DE'WAYNE SIMPSON... FULL-TIME ACCESS

WELCOME TO A NEW YEAR AT CCMS

I AM MR. SIMPSON

...8TH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS 

2011-2012 

February 13, 2012...

November 28, 2011...

TAKE THE UNIT 3 REVIEW QUIZ

LISTEN TO THE ELEVATOR

DO THE ELEVATOR CLASSWORK

November 21, 2011...

Mod 2 and Mod 4 students should have done the vocabulary assignment for Raymond's Run over the weekend.  Mod 1 will be doing it tonight.  Just as before, for each word, they should write the following:

1. the definition given by the book
2. the sentence the word was first used in, but with the word replaced by an appropriate synonym
3. an original sentence that shows they know how to use the word correctly

This next assignment MAY be done in class for some students, but not for most.  ALL students will be graded on having this finished assignment upon return from Thanksgiving break... CLICK HERE

November 17, 2011...

CLICK HERE to go to today's iPad assignment... All of the Unit 3 Overview notes can be found here.

November 4, 2011...

This is the work for today and this weekend... CLICK HERE

November 3, 2011...

This is the first time I've updated the site since the beginning of the second quarter.  So far this week, we have been deep into the poetry lesson.  We ended the first quarter by taking a pretest on the poetry unit, taking notes on general poetry terms, and then doing a project on free verse poetry.  At the open of the second quarter, we have been working on analyzing poetry.  We have been focusing this week on Langston Hughes' Mother to Son and Gwendolyn Brooks' Speech to the Young.  (The first grade of the second quarter was the reading log due on this past Tuesday.  Several kids are still GIVING those points away.)

The following was the first in class assignment we worked on this week... CLICK HERE

The following is a possible set of correct answers for that assignment... CLICK HERE

The following is the classwork and homework from Wednesday... CLICK HERE

October 29, 2011... (I will be updating this often between now and Tuesday morning.)

At some point between now and Tuesday morning, I will be posting a list of students whose poems I would like to include in a book I plan to publish near the end of this school year.  There will be various times where I ask the kids to do creative writing pieces, and the ones that stand out I would like to include in a manuscript.  

Just a disclaimer: I am not looking to profit at all off of the kids work.  As someone who knows the joy of publishing and expressing oneself through written word, I would like to expose my students to the same feelings.  Once I have narrowed down the list of poems that I would like to include, I will publish a list of names and begin inviting those kids to stay with me before, during or after school to work on publishing their work.  Once our book is complete, it will be available for order through this website, and the kids who are published in it will be able to promote their own work.  Look forward to more information on this as time passes.

12:19PM... The first quarter grades have all been uploaded into SchoolMax.  You may go on at this time and see what will be on your child's report card for my class.  I don't know when report cards will be sent home, but by Tuesday morning, all of your kids' first quarter grades from all classes should be visible in SchoolMax.

The following students have earned A's for the first quarter in my class.  I am very proud of all of you...

• Catherine Gee
• Moka Elundu
• Muinat Lawal
• Lestra Braithwaite
• Shamoni Brown
• Abdul Kamara

11:44AM... The grades from the final project for the first quarter have been entered into SchoolMax.  You may go on to check them now... The point breakdown was as follows...

• Final Project - 300 points
• graphic organizer... 25 points (15 if not in notebook)
• top 5 ranking... 25 points (15 if not in notebook)
• five paragraphs... 50 points (40 if not in notebook)
• rough draft of poem... 50 points (40 if not in notebook) 
• sensory chart... 50 points (40 if not in notebook... minus another 10 if second step wasn't done)
• peer-review sheet... 50 points (40 if not in notebook)
• final draft... 50 points

October 26, 2011...

As most of you know, we have been working on a poetry project for a little over a week now.  I posted the entire project online, all of the instructions (in advance), as well as a copy of the exemplar for the project.  I posted everything except the example of the final poem, which I am showing in class today.  Thus far, approximately 25% of the kids in my class have been working on the project as they've been instructed.  Yesterday, we were supposed to be doing peer review; however, we were not able to because so many people did not have the minimum portion of the project that they needed to work with a partner.  I gave all of the students who were still behind a day in class (approx. an hour) and a night to catch up.  Several of them are coming in again today still behind.  There is only but so much I can do to force a child not to fail.  

The final drafts are due on Friday.  

October 17, 2011...

Today, we continued our introduction to poetry.  I only saw my Mod 2A Students due to testing schedules.  We finished taking notes on the introduction to the poetry unit found on pages 603-608.  After that, we began our heart map project.  These are the instructions as shown to the students for the Heart Map project:

1.  Draw a heart.  This represents you.  Write all of the things you love/care about in your heart.  The more important things, people, events and places should go towards the middle.  

