Monday, September 7, 2009

Tone & Mood (Reading Class)

We will be discussing Tone & Mood on Monday & Tuesday. The link below is helpful in understanding mood & tone:

http://www.authorstream.com/presentation/ttravis-57906-Mood-Tone-Moods-Positive-or-Negative-Writer-Create-Images-Surro-Education-ppt-powerpoint/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDUhDV-72S0&feature=PlayList&p=466E771C495556AA&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=44

Make sure to review the notes on Short Story Elements and be prepared for a quiz on Thursday. You should be able to list all 5 elements of short stories and break element #1 (plot) into it's main parts. You will have to label the parts of plot on a diagram. Review your notes from Friday (9/4/09)

5 Short Story Elements:
  • Plot
  • Characters
  • Setting
  • Point of View
  • Theme

Tuesday & Wednesday in Reading Class

Students will take their Reading Benchmark tests on Tuesday and Wednesday. Make-ups will be Thursday. All tests must be completed by Thursday afternoon. Benchmark tests are important because the results indicate what each student needs help with in order to pass the TAKS. Teachers don't know how to help you prepare if you don't do your best on the Benchmarks.

Come to class prepared with pencils and a clear mind, so you can do your best on the Benchmark!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Extra Credit for Reading Class

Students,

If you want extra credit in your reading class, ask your parents to send an email to Ms. McDaniels at mmcdaniels@mesquiteisd.org. The email MUST contain your name (the KMS student) in the subject line in order to receive five extra points on your newspaper assignment. The email must be sent before 9/10/09.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Thursday, September 3, 2009

AR and Lone Star Books

AR stands for Accelerated Reader, and most of the books in the KMS library are AR books. You can always tell if a book is AR because there will be a yellow sticker on the spine. The yellow sticker will have a number on it. The number on the yellow sticker shows how many points you will earn if you take the AR Quiz and score a 100.

After you read a book, you should ask your teacher to take the AR Quiz on the computer. You will get a grade and a certain number of points based on how many questions you answer correctly. Your grade will be sent to the librarian (on the computer), and she will give
your teacher a list of all of your AR grades at the end of each six weeks. Those grades will be averaged together to count as a test grade in reading class. By the way, you don't have to print the test or turn anything in. Just log off after the test.

Most AR quizzes have 10 questions, but the quizzes for longer books have 20 questions. You can read as many books as you want and take as many AR quizzes as you want during the 6 weeks, but you MUST earn at least 5 AR points per six weeks. Each six weeks, you can:
  • read one book worth 5 or more points
  • choose to read several shorter books worth fewer points that total up to 5
If your book is only worth 5 points and you don't score 100% on the test, you will need to read another book and take another test to make sure your total is above 5 points for the six weeks. Therefore, you should earn your 5 points early in the six weeks, so you have time to read additional books in case you need to bring your total up or improve your test average.

If you earn 20 AR points within a six weeks period, you will receive an AR card, which means you will have an "untuck day" or a "jean day" around the end of each 6 weeks. In addition to an "untuck" or "jean day," you will also receive a small prize, such as a locker mirror or coupon, each six weeks you earn 20 points. If you earn 120 points by the end of the year (check with Ms. Jayroe for the exact cutoff date), you will get to go on a field trip to Incredible Pizza.

Lone Star books are basically the "Top 20" or favorite books for the year. All Lone Star books are on the AR list. If you read at least five Lone Star books during the year, you will also get to go on a field trip to Celebration Station at the end of the year. You must pass the AR quiz on each of the 5 Lone Star books to go on the field trip.

Please visit the following link to see a brief video about the current Lone Star books:
http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=117031

Please review this video tutorial before asking to take an AR test in the classroom.


  • Learn your Student ID (you need it to log in to the computer)
  • Learn your combination to your locker
  • Learn your cafeteria pin for the lunch room

Reading Activities for 9/3/09

In reading class today, the students turned in:
  • newspaper project
  • Smelly Feat questions from p. 64-65 from the book
  • Words, Words, Words worksheet on vocabulary and prefixes/suffixes
*7th period ran out of time and did not turn in the above assignments. Those assignments will be turned in tomorrow (Friday) for 7th period.

We also discussed the process of checking out a library book from Ms. McDaniels' library in 4th, 5th, 7th & 8th periods. We will discuss this in 2nd period tomorrow.

We will review the elements of short stories and watch the video about short stories in class on Friday.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

University Village Teachers' Email Addresses

If you would like to reach one of your child's teachers, please feel free to reference the list below to find the email address. This is the best way to communicate with us. Also, please continue to visit our blog, since we will try to keep important announcements posted here.

mmcdaniels@mesquiteisd.org
bhaar@mesquiteisd.org
mjohnson@mesquiteisd.org
mwilliams@mesquiteisd.org
rwashington@mesquiteisd.org