January 7-11

I hope you had an amazing Christmas and a Happy New Year!

7th/8th Reading: The students will be taking the OAKS Reading test this week during their English classes. This week we are going to be reviewing prefixes. We will also be focusing on transition words and practicing stressed syllables.

6th Reading: The students will be taking the OAKS Reading test this week during their English classes. This week This week we will be staring Lesson 7 in Unit 2. Students will review singular possessive nouns and continue identifying main ideas and supporting details and transition words.

OAKS Reading Test

Students will beginning taking the OAKS Reading test the week we get back from Christmas break. Make sure you get a good nights rest as well as eat a healthy breakfast.

December 17-21

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

7th/8th: This week students will be reviewing what a direct object is as well as continuing practice with stressed syllables. We will also review contractions. We will read the Polar Express and then watch the movie. Students will be required to compare and contrast the movie to the book.

6th: This week students will focus on the predicate of a sentence. They will read the story "A Map is a Sandwich" and complete a variety of activities. We will also read the Polar Express and watch the movie. Students will be required to compare and contrast the movie to the book.

Can Food Drive

We are having a Can Food Drive. All cans need to be delivered by December 20th. The homeroom that collects the most cans will get a Pizza Party. My homeroom has already brought in 31 cans in the first day. Let's keep it up!!!!

December 10-14

This week students can write a letter to Santa on the iPad and he will write them back.

7th/8th Reading: Students will learn about antonyms and synonyms as well as idioms. We will also discuss helping verbs and reading a multiparagraph report.

6th Reading: Students will review nouns and verbs. They will learn the academic word abstract and be able to identify the subject in a sentence.

December 3rd-7th

I hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving break. We only have three more weeks until Christmas break. :)

7th/8th Reading: This week we are going to be focusing on Prefixes and practice reading fluently. We are also going to review the tense timeline and practice writing an expository paragraph. We will be having a spelling test on Friday.

6th Reading: This week we are going to review nouns and verbs and will be having a test. We will continue to work on writing a summary paragraph. We will also review that words can have multiple meanings.

No School on Monday. Why do we celebrate Veteran's Day? Be sure to thank a Veteran.

The week of November 19th-23rd there is no school for Thanksgiving break. What are you thankful for?

November 5-9

Hopefully you remembered to set your clocks. We get an extra hour of sleep! :)

7th/8th Reading: This week we are going to review nouns and pronouns. We are also going to read about inventions and learn what a closed syllable is. Do you have any crazy inventions?

6th Reading: This week we are going to focus on the vocabulary word "concentrate" and create Masterpiece Sentences. Students will be in the first two stages of creating Masterpiece Sentences.

Oct. 29-Nov. 2

7th/8th Reading: Thank you for all the parents who attended conferences. It was great to meet with you. This week the students are going to be working on their expository paragraph on Hurricanes. We will also be focusing on the vocabulary word amuse.

6th Reading: Thank you for all the parents who attended conferences. It was great to meet with you. This week the students are going to learn about the Blueprint for Writing process. We will also focus on the academic vocabulary word contrast and read some mini-dialogs.

Door Decorating Contest

For Red Ribbon Week each DL had to decorate their door with the theme of staying drug free. Mrs. Fun's DL won the contest for the 7th grade!!! Congratulations!!! The students put a lot of work into decorating the door.

October 22-25

RED RIBBON WEEK: This week is red ribbon week to promote staying drug free. Each day is a different dress up day. Monday: Twin/Triplet Day, Tuesday: Crazy hat/hair/sock day, Wednesday: Favorite Sport Team day, Thursday: Wear School Colors. Get involved and participate!!!!

7th/8th Reading: This week we will be talking about inflectional suffixes, talk about tense, and continue to learn new vocabulary strategies. We will also begin writing an expository paragraph on hurricanes.

6th Reading: This week we will have a spelling test as well as look at multiple meanings of words and review nouns and verbs.

Conferences

Conferences are October 22nd and 25th from 4:30 to 8:00 in the gym. If the student attends my conferences they will get a free assignment slip. We would love to see you there.

October 22-25

7th/8th Reading: This week students will learn more about topic sentences and ways to organize their writing. They will also be learning a vocabulary strategy called meaning cues and learning how to segment syllables in words.

6th Reading: This week students will re-read "Batty About Bats" and answer some comprehension questions. They will also learn about singular and plural nouns and review supporting details and main ideas.

Everyone:  Make sure you wear RED on Friday for the kick off to RED RIBBON WEEK!!!

October 8-12

7th/8th Reading: This week students will be focusing on how to diagram a setnence to understand the components and relationship of the parts of a sentence. They will also be learning the parts of an expository paragraph.

6th Reading: This week students wil be focusing on the academic vocabulary word interfere. Students will also be learning on how to spell word parts from multisyllable words and they will learn a structured process to define vocabulary words.

Conferences

Conferences are 10/8, 10/11, 10/22, and 10/25 from 4:30-8:00p.m. You only need to attend one day. If you and/or your student attends conferences your student will receive a free assignment slip. I look forward to visiting with you at conferences.

October 1-5

7th/8th Reading: The students really enjoyed playing the Ultimate Hangman Doodle App this week on the iPad. This week we will be reading "Telling Time"  and "Time Zones" and completing activities that go along with the story. The students will also be learning how to diagram sentences .

6th Reading/English: The students really enjoyed playing the Ultimate Hangman Doodle App this week on the iPad. This week we be going over the vowel and consonant chart and focusing on verbs.

September 24-28

7th/8th Reading: This week students will be reviewing verbs and nouns and focusing on stages 2-4 in the Masterpiece Sentence Activity. Students will also be listening for word parts in multisyllable words. They will be having a quiz over lessons 1-5 on Friday as well.

6th Reading and English: This week we will be starting the Language! curriculum. Students will be introduced to phonemic awareness by particpating in multiple drills and activities. Students will also review adn practice with nouns and practice on their reading fluency.

September 17th-21st

7th/8th Reading: This week we are beginning the Language! curriculum. We are going to delve into linguistics and review the two categories that make up the English language: vowels and consonants and how we pronounce these sounds.

6th Reading: This week we are going to focus on a story titled "Three Hundred Pesos." We will be completing many activities based on this story.

English: This week we are going to read two stories "Jane of the Apes" and "The Greatest Fish Story" When we read the stories we will leave off the end and the students will have to write their own ending. We will then compare their endings to the real endings in the stories.

Read All About Me and Writing Assessments

The students finished their Read All About Me Newspapers and they look great in the hallway. I will post pictures soon on the blog. This week students will be starting a writing pre-assessment. It is similar to the state writing assessment. This will the students and I see what they do well in writing and what they need to work on in writing. The students had to pick an item/object that is important to them and why it is important to them. I'm excited to read their great writing.

The second week of school is about over. It has been a great first two weeks. The students had a lot of fun learning about QR codes and going on a scavenger hunt around the school. The rest of this week and next week students will be working on their "Read All About Me" newspaper and will be presenting them to the class on September 5th. I am looking forward to their presentations and will post some of them on this website.

Welcome Back to the 2012-2013 School Year

Welcome back to the 2012-2013 school year.

I'm looking forward to this new school year. My goal for students is this year to make students lifelong readers and learners. I'm also planning on incorporating technology into the reading classroom this year as well. We will be having iPad apps of the week and well as incorporating the Promethean board into the classroom.

If you ever need help I'm available before school and after school until 3:20. When basketball season approaches my schedule will change and I will then update my availability. Weekly calendars with assignments will be updated weekly on this blog.

My e-mail is Kati.Funderburk@miltfree.k12.or.us. The school phone number is 541-938-5504.