Language Arts - Holiday Weeks

Greetings Class of 2013!

Hope you have enjoyed celebrating with your families, sleeping in late, and enjoying good times with friends.

Remember to keep track of books you've read -- I know some of you are finishing Mockingjay. 
Some of you are looking for extra credit for English/Writing -- use the novel and find four key sentences.  Identify the nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, articles, prepositions and conjunctions within.  

READ!!   All should be reading a non-fiction book on a topic that stems from your Social Studies focus of the Civil War, leading to Civil War, or reconsturction.

GENEALOGY PROJECT:    I hope you have worked on your research for your Genealogy project.  Remember your holiday task was to talk to relatives and draw out how you are related, trying to go as far back as possible.  List relatives' names, dates of birth if available, countries of birth.
Did you find that one special person in your family that you wanted to interview?  Generate a set of questions before you sit down with them. 

Your papers have been graded.   Grades are posted in Gradebook.  Check for any missing work.  There are a few people who were absent who need to see me after the holiday to have your Science Fair procedures graded.

Remember after the holiday -- anything not handed in on the due date will only be able to achieve a total of 70%;  late work will not be accepted more than one week late. 

Congrats to those hard-working students who are maintaining As and Bs despite all the distractions we had in December.

Those whose averages are not at 78% for both first and second quarter are in jeopardy of not graduating with your class.  First, be sure you have no missing assignments;  second, spend more time studying for exams;  third, see me before school from 7:00 - 7:40 if there are concepts you don't understand or need help with!

Happy 2013!

Language Arts Week of 12/17/12

Over the weekend you were reading chapter 10 of The Outsiders, completing your STYLE guide defining various types of literary techniques and devices and providing examples.
Simple Solutions 9 & 10 should be completed.  Civil War Journal entry will be collected Monday if you did not hand in by Friday.
We're memorizing the first two lines of the Gettysburg Address.


Finish reading a non-fiction book about any topic related to the Civil War years and complete your reading before we return from the holidays.
Create a three-slide powerpoint presentation on the subject of your book.


Monday, December 17th
  The Outsiders - Chapter 11
   Research paper note cards/source cards/ hypothesis etc. check
   Portfolio check; oral quiz

Homework:  Simple Solutions Lesson 11, Current Events

Tuesday, December 18th
Current Events due
The Outsiders (Chapter 12)
Portfolio checks continue; oral quizzes
Homework: Simple Solutions Lesson 12, study for test on The Outsiders including figurative language and vocabulary

Wednesday, December 19th
The Outsiders Final Test includes figurative language
Movie: The Outsiders (Part I)

Thursday, December 20th
Simple Solutions Test Lessons 9-12 (hand in your lesson work)
Movie: The Outsiders (Part II)

Homework: Finish reading "Born Worker" in Green literature book preparing for unit assessment

Friday, December 21st
Performance Assessment on "Born Worker"


Happy Holidays!  Enjoy your families.  Talk with relatives and begin to gather information about your family roots for our project on our personal identity  & genealogy.
Read your non-fiction book!
   

Language Arts Week of 12/10 - 12/14

Our novel:
    The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton continues
    Friday we took our first test on chapters 1-3 and listened to Chapter 4

Weekend homework was to read Chapter 5 and complete a 3-step.

Focus this week is on
1. plot development in our novel,
2.how themes are generated through our characters, their words, actions and relationships with others
3. Literary element of style
4. finding textural evidence to support your conclusions
5. Researching -- notecards, source cards, review of literature

Monday:
Read Chapter 6,  complete a chapter map

Tuesday: (Santa's Shop)
(all forms due in in order to attend Wheel of Wisdom treat)
Read chapter 7, complete a chapter map
Simple Solutions Chapter 9

Wednesday: (Santa's Shop)
Read chapter 8, complete a chapter map
Simple Solutions Chapter 10

Language Arts Week of 12/3/12

Happy December!

Check your grades online.  Progress reports are only a few weeks away.  This quarter goes by quickly with the holiday breaks.


The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is our new novel.  We will be reading one chapter per evening and completing a chapter summary using the graphic organizer passed out in class.
Monday: Chapter 1
Tuesday: Chapter 2
Wednesday: Chapter 3
Thursday: Study for Test
Friday: Test on 1-3 plus vocabulary
Read Chapter 4

Simple Solutions:  Units 5-8 will be graded Tuesday;
Test on Thursday.

Book reports BOOK Two is due on 12/5/12.  Some students chose only one book; all three parts of report were due last week; for those who chose two books, the second parts are due Weds.

Lincoln, character traits with evidence:  due on 12/5/12.
Use the story in our Green Literature book: Lincoln, a Photobiography,  use O Captain, My Captain, the movie, Lincoln, and other sources about Lincoln to site evidence to his traits.

Be sure portfolios and notebooks are up-to-date.

Study flashcards for literary elements and devices.
We've covered: characters, theme, plot, setting, point of view, mood, & tone.

You should know what an extended metaphor is.

Review: similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, imagery, synecdoche.