2.  Outline your top five.  As you work on your graphic organizer, some things may later become grouped, and other things may change in ranking position. List the top five that you plan to focus on throughout your project.

3.  Write about your top 5.  Write a paragraph or more about each item in your top five, discussing your feelings about the item and why it ranked so highly on your list.  

4.  Compose your poem.  Write a poem about the things in your heart (on your heart map).  Focus on the things on your top 5 list.  

5.  Revise your poem.  Think about your five senses and figure out ways that you could describe your items and enhance the reader's perception.  (Smell, Hear, Taste, Touch and Sight)

6. Revise your poem... improvements

7. Edit your poem... corrections

8. Finalize your poem... 

* The entire project should be in your notebook.

CLICK HERE for assistance...

October 12, 2011...

I just added the Book Completion Forms to the documents for download at the bottom of this page.  Please find it helpful when a book is completed at home.

Your kids just took two tests in my class.  One covered two sets of vocabulary (10 words) and 2 news articles.  The other was a Unit 2 Pretest (the poetry unit).  Monday night, we began taking notes on poetry.  I was out with a medical emergency on Tuesday.  We continued taking notes today and discussing the new unit.  Please stay tuned for poetry assignments.  Mod 4 was not given homework.  Mod 2 was given a 2-paragraph assignement. Mod 1 was told to continue the notes taken in class...

October 5, 2011...

All three of my classes visited the library today and were given the opportunity to check out books after the library orientation was over.  This should assist them with kicking off the Home Reading portion of their grade.  No specific homework was assigned, BUT on Friday, they are having a quiz on the ten vocabulary words they have been continuously reminded to study over the past two weeks.  

October 4, 2011...

NOTE TO PARENTS:  Overall, I have not been pleased lately with any of my classes.  What I have been receiving for homework assignments has been dwindling in quantity and quality... and this is only the first quarter.  I am attempting to work with your kids as much as possible, but I cannot do this without you.  Educating a child is a triangle, and all three points must be functional.  Home and School are at the base.  When that is correct, your kids are on top.

MOD 1: They should be reading the second half of the article Zoos: Myth and Reality on page 990 and completing the 2-column chart begun in class to go with it.

MOD 2: They should be have already completed what MOD 1 is doing, and therefore should be reading the following article, Zoos Connect Us to the Natural World (pg 994).  They may see a quiz on this tomorrow.

MOD 4: They should be doing the same assignment MOD 2 is doing.

ALL MODS should be reviewing/studying the 10 vocabulary words from Over the Top and Spider-Man (these can be found on pages 891 and 901). 

September 27, 2011...

Students should either be reading, finishing or re-reading "The Spider Man Behind Spider-Man," found on page 892 of the textbook.  We previewed the text in class together.  The kids were left in groups to begin reading the story and take notes as they went along... Due to the number of kids proving that they are not reading at home, I have begun giving a short quiz after EVERY text they are instructed to read at home.  If they do not read, they will not pass.

Also, as of today, EVERY class has been given copies of the first Home-Reading Log... The first one is due on Monday, October 3rd.

The next vocabulary test the kids take will have two stories worth of words.  THEY MUST STUDY!!!  The words can be found under the heading "Vocabulary In Context" on pages 891 and 901.  There are a total of 10 words... 

September 25, 2011...

Note to Parents... I ran out of time in my first two classes and forgot to give them the Home Reading Logs.  They will bring them home tomorrow, but if you want to start now, you can download them from the bottom of this page.  4th Period students did receive their HRLs today.

September 25, 2011...

Beginning tomorrow (Monday, September 26th), ALL students in ALL mods will be responsible for a weekly home-reading log.  Students may read any book or periodical of their choice, but they are required to read something for 20 minutes or more, at least 4 nights per week.  Each student will be given a home-reading log tomorrow.  They are responsible for turning in a home-reading log on the first class day of each week.  (Therefore, if there is no school on Monday, it is due Tuesday, etc etc etc).  If for whatever reason, a student should misplace their home-reading log, a copy can be printed from the documents on the bottom of this page.

September 23, 2011...

Students took a test today. I will attempt to have all grades saved into SchoolMax by the end of the day.  If I am not successful, I promise to have them in on Monday.  This is a copy of today's test... CLICK HERE to see it.

All mods will be given the same HW assignment.  They are to read the story Over the Top on page 902 of their textbooks.  There will be a short quiz on Monday to see if they actually read (since approximately 90% of my students failed a quiz this week, proving that they have not been doing the assigned reading at home...)  They are to do their normal vocabulary assignment using the six bold, underlined words in the story (Scale, Searing, Cavernous, Straddle, Pinnacle, and Labyrinth). For each word, they should have...

