7th Grade Buffett ELA/HLA
Keeping connected with ELA activities and materials
Distance Learning - Week of 4/6
We've heard a lot about silver linings during this crisis. Sure, we could listen to the news and go down rabbit holes on the internet, but all of that will just lead us to helplessness and anxiety. We recommend looking at some of the silver linings about not attending school in person right now. Here's a short list of silver linings:
- You can violate the dress code by wearing pajama pants all day.
- You don't have to listen to Mr. CK's joke of the day.
- You can wear your earbuds all day long if you want!
- You don't have line up to go to lunch.
- You don't need anyone's permission to go to the bathroom!
But, in all seriousness, we miss you, we love you, and we would jump right back into our classrooms today if we could. Keep your heads high, and never be afraid to reach out to any of us if you need anything.
Weekly IXL Skill Practice
IXL provided all ELA teachers with weekly skill plans during our social distancing time. For this week, we will focus on informational texts. Our weekly goal for IXL is to complete 5 of the suggested activities or spend about 40 minutes practicing per week. That is only 8 minutes Monday--Friday! Please click HERE for a link to IXL Spring Spotlight for 7th grade.
Weekly Writing Prompt
We've talked a lot about the differences between protagonists and antagonists. When we hear protagonist, we tend to think good guy, but... that's not always how it works!
What happens when the protagonist goes rogue? Choose your favorite video game character and tell this story!
Vocabulary Term of the Week
Many, many of us have become a recluse as a result of the quarantine. What are two things you've done to keep yourself busy? E-mail your teacher a picture of them if you have the time : ).
Anti-hero (n)- The main character of a story that does not have heroic qualities (is selfish, mean, etc).
Anti-heroes are taking the world by storm nowadays with Deadpool being a famous example. Can you think of any others?
Poetry Madness 2020
To help celebrate National Poetry Month (April) and March Madness (because if this pandemic isn’t madness, we're not sure what is), your ELA teachers have created a bracket of 16 of the best poems that we think you will enjoy. Each week, all seventh graders from both teams will read and listen to poems and vote for their favorite. We’ve asked your teachers to record a reading of each poem, so you have an opportunity to see your teachers, too!
Here is how it will work:
- Please read the four poems for the week HERE
- You will have a link to listen to each poem for the week from FlipGrid. You can click HERE to visit the grid or type this in the address bar: https://flipgrid.com/5e514ab4
- After listening to the poem, please vote for your favorites HERE
This week's match up (South Bracket):
- "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes versus "The Rose that Grew from Concrete" by Tupac Shakur
- "Things Shouldn't be so Hard" by Kay Ryan versus "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou
Elite Eight
Winners from last week are:
"One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop and "Dear Basketball" by Kobe Bryant. These poems will move on to the Elite Eight bracket!
Duckworth's Deft Deliverings
WELCOME to Poetry! I will add a few poems below for you to work on some poetry skills. This week will be HYPERBOLE! Do you remember how to say this word? It is a four syllable word. How do I know this, count the vowels in the word. That will tell you how many syllables a word will have.
hyperbole - an extremely exaggerated statement
Here are a few examples:
-This is the worst day of my life. (Probably not, it is exaggerated)
-I have enough food at home to feed an army. (I don't think anyone living in a house has this much food)
Feel free to copy these to your email and send them to me!
Haley's High-Minded Hypotheses
Poetry can be intimidating, but I have a secret that makes that intimidation go away. It is called Found Poetry. In our lesson this week, I want you to find something around your house (a newspaper, a page from an old story, a piece of mail--really, anything) to create a poem. I created a short video for you, and instructions are located HERE. Make sure to take a picture and upload your poem to OneNote-->Q4-->Found Poem due 4/13.
Please read the FOUR POEMS for POETRY MADNESS and vote HERE.
We have four high-caliber poems this week. I am excited to see to see who wins. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
Check out the writing prompt at the top of this newsletter. Who could you send a friendly letter to this week?
Pentland's Perceptive Particulars
Please read the FOUR POEMS for POETRY MADNESS and vote HERE.
Some great poetic reading this week! You never know who will be reading, so check them out and don't forget to vote!
THIS WEEK: After looking at narrative structure last week through the Nearpod lesson, we are going to be reading the first part of a story excerpt (part of a story) in the online textbooks called, "Uprising." What is interesting about Uprising is that there are different perspectives shared: Yetta, Jane, and Bella. We will be reading through pg. 283-290 (Yetta) this week. I will send an email later in the week with a virtual class link. I have sent out instructions to remind students how to get to the online textbook under the Distance Learning tab in OneNote.
I RECOMMEND: Go to this history.com page and read/watch the video on the Triangle Factory Fire. You will get a much better idea of what happened and what this historical fiction is about.
WRITING PROMPT: There is a new page in OneNote for your writing response, and this week, I put the prompt on the OneNote page as well. There were a number of students who did not recognize that the writing prompt is at the top of this page, so hopefully this is easier. You have the option of sharing with your classmates, as always, but YOU CAN ALSO RECORD A VIDEO and post it on OneNote, too.
HLA: Only a few of you responded to the Microsoft Forms link about your IBA, so please fill that out as soon as possible. I have posted 5 different IBA examples on OneNote, so let your OneNote page sync and check them out.
Finally, please send me an email and tell me how you are doing if you haven't already. I hope you are all safe and well. We miss you!
Tolliver's Transcendent Trappings
This week we're focusing on a story called The Scholarship Jacket. It fits in really well with our unit on change, mostly because it focuses on discrimination.
Students will be reading the story, tagging some text, and summarizing. When they're finished, take a look at the article that's been linked and in the news recently and compare the the story to the article.
When you're finished with that, there's a tiny writing prompt to tackle : ).
Please read the four poems for the week HERE
After listening to the poem, please vote for your favorites HERE
Willmott's Witty Wonders
Please read the FOUR POEMS for POETRY MADNESS and vote HERE.
As always, complete the Daily Check-in! I love getting to hear from you each day!
This week's activities center around the short story "The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire." We will be focusing on Point of View and Cause and Effect. You will find Commonlit and Kahoot links in Monday (4/12)'s daily email.
Go to this history.com page and read/watch the video on the Triangle Factory Fire. You will get a much better idea of what happened and what the historical fiction reading is about. We'll use this information for next week's activities, as well.
Lastly, send me an email sometime this week with an update on what you're currently reading! I'm running out of reading material, so tell me what you recommend! I'll add your recommendations to my weekly emails for others to read!
7th Grade XC City Champs
Hands-On Learning
Say Cheese
Book Recommendation of the Week (Mr. Tolliver)
Listen to my recommendation here : ).