Literacy Lounge📚
Updates from your WMS Librarian and Literacy Coach.
November 2024
We would be happy to support you or to answer any questions. To contact us:
Mr. Chris Cochran 📝
6-8 Literacy Coach
christopher.cochran@watertown.k12.ma.us
Follow my Instagram! wms_literacy_coach
Ms. Paula Cabral 📚
WMS Librarian
WMS Library News 📚
LIBRARY INSTAGRAM
The WMS Library has a new Instagram account! Follow @watertown.middle.library to see posts about new books and projects our library helpers have been working on. Our first post featured images of library volunteers as they make bookmarks for students to take when they check out books from the library.
BOOK DISPLAYS
Looking for a new book to read over the holidays? Check out our updated book displays in the WMS library for some inspiration. November is Trans Awareness Month and Native American Heritage Month, and our displays feature stories that explore and/or celebrate these themes. All books on display are available for checkout. A third display showcases our amazing students’ work from our summer One School One Question assignment. Students and staff are welcome to stop by and check it out!
WMS Literacy Updates ✏️
WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?
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Our 6th graders are currently writing Claim - Evidence - Reasoning (CER) paragraphs to prove a claim using evidence from Red, White, & Whole (our recently-completed whole-class novel). This is an important skill and one that students will continue practicing throughout middle school. Practicing this in ELA class will equip students to use it throughout many different content areas.
Our 7th graders are focusing on aspects of shorts stories at the moment, thinking about how setting impacts the story, how characters grow and change, and what the author wants us to know about a topic. Students are practicing writing theme statements. You can support your child at home by talking to them about what they are reading or even what they are watching on TV. Ask "What topics come up again and again? What is the author / director teaching us about those topics?" It could lead to some great discussions, and this is another skill that students will continue practicing throughout middle school.
Our 8th graders are deep into Warcross by Marie Lu. They are exploring a technology-rich dystopian story, thinking about what the protagonist is learning throughout the story. Students have been writing multiple CER paragraphs. While reading the books, students collected potential pieces of evidence for various topics (character growth and change, imagery, words of a wiser character). The class collaborated by writing evidence on chart paper. To respond to prompts, students have been visiting the "quote bank" to choose the best evidence to support each prompt. Students have been responding to complex prompts and thinking deeply about how to support their answers and show their thinking.