Mr. Ford's Page

All About Reading - Read All About It!

Welcome to Mr. Ford's Grade 6 Reading page. This page is intended to be a resource for students and parents. Last updated: June 5, 2009 @ 2:15PM. (Next update anticipated: June 12, 2009)

Class Notes

Grading Policy

Unit Information

Homework Information

E-Mail

ONLINE GRADES
Grades were updated on June 1. Graded work was also sent home with students on that day. Grades are updated approximately every two weeks; graded work is sent home when grades are updated. Recent online grade updates have been posted on: 5/13, 5/6, 4/21, 3/27, 3/4, 2/24. There will one more update at the end of the year.

OUR FINAL PROJECT

We've been working on our final project - a comic strip summary of our current classroom novels. We introduced the project on Monday, June 1, and the students have been doing great work this week. We've found the most imporant details in each chapter, and now we're narrowing that list as we choose the most significant story elements. This week we'll begin to create the visual part of this project. All comic strips are due on Friday, June 12. Please be aware that some of the final artwork might need to be done at home, but we have been devoting plenty of class time to this project. More information about this project (including a downloadable template) is available in the Unit section below.

WEB GEM
Our final web gem of the year has been "hidden" somewhere on this page. OK, it's not really so hard to find, but it is here. You have a lot going on this week with assessments and projects, so I thought I'd make this one somewhat easy for you. Sure, you'll have to do something extra, but you'll also have to do nothing at all. Confused?

HOMEWORK UPDATE
A OPTIONAL reading calendar is due on Friday, June 12. Every homework assignment is still significant, and choosing the right option might help your grade. Just a couple more weeks to go, so give your best effort!

LATE WORK DEADLINE
All late and missing assignments must be on Mr. Ford's desk no later than Wednesday, June 3. Be responsible and check your binder (or your desk at home, or under your bed, or in your dog's food dish...) for any unfinished or ungraded work. If you don't turn it in by Wednesday, it will not be graded.

Class Notes

REVISION POLICY WILL CEASE AFTER OUR OUTDOOR ED TRIP. UNTIL MAY 13, 2009: Students may revise CLASSWORK assignments that have a score of 75% or lower. Such assigments will be sent home to be signed by parents. Please note that any classwork assignment with a grade of 75% or lower may be revised after a parent has signed it. A place for a parent signature might not be indicated on each assignment, but the option to revise the work still remains. Students will need to return the original assignment with a parent signature in order for the revised work to be accepted. All revisions need to be completed within one week of being sent home for the parent signature. The grade of the revised assignment will be averaged with the grade of the original assignment. Any assignment not revised within one week will be given the original grade. An exception to the revision policy: assignments that have received a grade of 75% or lower because of lateness will not be considered for revision if the original grade would have been higher than 75%.

DOCUMENT ARCHIVE: This section will be updated periodically and will include links to PDF versions of some of the documents used in class. If you need an extra copy of something, simply click on the document name. A PDF document will appear on your screen for you to print.

Reading Calendar - due most weeks; check Homework section

Reading Class Policy Letter - given 08.27; due 08.28

4th Quarter Project: As you might have read at the top of this page, we are creating "comic strip" summaries of our novels for our final project of the year. It's a fun project because of the artsy side of it, but it's a real challenge to summarize a story in just nine small boxes. This is a great way to show off your ability to tell a story in its simplest form.

Students have been informed about the expectations for this project, but you may want to have a copy of the guidelines at home. Click on this sentence to get those guidelines (including due dates).

All students will need to print a copy of the template for their final comic. Click on this sentence to download a copy of the template.

Reading calendars are OPTIONAL THIS WEEK. The next (and final) due date for the reading calendar: Friday, June 12. Because you might need to devote your time to your comic project, this week's calendar is optional. However, if you feel that your grade needs a final boost before the year ends, this calendar will help. Also, this week's calendar IS your web gem. Simply by turning in a calendar and giving that extra effort, you'll have 5 bonus points added to your score.

When a Reading Calendar is due, remember to read AT LEAST 4 NIGHTS, as the directions on the Reading Calendar indicate. To avoid running 150 copies of the calendar here each week, I'm asking students to print a reading calendar from this site. To get a copy of the calendar online, please click here. You'll see a PDF version that you can print at home. If you can't (or choose not to) print your calendar, you may write one by hand. The most important thing is to make sure you turn one in!

Vocabulary homework this week: VOCABULARY STUDY IS DONE FOR THE YEAR.

For our lesson week routine, write a developed/detailed sentence for each of your words. (Writing the definition is optional, but you still need to look up the word to know what it means.) When doing your usual homework, remember to look up the definitions, and create your own homework sentences with explicit details.

Lesson #17 (Pd. 1, 2, 3) and #16 (Pd. 4 & 6) homework was due Friday, May 8.

FOR PERIODS 1-2-3: The theme for Lesson #17 is MUSIC AND SOUND and the words are: ballad (n.), choral (adj.), lyrics (n.), opera (n.), resonant (adj.), rhythmically (adv.), serenade (n. AND v.), shrill (adj.), symphony (n.), vocal (adj.).

FOR PERIODS 4 and 6: The theme for Lesson #16 isANIMALS. The roots for the week's words are FELIS (Latin, meaning "cat"), LEO and LEON (Latin and Greek respectively, meaning "lion"),PISCIS (Latin, meaning "fish"), PORCUS (Latin, meaning "swine, pig, hog"), SERPENS (Latin, meaning "serpent, snake"), SIMIA (Latin, meaning "monkey, ape"), URSA (Latin, meaning "bear"), and ZOION/ZOA (Latin, meaning "living being" or "animal"). The NINE words are: feline (n. AND adj.), leonine (adj.), lionize (tr. v.), piscine (adj.), porcine (adj.), serpentine (adj.), simian (adj.), ursine (adj.), zoology.

Lesson #18 (Pd. 1, 2, 3) and #15 (Pd. 4 & 6) homework was due Friday, May 1.

FOR PERIODS 1-2-3: The theme for Lesson #18 was LITERATURE and the words were: autobiography (n.), biography (n.), flashback (n.), folklore (n.), genre (n.), metaphor (n.), onomatopoeia (n.), prose (n.), proverb (n.), simile (n.).

FOR PERIODS 4 and 6: The theme for Lesson #15 wasANIMALS. The roots for the week's words were APIS (Latin, meaning "bee"), AVIS (Latin, meaning "bird"), BOS/BOVIS (Latin, meaning "cow, ox"), CANIS (Latin, meaning "dog"), CAPER (m.)/CAPRA (f.) (Latin, meaning "goat"), and EQUUS (Latin, meaning "horse"). The TEN words were: apiary (n.), aviary (n.), bovine (adj.), canine (n. AND adj.), caper (n. AND intr. v.), caprice (n.), capricious (adj.), equine (adj.), equitation (n.), equestrian (adj. AND n.).

Please note that homework will typically be checked at the end of each week. Students will be expected to show/turn in completed reading calendars and vocabulary journals at that time. All homework may be turned in one day late for half credit, but after that time homework is considered to be incomplete and the student will earn a grade of zero for that assignment.