Jo Ann,

The is a great site with wonderful resources and links! The
teacher guide is going to be very helpful to me. Thanks!

Krys

On 9/02/09, Jo Ann wrote:
> Hi Krys,
>
> Congratulations on your new job. It can indeed seem
> overwhelming to try to fit in everything when teaching
> language arts.
>
> To brush up on your grammar skills, please visit my website,
> grammargator.com. There is a big red button on the homepage
> that lets you instantly download a free 30 page Teachers'
> Guide to Grammar.
>
> Next, you are definitely on the right track with your idea to
> incorporate grammar instruction in your novel units. To do
> this, also on my website are Grammar Guides to many popular
> young adult novels. They use sentences from the novels
> themselves to teach 12 key grammar skills for middle
> schoolers, while reinforcing reading comprehension at the
> same time. If you plan to do literature circles, students can
> be reading different books yet still learning the same
> grammar skills in context.
>
> Good luck in the new school year!
>
> Jo Ann
>
>
>
> On 9/01/09, Krys wrote:
>> This is my first year teaching Gr 7 Language Arts and I am
>> excited, but I do feel out of my element, as my comfort is
>> Math (which I also get to teach this year). I have only 21
>> students as of right now and we start next week. I have
>> gone back and forth about how to set up my actual teaching
>> time for LA. I'll do reading here...for this long.. teach
>> this Write Trait...do this vocabulary activity...I have a
>> lot of ideas (many from these chatboards - thank you) but
>> I do have a mathematical brain and so I'm trying to figure
>> out a method to teach LA that makes sense to me and
>> therefore the students. We do have 3 themes to cover - so
>> one per term makes sense to me...I have a tentative plan
>> to "cover" the 6 Traits of writing so that we can use the
>> language and the skills to improve our writing...But how
>> much time do you set aside for grammar? Spelling? I was
>> thinking about incorporating both into our novel studies
>> and theme work, especially since there is no "Speller"
>> persay for Grade 7. I'd also like them to have time to read
>> independently, something of their choice...I want to do a
>> read aloud...We'll be reading novels, short stories,
>> newspaper articles as appropriate, poetry...we have certain
>> forms of writing to cover: friendly letter, opinion piece,
>> review, autobiography...etc. etc. How do you plan your year
>> to make you get everything covered? (I'm also in PEI,
>> Canada and we have to "high stakes, standardized tests,
>> persay - so that's a comfort as far as covering everything
>> goes...not the same type of pressure...)
>>
>> Another related question...literature circles? Do you do
>> them? Do you like them? How do you manage and organize them
>> effectively, so that the curriculum is met, and chaos does
>> not ensue?
>>
>> Lastly, I was told that there are no stupid questions...so
>> here goes: What's sentence diagramming? I was not taught
>> grammar directly EVER and my degrees are not in English.
>> These boards say that it is very worthwhile and I know that
>> I could google it - but you are the experts...so...I assume
>> the sentences are deconstructed...nouns, verbs, articles
>> etc. identified perhaps? How do you suggest doing this
>> effectively, while keeping Grade 7s engaged and also,
>> having them believe that they really do "have to know this"?
>>
>> Thanks in advance!
>>
>> Krys

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