Happy Holidays!

This week has been a week of holiday fun. Yesterday the DGS choir came to sing to us, and today our own Lakeview choir and bands performed for us. They did an excellent job. This afternoon while the 8th graders are ballroom dancing, the sixth and seventh graders will have a holiday movie and party in their rooms. I hope everyone enjoys their break!

A Peek at Next Week

Next week in Language Arts we will finish our verb unit. We will have our second verb test at the end of the week. In Reading we will read a play from our literature book, The Serial Garden.

Important Days:
Monday-Cay Projects are due
Wednesday- Newspaper Club
Thursday- DGS Choir Assembly at 9:00
Friday- LV Concert at 9:15

Final Cay Project

Choose ONE of the four book projects to do for the book, The Cay, by Theodore Taylor. Your project, whichever one you choose, must be done neatly and carefully.

Option 1 – Diorama

Using a shoebox or other small box without a lid or flaps, create ONE specific scene from the story. After creating the scene, write 2 paragraphs; the first explaining the significance of the chosen scene and the second paragraph describing how you created the scene. Glue these paragraphs to the back of the box.

Option 2 – Island Map

Draw a large map of the island on 12"x18" construction paper (see me for the paper) or larger. Be sure to include everything that you know about the island before the hurricane hit. Also include things that Timothy and Philip built, such as the hut, the line that Philip used to find his way around while blind, and the catchment.

This map should be colorful and well-labeled with a map key. After you have created the map, write a short paragraph about the map, and glue this paragraph to the back
of the map.

Option 3 – Research Paragraphs

Using an encyclopedia, book, or the Internet, research TWO of the following topics: U-boats, US Navy destroyers during World War II, hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea, Curacao (often listed under "Netherlands Antilles"), or causes of blindness after birth. You will take notes on each topic and then write a page for each topic explaining what you learned.

Option 4 – Survivor

Timothy and Phillip had to survive for many months on only a few things that they brought with them. Everything else, they "made do" from items that they found on the cay. Many people in Illinois have had to survive after a tornado destroyed their homes.

For this project, prepare a survival kit for your home of items that you already have. After you have finished, if there are items which you know you should have, but don't, make a list of those items for later purchase. After you have gathered the items together (and know which ones you need), write a 1 page about creating your Tornado Survival Kit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today students had a surprise assembly as a reward for all their hard work with PBIS this school year. Students are remembering their "Cool Tools" and collecting Spartan Stars. Therefore this morning we had the Jessie White Tumblers as our surprise guests. They were fantastic and the students really enjoyed the event. Congratulations to the Lakeview students on all of their hard work!

Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving!

A Peek at Next Week

Next week in Language Arts students will be turning in their final drafts of their persuasive essay on Tuesday. We will also be previewing our unit on verbs. In Reading we will take a quiz on chapters 13-16. Students have questions, notes and vocabulary they can use to study.

A Peek at Next Week

In Language Arts next week we will finish the rough drafts of our persuasive essays. We will be focusing on our transitions and making sure our paragraphs flow together. The final draft of the essay is due Tuesday, November 23rd.

In Reading we will continue to read The Cay. We will have a quiz on chapters 9-12 on Tuesday, along with some vocabulary words. Then we will go on to read chapters 13-16 by Thursday. On Friday our book reports are due.

Important Days:
Tuesday- Bowling Field Trip
Wednesday- Newspaper Club
Friday- Cay Book Reports are Due

Peek at Next Week

Next week in Language Arts we will be working on our persuasive essay. Students will fill out a graphic organizer, write their hook and thesis, and finish their introductions. In Reading we will read chapters 9-11, in the Cay.

Important Days:
Thursday- No School, Veterans' Day
Friday- End of the First Trimester

Happy Halloween!

Next week in Language Arts we will begin working on our persuasive essay. We will discuss writing to our audience, and working on thesis statements. In Reading we will continue to read the Cay and talk about survivor skills.

