Scary Stories

from Half-Minute Horrors: A Collection of Instant Frights from the World's Most Astonishing Authors and Artists

There's Something Under the Bed by Allan Stratton

"There's something under the bed."
"Don't be silly.  You're a big boy now," his father said,
and turned out the light.
"But there is!  Please, Daddy, look!"
So his father got down in the dark beside the bed.  And disappeared.
"Daddy? . . . Where are you, Daddy?"
A gentle chuckle. "I'm under the bed."
"You sound different."
"Do I?"
"Yes.  Very different. . . . Are you really Daddy?"
"Why don't you come under the bed and find out?"



_______________________________

Skittering by Tui T. Sutherland

I knew I never should have killed that spider.

     I was making my bed when I saw something skitter away under the sheets.  I threw back the blankets and slammed my book onto the mattress, banging and smashing and screaming until the big brown spider was a squashy, flat. oozing mess.

     My skin was crawling.  Had the spider been in the bed with me all night?  I pulled all the sheets off the bed and took them to my mom, and we put them straight into the washing machine.

     But even with new sheets, I couldn't sleep that night.  I kept feeling tiny legs slithering over my skin. Prickly thin fingers danced across my bare feet, climbed slowly up my pajamas, brushed against my exposed neck.  I thought I was imagining things.  I tried to ignore it.

     And then. . . I felt something as small as a pencil eraser land softly on my cheek and scuttle toward my ear.

     I sat up, shrieking.  I was still screaming for help when my mom came running in and turned on the light.

     The ceiling was swarming with spiders.  Spiders clambered up the bedposts, prickly arms marching toward me.  All around me the blanket was a sea of twitching legs and glittering eyes.

     But they weren't here for me.  As the light went on, they began to pour across the floor and drop down from the ceiling.  They converged on the door in a skittering swarm.

     I had killed their mother. . . and they were here for mine.

Reading and Books

Welcome and Needed Supplies

Welcome to the Seventh Grade Reading class! 

See you at our Back-to-School Night on Monday, August 17 from 3:00 to 6:00 pm and on Seventh Grade Day -- Tuesday, August 18 -- (half-day). 

You will have three teachers for this class, rotating every nine weeks through the semester.  Those of you who begin with Ms. Dorsey will move on to Mrs. Fugal, then to Mr. Gillis.    Reading 7 Teachers

• With Ms. Dorsey you will focus on reading for research -- especially on the Internet, learning about identifying and using useful and reliable sources.  You may also work on ways to retain (remember) what you read and study. 
• With Mrs. Fugal you will focus on reading textbooks more effectively and efficiently.  (Don't tell, but she teaches you how to read the textbook without reading the textbook!)
• With Mr. Gillis you will learn how to read several different types of "texts" including photos, paintings, magazines, etc.  
• With all three you will learn strategies and practice skills to improve your reading.

In case you're reading this toward the end of summer vacation:  When the sales on school supplies are available, it's a good idea to stock up on the things you'll need later, but that will be much more expensive then!

 
Note: If your family cannot afford school supplies, please speak with a teacher or administrator.

Here are some required and suggested items.

For this reading class you will need these items each day:

• Bring your own pencils and pens every day. I will have some available to loan, but you should return them at the end of class, and should only rarely need to borrow.
• Bring lined paper. 
• A thumb drive  (flash drive) to be used  during the section of the class dealing with reading the Internet.  We are moving toward handing in all work on the Internet, but a thumb drive can be invaluable as a backup for saving and handing in work. 
• For every class, bring a book to read during  Independent Reading.  This will be something YOU want to read!  You'll receive more information about how to select books.   You could bring a book from home, check one out from the city library or the school library, or check one out from our classroom library or just borrow it to read during class.

In the past we have asked students to donate sticky notes and highlighters to be kept and used in the classroom.  This has been very helpful and very appreciated.  

Suggested (optional): (for this and other classes)

• Colored pencils may be needed for history class, and come in handy at times in other classes.
• A three-ring hole-punch that fits in your binder is very helpful if you receive handouts that haven't been punched.
• A small manual pencil sharpener
• A small pack of Kleenex -- We usually have facial tissues/Kleenex available in our classrooms, but they are not soft on a tender nose.
• Hand sanitizer -- Again, we have hand sanitizer in the classroom, but students may want their  own. 
• If you find a good deal, you might want to have on hand some poster board. Sometimes teachers will assign students to create posters, and it's nice not to have to run out to the store at 10 pm when the student remembers he or she has a poster due the next day.

Computers and Internet
Note to Parents: If you have a computer and printer, you will want to check to see that you have enough printer ink on hand so your student can print off homework when needed for any class. Please encourage your student to finish and hand-in assignments before the deadline, so any computer or printer problems don't make them late.

More about computers and Internet: It is very helpful to have the Internet available at home. Our English classes use a writing program called MYAccess for several assignments during the year. We access it at school, and students can write and revise their work from home or anywhere else they can use the Internet. That also allows parents to read their student's writing and watch their progress.
Students may also need to do research on the Internet for various classes.

During one segment of Seventh Grade Reading, we will be learning about reading the Internet, and will be doing research on the Internet.   In case your student does not finish the work during the times provided during class, he or she may need to finish some of the work during cave time, after school, or outside of school hours.    

By the way, we have not been successful at opening ODT files on our school computers.  Please use another format.  

If you do not have access at home, the student could use computers in our school media center, sometimes (such as during CaveTime) our computer labs are open to students who need extra time, and the Internet is available at the public library.

Parents will need to sign a release for the student to use the Internet at school, and the student will need to have his or her Internet card (student ID card) in hand to use the Internet on the media center computers and in the other computer labs.  The release form is included with registration materials.

