Miss Korhn's Language Arts Website

Academic Flex

From the JFK Website:

Flex is an academic period built into each student's schedule, meeting five days out of every six-day cycle during each trimester. Flex will be graded using an effort-focused rubric and will be included in progress reports and on the report card. The curriculum is focused on building broad literacy skills using a balanced literature approach. Students will read high interest books, written at their individual reading levels, in small groups. Teachers will facilitate these literature circles by asking questions that call for higher level thinking while reinforcing reading and writing strategies that are used across all academic areas. Students will produce and present group projects which will be used as final assessments. Every student is expected to fully participate by being an active member of a literature circle, reading and discussing their work and taking a role in all projects.  

What's Happening in Flex Right Now? 

Food and Fashion Flex

Using newspapers as our guide, students in Ms. Korhn's Flex have chosen to learn about the food and fashion industry in America. Students demonstrate comprehension by journaling about articles and developing responses to evaluative-style questions.  

Topic 1:  Fashion Copyright:  Who Owns Red Carpet Designs? (Boston Globe)

Topic 2:  Paula Deen's Diabetes Revelation:  Why Wait Three Years to Admit the Truth? (New York Times)

Topic 3:  Teen Cooking Competitions:  What Would You Submit to Win? (Boston Globe)

Topic 4:  Oscars 2012:  For red carpet perfection, it takes a team  (Los Angeles Times)

Topic 5:  "Eat, Tweet Blog" by Kathleen Pierce (Boston Globe)

Past Flex Activities:  

Biographies 

Book Chats

Current Flex time is being devoted to Book Chats and oral presentation skills.  

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage by Odo Hirsch

From School Library Journal:

A young monarch may rule over seven lands, but she can't stop obsessing over tasting a delicious fruit that grows far to the south of her realm and is only edible on the day it is picked from the tree. Because she is too busy being queen to make the journey herself, she sends the intrepid adventurer Bartlett and his trusty friend Jacques le Grand to fetch her a melidrop by any means possible. Bartlett's solution to the problem of how to transport it by boat for months without its turning to mush is both obvious and deliciously inventive. While the two are meeting people and having exciting experiences, the queen slowly and reluctantly comes to terms with her preoccupation and, in the process, becomes a better person and ruler. 

Bartlett and the Ice Voyage Vocabulary:  Extravagance, Outlandish, Tenacious, Obstinate, Perseverance, Persistent, Desperation, Elusive, Shrewd, Deft, Ingenious, Endeavor, Pursue, Bestow, Brink, Exasperation, Imperious, Arrogant, Haughty, Dubious, Adversary, Tactic, Waver, Sabotage, Treacherous, Apprehensive, Quell, Brood, Bleak, and MELIDROP(!!)