Take a look at some of the topic sentences below.  Remember, a topic sentence has a topic and a main point, and that main point should be as specific to the paragraph as you can make it.
An effective topic sentence might say something like:
New Netherland was started by the Dutch, but eventually fell to the more powerful British.

An ineffective topic sentence might say something like:
New Netherland: A colony with history. 
Look at some of these examples below. Which ones work well?  Why?

  1. New York was first settled by the Dutch, then later taken by England.
  2. Henry Hudson set sail in his ship.
  3. New Netherland was a huge part in history.
  4. There are many interesting things that happened in the history of New York.
  5. The story of the happenings of New York.
  6. Despite going through many trials, New York still became a great colony
  7. The start and end of New Netherland.
  8. New York had lots of events take place on it's land.
 
Parents, I want to keep you in the loop as soon as possible because I know it can be hard to fit a trip to the library into your schedules.

We had planned on reserving books online today so that you could all pick them up when they came in.  Unfortunately, only two student came with their library card information.  Because of this, I'm not going to take a class period to reserve books, but I'm going to leave it up to students to reserve books on their own.

Students should reserve books as soon as possible (preferably tonight) so that they have time to come in from around the county.  Also with the long weekend coming up the library will be closed more days that normal, so we want to get an early start.

The expectation is that every student will use a real book in addition to their internet research, and by next Wednesday, students need to either have their books or a note from their parents explaining that they were not in yet.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Thanks!
 
For the next two weeks, we will be doing the Anything Project in Language Arts.  The idea is that each student will set a goal for what they would like to create, create a schedule of the small steps it will take to accomplish the goal by the deadline, and then carry out those steps each day.

The Anything Project is a chance for students to have complete autonomy to create something that matters to them.  There are literally no expectations other than students work hard every day.

Some students might decide to create something familiar to them, like a short story.  Other students will take this opportunity to experiment with something they've never tried before, like a stop motion movie or a research project on a topic that is important to them.  It is an opportunity to risk, experiment and grow.  I'm excited to see what the next couple weeks bring.

Here are some potential topics we brainstormed in class:
  • Song and music video
  • Craft book
  • Autobiography
  • Photography Book
  • Story
  • Comic Book
  • Picture Book
  • Dictionary
  • Cook Book
  • Playbook
  • Invention
  • Stop Motion Video
  • Play
  • Movie
  • Artwork
  • Invent a game
  • Diorama
  • Board game
  • Videogames
  • Choreograph a Dance
  • Make a commercial
  • Website
  • PowerPoint presentations
  • Research Report
  • Design a Language
  • Sketch Comedy
  • Standup Comedy Act
 
Look at the following topic sentences.  Which ones are effective?  Which are not?  Why?
  1. Roger Williams against the Puritans.
  2. Roger Williams separated from the Puritan Church.
  3. Roger Williams was important in American history.
  4. Roger Williams was a man who wanted to give people religious freedom.
  5. Roger Williams big part in history.
  6. Roger Williams great interesting story.

Which of these are complete sentences?  Which contain the actual main point of the paragraph?
 
1.  Type out your poem.
2.  Write about what you were trying to do in your poem.  Show that you made thoughtful choices.

Here is a copy of the Poetry Reflection Guide
poetry_reflection.docx
File Size: 13 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Here is an example of what I expect you to do for your final poetry assignment.
final_poem_example.docx
File Size: 15 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

 
1.  I want to write a new poem today.

2.  I want to revise an old poem today.

3.  With ONE partner I will get feedback on my poem using the Poetry Reflection Sheet.

4.  With TWO or THREE partners I will do a writer’s workshop with my poem.
 

Friday's Schedule

12/12/2012

 
I understand two or three hours is quite a time commitment for people to make in the middle of the work day, so I'm doing my best to make a schedule for the day.  I'm positive we won't be on time exactly, but having an order of events should help a bit.  If you can only come for part, don't feel bad about that at all. :)

9:00 - Opening Ceremonies 
9:20 - First Four Design Pitches (20 minutes each)
9:20 - Massaging Backpack – Andy, Arielle, Kimmie
9:40 - Spray Paste – Zari, Kolbi, Mitchell
10:00 - Rain Clock – Abby, Jordyn
10:20 - Hetos Clothing – Braden, Avery, Nick
10:40 - Break
10:55 - Last Two Design Pitches (20 minutes each)
10:55 - Twisto Jar – Payton, Liam, Christopher
11:15 - The Hair Hero – Molly, Jaymar, Kassidy
11:35 - Closing Ceremonies
 
I don't have an exact schedule for Friday yet, but what I do know is that the presentations will start at 9 and won't go any later than noon.  I'll figure out a presentation order soon, but even then we're going to have to be pretty flexible.

Dealing with Money

12/7/2012

 
Here is a quick guide you can use to figure out how much of an investment you need to ask for from the investors.  It might sound a little complicated, but just take it one step at a time and read all the way through each sentence.

1.  How much will it cost to make your product.  A simple way to guess the cost of manufacturing is to find an inexpensive version of your design that already exists and divide its price by 4.  For example, if you see an alarm clock selling for $8, you can infer that it would cost you $2 to manufacture it yourself.

2.  How many units would you like to make?  If you decide you want to make 20,000 units, then you would multiply 20,000 times $2.  So it would cost you $40,000 to manufacture your 20,000 alarm clocks.

3.  What is your salary?  Are you going to work for free?  Will each person in your group get paid $30,000 a year?  If so, you would add 3 x $30,000, or $90,000 to what it will cost to make the product.  Or maybe you decide not to take a salary at first and get paid later with the profits.  It's a risk, but asking for less money from the investors means you get to keep a larger percentage of the profits down the road.

4.  How much will you sell one unit for?  What do your competitors charge?  What do you think people are willing to pay for your product?  Let's say you are able to sell your alarm clocks to Target for $5 each.  If you sold all of your alarm clocks that would be 20,000 x $5, or $100,000.

5.  What is your profit margin?  To find your profit margin, just take how much you can sell one alarm clock for and subtract that number from what it costs you to make.  In other words, you would would do $5 - $2 and your profit margin is $3 per unit.

6.  How much profit will you make?  We already know you made $100,000 (Gross) when you sold your alarm clocks to Target, but you don't get to keep all that money.  Remember, it cost you $40,000 to make your alarm clocks, so you have to subtract that $40,000 from $100,000.  That means you made $60,000 profit (Net).