Saipan International School - MP, 96950

@SaipanGeckos

SAIPAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

SECONDARY REFLECTIONS
G7 English:

We have read Seventh Grade by Gary Soto, Call it Courage by
Armstrong Sperry, and The Last Dog by Katherine Paterson.
Students have broken stories down into specific elements-plot,
conflict, resolution, setting, theme, and character in order to analyze
each element. We have created Venn diagrams, brainstorm lists,
settings charts, plot charts and character profiles. We have gone
over the importance of symbolism and imagery. We have also
worked really hard to improve our spelling, vocabulary and
grammar. Each week, we focus on a new list of words suggested by
the National Spelling Bee Association.
G7: Writer's Workshop:

Students have written comparative essays, short stories,
biographical narratives and autobiographical narratives. Currently,
they are writing novels as contestants in the National Novel Writing
Month Young Writer's Program.

During this unit we have been designing settings. Our
teacher, Ms. Bevas, has designed a project where we learned to give
descriptions better. We have learned how and when to use adjectives.
We have improved our vocabulary. Before this unit, we worked on
fictional stories as well as nonfictional stories like autobiographies
and biographies. Ms. Bevas had us follow some steps before our final
draft. This practice helps to prepare us for our next big project:
National Novel Writing Month Competition. What you see here is a
piece of writing that each of us has composed. It is focused on our
settings much more than a story. We use many adjectives and the
7th graders have put a great amount of time into this project. There
is also a picture that we have drawn about our story. We have tried
our hardest to describe our settings and we hope you enjoy reading
them. Thank you! By: Maria Gregoire(G7)
G8: Literature and Composition:

We have read multiple short stories including Edgar Allan
Poe's Tell Tale Heart, William Sleator's The Elevator, Raymond's Run
by Toni Cade Bambara, and O. Henry's Ransom of Red Chief.
Students worked in literature circles where they analyzed stories
they chose to work on and created board games based on them. We
discussed several writing techniques that make stories interesting,
including the element of suspense. Next, we watched short
literature-based videos that showcased these techniques and created
our own short films using techniques we learned.

We have taken time to practice spelling and research
definitions of words suggested by the National Spelling Bee
Association.

We have created literature blogs showcasing our literary
knowledge and allowing us to express ourselves creatively. Our
blogs will also include information about our novels and novel
writing progress.

We are participating in the National Novel Writing Month
Competition Young Writer's Program (NaNoWriMo). Our challenge is
to create our own novels in any genre. The competition takes place
during the whole month of November. Students are given lessons on
various elements of story writing to help truly understand the
writing process. Our writing goal is 5,000 words!

#sisgeckos