Important Days:
Tuesday: Teachers' Institute Day- No School
Thursday: 7th Grade Field Trip to see Alice in Wonderland
Friday: Fall Dance

Measure of Academic Progress (MAP)

This coming up week students will be taking MAP tests in Language Arts and Reading. The MAP test is replacing the IOWA testing this year. Students will be taking a 40 question, multiple-choice test on the computer. They will be taking this test in the fall and spring, so we may track their progress throughout the year. Please remind students to eat breakfast and to get a good night's sleep!

Peek at Next Week

In Language Arts next week we will be working on our noun unit. We will label nouns as abstract, concrete, collective, compound, singular, and plural. Students will also go over possessive nouns and using appositives in their writing.

In Reading we will continue to read our novel, The Cay. So far we have discovered our story takes place during World War II, and have been working on our vocabulary words. Next week we will continue to work on our vocabulary and we will read chapters 2-4.

Important Days:
Monday- Math MAPS testing
Wednesday-Early Dismissal Day
Thursday- Parent/Teacher Conferences

A Peek at Next Week

Next week in Language Arts we will finish up our unit on sentences and take the unit test on Friday. In Reading we are going to start our first novel of the year, The Cay. We will be previewing the story and working on the vocabulary.

Important Days:
Monday- No School- Columbus Day
Wednesday- Go to IMC for Book Checkout
Friday- Sentence Test

Twin Day

Today was Twin Day! People were wearing the same shirts, skirts, socks, eye-wear, and hair styles. The seventh grade teachers wore all of their Chicago Bears shirts. Mrs. Bergmann and I were identical twins in our Robbie Gould jereys. It was great to see so many people participate in our Spirit Day. Have a great weekend, and remember to Bear Down!

Short Story Study Guide

Study Guide

Review the basic story elements and order of events for the following stories:

“7th Grade”
“Thank You Ma'am”
“Names/Nombres”
“Zebra”
“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”

You will be tested on the following vocabulary – use your literature book to look up the definitions:

scowl -
linger -
presentable -
suede -
initial -
chaotic -
wince -
intricate -
scuttle -
cower -

A Peek at Next Week

Next week in Language Arts we will be finishing our narratives. We will be adding sensory detail to our stories, and revising them. Starting on Thursday we will begin typing our final drafts.

In Reading we will read "Rikki-tikki-tavi" in our literature books. Students will also be presenting their book reports on Thursday.

Important Days:
Tuesday- Magazine Turn-in Day
Wednesday- 7th Grade Golf Field Trip
Thursday- Book Reports due
Friday- No School, Teacher's Institute

Origin of Names

Use the following websites to generate 10 facts regarding your first and last name:


http://www.ancestry.com

Go to Learning Center
On the lower right side of the page – type your name
Do this for your surname (last name) and first name

www.behindthename.com

Use this website to find additional facts about your name.

Story Board Book Report

POSTER BOARD - STORY BOARD BOOK REPORT FICTION
Due – September 23, 2010


1. PLOT EXPLANATION – (minimum 5 squares, including a detailed explanation underneath each picture. At least 2-3 sentences)

10pts _____



2. DELIVERY – (eye contact, voice level, smoothness, demonstrates knowledge of book)

10pts _________



3. STORY BOARD ( effort, color, neatness, 5 squares minimum, title and author, your name and class period)

10pts _________



Total points = _________/30

Welcome Back!!!

Dear Families,

Welcome to Seventh Grade! My name is Mrs. Mastny and I will be teaching language arts and reading. This is my fourth year teaching at Lakeview. Before I moved to Downers Grove, I had taught in the city for three years. This year we will be focusing on essay writing, poetry, and reading short stories and novels. I look forward to working with you all.

Homework:
Assignments are to be turned in on the day that they are due. Students will lose points for every day that an assignment is late. I will accept late work up until the day our unit is over. Exceptions may be made to those who are absent. Grades will be posted on-line. Please check them and email me if you have any questions.

Contact Information:
If you need to get a hold of me, my email address is: lmastny@ccsd66.org, and my phone number is: 630-783-5002. I am available to meet with parents and or students by appointment.
Sincerely,

Lauren Mastny

Last Full Week of School!

