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Welcome to my Language Arts, Social Studies & Reading page. My email address is: ballm@guilderlandschools.org .
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This page has been updated for Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - the last day of school.
What a wonderful sixth grade year! We wish the sixth graders of the Ball-Abbasi-Livingston Team a safe,
relaxing and fun summer with their families. See you in the fall!
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Quote of the Week:
If you choose not to decide, you
still have made a choice.
- Neil Peart _________________________________________________________
Language Arts/Reading Homework this Summer:
1. **Ice Cream Social for New 7th Graders this Fall!
CLICK HERE to find out how students on the Ball-Abbasi-Livingston Team can earn their invitation to the big bash on September 9th!!
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Social Studies Homework:
1.
Enjoy following media coverage of the 2008 presidential election this summer.
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Click here: BOOK GROUP for more information on our parent & student book group.
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Click Here for Previously Assigned LA & SS Homework
*** Students: If you have been absent from one of my LA, SS, or Reading classes, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
to check in with me as soon as possible to see what in-class activities & homework assignments you may have missed.
Please hand in all homework that would have been collected from you on the day you were absent as well.
***Parents: Students often use this site, but it is my expectation that they will continue
to write down homework as assigned during class in their Assignment Pads. I consider the website more as a tool for
parents to use to make sure students are staying on track with their responsibilities. Please contact me with any
questions that may arise. I try to update the site before noon each school day.
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Helpful
Links!
1) Glencoe
has an online edition of our social studies textbook.
Click below
for the link:
Journey Across Time SS textbook link
The
Student Access Code is: CFC6313850
Enjoy!
2)
For links to databases to help with research, or to check the availability of books at FMS, click on the link below:
FMS Library system
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Writing Matters: Your Writer's Notebook for the Fourth Marking Period -
It is my expectation that you write some in your writer's notebook each week. I expect that
you can write 5 pages of entries per week for most weeks. There will be some weeks when 5 pages is NOT a requirement.
5 pages = front/back/front/back/front
Do not just fill up pages for the sake
of completing a homework assignment each week. Don't fill up pages with Bob Shields-like diary entries that will
never be useful for developing thoughtful writing that matters. I'd like you to make observations and share your
thinking about your world. We will re-read entries all year long and hopefully find seeds in them, from which
other writing will blossom and flourish. We get better at writing by writing!
In addition to the entries of your choice, the following entries must be in your notebooks for the Fourth
Marking Period:
Type of Entry Assigned Date
Due
1. Look
Around the Room (& Write) 4/9
(done in class)
2.
Write off a Memory Sparker 4/10
(done in class)
3.
Write About the Stars (Planetarium Visit) 4/11
(done in class)
4. Earth Day
Writing
4/22 (done outside)
5. Create
Some Writing Prompts for the Class to Use
4/23 (done in class)
6. Response to
Student Writing Prompt
5/1 (done in class)
7. Write about
your first name & last name
5/5 (done in class)
8. Re-read Different
Entries; Write About Connections 6/2 (done in
class)
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Fourth Marking
Period WN Running Page Total:
30
full pages of entries have been assigned this marking period (Due: Fri., 6/20)
**Please number your full-page entries in the upper right hand corner of your writer's notebook.
QUOTE OF THE
DAY:
from p270, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning
of Life by Wendy Mass (2006 Little, Brown and Company)
I asked my father – your grandfather- if
someone could really predict the future. He said the future changes every day. He said we, not someone else, have the power to create our own lives. Then he told me an old folktale that I asked him to write down afterward.
Now I’m going to pass it on to you.
An old man is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One
wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity,
guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The
other wolf is greed. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness,
benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight
is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and
then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old man replied simply, “The one you
feed.”
Even as children, we have the power to create
our own lives. We choose which wolf to feed, and this creates who we become,
how we see the world, what we do with the brief amount of time allotted to us.
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