Tuesday, November 9

Today was a review of some writing skills that some students still have difficulty mastering.

In groups, students picked out three quotes that provided more about the episode than meets the eye.  After choosing these three quotes, students worked to incorporate a lead and extend their understanding of the quote and The Odyssey.

Homework:  Finish the questions from yesterday.  We will listen to books 16-17 tomorrow.

Monday, November 8

Today we listened to Scylla, Sirens, and Charybdis and completed a grammar exercise on subject/verb agreement.

Students were given questions to work on for homework.  These questions will be collected on Wednesday.

Thursday, November 4

The majority of our class time was spent completing our writing on how the cyclops episode reveals the dual nature of Odysseus.  Students were expected to write a comprehensive paragraph detailing this character flaw.

Homework tonight is to read the episode about Circe and complete the 8 questions from the reading guide.

Wednesday, November 3

Today, we went over our homework questions on "The Cyclops" episode.  Students used these homework questions to answer five questions to determine their understanding of this episode.  We also discussed the writing for tomorow and the students were instructed to find 3 examples that illustrate Odysseus's qualities as both an epic hero and a human who is likely to make mistakes.

We also reviewed our subject/verb agreement exercise.

Tuesday, November 2

We listened to "The Cyclops" episode.  Once finished, students began working on some guided reading questions to help check reading comprehension.

These questions are homeowrk and are due tomorrow for a grade.  We also marking examples of Odysseus' heroic and human traits.  Where does he make mistakes, and where does he exhibit superior skills.

Homework: Finish reading guide.

I also returned papers from last week.  Anyone who did not meet the standard was asked to revise the paper for a better grade after feedback was provided.

Monday, November 1

Today we get back to our reading of The Odyssey.  We read the first part of Book 9, "I am Laertes" and "The Lotus Eaters."  The class kept notes in their journals.  We also went over our grammar; still working on subject/verb agreement.

Homework tonight was grammar.  Complete #2 and #3 from grammar sheet.

Friday October 29

We have a test today on the background/mythology. After the test, students worked on a subject-verb agreement exercise.




The homework is to complete the subject-verb assignment if the students did not do so in class.

Thursday October 28

Today’s class was a presentation day of mythology visuals. Each student should have created a visual for one of the myths and a card that had what the student would share about the myth and its importance.




The homework is to study for the background/mythology test.

Wednesday, October 27

I collected the 10 questions on the Operation Odyssey background.  Students had the class period to write a well thought out paragraph on how Homer’s use of language helps us to understand the conflict that Odysseus faces with the temptations of Calypso and his obligation to home, family, and kingdom.

Tuesday, October 26

I collected last night’s homework on the myths. Tonight’s homework is to write 10 questions from the Operation Odyssey background.


We went over Book V, creating a t-chart that shows quotes and significance that explain the conflict between Odysseus’ choice to stay with Calypso and to return home.
We will write about this conflict tomorrow in class.

We wrapped up class with a daily subject-verb agreement exercise.

Monday, October 25

Students turned in their Mythology Projects; we will share and present this on Thursday.

Students also turned in their Operation Odyssey handouts.  I will return these tomorrow so that students can study them in preparation for our background/mythology test on Friday.

Finally, we read and took notes on Book I of The Odyssey; students will regularly make notes over the features of each Book we read in class.

HW: Write 10 questions that students should be able to answer about the 21 myth cards.  I modeled three questions for students.

Friday, October 22

We went over a grammar exercise that most students had difficulty with.

We also finished our Operation Odyssey handout; student not finished should finish this for Monday.  I will collect these handouts on Monday.

We also viewed about 20 minutes of the film, The Odyssey, so that students can see what to expect when we begin reading on Monday.

HW: Mythology Project is due.

Thursday, October 21

Today we wrapped up our Operation Odyssey handout and preparation for actually beginning to read The Odyssey.  I will check to make sure that all students completed this handout in preparation for our test on Friday, the 28th. 

We worked on our subject-verb grammar skills, but it seems that a lot of students still cannot adequately identify the subject of a sentence (especially in first period).  As such, we will go back and review this basic skill.

The homework is to work on the mythology visual; the visual is due on Monday.  Students have a rubric for how the visual and their presentation of it will be assessed.