•  the definition from the textbook
• the sentence from the story that used the word, rewritten with an applicable synonym
• and an original sentence that shows they understand how to use the word correctly

ATTENTION: My homeroom/4th mod students were sent home today with an Email Authorization form... This MUST be returned on Monday.  Otherwise, your child will NOT be allowed to use an iPad at all.

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I would like to take this opportunity to recognize some students (I do this from time to time, not for any particular reason).  I have SEVERAL kids who deserve recognition, unfortunately, it would defeat the purpose to recognize them all, and I want them to not only strive to be good, but to be the best.

My most outstanding students (from each class) at this time are...

• MOD 1... Catherine Gee
• MOD 2... August Gay / Jaquelyn Barrios
• MOD 4... Lestra Braithwaite

My most improved students (from each class) at this time are...

• MOD 1... N/A (some really good kids, but no one has shown me "improvement" yet)
• MOD 2... Darius Gordon
• MOD 4... Danetta Faucette

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September 22, 2011...

Students are reading a news article, Found Money, and working on the following assignment.

CLICK HERE for the article

CLICK HERE for the assignment  (I uploaded the assignment with the example answers attached.  I would like your kids to learn from my examples, but if they use my examples for their answers, they will not receive points.) 

September 19, 2011...

Students were each issued a textbook today.  There is no longer a class set of textbooks.  This means, your children's textbooks should be coming to and from school with them.

Any student who did not finish the vocabulary assignment over the weekend was reassigned that tonight.  Any student who scored less than 60% on Friday's test should have had it signed over the weekend or tonight.  

MOD 2A and 4 - should be working on writing a text connection tonight.  They should be connecting the Lincoln text to some form of prior knowledge using the notes, etc from today.  CLICK HERE to see them.

September 16, 2011...

ALL MODS - ...were given a copy of The Mysterious Mr. Lincoln today to take home and read.  They are responsible for reading it over the weekend as well as doing the vocabulary assignment that goes with it. 

There are six vocabulary words in the story.  Each is in bold print and underlined.   For each word, they are to write...

• the definition given by the book
• the sentence from the story using the vocabulary word; however, in their sentence, the vocab word should be replaced by a synonym which allows the meaning of the sentence to stay the same.
• an original sentence showing that they know how to properly use the vocabulary word on their own.

September 15, 2011...

ALL MODS - tonight, they should be studying vocabulary for their quiz tomorrow.  They should also be writing a one paragraph text-to-text connection that compares the two poems by Margaret Walker they received yesterday.

notes on How to Write a Text Connection correctly... CLICK HERE

practice assignment for vocabulary quiz... CLICK HERE

September 14, 2011...

Mod 1 - (see Mod 2/3 assignment from September 13th)

Mod 2/3 and 4 - We read the poem "I Want to Write" together as a class, broke it down line by line, and attempted to gain a better than good understanding of the poem.  For homework, they are supposed to revisit the second poem, "Sit-Ins," and do the same thing in their notebooks.  They should write what they get from...

• the picture
• lines 1 and 2
• lines 3 and 4
• lines 5 and 6
• lines 7 and 8
• lines 9 and 10
• the overall poem 

ALL MODS - should still be studying the vocabulary words from "My First Free Summer" ...TEST FRIDAY!!! 

September 13, 2011...

Mod 1 - should be bringing tests home tonight, studying vocabulary words* for Friday, and a note to be signed by a parent regarding this week's Back to School Night (Thursday, 6-8pm)

Mod 2/3 - should be bringing home copies of two Margaret Walker poems.  They should be writing a BCR for each of them, showing a connection between "How Can We Fight Injustice" (which we read in class today) and each of the two poems.  There should be a separate one-paragraph answer written in their notebooks for each poem.

Mod 4 - should be bringing home copies of two Margaret Walker poems.  They should be writing a BCR for each of them, showing a connection between "How Can We Fight Injustice" (which we read in class today) and each of the two poems.  There should be a separate one-paragraph answer written in their notebooks for each poem. AND, they should have a Back to School Night letter to be signed for credit.

*CLICK HERE to see the study notes for the current vocabulary words

September 12, 2011...

There will be a vocabulary quiz this Friday on the following words which we've looked at already (replete, contradiction, interrogation, unravel, summon) and POSSIBLY the six words from out upcoming story (IF we get to it by Wednesday as planned).

CLICK HERE to see the open-book quiz your kids took in my class on Friday (or Monday for some).  If your child did not do as well as they think they should have done, they can do the following assignment to add SOME points to their grade:

Write a 5-paragraph essay, on loose-leaf paper, due Monday.  Each paragraph should be approximately 5-8 sentences.  The five paragraphs should follow the following outline:

• introduction - speak in general about why it's important to you to be a great student and a great reader.
• discuss the things that great readers do (before during and after reading)
• discuss in general why you think great readers don't always read the same types of literature
• discuss some of the different genres of literature that you like most (any genre you discuss should be explained well enough for me to understand what it is)
• conclusion - what you feel you need to do in order to be a better reader

September 9, 2011...

