Ms. Shilo's ELA Class

Hi class,

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week we worked on evaluating memoirs. The goal is to recognize what makes a memoir mediocre and what makes a memoir great. I asked all students to read three memoirs written by teenagers and answer some evaluative questions for each one. If you were absent- as a lot of students have been- please make sure you’ve read and evaluated the three pieces before you return to class. Here are the readings and some criteria I want you to use when evaluating them:

Ski Lifts Memoir

Lost and Found Memoir

Finding Courage in Trials Memoir

Criteria for evaluating memoirs:

1. The title: does it draw you in and fit the story?
2. The hook: how does the writer get you interested and wanting to read more?
3. Vivid language: does the writer paint a sharp picture for you?
4. Verb tense: is the story written in present or past tense? Or, does the writer jump back and forth?
5. Please note any other things that stand out to you. We’ll make a list of good traits, so please be ready to share what you like and don’t like in each of the writing samples.

We’ll have one more B-day work cycle for this exercise, and then we’ll start brainstorming your memoir topic.

As always, if you have questions, please let me know. Thank you for all your hard work!

Ms. Shilo

On the 22nd and the 23rd of January, the seventh through ninth graders are participating in a Grace and Courtesy seminar. Remember to spend your time wisely in Language Arts class so you can get all of your annotations and preparation done. The only part you have to annotate is up to the paragraph “The Matter of Kindness.” This seminar is a big part of the seventh, eighth, and ninth graders grades, so make sure you’re ready to participate.  If you don’t have enough time in class, then try to work on it over the weekend. Remember Ms. Shilo will assess on your effort. Make sure you don’t lose your packet, and good luck on your Grace and Courtesy Seminar!

-Garret Aust

More than a hundred years in the future, our country as we know has fallen apart. The ice caps have melted some fifty years in the past, and that caused part of the world to flood and our country to war with itself. Eventually, this war caused two independent nations to rise out of the broken United States: the Republic, and the Colonies.

That war continued on and became so prevalent to the people that they had fallen into a very militaristic and almost dictatorial lifestyle. But this is old news for June -who has been raised to lead and is the Republic’s most valued prodigy- and Day -the Republic’s most wanted criminal.

When tragedy befalls June’s only family member, she vows revenge on the person who committed the crime; and the prime suspect is Day. With these two famed teens set on a cat and mouse chase, nobody quite realizes just how deep the corruption runs or which side to trust.

This book is action-packed and full of surprises and has an average rating of 4.5/5 stars. The books high points are its razor-sharp plot and characters that you can’t help but fall in love with. Legend has everything that you could ever want in a dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel, including plague, warfare, government corruption and much more. It is one of the most successful dystopian novels out there and one of my personal favorites.

-Camryn Sheen

Hello everyone,

This week we launched our new unit focusing on the power of words. We chose a word to anchor us in our goals and created our super cool word wall. Today we’re moving on to a reading about kindness that will lead us into our seminar on Grace and Courtesy next Monday and Tuesday. If you check out the resources page on this blog, you’ll find the seminar reading and the rubric for participation in the seminar.

We’re also starting student written book review posts on this blog, and our first one will be coming next. Please consider contributing your feedback on the books you read. All we need is a short paragraph to post, and your insight will help others find great books.

Another thing I want to tell you is that we have a new class blog manager and editor. I’m so excited about this! Garret Aust is going to help keep this ELA blog up to date, so keep an eye out for some of his upcoming posts.

Please let me know if you have any questions! I’m always happy to answer them.

Have a great day,

Ms. Shilo (& Ms. Wendy)

Hi 9th graders,

All your hard work is coming to a close next week at the International Festival. To keep you on track, please remember:

• Your research paper is due either on December 12th or 13th. Please print it before turning it in. I won’t be accepting emailed copies or late papers.
• You will have one more work cycle to plan and rehearse your presentation on Thursday or Friday this week, the 14th or 15th of December.
• Your presentation and exhibit at the International Festival will take place next Tuesday from 1:00-2:30pm. Please plan for set up and break down time before and after the event. We will update you with exact times once we figure them out.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Ms. Shilo (and Ms. Wendy)

Our 7th and 8th-grade students started a unit on debates this week. To launch the unit, we watched this video. It is inspiring, so we wanted to share it.