Wednesday, October 20

We began class today with a homework check.

After checking homework, we completed our daily grammar focus activity, page 159 in the grammar books. 

Students received their grading rubric for their mythology projects, which are due on Monday, 25 October.

We will wrap up our Odyssey basic training and begin reading the epic on Monday.

HW: Mythology Graphic

Tuesday, October 19

Today we wrote individual epiteths to describe ourselves.  We also went over last night's homework, books 8 and 1 of The Odyssey. 

We began working on a mini-unit of grammar reviewing subject-verb agreement.  This will be our grammar focus until the end of next week.

The homework tonight is to complete page 6 of The Odyssey handout.

I will be having a mythology card make-up session on Thursday and Friday of this week for students who did complete all of the myths.  Anyone wishing to finish the assignment must come after school on these two days in order to recoup points in the 4 categories indicated in the grade book.

Monday, October 18

Today was the day our final mythology cards were due.  Everyone should have turned in 21 cards to date.  These cards will count for our first test grades of the second nine weeks.

We continued our background of The Odyssey, filling in page four of our handout.  Today's homework is to finish page 5, which includes books 8 and 1.

Friday, October 15

Today was the third turn in of mythology cards.  We have have 3 thus far.  The final check will take place on Monday.  At this time, all students will have 21 cards summarizing and citing the myths from the class handout.  This final check is a test grade; the first one for the second nine weeks of the grading period.  We have begun the background to The Odyssey and will officially begin the reading on Friday.  Students should begin working on their visual for one of their favorite myths.  These visuals are due on the 25th and will be another test grade.  We have a background and myth test tentatively scheduled for the 29th of October, so everyone should begin reviewing prior to that date.  To assist in this endeavor, students will turn in potential questions they think are fair to be asked of them for the test.  Students will turn in test questions on the 25, 26, and 27 October.  Some of these questions will appear on the test in addition to teacher generated questions.  The questions should ask something meaningful.

Thursday, October 14

Today we began our background to The Odyssey.  Students began reading some of the background and working on becoming familiar with the features of an epic.  We will continue to work on this until we get the background section completed.

HW: Myth cards (due tomorrow)

Wednesday, October 13

Today we went over the unit 1-3 vocabulary test and The Miracle Worker test and how to adequately answer short answer questions.

After going over these tests, we read about how The Trojan War lead to Odysseus trip away from home.  We will begin our background to The Odyssey tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 12

Today was the last day for the students to work on their myth cards in class. I collected set 2 (5 cards). Cards 11-15 are due on Friday.


Student's homework is to continue working on the myth cards. If you are doing 2 a day, you will get the cards finished by Monday the 18th.

Thursday, October 7 & Friday October 8

Today was the first day of 3 that students were provided class time to work on their myths.  Students will also have Friday and Tuesday to work on this assignment.  After that time the assignment becomes homework, but students will not have additional homework until the cards and project are completed on the 25th of October.

Wednesday, October 6

Today we spent most of our class period working on our Miracle Worker test.  Students could choose 5 questions from the list of 10 that had been provided prior to our viewing and discussing the video.  I also provided a website that provided a very complete review of the play and additional insightful themes of the play.  Students knew that to get all 20 points for each questions they needed to make 4 major points in answering the questions.

As students finished their tests, we began using the Edith Hamilton mythology books to work on their myths.

Tuesday, October 5

Today we finished any of The Miracle Worker video; primarily in first period.  I reminded students how to answer their short answer questions for the test tomorrow and we discussed our Odyssey project.

Students have a handout and a mythology list to assist them as we begin preparing for our reading of The Odyssey.

For the next 13 days, students will reserach a predetermined list of myths to help them understand the places, people, and events that are a part of The Odyssey.  We will begin our background reading on Oct 13, so everyone has to bring his book to class,

I will collect and check notecards on Friday, Oct 8, Tuesday, Oct 12, Friday, Oct 15, and all myth cards will be finished on Oct 18 for a final test grade.  Each of these checks will count as a prep grade; however all 22 completed cards will count as a test grade.

After we finish the cards, students will have a week to work on a visual that illustrates one of their favorite myths from our list.

