WELCOME 2010!

Wishing all of Class 851 & their family and friends a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

BOOK CLUB HOLIDAY MOVIE EVENT

All members of the book club will have a small holiday breakfast party and movie on Wednesday, December 23 at 8AM.

Walter Dean Myers at NYU Law School Forum

New York University Law School/ December 7, 2009: Mr. Beloff (8th grade ELA teacher from the Journalism Academy) and I attended a forum whereWalter Dean Myers (Dopesick, Scorpions) and Deborah Ellis (The Breadwinner) spoke as part of a panel discussion entitled, “Who Will Speak for the Child: Human Rights at Home and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.” The evening was cosponsored by the PEN Children's & Young Adult Book Authors Committee, the event was moderated by Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and included Uzodinma Iweala, whose debut novel, Beasts of No Nation (HarperCollins, 2005), depicted a child soldier in an unnamed African country.

Each speaker was given 6 minutes to answer Ms. Strossen's questions which centered around human rights for children and the importance of safeguards to ensure their safety. Some questions also addressed the role lawyers and policymakers play to protect the rights of children and how can writers and the arts contribute to ensuring that the children's rights.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity at the conclusion of the forum to actually meet Mr. Myers and Ms. Ellis and to have them autograph copies of Dopesick and The Breadwinner. Mr. Myers gave both of us his email and told us to pass it on to our 8th grade students for them to email him with any questions or comments about his books. See the class chart for his email address.

(Photo: Walter Dean MyersWinner of the Virginia Hamilton Literary AwardHere with Hamilton, holding the award – Kent State University before her death)

AM HOMEWORK HELP

Last chance for late assignments. Come to AM Homework Help at 8AM tomorrow.

Progress Reports will be going out early next week.

HW Detention

For those who owe work, afterschool tomorrow 3:35 - 4:35 meet in room 317A.

Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving

No school on Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27th.

Annotated Bibliography checks Tuesday, December 1st.

Journalistic Feature Article

FINAL COPY of Journalistic Feature Article is due Wednesday, October 28th. All students who hand in their work on time will be viewing a movie. Parents of students who do not bring in their finished work, will be called and students will remain afterschool to complete the assignment.

LATE WORK

AM Homework Help is being held this Tuesday, October 27th at 8AM (period 1). See Ms. Russell for a pass.

Last day for handing in late work is this Wednesday, October 28th.

TEST PREP FOR THE NYC SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL EXAM

Test Prep begins this Thursday, October 15th in room 317B during Period 1. We begin promptly at 7:55.

October 15, 2009 - Paragraph structure
October 22, 2009 - Reading Comprehension Strategies
October 29, 2009 - Reading Comprehension Strategies
November 5, 2009 - Logical Reasoning

EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT TAKING THE EXAM AND WOULD JUST LIKE TO BRUSH UP ON SOME SKILLS, YOU ARE INVITED TO COME BY.


SIGN UP WITH MS. RUSSELL THIS WEEK.

Remember that anyone who attends will be given extra points on their report card.

BOOK CLUB BEGINS OCTOBER 28TH

Check out the Book Club book for October/ November :
A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life.
Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls Peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. It's Cal's job to hunt them down before they can create more of their kind. . . .
Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld's novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.

MEMBERSHIP FOR THE BOOK CLUB IS OPEN NOW. SIGN UP WITH MS. RUSSELL THIS WEEK. Remember that every time you attend, you gain credit toward your report card grade.

Written Classwork & Homework ASSIGNMENTS

CLASSWORK
Tuesday 10/13 - Editing & Revising the "Magazine Proposal Letter"

Wednesday 10/14 - ACUITY Custom Test (critical thinking skills)

Thursday 10/15 - Feature Article:review construction of the article, research/evaluate primary & secondary sources of information, interviewing techniques

Friday 10/16 - Feature Article: angles, citing information using quotations from interviews and text sources

HOMEWORK
Friday 10/9 - IR, finish 1st draft of proposal letter (due Tues), last day to accept edited Annotated Bibliographies (due Tues), 2 assignments in mailbox on Achieve3000 (due Fri 10/16), choose a feature article topic & bring in 3 or more materials from Internet, magazine, and/or book sources to research your topic (due Wed)

Tuesday 10/13 - IR, 1st draft & FINAL COPY of the Magazine Proposal letter is due tomorrow (due Wed), and bring in 3 or more materials to use to research your feature article topic (any student without materials will be given their topic & materials tomorrow)

Wednesday 10/14 - IR, 2 Achieve3000 assignments due Fri

Thursday 10/15 - IR, 2 Achieve3000 assignments due Fri

Friday 10/16 - 2 assignments from Achieve3000 (due next Fri), interview someone for your feature article or bring in a "fictional" interview (due Tues) to insert into your feature article

Researching your Feature Article - Instead of Just "Googling" For Information...Try an Easier Way...Search a Database

To search the IS 145 Media Center Database:

http://library.nycenet.edu
Find: IS 145
Search: Databases listed

To search other Middle School friendly databases:

http://search.ebscohost.com
user name: jp145
password: jp145

Another kid-friendly database through Scholastic:

http://go.grolier.com
username: novel483
password: novel

EVENT CALENDAR: October 6 - October 9, 2009

Tuesday: Achieve3000
Wednesday: SAN: Student Assessment of Writing, "Table of Contents", List
of Possible Feature Article topics
Thursday: Reading Test
Friday: Feature Article project work

Achieve3000 Online Reading Program

Challenge yourself and work on improving or maintaining your reading level by completing some enrichment activities on Achieve3000. You can reach the website from any computer: www.kidbiz3000.com.

BOOK SUGGESTIONS

I'm going to be going to my local library's annual book fair in two weeks and would like your suggestions to what kind of books you'd like to see in the library. Let me know what -

• Genre


• Author


• Title

you'd like for me to look for while I'm there.

Some Interesting Websites

What is a Feature Article? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGDPKOGepM

How to Design a Magazine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYaYM5GGcmk&feature=related

The Making of a Magazine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBYfNQ4pfyk&feature=related

Time Magazine Article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdnl3ekI3YY

Zaren White, Copy Editor, The Muse Student Newspaper, Interview Part one, July 31, 2009 (role of the copyeditor) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUGNB-9vjEs

Andy Rooney

Take a look on youtube to see a clip of Andy Rooney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsfX6xqCBks

Think: bias & perspective

THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY'S

OPEN SCHOOL NIGHT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1ST, 2009
6pm - 8pm

General Announcements

Friday, September 18: Finish up DRA in class (make sure you're reading books at appropriate levels)

Tuesday, September 22: Set up portfolios in class, beginning of reading conferencing, & notebook check (leave all notebooks in basket at the end of the day to get full credit)

Friday, September 25: Progress Report #1 is sent home

Sometime at the end of September we'll have our first ACUITY predictive reading exam. This test will count toward a report card grade.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Celebrate INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY on September 19th! Arrr! Be thar or be squarr!

In Memory of the People Who Lost Their Lives on 911 and Their Loved Ones

WELCOME TO CLASS 851

Some of you may not know me since I've spent the past few years teaching in Science & Technology and the Law & Humanities Academies. So, let me introduce myself...

I grew up in Queens, but currently live with my family on Long Island. I enjoy going to the NY Renaissance Fair (see the picture above), reading, writing, watching Jane Austin films, hanging out with my friends from high school and college, playing with my Shi Tzu (Gizmo), swimming, and hiking. This is my fifteenth year teaching and my seventh year at IS 145. I'm very excited to welcome you to my ELA class. I think we're going to have a terrific year together.