We finished our fairy tale unit, and our last novel. All the books have been collected, lockers have been cleaned out, and the last grades have been entered. The school year is winding to an end. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

Field Day

Since the seventh graders raised so much money for Ride Janie Ride, they were rewarded with a pancake breakfast and field day. On Wednesday students will receive their breakfast, and on Friday they will have their field day. On Friday, Students will have all 20 minute classes before lunch. Then they will eat lunch early and head outside for the games. After an afternoon full of fun activities we will all come inside and watch the 6th grade Lip Zinc. What an exciting day to look forward to!

Career Fair

Today was the seventh grade Career Fair. We had twenty presenters give students 8 minute speeches on their careers. Our presenters were a mixture of seventh and eighth grade parents, and friends and family of our staff. The seventh graders were actively engaged and our guests did an excellent job. I would like to thank everyone involved that made this event so successful.

Important Days:
Tuesday- Progress Reports
Thursday- Oklahoma Performance
Friday- Oklahoma Performance

Ride Janie Ride!

I have had a fantastic week of teaching. I am so proud of our students here at Lakeview. The eighth graders are putting on a fund-raiser for Ride Janie Ride, an organization that raises money for cancer patients. This organization splits all the money between three cancer recipients to help pay for their medical bills. This year the money will be going to two people many of us know. One person is Anthony Nino, Mrs. Nino's brother-in-law, and the other is Kayla O'Leary, a third grader at Prairieview. The kids have done a fabulous job showing their support. They have donated their own money, raised money in their neighborhoods, churches and local businesses. They have sold many things including: muffins, lemonade, and duct-tape flower pens. Our students have decided that they are going to accomplish a goal and they have come up with strategies and plans for being successful. There are rare moments in teaching where your students go above and beyond your expectations and take things to the next level, and this is one of them. I am very proud of them all. I would like to say thank you to them and their families for supporting such a worthy cause. Thanks!

A Peek at Next Week

Everyone should be done with their research for their careers. Next week we are going to organize all of our notes and create a final outline with our information. In Reading we are going to continue to read The Wanderer.

Important Days:
Today- Spring Dance
Saturday- ISU Band Invitational
Tuesday- Mid-terms, Swim Meet
Thursday- Early Dismissal

Career Research

Students will begin researching their careers next week in the IMC. They need to bring note-cards to class so that they may begin their research as soon as possible. Ms. Hagensee will be reviewing research skills and where students may find resources in the library. Then students will have all week to read about their careers and take notes. The seventh graders will be able to define their careers, explain what their work environments will be like, what education they will need, and what their starting salaries will look like.

Important Days:
Thursday- Newspaper Club
Friday- Spring Dance

Spring Break

I hope everyone has a great week off! Go outside and enjoy the weather. When you come back from spring break we will begin our career unit. Students will choose a career to research and give an informational speech about their topic. Then in Reading we will begin our next novel, The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech.



Have a great break!!!

A Peek at Next Week

Next week we will have a test on prepositions, and we will have our final quiz on Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. Students will also be presenting their collage book reports.

Important Days:
Saturday- Snowflake
Monday- Roller Skating Party
Tuesday- 3 Week Progress Reports
Wednesday- Book Fair
Thursday- Book Fair
Friday- Spring Break begins at 3pm

Prepositions

Next week we will start our unit on prepositions. Students will learn about prepositional phrases, and how they can sometimes be adjective or adverb phrases. In reading we will continue to read Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie.

Important Days:
Wednesday- Juggler in PE
Thursday- Newspaper Club
Saturday- Snowflake

A Peek at Next Week

In Reading we will take a quiz on the second part of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. We will then start the third and final section of the book. Then in Language Arts we will review our lessons on adjectives and adverbs, and take a modifier test on Thursday.

Important Days:
Monday- Encore Classes Switch, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie Quiz
Tuesday- Second Trimester Report Cards
Thursday- Parent Teacher Conferences, Modifier Test
Friday- No School

ISAT

ISAT testing is happening all next week. On Tuesday students will take the first two Reading tests, and on Wednesday they will take their third Reading test and first Math test. Then on Thursday students will finish the Math tests, and on Friday they will take their two Science tests. Students are allowed to use calculators on all of the Math tests this year. To prepare your children for these tests please make sure they get plenty of sleep and that they eat a healthy breakfast in the morning.