Monday, October 4

I was out today, but the students had their vocabulary units 1-3 test. 
The only homework is to get our note cards.

We will finish the video on The Miracle Worker tomorrow (first period).  Fourth period finished the video.  We will discuss The Odyssey project, review how to adequately answer The Miracle Worker questions, and discuss our writing folders.  We are almost at the end of the first nine weeks and should be ready to settle in and be good students.

Friday, October 1

Today I did a final check of units 1-3 study cards.  I will be posting these grades soon.  We have the vocabulary test Monday. 

We watched more of The Miracle Worker and will finish the video on Tuesday. 

Be sure to study for the vocabulary test and remember to get your 4X6 note cards for our Odyssey project on Thursday.

Thursday, September 30

We began our class period by reviewing our units 1-3 vocabulary in preparation for our test on Monday.

After reviewing analogies, we discussed a question for the Miracle Worker test to ensure that all students understood how to adequately address short answer questions.

Our final moments were spent viewing a segment of The Miracle Worker video.

HW: Finish unit 1-3 vocabulary study cards.

Make up and retake picture day is tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 29

We completed another vocabulary review exercise today and I collected the three activities for the week to ensure that everyone is completing and participating in the necessary practice.

Once we had completed this activitiy, we began to view The Miracle Worker, taking notes to help us on our test on Wednesday, October 6th.  Students have the ten questions that they will need to know in order to meet the standards for the assessment of The Miracle Worker.

HW:  Vocabulary study cards for units 1-3 (Friday is the deadline for any credit for this.)

Tuesday, September 28

We began class by working on a vocabulary activity inn preparation of our unit 1-3 vocabulary test on Monday, October 4th. 

After going over the vocabulary exercise, we discussed the essential questions for our study of The Miracle Worker, read a picture book about Helen Keller, and reviewed the characters and the conflicts to expect when we begin viewing the video.

HW: Study cards.  Friday is the final day to get credit for vocabulary study cards.  Cards include definition, synonyms, antonyms, and a picture that reflects the definition.

Monday, September 27

We began class with a vocabulary unit review activity.  I noticed that many students could not complete the activity because we still don't know our vocabulary or we aren't able to read critically.  If this applies to you, you need to study your words and spend some time on the sadlier-oxford website completing some of the reading practices.  These are good for pre-SAT/PSAT testing.

After our vocabulary review we worked on finish our model paragraphs on Poe and Justice.  First period has to write a concluding sentence, but fourth period finished the writing.   Anyone absent will need to get with a classmate to get our writing notes from today's class.

HW: Continue to work on study cards.  Check #2 will take place tomorrow.  We will begin previewing The Miracle Worker.  Student will have the 10 questions that they should be able to answer about the play.  The test over this play will be on 10/6. 

Friday, September 24

Today we had our unit 3D vocabulary quiz.  I checked study cards for unit 3D while the students took the quiz.  Anyone who didn't have the cards has until Tuesday for the second check.  I will check cards again on Friday.  At that time, everyone should have units 1, 2, and 3. 

After the quiz we worked on our paragraph of Poe and Justice's use of character and setting to create an eerie, ominous atmosphere.

HW: Begin to finish your study cards.  The test on units 1-3 will be on Monday, 4 October.

Thursday, September 23

Today we focused on a collaborative writing.

We created our topic sentence and identified our evidence.  We still have to finish our final paragraph after we have our vocabulary quiz and perhaps on Monday.

We have our quiz tomorrow over vocabulary 3D and study cards are due tomorrow.  Next week we will review units 1-3 in preparation for our test on the 4th of Oct.  We will begin watching The Miracle Worker on Tuesday.

Wednesday, September 22

We went over the completing the sentence assignment from yesterday.

After our vocabulary focus, we shifted into a writing focus.  Students worked in groups of 4 to brainstorm on how Poe and Justice create an eerie and ominous atmosphere in both "The Raven" and "Incident in the Rose Garden."  Students charted words and phrases and key ideas to support the writing purpose and began to explain their examples. 

We will use the groupwork to write a class paragraph tomorrow.

Tomorrow is "Blast to the Past," 50s, 60s, 70, and 80s.

Tuesday, September 21

Today we had a vocabulary focus day.  Students began by completing their synonyms and antonyms and finished up with their sentences.

Students could continue working on creating vocabulary 3D study cards.  On Monday the 4th of October, students will have a vocabulary test over units 1-3D.  Our homework focus for the next week will be reviewing those three units.

Remember to use the vocabtest and sadlier-oxford study sites for reviewing the vocabulary.

Monday, September 20

Today is Jock/Nerd Day for homecoming week.  Tomorrow is backwards day--get in the spirit!!

I collected re-writes from the imagery/setting paragraphs, but I was disappointed that more people did not take advantage of this opportunity. 

We began unit 3D vocabulary day listening to the words and definitions.  After this unit we will have a test over units 1-3.  We begin working to make study cards either on paper or by using cobocards and printing out your computer-generated cards.

We read "Incident in a Rose Garden" and finished our handout on rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and repetition.  We also filled in our character, setting. conflict and setting section for this poem.

HW: Study cards for the vocabulary.  Vocabulary quiz on Friday.

Friday, September 17

We had our DOL Week 3 quiz today.

Once we finished the quiz, we watched a teacher tube video of Vincent Prince narrating "The Raven."  Students filled in a sheet on sound devices (alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, and repetition).  We discussed examples of these devices from the poem and began our dicussion of character, setting, conflict, and resolution as revealed in the poem.

The homework for the weekend is to revise the imagery/setting poems from "The Cask of Amontillado."  Students should remember that each paragraph should have a topic sentence, three examples from the text, three examples as to how these examples play on our fears, and a transition sentence.  This is the criteria for assessment.

Thursday, September 16

Today we were on an early release schedule, so we only had enough time to complete our weekly Daily Oral Language exercise.  Students will turn in their weekly practice tomorrow prior to the quiz.

Remember to review the DOL for tomorrow's quiz and begin your revisions on the "Cask of Amontillado" paragraphs that are due on Monday.  This is the final opportunity to bring up that test grade.

Wednesday, September 15

We used our class period to finish reading "Sorry, Right Number" by Stephen King.  We finished filling out our plot diagram and talked about the scene details and what we could visualize.

The homework tonight was to finish the back of the plot diagram.  We will finish our weekly DOL tomorrow since we have an early release day.

Tuesday, September 14

Today, we worked on the week #3 DOL, 4-6. 

We had a discussion about suspense and plot in drama. We also discussed films that had supernatural occurrences in preparation of reading Stephen King's teleplay, Sorry, Right Number. 

I have updated Parent Portal and several students did not turn in our writing assignment from last week after we spent a class period going to the lab to be typed.

These papers can be visited one final time and will be due back to my on Monday, 20 September.  If revisions are not made, the grade will stand and I am certain that those who did not meet the standard will continue to have difficulty with the writing in class.

Please come in if you need help with the writing task(s).

Monday, September 13

We began our class today with our quiz on unit 2D.  

We completed our first three sentences on the DOL Week #3.

We finished the class period by going over the test from Friday, our "Survivor" unit.

HW: Remember that you must have your literature book in class and it has to be covered.

Friday, September 10

Today we had our final assessment over our "Survivor unit.

HW: Vocabulary Review Sheet for Monday's quiz.

Thursday, September 9

We worked on synonyms and antonyms for unit 2D; the quiz on the unit is on Monday.

After completing the vocabulary focus, students wrote a letter to their favorite author from our "Survivor" short story unit.  Anyone who did not finish this writing will complete it after our short story objective test tomorrow.

The homework tonight is to review the five short stories ("The Most Dangerous Game, "Surviving the Streets of Memphis," "The Cask of Amontillado," "Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy," and "The Sniper."  Reviewing the side margin questions and the reading comprehension questions should prepare students for this test.

Wednesday, September 8

We spent our class period in the computer lab typing our paragraphs on setting, imagery, and mood.  This has been a 2-week ongoing writing assignment.  Students were supposed to have 2 original paragaphs on setting and imagery and a class model paragraph on mood.

This assignment will count as a test grade.

Tuesday, September 7

We began our class today by listening to unit 2D of our vocabulary series.  Remember that the sadlier-oxford site is on the blog; look at the second week of school blog.

After completing our vocabulary, we went back to Tupac's lyrics "Me Against the World."  The notes to accompany our discussion are linked to the blog so anyone who didn't finish copying can look at the notes here.

Our last part of the class was discussing the final writing that accompanies "The Caks of Amontillado."  We will be the computer lab tomorrow typing our three paragraphs.  This assignment is the final culumination of two weeks of practice.  The final typed three paragraphs will count as our first test grade.  Everyone needs to save the file to a USB or upload the file to http://www.scribd.com/ for storage.  If you do not have a storage device, you should go to the previous URL and create an account where you can store your files.  We can access this URL from school.

Homework: Write the final paragraph on setting.

Friday, September 3

We began class today by turning in our weekly DOL and our revised, final pargraph on setting or imagery.

After completing these tasks, students took their weekly DOL quiz.

Once the quiz was finished, students working on page 207 of the Reader, completing reading comprehension questions on "Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?"  These are due on Tuesday for anyone who could not complete them in class.

Our final shift involving moving into Tupac's lyrice "Me Against the World," our final survivor selection.  We discussed the obstacles Tupac addresses in his song and how he validates that education is the most valuable resource one has to surmount these obstacles.  We did complete our study of these lyrics, but will return to them on Tuesday.

HW: Begin reviewing the survivor selections in preparation for an objective assessment on Friday.  We will be in the computer lab on Wednesday typing our paragraphs on "Cask of Amontillado."  Students will have to write the additional paragraph for homework on Tuesday. 

Thursday, September 2

We completed our DOL for this week; the quiz is tomorrow.  Remember to bring your DOL practice sheet to turn in for you weekly class participation grade.

We finished listening to Tim O'Brien's short story "Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?" 

I returned the paragraphs (2nd revision) and instructed students to write this copy as a final to be assessed on the following: a clearly stated topic sentence, 3 examples for the text validating the topic sentence, 3 sentences that provide commentary on those examples and how they support the topic sentence, and a transitional sentence that informs the reader what the next paragraph will address.  These paragraphs are due tomorrow, Friday, September 3rd.

Wednesday, September 1

Our second draft of our imagery/setting paragraph about "The Cask of Amontillado" was due today.  If you did not turn it in, you can turn it in for a late assessessment tomorrow.

If you did not turn in page 86 of the reader, that should also be turned in.

We worked on sentences 6-7 of the weekly DOL; quiz on Friday.

We read pages 210-214 on Guerilla Warfare and completed the reading strategy questions on page 214.  1st period homework was to read 199-201.  Fourth period finished the homework reading. 

Tuesday, August 31

Paragraphs on imagery and setting were returned.  An additional example was provided for further explanation since so many students did not adequately address how Poe uses imagery or setting to play on our fears.

The homework was to revise the paragraphs using the model and/or the feedback provided by the teacher.  Be sure to use the checklist to make sure that you have addressed the four areas necessary.

We completed sentences 3-5 of our Daily Oral Language exercise; quiz on Friday for these skills.

We also read the short story "The Sniper," which highlights the grim and dangerous nature of war, especially a civil war.  We have one final short story in this unit before our test next week.  The test will include all the stories we have read.

Monday, August 30

Turned in paragraphs on setting or imagery.

DOL Week #2, sentences 1-2.

Students who did not write the paragraph over the weekend, did so in class.  Students who were finished read two nonfiction selections and completed the reading comprehension strategy questions.

Everyone should have page 86 complete.

Friday, August 27

Vocabulary Quiz, Unit 1

Model Paragraph on Mood: students copied a teacher created model from the previous day's class discussion.

Using this paragraph, students were to write an originnal paragraph on either setting or imagery and how Poe uses these devices to play on man's primal fear of death.

Paragraphs will be collected on Monday.  Feedback will be provided and then students will write the final paragraph.

Thursday, August 26

Our first task today was to turn in our reading responses to accompany "The Cask of Amontillado." 

Next, we went over a vocabulary exercise using our words in sentences and identified context clues.

Our final task for today was to begin brainstorming in reference to a writing prompt about how Poe uses setting, imagery, and mood to play on our fears.  "The Cask of Amontillado" was the short story that prompted this writing assignment.

HW: Study for our vocabulary quiz tommorow.  Remember to visit vocabtest.com to do some vocabulary practices.

