Mrs. Zana’s Class

1. Geography packet due tomorrow. Students had time to start this in class. This is a review assignment; Sixth graders will be studying Ancient History.

2. Weekly Reading Log. Due every Monday for the month of September; after that the logs will be due at the end of each month. THIS IS THE ENGLISH HOMEWORK EVERY NIGHT IN SIXTH GRADE! Students are expected to read 1/2 hour nightly, choose a significant phrase or sentence from their book, and write a short reaction to the phrase they have chosen.

In general, most nights students will only have English reading log homework, but occasionally there will be other homework. We have a class set of the English and history books, so when these textbooks are sent home, they can stay at home.

Due: Thursday, September 6, 2007
You may do this assignment as a comment on the blog. If you do so, you must also turn in the paper I handed out in class and write on it, “I did my homework on the blog.” Please only list your first name and last initial on the blog; no last names.

This homework assignment is perhaps the most important one I will give you all year! Why? Not because it’s hard. The reason why this assignment is so important is because you will be showing me what kind of student you have chosen to be at Mulholland. Will you be responsible and do all your work? Will you do the work, but forget it at home? Maybe you’ll do it, but leave it in that brand new locker of yours. Perhaps you’ll turn in the assignment all crumpled up, since you shoved it to the bottom of your backpack. Or, horror of horrors, will you choose to play video games, talk on the phone, and watch T.V. instead of doing your work? I hope EVERYONE gets a great start and you all manage to turn in this assignment tomorrow.

1. List any chapter books that have been read aloud to you. List the titles. List the authors if you remember them.

2. List any chapter books you remember reading on your own. Again, titles and authors if you remember them. If you have read so many books that you can’t possibly list them all, then tell me your five favorites and the last one you read. If you have never read a chapter book on your own, don’t worry. You will this year!

3. List any movies you have seen that were adapted from books AND you both saw the movie and read the book.

4. Now, list the movies you have seen that were adapted from books that you have not read.

Grading:

100% A: Answers written on separate sheet. Correct heading on paper. All questions answered. Paper is neat and not crumpled. No ragged edges from spiral notebook paper. No broken holes from notebook paper.
85% B: Same as A, but paper is messy.
75% C: Same as B, but not all questions answered
50% F: Paper is late. Whether one hour or four months late doesn’t matter.
0%: F: Paper is never turned in.

Yesterday afternoon we went snorkeling. It was AMAZING. We walked through a tropical forest for a couple minutes. Then we were at a beautiful bay. No sand; just rocks. Not a single wave. The water was warm. I swam out about a yard from the shore and started seeing fish. You feel like you’re in a different world. There was live coral; yellow, lavendar, and white. I felt like I could reach out and touch the fish. Some people saw a four foot long eel and a sea turtle, but I didn’t, so I’ll have to go back today.

In the morning I learned lots of cool stuff. One presenter showed us a project that got me really excited, cause I think it would be fun for you guys to do when I get back. You can get a preview if you go to this link: http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=193

Where have all my students from last year gone? Is Jocelyn right: is it strange to see all the new students here? Have they taken over YOUR blog? Don’t worry - we can all share I’d love to have you correspond with them, but if you’d like a spot of your own, here it is. This is the OFFICIAL summer chat spot for SAS students entering 7th grade in the fall. Remember - as I said on the last day of school - you aren’t my class anymore, but you’ll always be my students.

Summer’s here! Let’s keep in touch. What are your plans? Doing anything interesting? Will you be at summer school (I will - I’ll be in room 3.) The rules for commenting: no bad language, no insults, don’t give out any personal info.

What do you need to know and do to succeed at MMS? Mrs. Zana asked her sixth grade students at the end of the year. Read their comments to see what advice they had for the incoming fifth graders. If you are a fifth grader coming to MMS this fall, feel free to add your reaction. Our rules are: no bad language, please stay on the topic, and no insults

If you don’t have email but do have Internet at home, you can work on your report this weekend by copying it here as a comment. Highlight your whole report. Press edit - copy. Go to comments. Press edit - paste.

When you get home, your report will be waiting for you (it traveled faster than you did!) Highlight the comment, press edit - copy. Then, start a new document in Microsoft Word, and paste in your report. When you are done, print it out and bring it to school.

FYI, you really should have email!!! Go to gmail and sign up for a free account.

A group of students created this last year.Mr Roboto

Last Thursday my period 6/7 class was visited by a reporter from the L.A. Times. He was VERY impressed with the lesson (see the Shake it Up video post and comments to see what we were doing). Today, there was a very positive article in the newspaper about our school and our class. Thanks also goes to my period 2/3 class, who did such a great job that Mr. Dale thought the reporter should see the lesson. As for my period 4/5 class: sorry guys. You would have been terrific too. Instead, we got to enjoy sitting in hurricane winds together for 1/2 an hour. Here is the link to the article. It’s now on the reporter’s blog, which means people can comment about it. If you would like to add a comment, you need to have an adult do it for you, as they do not allow kids under 13 to write.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/schoolme/2007/04/if_wired_right_.html#comments

Discussion (Answer these questions on the blog.):

1. What message is Dr. Seuss trying to get across about a person’s destiny? What do you think your destiny is? Why do you think you are destined to go down that path in life?

2. Do you believe that people have a choice where they end up in life? How do you know this? Give examples to support your response.

3. Even as a 6th grader, what difficulties have you faced in your life that you feel you need to overcome in order to be successful?

4. The poem talks about “strange birds” you will get mixed up with in life. Who are these strange birds and do you see any of them in your life right now? What are you going to do about those “birds?”

5. What “mountains” do you plan to move in the future?

Extension Activity (Do this by hand or in Microsoft Word; you can post it on the blog once it’s perfect):

Write a poem in which you describe how you plan to make a difference in this world. Be sure to mention the obstacles you may face along the way and those people whom you will need to help you get there. (For example, friends, special family members, teachers, neighbors, strangers, etc.)