We are more than half way through the Outsiders and things have gotten intense. You are no longer a Grade 7 OJCS student. You have been hired by “The Times” to report and write on one of the main events that have taken place in our novel thus far. Check out your assignment sheet for precise direction and possible topics. All articles will be published in our classroom newspaper.
Category Archives: Grade 7
Grade 7 – The Outsiders
Hi Grade 7! Let’s do the time warp back to the 60s…Mr. P’s time. What was life like? What kind of music did teens listen to? What was the political climate like in the US? What did teens do in their spare time? What were some of their worries? Are they similar to our (teen) worries today? What about social class and gangs? Was there a division? Did this impact teens socially? Did they overcome it? How? Today you had an opportunity to do a digital scavenger hunt throughout the 60s and we listened to an epic 60s playlist to set the mood and get extra inspo. Tomorrow we will begin working on our group research project to be even more in the “60s know”.
Thank you
A huge shout out and thank you to team OJCS and all of our extra special OJCS volunteers who showed up ready to help and ride today. You made us very proud! 
Grade 7 – Let’s get it started
Welcome back! Today in class we will go over the routines and procedures for a successful year. I will remind you how to work and organize your Google drives, blogs and other necessities. If time allows we may even put the pedal to the metal with your very first writing assignment. This hasn’t been assigned yet, so stay tuned for the actual due date. I have utmost faith in each and every one of you. I know you will read the directions thoroughly, consider your writing and of course proofread. Show me what you’re made of….GO!
Grade 6, 7 and 8: Reminder! Pink Shirt Day Tomorrow
***Red, white and pink shirts are all acceptable!
Grade 7: Narrative Writing
Over the last number of weeks, the grade 7 students have been preparing to write their final narrative in Language Arts. The process has been a little different this time, as each element of the story arc has been really broken down and developed.
We started by creating story arcs for our narratives (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). Then, we looked at various short stories as mentor texts to focus in on leads, point of view, setting, figurative language, transitions and endings. Students have even already written their leads and endings, so all that’s left to do is fill in the middle!
We will be spending the next week working on this in class, starting with the rough draft. Students will have 4 class periods (Dec 7, 8, 9 and 13) to finish up their rough draft. We will then spend 2 classes editing and peer-editing (Dec. 14 and 15), culminating with our publishing party on December 16!
These narratives can be anywhere between 2 – 5 pages long, and must include these elements, as outlined on the rubric:
- A strong lead
- A problem that builds though multiple examples
- A clear climax
- Multiple details that then lead to the resolution
- A strong ending
- Dialogue
- Strong vocabulary
- Proper spelling, grammar and punctuation
Here is a quick 2 page example of what the narratives can look like.
We will also be using this student checklist to ensure we’re included everything, and will use the list below to check our work before submitting.
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Open in new tab I can’t wait to read the final products!
Grades 6 – 8 – You Say Chanukah, I say Hanukkah
Next week launches the fun of (C)Han(n)uk(k)a(h)….no matter how you spell it!
We have a full week of celebrations, and can’t wait to participate in some with our whole community! Please take a look at the posters below to see how you can add to our festivities.
Grammar Bootcamp is On!
Over the last number of classes, both grades 7 and 8 have been workin’ up a sweat and stretching their minds (and sentences) as we learn some important new grammar rules and terms. And what bootcamp experience would be complete without sweatbands??
In grade 7, students have engaged in friendly competition, reviewing coordinating conjunctions, dependent conjunctions, prepositions, interjections, subjective, objective and possessive pronouns, past, present and future perfect verbs, as well as examining illogical shifts in person and number. You can thank me later when they all use “me” and “I” correctly (fingers crossed).
In grade 8, the focus has been on independent and dependent clauses, which then led us into simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, gerunds, infinitives, and participles, and various types of mood, such as indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional and subjunctive (say that 5 times fast).
I can’t wait to see all this grammar in action in our writing throughout the year!
Two Exciting Events
We have two amazing upcoming events we want to share with you.
First, next Friday, September 24th, will be our first Dress Down Day! It also happens to be our anual Terry Fox Run. Therefore, all funds collected from the day will be donated to the Terry Fox Foundation. Please remember to bring in your donation.
The second event is called Clean the Capital! OJCS has partnered with JNF Ottawa for World Clean-Up Day. On Sunday, October 3rd from 1-3 PM OJCS families are encouraged to sign up to help clean our OJCS and JCC campus. Sign up is limited to 25 people so sign up quickly at this link. Let’s keep our space clean!
Grade 7 and 8: Reading Challenge
Today marked the launch of our brand new Reading Challenge for grades 7 and 8. To learn more about it, check out this page, which can also be found under Important Documents in our menu above.
Kidaha / Pixabay
Instead of getting a prescribed challenge from me, students were able to build their own grid, using categories and genres that interested them! I can’t wait for them to explore new topics and fall in love with reading even more!
Over the next few weeks, students will continue to learn more about this task, but for now, they all must choose their first book to read, and bring it to school for Friday, September 17th.
Shabbat Shalom 🙂