Teacher Web Sites
Many of our teachers have web sites, blogs, and wikis where you can find much information about classes, requirements, etc. Take advantage of this resource.

If you're absent or looking for more information or maybe some extra credit, check this blog. You will most likely be required to use this blog at times.


For this segment of the Reading Class we may also have a class Edmodo (open to posting only by the teacher and classmates) where students will complete some assignments and collaborate with the teacher and other students.   Parents,  ask your student for the unique parent code attached to his or her account.  

Click here for Classroom Rules.

If you'd like to order Scholastic Books online, and benefit our classroom, go tohttps://orders.scholastic.com/GKLJW to register. Enter Activation Code GKLJW.
(revised and reposted in July  for the 2015-2016 school year.)

Filling Out Your Logs and Graphs

Filling Out Your Logs and Graphs

Name: Your Name, First and Last      Period ________ Rotation S1R2

Reading Log

#	Date	B	N	M	O	Title/Notes/Page #’s	Minutes Read	Total Hours Read
1

Important: Fill this out each time after you have read.

Fluency Graph

Name: Your Name, First and Last      Period ________ Rotation S1R2

Date
Passage #
WPM

Important: Fill this out each time after you have read.

Visual Literacy

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ccia-10-visual-literacy-strategies-todd-finley?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-10-visual-literacy-strategies-jar-of-jargon-series-image

Inference

Email

Surfing the Internet

Reliability?

Other exercises with reliability?

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

http://www.dhmo.org/ 

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html

http://www.umbachconsulting.com/miscellany/velcro.html

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/penguin.asp

What are you seeing in this series of photos?

BICUM Brochure

 Your Brochure: Outside

After Reading -- #2 RETAIN (Remember) Teach Someone Study in Groups Recreate in Writing Make Flash Cards Use mnemonics 1. Rhymes and Songs 2. Acronyms 3.  Acrostics 4. Mini-Stories 5. Picture Links Rehearse

Continued from  DURING READING Stop at the 's and Test your Understanding. Yes, I do understand. Mark and highlight text. Continue to next . Read to end of study block. No, I don't understand. Use fix-up strategies: --Reread -- Read ahead -- Define unfamiliar words -- Read out loud -- Mark with "?" to clear up later

BICUM Be in Control: Use Metacognition [Your Name] [Your Class Period]

 Your Brochure: Inside 

Before Reading Complete a Self Check  Study Area  Emotions Level of  Difficulty Feeling physically  Preview 1. Read the title. Ask: What do I know about this subject? 2. Read the first couple of sentences and the last couple of sentences. 3. Look for bold or italicized print. 4. Look at charts, maps, graphs, diagrams. 5. Select or Create Questions 6. Set Study Length 7. Place check marks

During Reading Be Active Check your alignment. "Talk" with the author or text. Visualize Predict      1) predict      2) read      3) check      4) compliment or correct Pace yourself with a pencil. Make Connections!      Text to Self      Text to Text      Text to World Stop at the 's  and Test your Understanding. Yes, I do  understand. Mark and highlight text. Continue to next . Read to end of study block. No, I don't  understand Use fix-up strategies: See the back of this brochure!

After Reading -- #1 REDUCE Post View Ask yourself -- *What did I learn from reading this? *What patterns/overall structure did I notice? *What was the overall central idea? *Do I understand it all? If not, use fix-up strategies. Answer Questions Organize for Recall (Select 1 to do) -- make outlines -- take notes -- write summaries -- create maps

Text Structure

• description/definition
• sequence
• chronological
• cause and effect
• compare/contrast
• problem and solution
• classification

--State Standards Writing 2a, Reading Informational Text 5

There is also a sort of sequence called spacial -- like the book pages we arranged.

Text Structure: Which one is this? 

Text Structure	Signal Words
Description/definition	For example,  to illustrate, characteristics of, for instance such as…, to begin with, an example,  characteristics are, is  •It emphasizes sizes, shapes, colors, and details. *Look for the topic word (or a synonym or pronoun) to be repeated.
Sequence	before, after, first, second, next, then, finally, following, not long after, now, soon, when, previously, etc.
Chronological	before, after, first, second, next, then, finally, following, not long after, now, soon, in the end (dates, years, times, etc.)
Cause and Effect	as a consequence, reasons why, so, because, since, therefore, if…then, this led to, as a result, may be due to, effect of, consequently, for this reason
Compare/Contrast	alike, different, same as, similar, resemble, as well as, not only…but also, both, instead of, on the other hand, different from, however, although, more than, less than, on the contrary, as opposed to
Problem/Solution	dilemma, question is…, the puzzle is…, to solve this…, one answer is…, issue,
Classification *Look for the overall topic word to be repeated.	categories, characteristics, classes, classify, divide, dimensions, elements, features, groups, kinds, methods, aspects, (numbers),  parts, sorts, types, ways

For many signal words and questions in Spanish, see the second page of this document:

https://staff.rockwood.k12.mo.us/hermachcheryl/9lamaterials/Documents/LA_TextStructureSignalQuestions.pdf

If you would like extra practice, try this Text Structure Online Quiz:  http://www.quia.com/quiz/1137258.html

And here is a PowerPoint:

Understanding_Text_Structures Revised (2).ppt

Text Structure 3 column notes.docx

Wireless!

The CRAAP Test

About The CRAAP Test 

C = current Check the copyright date.

R = relevant (Would it be helpful if you were doing research on the subject?)

A = Authority (Who wrote this? Are they experts?) 

A = Accuracy (Could you verify -- or show to be false -- this information with other sources? Is it accurate?) 

P = Purpose (Why did the authors post this information?)