Go here, to complete the survey.
 
Your Task
Write and produce a three minute (minimum) skit which places Anne and at least one other character from Anne of Green Gables in a new time and place.  

Examples
Anne of Noah’s Ark
Anne of BCS in 2012
Anne of Mars in 2130

Requirements
- Follow the story arc (exposition, rising action, climax, resolution)
- How would Anne (with all her unique character traits) interact with a new setting?  For example, how would her imagination work?  What about the fact that she wants to please people?  Who would she want to please?  Who would be her kindred spirit?
- Groups of five
- Costumes and Props
- Script written out
- At least 3 minutes

Tips
Pick a normal situation and examine how Anne would make it very abnormal.
How would Anne interact with technology that wasn’t around in the book?
How would Anne interact in another book we’ve read?
How would Anne behave during some historical event?
 
Complete your reading blog survey here.
 
Don't wait until the last week of the trimester to check your reading blog posts.  Remember, if I commented on your post with "Count it", then you are finished.  If I commented with "Repost for credit", then you need to do that.  If I haven't commented, then that means I haven't seen your post for some reason and you may want to check in with me.
 
Your final reading blog posts will be accepted no later than Tuesday, March 13th.  Don't forget to get them in soon, so you have time to get feedback and rewrite posts that are not done correctly.  Also, don't forget that you may only turn in two posts per school day.  They must be submitted by 8:30am to count.
 
Last week we read the first chapter of our newest book Anne of Green Gables.  There are definitely some challenges that come with teaching it, but I think the learning opportunities it provides outweigh them.  

Of course, it is a "girl's book".  Some of the boys will steadfastly insist that they hate this book because it is for girls, and all the while they will be laughing and commenting their way through every chapter.

The main challenge with this book, though, is that it requires a very high reading level.  While it was difficult to find challenging words in Nate Saint, in Anne of Green Gables, some students would probably be able to find 10 or more words on a page that they don't know.  This elevated vocabulary is one of the main reasons we are reading the book.

So far this year, we have been reading easier books and practicing reading strategies like figuring out vocabulary words, inferring, finding important lines, asking good questions, etc.  Now, if the students are going to be successful, they will need to apply these reading strategies during their reading.

Each student has been given a reading strategies journal in which they will record their thoughts and questions as they read.  My hope is that it will reduce their frustration level by giving them a place to write something like, "I don't understand anything on page 3!"  Then, the next day in class, we can talk about it.

Once we get our feet under us, we will have about a chapter of reading per night if we are ever going to get through the book.  If your child is having trouble with this book consider:
  • letting them read it to you
  • taking turns reading to each other
  • reading it to them and talking about difficult passages 
  • asking them about what they read when they finish
  • making sure they don't read when they are tired
  • making sure they don't read in a distracting place
Finally, let me know if you are seeing a high frustration level with this book at home.  The more I know, the more I can help set your kids up for success.  Hopefully, I'm being overly cautious here, but I just want everyone to be in the loop as we start this new book.
 
I didn't do a very good job of reminding students about their quiz this week, so we moved it to Monday.  It will be matching 10 words to their definitions.
 
Fill out this form to let me know how you did on your reading blog this trimester.
 
  1. You may turn in no more than two per school day.
  2. Check your old posts to make sure you don't need to repost any of them.
  3. You need to respond in your blog to 1,500 pages of reading.
  4. Blogs are due Wednesday the 30th, two days before the end of the trimester.
 
Students are starting to post to their reading blogs now that we have them set up.  The expectations can be a little confusing at first for some students, but Jadyn wrote a great first post.

She followed the three paragraph format, gave her own thoughts, and also provided specific examples from the book to support her claim.  Check out her post here, if you'd like to see how it's done!