Chronicles of Narnia

I realize I said the other post was going to be my last before Christmas, but I found this really neat resource that I wanted to share with those of you planning on doing some reading over the Christmas break.  I also wanted to make sure that I mentioned this with a disclaimer instead of just posting this to my list of links.  There is a faith-based website that has posted the audio to all of C.S. Lewis' novels.  I've always thought that students absorb the reading better if they both hear and read at the same time, which is why almost all of my in-class reading is done aloud.  Anyway, I have no affiliation to the website and I am NOT trying to press any of my religious views on my students.  This is merely a resource for my students to access a great collection of audio books.  Upon looking through the website, I have found there are some sensitive topics posted elsewhere throughout the site.  I strongly suggest, if you decide to use these books, that you first view the website with parental guidance to make sure you find the correct books and chapters.  If you wish to read a different Narnia novel, you can search for 'Narnia' in the top right corner.  You can visit the resource here.  This is a true classic novel series and if you haven't yet read them, this is a great place and time for you to read them.  If you have any questions regarding this website, please email me. Download the audio directly HERE.  It is a large file so it may take a few minutes to download.
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

THANK YOU!

I would like to thank all of our WONDERFUL parents for their hard work in the AR store, setting up our luncheon today, and for all the great gifts I have covered my desk with!  I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you all in 2012!
-Mr. Mein

Grading Period 3: Week 6 Vocab Review

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Projects, AR Deadline, Movie, Christmas

We're wrapping this semester up in blazing style.  This is my last post (besides Thursday's Vocab review) before Christmas vacation.  I want to make sure everyone is aware of all the important dates coming up in my class and at BT Wilson. First of all is our Red Fern project.  It is due this Wednesday, 12/14.  No late projects will be accepted!  The rubrics for this project can be found under Mr. Mein's Resources on the sidebar.  Seeing the progress everyone is making on this project is quite impressive.  I think I'm going to have to make some extra room for example projects for future classes.
AR Deadline is also on the 14th at 3:00.  Remember, this makes up 10% of your Reading grade! 
We will be going on an incentive trip to the movies on Friday for those students who didn't fail any classes and didn't earn more than 1 dhall. 
Friday is our LAST day before Christmas break.  We will resume classes on January 3rd.
Good luck on final exams this week and have a wonderful Christmas holiday and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein 

Grading Period 3: Week 5 Vocab Review

I hope you all had a good night's sleep last night and did your very best this morning on the benchmark.  I know you'll all do extremely well!  Here is the vocab review for this week since we probably won't have time to go over it in class with such a short time and still having to bubble in on our answer sheets.  Study Study Study!  Those of you who have not made a 100 yet on a WOW Quiz this grading period need to remember that 100 will replace your other quiz grades if you get a 100 tomorrow!  Good Luck!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

Reading Benchmark

Hello everyone!
I hope you're having a restful weekend, enjoying this wet weather and what seems to be, finally, winter's arrival.  I want to make sure you are all aware that we will be taking a Reading Benchmark test this Thursday. So please put plenty of rest and on time to school on the agenda this week.
We have a lot going on in these two weeks.  Besides the benchmark, the Red Fern project will be assigned on Monday, AR Deadline is next Wednesday, 12/14, and we have our movie incentive on Friday, 12/16. To earn the incentive, students must pass all classes and have no more than 1 dhall in the grading period.  Which brings me to the next thing- WOW vocabulary quiz grades were not up to par this week. Parents, please ask your students every Thursday to get out their flashcards and allow them to go over the review videos I post.  This is time to push through to the end, not slow down! I'm looking forward to a very productive two weeks and a nice long vacation. I wish the same for all of you!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

Grading Period 3: Week 4 Vocabulary Review

Red Fern Quiz!

Today we reviewed for tomorrow's quiz over chapters 12-16 in Where the Red Fern Grows.  Click HERE to go over the review again.  Check your answers here!  Good luck tomorrow!  If you have any questions, email me.
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

Author's Purpose

Today we covered Author's Purpose.  I had several students absent so this is the easiest way for the information to be relayed to you.  On a sheet of paper, make a 4-door foldable.  Label each door as one of the four different Author's Purposes as well as vocabulary used for each one.  On the inside, copy the notes for each section.  The foldable should be glued in your Reading spiral.  If you don't have your Reading spiral (it seemed like an awful lot of you were missing them), it is a requirement of my class to have one so bring one!  See the image below for the notes necessary to complete the 4-door Author's Purpose Foldable.  Click on the image to enlarge it.

There will be a pop quiz on Author's Purpose coming up very soon- students will need to be able to read a written item and decide if the purpose is to Inform, Persuade, Express, or Entertain.  If you have any questions, please e-mail me.
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

Back to Work!

I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving holiday, enjoying time with family and friends.  I enjoyed seeing some of you out and about whether it was at the Christmas in Comfort parade or even at HEB.  Hopefully none of you spent too much time in front of your TV, playing Call of Duty!  We have several big events coming up in the 3 week sprint to Christmas break.  We have 2 Where the Red Fern Grows quizzes coming up as well as our novel project.  For my regular Reading classes, we will be making a book jacket for our project.  The expectations can be found here.  My Horizons classes will be making a pizza box project.  Those expectations can be found here.  Each Horizons student will need to bring in their own pizza box.  You can start bringing in your box anytime and I'll store them in my room.  PLEASE do not bring any with leftovers in them!  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me!

