8th Grade Reading/ELA Aubry Bend Middle School Mrs. Ballard 8th Grade Reading/ELA Aubry Bend Middle School

About Me Originally from Leawood, Ks University of Kansas Graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School University of Kansas BSE - Secondary English Education MSE - Curriculum and Teaching Teaching experience: 5th year in Blue Valley 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Reading/ELA Student taught at the high school level

BABY JAY!

My Mission: Guiding Principles: Be Kind Be Safe Do your Best Work To create a dynamic learning classroom that allows each individual student to succeed in a productive, caring, and safe environment. Guiding Principles: Be Kind Be Safe Do your Best Work

Reading Curriculum Novels The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton The Giver by Lois Lowry The Pearl by John Steinbeck Short Stories – Pearson Literature Book (Common Core Edition) Poetry Unit – Pearson Literature Book (Common Core Edition) Independent Reading – Literature Circles – Socratic Seminars – Book Clubs – Informational text Literary Elements Characterization Text Features Figurative Language Text Structure Story Elements/Plot Line Persuasive Techniques Theme/Main Ideas Cause/Effect Inference Summarizing Context Clues Author’s Purpose

Monthly Book Projects Students will read and complete a book project each month. Goals for independent reading: Keeps students reading different genres outside of their school day Keeps students thinking about, writing about, and talking about their reading Month Genre Project September Biography Poster/diorama/Glogster October Mystery/Suspense Summary/Lit Circle Work Nov/Dec Fantasy/Sci Fi PowerPoint/Prezi January Historical Fiction Menu of choices February 8th Grade Novel List Goanimate.com March Action/Adventure Scenes from Novel/Diary of Character April Book Club Book Club Jobs/Meetings May Free Choice Book Review

ELA Curriculum Pre and Post Writing Assessments Writer’s Workshop Expository, Narrative, Persuasive, Technical Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes Vocabulary – Word of the Day Writing Process Pre-writing, Draft, Revise, Edit, Publish Six Traits of Writing Ideas, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Organization, Conventions

Websites and Contact Information laballard@bluevalleyk12.org Some locations may have my old email address laarther@bluevalleyk12.org, but they will all filter to my new email Teacher Websites

I look forward to a fabulous year with your children I look forward to a fabulous year with your children! Thank you for coming tonight.