Proclamation to the Realm! - House t-shirts are now available!

T-shirts have been designed for all the Houses of the Realm! You may have seen Mr. Rouch and Mr. Collins today sporting their special Realm shirts. The design pictured below is for House Scirocco, however each house has its own design, based on this layout with the initial on the front left chest and the House name and symbol boldly displayed across the back. For only $7.00 you can literally wear your House pride all over campus! Order forms will be available from either Mr. Rouch or Mr. Collins starting Monday, November 5th. Some great events are planned and you will want your house to look it's best! Imagine being in a sea of Tramontane Navy Blue, Ponente Forest Green, Vibrant Scirocco Gold, or Deep Ostro Burgundy. The feeling you will get as a part of that group cannot be matched! Make plans to pick up an order form on Monday, and prepare to join the ranks of other citizens of the Realm who embody true spirit and pride!
Scirocco Shirts

Trimester 1 Final Review

Howdy ya'll,

If you're up late thinking about tomorrow's final, check out these three links to help prepare yourself:

Different Types of Nouns

Reading Comprehension Strategies

Character/Theme/Plot/Conflict/Setting/Point of View

Good luck, and may the winds be forever at your back!

iPod nano Troubleshooting

Understanding informational text can be very important in the real world.  For example, pretend you're having trouble with your new iPod nano.  Where are you going to look?

Use Apple's iPod nano User Guide to answer the following questions (scroll to page 56 for the Tips and Troubleshooting section):

1. What 5 basic suggestions should you try one at a time if you're having a problem with your iPod nano?
2. What should you do if your iPod isn't playing music, but you've already checked to make sure the volume is adjusted properly?
3. If your music stops playing when the iPod nano screen turns off, what should you check?

iPod Nano User Guide - Troubleshooting

Tower of Cards Winner!

We had a tie for the tallest tower of cards built in Mr. Rouch's class.  However, both teams were from House Tramontane, so House T will be getting the 50 bonus beans.  Congrats guys and gals!

Informational Text - How to Build a Tower of Cards

Before next week's final, we'd like to shift our focus to a special type of nonfiction writing called informational text.  As you may have guessed from its name, the purpose of informational text is to inform the reader about something -- like a schedule of movie showtimes, a menu, a scientific article, or instructions for how to perform a task.

For Friday's class, we will be exploring informational text by following the instructions linked below:

How to Build a Tower of Cards: 7 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow

After you've followed the directions and built your tower of cards, take a picture of it and email it to us at collinsrouch@gmail.com so we can see how well you've done.  The house with the tallest tower will get 50 bonus beans -- but you must have the picture to prove it!

The "Best First Impression" Award Winner!

So, Mr. Collins wasn't in his classroom today which gave all the citizens of the Realm a wonderful opportunity to make a first impression on our initial guest teacher of the year in Rm. 24, Mr. Vazquez.

In order to help everyone put his or her best foot forward and represent Mr. Collins and Mr. Rouch, him or herself, and the Realm of the Four Winds with honor and dignity, a prize of 50 Bonus Beans will be awarded to the House that has made the best first impression!

Thanks to a combination of some great choices and Mr. Vazquez's keen observations, we now have a winner! Congratulations go out to House Scirocco who had no fewer than three periods earning top rankings throughout the day!

Thank you for representing your House, your teachers, and yourselves well!  You have earned the gratitude of the entire Realm.

Until the next,
RC

Western Spaghetti

After taking the Amigo Brothers test, check out this very creative short video by filmmaker PES, called Western Spaghetti.

Once you've checked out the vid, fill out the form below with your choice of:

Option A) 3 sentences describing the video that use any of the vocab words from Lessons 1 through 8

--OR--

Option B) 5 word parts that would fit this video and why you chose them

Note: Once you have filled out the form, press SUBMIT one time.

Cavaliers Finale 200 - Winner!

Well, the comments have been tallied, and the results are in!

And the winner is...House Tramontane! The mighty polar bears from the Arctic started with a flurry of awesome observations, but slowed the pace to let the other houses back in, only to finish with a final push to seal the victory!  50 Bonus Beans are yours!

They used 40 vocabulary words scattered throughout their creative and insightful sentences and also demonstrated a positive team spirit!  Congratulations, Tramontane!  

All citizens of the Realm...keep an eye out for the next challenge and maybe you too can share in the glory of achievement!

Literary Conflict

Check out a short video and today's notes about the four main types of literary conflict we find in our stories:

Literary Conflict Presentation

Amigo Brothers Homework Due Tuesday!

Heads up, our classwork and homework for Amigo Brothers will be due tomorrow (Tuesday, October 16, 2012).

Also, please notice that we will be grading our 4-column vocab lists for lessons 2 through 5.

Make sure to staple your packet in the same order that the assignments are listed, with your cover sheet on top.
Amigo Brothers Homework Packet

Lesson 8 Flash Cards

Lesson 8's flash card sentences are here!  As we do not have school this Friday, they will be due next Monday, October 15.
Download Flash Card Sentences - Lesson 8

Four Square Planning Page (Outline Notes)

Check out the notes from class on how to complete this outline. If you were absent or just need a little help, use these ideas to kick start your thinking in the right direction! Keep an eye out for the Quick Note/Quick Sketch outline coming soon.

Book Report Tutorials

A few of you have asked for a reminder of how to complete our monthly book reports.  Welp, here you go!

Note: Play the videos in Full Screen mode and click the gear icon to view the videos in HD so you can read the fine print.


Sample Book Report

Amazing Hand Animals Winner!

Congratulations to House Tramontane for winning our vocabulary contest, and the 50 bonus beans prize.  They used 48 vocabulary words in their comments, and almost all of them were used correctly!

Special shout-out to Jacob J. for his contribution to his house.  Sir Jacob dished out a 14-sentence paragraph which contained 15 vocab words!  Way to go dude!

Lesson 7 Flash Cards

Check out this week's flash card sentences.  As always, try to fill in the blanks with great context clues!


Download Flash Cards Rubric Lesson 7

Cavaliers Finale 2000

The Amazing Hand Art House comment challenge concluded last Friday, and the winner will be announced soon! 

For the next challenge, we're offering a video that demonstrates how hours of dedicated practice and discipline can pay off.  With some crazy formations and complex musical arrangements, the Cavaliers, out of Rosemont, Illinois, earned a share of the DCI World Championship. Watch this clip from the 2000 Drum Corps International Finals and post a comment!  As always, the House with the most comments combined with the most creative use of vocabulary will win!

Rules: The same rules still apply.

• Each sentence must contain at least one vocab/spelling word from Lessons 1-7. 
• Submit each sentence as a separate comment to this post.

•  Make sure you leave your House's name in the comment.

• The challenge will end Monday, October 15

"Amigo Brothers" Trailer

Grab a sneak peak of our latest short story, "Amigo Brothers," with a quick vid made by Boulder Ridge's own Mrs. Pink.

Then, with your partner, complete the following task:

1. Leave a comment answering the question "Does every conflict have a winner?" Make sure you back up your opinion with reasons or examples.
2. Post a reply to another group's response.  You can either agree or disagree, but be polite in whatever you choose.
3. Click here to visit Mrs. Pink's blog, and post a reply to someone from her class.
• In the Email field, please type collinsrouch@gmail.com
• In the Name field, please type both partners' first and last initials and your house name
• Leave the Website field blank