet of construction paper for this activity. They will need to have an idea of the pictures to download for the project.

Moviemaker - Students will be graded on how well they told the story, the timing of the slides, and the music used.

Technology Requirement

The state has new technology requirements for our students. When they reach 8th grade, they will be taking a test on their knowledge of basic technology applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and Moviemaker. After CRCT, we will be working on short story narratives. I thought this would be a good time to teach the students Moviemaker. If you have Windows XP or Vista, you should have Moviemaker on your computer. Each student chose a short story to illustrate. In order for them to work on this project at home, they will need access to a flash drive. None of the new computers in Cobb County take diskettes. Your child will need a flash drive through middle school, high school, and college. A few of my students who bought new flash drives paid $15 for 2 gigabytes (Walmart). You can also find them at local drugstores. If you have an extra laying around the house that will be fine.

For the project, your child will need pictures that will illustrate their short story and a school appropriate song for the background. I have one of the computer labs the first full week in May. The project must be completed by May 9th which is the end of our time in the lab. Sixth grade has Field Day on Thursday, May 8th. That only leaves us four days in the lab.

CRCT Countdown

One day per week we will go over a practice test for the CRCT. I'll have the students take the test (or part of the test) then we'll go over the answers in class. I want the students to take notes on test taking skills as we discuss them in class. Below are the practice tests we've gone over so far. The answer key is included at the end of the document. As the CRCT nears, you might want to go over these questions with your child.

CRCT Cheat Sheet: Download crct_cheat_sheet.doc

The first Language Arts practice test Download test1.doc

The Reading practice test Download test5.doc

Language Arts second practice test Download test2.doc

Language Arts third practice test Download test3.doc

Language Arts fourth practice test Download test4.doc

Adjective/Verb Test

The test has been moved to Wednesday because Mrs. Trott (our 6th grade counselor) will be teaching on Tuesday, 10/23.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

We began work on verbs this week. Once we started on transitive and intransitive verbs I saw many confused faces. I gave the students 52 sentences today that we worked on in class to identify transitive and intransitive verbs. If the students didn't finish it in class they were to complete it for homework. Key points they need to remember:

Transitive verbs ask the question "who" or "what."
Direct objects answer the question "who" or "what" and are ALWAYS nouns/pronouns.
Intransitive verbs either have nothing after them in a sentence OR have an adverb or preposition following them.

When I go over the sentences in class, I ask the students to find the subject of the sentence, ask what is the subject doing? take the verb and ask who or what to find the direct object.

Example: Joseph hits the ball.

Who is the sentence about? Joseph (subject)
What did Joseph do? hit (verb)
Hit what? the ball. (direct object)

Since the sentence contains a direct object, the verb is transitive.

Example: I slept in the guest room.

Who is the sentence about? I (subject)
What did I do? slept  (verb)
Slept who? Slept what? (no direct object)
"In the guest room" is a prepositional phrase.

Since the sentence does NOT contain a direct object, the verb is intransitive.

Use of Video

September 12

When you ask your child what they did today in class and they say "watched a movie," they did. I'm a firm believer in using video clips to illustrate the concepts I'm trying to convey. Most children today are visual learners. I can talk the entire class period about what a person looks like when they get mad, but showing them with a video clip is more fun AND it gets the point across where they will remember it. I can also point out various things in the clip that will help them with their writing.

I use movies that are PG and PG-13 - some G. The policy on this is that I can show a clip as long as it is school appropriate. Most clips are no more than 10 minutes long. We watch the clip once for content, discuss, then watch it again (sometimes without sound) for a more detailed observation. Each clip was chosen for its illustrative value in our curriculum.

Example: We viewed a clip from the movie "Signs." I chose this clip because the sensory details are unique. It forces the students to compare the sounds to items they know in life since the sounds are intended to be "alien." I know some students are sensitive to 'scary' visuals. The clip shows the lower part of an alien's leg and only for a very brief moment. I included this part because, again, it's "alien" and forces the students to search for every day items for comparison. It's effective without being scary. We used this clip to do some "show not tell" exercises by analyzing the body language of Mel Gibson's character. We talked about how to write about him being afraid without saying he's afraid. For instance, he moves slow and deliberate and when he talks to "whoever" is in the corn field he only moves his eyes.

I find that this technique engages the students in a way that I (as entertaining as I am )   can not.

Test Wednesday

September 12th

The test has been moved to Friday. Some of the students weren't ready to be tested, and Mr. Hohla has a test tomorrow in Social Studies. I didn't want the students to have two tests in one day.

September 10th

There will be a test on Wednesday, September 12th, on nouns and prepositions.

We went over the difference between plural and possessive nouns today as well as finding prepositions and prepositional phrases in sentences.

Tomorrow, we will continue to go over noun categories and prepositions to help study for the test. I told the students that I will take the test questions directly from the pages we go over.

August Notes

Please check your child's agenda for Monday 8/27. Three assignments have been averaged together for a participation grade.  I listed missing assignments in the Language Arts section.

Welcome

Welcome to 6th Grade!

I know that for those of you who are first time middle school parents this is an anxious but exciting time. My oldest son was in the first 6th grade class of Palmer. My youngest son is starting 7th grade at Palmer this year. As a "seasoned" Palmer parent, let me assure you that your child is in good hands.

I encourage you to get involved in our school activities if your schedule permits. It will make you feel better if you know your child's teachers on a more personal level. If your schedule is overwhelming (believe me I understand how that is), keeping in contact through email is an excellent way to stay connected with your child's teachers.

THE AGENDA

Take a moment to look through your child's agenda. Our behavior management sheet is in the agenda. This is a way for you to see any discipline issues your child has had that day. We use this sheet to give your child his/her conduct grade. At the bottom of the sheet is a list of offenses and the points we take off for each.

Your child should write down the classwork and homework for my class each day. Some teachers require that students only write down homework. If there is nothing written in the space for any class, do not sign the agenda for that day. This will encourage your child to be consistent with their agenda. We reward students who get their agenda signed every day by giving Palmer Dollars which can be used for various rewards such as time outside on Fridays.

You can also locate the dress code and J-policies in the agenda.

THIS BLOG

I will post each day's classwork and homework (if any) on this blog by month. You can keep up with deadlines for writing assignments. For essays, I will upload the instructions for writing and the topics for the essay.

You can  sign up for automatic notification when I update this blog. Please check this site frequently. It's a great tool to keep up with your child's work.

My notes for the first day of school - Download Routines.doc