If you are a student who was absent, please check the video out here:

Maria Montessori Academy Parents Association (MAPA) is very excited to announce that effective December 1, 2017 we will be using Track it Forward to schedule and record volunteer hours. 

We feel that using track it forward will help us provide the most positive experience possible when signing up for and recording volunteer hours. This program will allow families to track their hours on their own electronic devices, send out reminders for sign-ups and help us become a more centralized Montessori family.

Families are asked to donate 40 volunteer hours a year per family to the school. As a member of MAPA (all parents are automatic members) the MAPA presidency is trying to provide as many opportunities to complete this act of service yearly and Track it Forward will allow families to sign up to volunteer.

In sending your children to a Montessori school you are taking the initiative towards bettering your children and families. MMA’s mission statement is “Education for a better world” and by volunteering you are providing opportunities to help make this a better world. 

The reason I volunteer is to provide my children with opportunities they may not get at other schools. “Only a life lived for others is worth living.” — Albert Einstein. By volunteering you are giving of yourself to your children and the children of others. Volunteering does not have to be a big sacrifice of time away from the family or money spent, many teachers at the school offer opportunities to volunteer at home and MAPA has opportunities to volunteer where you can bring your children. 

Ways you may be volunteering and not even know. 

· Attending a MAPA meeting

· Room mom calls and asks you to cut something out or bring something to the class

· Coming into the school and reading with children

· Bringing in food for an activity

MAPA in cooperation with the MMA is trying to say “thank you” to those that have sacrificed time and volunteered this year by giving those families with 10 service hours completed an “act of service.” The details are still in the works but we want everyone to know that we appreciate and value all of those that have volunteered.

How Track it forward works:

You can sign up in one of two different ways. On the website https://www.trackitforward.com/site/mapa or email mapa@mariamontessoriacademy.orgwith your family’s last name and the names of your children and we will send you an invite. Once in you can track your family’s hours and sign up for volunteer hours. 

Again we appreciate all that our wonderful MMA families do!!! 

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” — Elizabeth Andrew

Dear ELA Community,

We’re starting a new checklist this week. It’s been uploaded to the checklist page on this blog. I’ll have a copy for everyone, but if you lose yours, you can find and print one here.

During the next two weeks, we have some important things to remember:

December 8th, 2017: Final Job Shadow Report is due for all 7 th & 8th-grade students.

December 12th & 13th, 2017: Final Forces of Culture Research Paper is due for all 9th-grade students.

December 19th, 2017: International Festival- all 9th-grade students will be presenting their research project findings.

New Book Club: We are also starting an after-school book club this week. Our first meeting will be on Thursday, December 7th, from 3:15 to 4:00, with meetings occurring each Thursday until further notice. Our first book will be To Kill a Mocking Bird. As a group, we’ll read a few chapters each week and discuss our thoughts and feelings during our weekly meetings. Everyone is invited to join us, but we ask that you commit to attending the weekly meetings so you can keep up with the reading and discussion.

If you have questions about anything ELA related or the information in this post, please don’t hesitate to drop by or send me an email.

Have a great week,

Ms. Shilo (and Ms. Wendy too!)

Hello everyone!

Please remember to bring the book you selected for independent reading to class with you each time you come. As I posted and explained, the ability to select the book you want to read in class comes with responsibility too.

If you don’t bring your book to class and therefore need to start a new book every single time you come, you won’t be able to dive into it and do the literary analysis work we must do for our Language Arts standards. If I continue to see this is a problem for students, I will help out by selecting and assigning a book as I did before.

And if you’re just having trouble finding a great book, please let me know. I have plenty of great recommendations to share with you!!

Have a lovely week!!

Ms. Shilo