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you bright and early tomorrow morning!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends.  We'll see you back here on Monday, 11/28!  For those of you attending my reading group, don't forget to stay after school! We'll be starting at 3:00.  Eat lots of turkey and maybe even do some reading.
See you next week,
Mr. Mein

Pie'd!

There's a first time for everything- this student sold the most Acapulco fundraiser tickets so I got to catch a pie...with my face!  The pie itself was not as bad as the smell of it stuck in my mustache after an hour!  I'm incredibly proud of all the Bobcats that sold tickets- we sold more than the other two teams on our campus! Way to go, Bobcats! Huge thanks to our awesome PTO!



AR GOALS!!!

Great news!  All of my students have taken their STAR Reading Level tests...FINALLY!!!  Please click here to sign in and view your child's AR progress/goals/tests taken.  The login and password is the same as their AR login at school.  For most students this will be their initial of their first name and their whole last name (John Mein= jmein) and their password is btw10.  If you have any questions regarding AR goals, please email me.
Have a great weekend!
-Mr. Mein

Grading Period 3: Week 2 Vocab Review

I know Thanksgiving is not this week, but I won't have the opportunity to play a Thanksgiving review with my students next week as we will only be in school on Monday and Tuesday.  I decided on the best of both worlds by having a Thanksgiving review this week and then enjoying friends and family with our three days off next week!  These are the vocabulary words you will see on this Friday's Word of the Week Quiz.  Use this in ADDITION to your Flippin' Flashcards- NOT A SUBSTITUTE!!! 
I hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving with your friends, family, and TURKEY!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

Check Grades!

We took our Word of the Week Quiz today- Mostly 100's, but a handful of my students earned 50's because there were so few questions.  Please check Skyward to see how your son/daughter did.  If they were one of the few that didn't score 100, they can replace the grade by earning 100 on next week's quiz!  Ask to see their "Flippin' Flashcards" and study the words with them- they're going to see these words five more times so they're very important!  Bobcats had our awards assembly this morning, Breakfast Club for some of our students will be Tuesday at 7:15.  Congrats to all the award winners today!
Have a great weekend,
Mr. Mein

Grading Period 3: Wk 1 Vocab Review

Please excuse the beginning of the announcements at the end of the video!

Here is the vocab review for this week's Word of the Day Quiz!  There are only 4 words on this quiz so make sure you know these backwards and forwards.  Study your Flippin' Flashcards as well!  Missing only one question will result in a failing grade!
Good Luck,
Mr. Mein

It's a New 6 Weeks!

Parents/Students,
It's an all new grading period.  AR goals are back to normal- the AR deadline is December 14th!  We are chugging right along in Where the Red Fern Grows, and should finish in about 3 weeks.  There will be a project that I will assign before the completion of the novel.  It will be worth 200 quiz points so make sure you do a good job on it!
For Word of the Day this week, teh words are: cease, solemn, eliminate, and falter.
This is an important quiz as there will only be 4 words so make sure you're studying your Flippin' Flashcards!
I'll be posting a review video Thursday night so stay tuned.
Make it a great week,
Mr. Mein

Third Six Weeks, Here We Come!

Wow! What a fast and furious grading period we had! Though it was so hectic, I am incredibly proud of my kiddos working hard to earn their AR goals (some of them staying up late the night before deadline!). Definitely the perk of the grading period was Outdoor Ed. I hope your students had an amazing time- one they will remember for years to come. I have a little bit of tweaking to do with grades as well as looking at some late work and quiz-grading before I post. Grades will be posted by Monday at 1:00 at the latest.
For the new grading period, AR goals will go back to the normal amount as they were reduced for this shortened grading period. Please check your child's Home Connect to stay up to date with quizzes and goal percentages.  We will be starting from scratch on Word of the Day words next week.  Keep an eye out on Thursday night for Flippin' Flashcards that should be coming home and check back here periodically for other information and news.
The Bobcats are currently in the lead selling Acapulco tickets.  We took the spirit stick from the Jaguar team this morning in a pep rally.  Way to go, Bobcats!
Have a great weekend,
Mr. Mein

Fly Review Game for Last Word of the Week Quiz

Go through the video.  If you need to think of the word, click the pause button to give yourself more time!  Study Study Study!!! Good luck on the quiz!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein

AR Deadline/Word of the Week Quiz

The Accelerated Reader deadline was today at 3:00.  Grades will be updated tonight to reflect the final AR percentages met.  Check Skyward for the most up to date grades or Home Connect to check AR percentages!
The last Word of the Day quiz for this grading period will be this Friday, 11/4.  The words the students are responsible for are:
gratitude
karma
sacrifice
awkward
obstacle
timid
bewilder
limber
metaphor
point of view
predicament
mournful
begrudge
protrude
determination
scold
plight
dispostion
I will be posting a review video tomorrow (Thursday) to make sure they're ready on Friday.
Thanks!
Mr. Mein

Hello Sixth Graders and Parents!

Last week, for the first time, I posted a vocabulary review on YouTube.  I had a pretty good response from the students that viewed the video, and I thought this would be a great way to keep up to date with what we're doing in my class.  This will also be a great place to post any resources or materials that might be useful.  Please comment, post, or email me to make this better!
Thanks,
Mr. Mein