Important Days:
Friday- LV Girls' Basketball Finals at Jefferson at 6pm
Monday- Pulaski Day, No School
Thursday- Newspaper Club
Friday- Last Day of the Trimester

Have a great weekend!

ISAT prep

This week we will continue to practice multiple choice testing, and writing extended reading responses. We will also finish our Extensions in Reading book. In Reading we will continue to read Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie.

Important Days:
Monday- DGS Presentation during Study Hall
Tuesday- Girls Play-off Basketball Game at Lakeview
Thursday- Scholastic Bowl
Friday- Basketball Finals

A Peek at This Week

In Language Arts we will be working on ISAT prep. We will be working out of our Extensions in Reading book, writing extended responses and working on multiple choice questions. In Reading we will continue to read our novel Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie.

Important Days:
Sunday- Valentine's Day
Monday-President's Day- No School

"Pie the Teacher"

Today is the last day of spirit week. On Wednesday and Thursday raffles tickets were on sale to pie teachers in the pre-basketball game shows. All the proceeds from the raffle went to the American Red Cross to help Haitians in their time of need. This is a great picture of Mr. Windsor being pied by Principal Shultz. Overall everyone had a great time and the Spartans played some mean basketball. If they keep this up, they are bound to have an excellent end to their seasons.

Important Days:

Saturday- Solo Festival

Sunday- Super Bowl

Monday- Scholastic Bowl

Tuesday- Progress Reports

Pack the Place

We are in the middle of the spirit week leading up to Pack the Place. Pack the Place is an event held to support our athletes.The goal is to pack the gym with as many fans as possible to cheer our basketball teams on. Wednesday, February 3rd, is the girls' basketball game and on Thursday, February, 4th is the boys' basketball game. Before each game there will be a pre-game show with games, contests, and the choir and pep band performances. At the pre-game shows certain teachers will be pied in the face by students. On Wednesday, Mrs. Myers, Mr. Little, Ms. Enzbigilis, Ms. Payne, Ms. Cerney, and Ms. Coppoletta will be pied. On Thursday Mrs. Mesker, Mrs. Mixon, Mr. Safranski, Mr. Windsor, and I will be pied. "Pie in the Face" tickets are being sold during lunch for one dollar. Students' names will be pulled the day of the event to see who will get to pie the teachers. They should be fun days, so come out and support the teams!

Spirit Days:
Monday- Ugly Shirt Day
Tuesday- No School, Teachers' Institute
Wednesday- Green Day
Thursday- Gold Day

A Peek at Next Week

Next week in Language Arts we will be taking a verb test on Lessons 1-8 in the verb unit. Students are welcome to use a note-card of notes on the test. The test will cover action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs. It will also cover present and past participles, the perfect tenses for regular and irregular verbs, and the progressive forms of verbs.

In Reading we will continue to read Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. We hope to read chapters 1-6, and to continue going over our new vocabulary.

Important Days:
Thursday: Verb Test, Twin Day
Friday: AR book report due, Snuggie/PJ Day

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

Next week we will begin our new novel, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick. It is a great story about a kid named Steven who is trying to make it through his eighth grade year. While Steven is trying to survive junior high school, his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia. Between drums, girls and dangerous pie, Steven finds ways to cope with his problems. We will begin the novel by discussing stresses that teenagers face on a daily basis, going over vocabulary, and making predictions.

Important Days:
Monday- No School, Martin Luther King's Day
Tuesday- Mid-terms

Poetry

Next week we will begin a short poetry unit. We will go over different poetry terms, and analyze poems we read in class. We will be reading "Casey at the Bat," and the dramatic "Highwayman." We will also be working on drawing inferences, and will review our punctuation unit.

Important Days:
Tuesday- IOWA Testing
Wednesday- IOWA Testing
Thursday- IOWA Testing

Happy New Year!

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their breaks and stayed warm. This week we will be working on our punctuation unit and extended responses in Reading. .