Today we will continue to review and practice how to properly format MLA in-text citations. As we have previously discussed, citations are essential in order to avoid plagiarism and provide authors with credit for their ideas and information.
Category Archives: Grade 8
Grades 6-8: COVIDcation Writing Activity (Due: Friday 1/8)
Welcome back OJCS Middle School Students! I hope you had an enjoyable winter break. We will begin the new year with a writing activity about the break.
Click the link below to access our assignment:
Helpful writing tools:
Free Verse Poem Graphic Organizer
Paragraph Writing Graphic Organizer
Grades 6-8: Digital Citizenship/Media Literacy Nearpod Lessons
This week we will begin exploring a series of interactive Nearpod lessons that revolve around digital citizenship and media literacy. These interactive experiences were created by our incredible librarian Brigitte! Today we will be focusing on in-text citations and bibliographies. Students can revisit this information at any time independently as well!
The links to these experiences can be found in the Google Slideshow below:
Grades 6-8: The OJCS Reading Challenge Returns!
Each middle school class will compete in the 2020-2021 OJCS Reading Challenge. The reading challenge runs from December 8th, 2020 to May 3rd, 2021. Students will choose books that are interesting, grade-level appropriate, and fall within their ZPD. If students need help choosing a “just right” book…just ask Mr. Wash. Audiobooks, graphic novels, and books in other languages will also count for this challenge (please ensure the review is written in English).
Each class will set a reading goal…which they are encouraged to exceed!
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- If the class reaches their goal → they will earn a movie party with popcorn and snacks
- The middle school class that reads the most amount of books will also earn a sports day
How will we know who wins?
After students have completed a novel, they will need to write a review in their reading challenge document. Please follow the format that is provided in the Google Doc below. A book will only count towards our class total after the review has been written!
Must read and create at least three book reviews by Monday, March 2nd, 2021
Click the link below to make a personalized copy of the book review reading challenge log:
Book Review Reading Challenge Log
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- After you make a copy, please rename the document.
Ex: Michael’s Reading Log
2. Save the document to the Google Drive Folder that was shared with you yesterday
Grades 6-8: Holiday Letters for Canadian Armed Forces
As we prepare for a day of distance learning tomorrow, students will engage in a meaningful letter writing exercise. Students are being tasked with creating holiday letters for soldiers that are deployed overseas. Our goal is to show our appreciation and spread holiday joy. This activity will be explained in person today, but students will work on this at home during class time tomorrow.
This activity embodies our Jewish values (gemilut hasadim) and our North Stars (each person is responsible for the other).
Each letter will include the following information:
- A brief introduction about yourself (name, age, school)
- Some hobbies, activities, and interests that you enjoy (sports, clubs, instruments, volunteering, etc.)
- Expressions of gratitude
- Thank them for their service
- Wish them a happy holiday
- Offer words of appreciation
Your letter should be at least two paragraphs
Each letter should also include visuals (these could be hand-drawn or computer-generated)
CAF Letter Template
Grade 8: Thesis Statement Practice Part 2
Over the course of the past few weeks, our class has been developing thesis statements. Students are examining the essential components of a thesis statement. Today, students will receive another packet with a variety of practice activities. The purpose of these activities is to foster the creation, analysis, and refinement of various thesis statements. As we look forward to our research writing unit, students will spend a lot of time developing thesis statements.
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Open in new tab Grades 6-8: OJCS Virtual Book Fair (November 30th-December 11th)
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Grades 6-8: Read and Write Assistive Technology
This week Mr. Kom will be running a seminar for each cohort about the Read & Write program. This assistive technology extension can be used to boost reading and writing confidence. By the end of the week, each student will have the Read and Write extension downloaded on their Google Chrome Web Browser.
This program includes:
- Text-to-speech to hear words, passages, or whole documents read aloud with easy-to-follow dual color highlighting
- Text and picture dictionaries to see the meaning of words explained
- With speech-to-text, dictate words to assist with writing, proofreading & studying
- Word prediction offers suggestions for the current or next word as you type
- Collect highlights from the text in documents or the web for summarizing and research
- Create and listen to voice notes directly inside of Google Docs
- Simplify and summarize text on web pages to remove ads and other copy that can be distracting
Click the link below to access Mr. Kom’s presentation:
Grade 8: Thesis Statements
This week we will diving into thesis statements. Students will be analyzing the various components of a strong thesis statements. We will be using a variety of handouts and exercises to skill build the essential components of an argumentative thesis statement. We will be spending a fair amount of time developing the foundation of a proper thesis statement
Handout #1
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Handout #2
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Handout #3
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Handout #4
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Grade 8: Research Writing/Thesis Creation Unit
Today we will begin a new unit revolving around research writing and thesis creation. Students will be practicing/mastering how to write a formal thesis statement.
Check out our Google Slides Presentation for reminders, notes, and examples: