Formal Research Paper

This week we are starting our Formal Research Paper!  Each student is to choose an animal found in North America to research for this paper.  In class, I shared a great site that had numerous animals listed.  If you would like to go back to that site, here it is! :)  http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/namerica.htm

Each student received the requirements for this paper on a nice blue/green sheet of paper.  Please do not lose this paper!  By next week, please give me your topic.  When you choose your animal, be specific.  For example, if you would like to research the fox, tell me which one....red fox?  Arctic fox?  Once you choose your animal, you need to find at least four sources to help you with your research.  You need to have one internet source, one book, one reference, and another source of your choice (another internet source, another book, etc...).  Be sure to bring your sources with you next week for me to see.  Plus, we will start writing our Thesis (Topic Sentence) and creating our outline. 

If any of this is unclear, please do not hesitate to e-mail me! 

My Side of the Mountain Activity 4--Due 1/24,26

In class today we learned a lot about Henry David Thoreau.  What a fascinating man!  What I would like you to do now is peruse the website we glanced at in class today and find FIVE interesting facts about Thoreau.  Please write the interesting facts down in your My Side of the Mountain Notebook for Activity 4.

Henry David Thoreau

Once you have found your FIVE interesting facts and have recorded them in your notebook, please continue working on the rest of Activity 4.  Read the passge in your notebook, then answer the following question:

In what ways does this description remind you of Sam?

You are to answer this question in at least 5 complete sentences and post it on your individual blog (click on the link from this blog for your class) and be sure to title your post "Thoreau".

Week of January 3/5

I can't believe that it is already 2012.  I hope you all had a fanastic break and are ready to tackle the rest of the year! :)

Today in class we began our second novel of the year...My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.  We had a great time learning about the author and the setting of the novel.  We visited the author's website and learned a ton!  Feel free to go back and review what we learned, or learn more.    Please visit:  www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com

For writing, we finished up the last components of Expository Writing today.  For a final assessment, each student is to write an 11-sentence paragraph and the topic is: Jean Craighead George.  So if you did not take good notes in class or do not remember enough information to write an amazing paper, please go back and visit the website to learn more.

Check your newsletters for this weeks homework.  Welcome back...I'm glad to get into the swing of things again.  Happy 2012!