Good afternoon parents (and students).  There was no homework assigned for my class over the weekend.  However, the kids did take an open-book test in my class today.  I would put the test on the website, but one of my three classes has not taken it yet.  When I update the site on Monday, there will be a copy of the test uploaded.  Also, the grades will be in SchoolMax NO LATER THAN the close of business on Monday.  If your child does not have an A, please ask them to justify it because the only thing tested was the notes that I gave them to copy into their notebooks, and the test allowed for them to use their notebooks.

Also, within the next couple of weeks, there will be a home reading log sent home with each child, and they will be required to turn them in on Monday of each week.  There will be no points given if the paper is not signed by a parent or guardian.  They will be required to read for 20 minutes at a time, 4 or more times per week.  The sheet will be due on the first class day of every week.  The only reason I haven't started this already is because I wanted to get them into the routine of doing this in class first.  It seems that they are all successfully involved in this process, and we are now ready to move on.

One final note.  Textbooks arrived today; therefore, they should be coming home early next week.  At this time, I do not have enough books to give each child one AND have a class set.  IN OTHER WORDS, they will have to cart their books to and from school until we have enough to put an end to that practice.  I wish there was another way, but at this time, this is what we must do.

September 7, 2011...

Dear parents... just so you know, we have officially begun working in the textbooks now, in all classes.  At this time, we have not been issued enough textbooks for each student to have their own, so we only use our class set, which means you won't see them at home.  As soon as I am issued copies for students, I will make an announcement on here, and you should see them at home.  Once they get home, they stay home, until they are turned in.  They should not be carted back and forth to school, and your children should never have an excuse about why they don't have it.

Over the past weekend, I assigned each child to do a freewriting assignment in their journals. They were supposed to write one full paragraph about any subject of their choice (as long as it was nothing inappropriate) and title it "Sample Writing Comp."  The reason for this is so that I will have a writing sample to work with during our one-on-one conferences, which began in class this week.

Your child's notebook should have a great deal of work in it already.  We have taken a lot of notes and done a few practice assignments.  Their notebooks should be going to and from school on a daily basis, and even when no other homework is assigned, they should be reviewing and studying.

AND... for those of you interested, this will be the classwork assignment for students in my 2nd and 4th period classes on Thursday (CLICK HERE).  My 1st period class is one day behind because of the code of conduct assembly.  BUT, they will be doing the same thing on Friday.

September 1, 2011...

Today, we continued looking through the genres of literature focused on throughout the 8th grade year.  Tomorrow, we will be discussing the inner voice readers must have and use in order to enjoy what they read and get the most out of it.  We will be discussing QUESTIONING, CLARIFYING (making inferences), PREDICTING, VISUALIZING and SUMMARIZING

August 31, 2011...

In class today, we talked about various genres of literature and took notes on each one individually.  My notes, from which theirs were taken, are published on this site.  CLICK HERE to see them.

Also, a letter will go home tomorrow that MUST be signed and returned for a grade. It is very important to the development of this class. CLICK HERE to see a copy of the letter.

August 26, 2011...

In class today, we talked about emotions, feelings and how writers intentionally draw these things from their readers.  We gave examples of how a writer could use his words to make a reader feel happiness, sadness, suspicion, anger, fear, etc.  

The homework for this weekend is for the kids to write a brief news article, talking about what it was like to experience an earthquake.  Their goal is to choose an emotion and then write their articles in a way that will make the readers feel that emotion.  The will be reading them aloud to the class, so you may want to have them practice with you at home over the weekend.

Also, we are expecting a hurricane this weekend.  There is no reason why that could not be included in the students' articles should they desire to use it.  This is the first full homework assignment I have sent home.  I am looking forward to seeing what my students produce.

August 25, 2011...

For Washington Area, First An Earthquake, Next A Hurricane

Several students were given an assignment to come to the website tonight and read an article from the Washington Post about the earthquake that hit our area on Tuesday.  Click on the title above to go directly to the article. There is no written assignment, but I expect kids to be able to talk about the article in class tomorrow.  The more they can show verbally that they are doing the work, the less written work I have to give.  BUT, if I see from classroom conversation that this doesn't work, then I will have to assign more written assignments. 

August 22, 2011...

Your child should come home today with a Welcome Back letter.  Please read the letter, sign and return the bottom portion, and most importantly, contact me if you have any questions or concerns to discuss with me.

Another quick note, I am in the process of converting all of my online documents (or at least as many as possible) to PDF files.  I hope this is helpful to everyone.

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Below, you will find generic items that I leave up from year to year that should help your child with various assignments and practice work.  Please utilize them as much as possible and let me know should you think of anything helpful that I could add to the site.