Wednesday, August 25

Students in first period turned in the reading comprehension acitivities for Richard Wright's short story.

We completed a vocbulary activity that asked us to use the vocabulary words in a sentence.

I returned papers and explained our assessment portfolio.  We went over the reading comprehension questions for "The Most Dangerous Game," focusing on how they should go about choosing the correct answer.

We listened to "The Cask of Amontillado," highlighting passages that appealed to our senses and we dscussed Poe's use or irony.

Our homework is to finish the short story and do the questions on page 80.

Tuesday, August 24

Today we worked on the synonyms and antonyms that accompany out unit 1 vocabulary.


We viewed a video that provided a visual of Edgar Allan Poe's "Cask of Amontillado"

Monday, August 23

First Period:

Read pages 37-41 and be prepared to discuss the story tomorrow.

We will continue with our vocabulary unit and begin "Cask of Amontillado," Edgar Allen Poe.

Fourth period:  If you were absent, read the story above.

Friday, August 20

We began our class by turning in our weekly DOL.  This will count as a daily grade.

After turning in the weekly DOL, students had a DOL quiz.

We completed the class period by working on a language exericse focusing on "The Most Dangerous Game" and similes, metaphors, personification, and vivid imagery.

If you want to access the on-line version of the text book, go to classzone.com

When you go to this site, you will set up your student account and book activiation.

You sign in to the site and establish a "new" student account.

From here you have to activate your on-line access to the book.  Your access code is 4501978-20.

Once  you have established your account and activiation, you will search for you book using the high school, GA requisites.

You will then click on the on-line version link.  From this point you will be able to see which selections are accessible on-line.

Thursday, August 19

Today we finished out first DOL.  We will have a quiz over these skills tomorrow.  Before the quiz, I will collect the practices to check to make sure that students are keeping up with the class corrections for these grammar skills.

We finished our discussion of "The Most Dangerous Game" and extended the line "He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided."  Using this sentence, the class worked to remove additional layers of understanding that said more that what these few words explicitly stated.  Students also completed 8 reading comprehension questions for a quiz grade.

Our homework was to review our DOL #1 skills in preparation for the quiz.

Wednesday, August 18

We can class by completing DOL 7-8 (5-6 for fourth period as well).

In first period we finished reading "The Most Dangerous Game" and fourth period was to finish the short story for homework.  Both classes were reminded to complete the reading strategies in the margins of our reader.

We took pictures today, so anyone who was absent will make up pictures tomorrow during his/her lunch period.

Tuesday, August 17

1st Period -

We worked on DOL 5-6.  After completing this assignment, students had a 5-question reading quiz using their books to pick which questions they would answer.  This allowed students to use their reading strategies side margins as questions.  If they had read and completed the strategies, they should earn a 100.  I did notice, however, that some students had not completed these while reading.

The homework was to finish reading through the break on page 19.

Picture Day Tomorrow.

4th -

We had our beginning of the year media orientation.  What 1st completed today, this class will complete tomorrow as well as additional reading since we have an extended time period.

Monday, August 16

We began our day completing sentences 3-4 of our weekly DOL.

Anyone who did not do the introduction on Friday, did so today.

We went over some reading strategies highlighted in our reader in preparation to begin our "Survivor" unit of study.

We started reading "The Most Dangerous Game"; homework was to read to the break on page 11 of the reader, completing the reading strategy activities on the right and left margins of the text.

Everyone should create a Voki account at http://www.voki.com/

From this link you can create your own voki for whichever character from the unit speaks loudest to you.

Friday, August 16

Brown Bag Me introductions began.  Students who did not have their bags and introductions ready today will have an opportunity to complete this assignment in lieu of a zero on this assignment. 

We will begin our vocabulary series week after next (August 23rd).  If you would like to acquire a home study version on this text, please fill our the form provided on Monday.

The link to the vocabulary help on-line resources are as follows:

http://www.vocabtest.com/  (This site allows you to practice vocabulary in quiz form.)

http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/vocabulary/  (This site allows you to practice your vocabulary.)

Thursday, August 12

The students received "Readers."  We will use these smaller, lighter consumable resources when we can so we won't have to carry the heavy texts.  We began reading "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and worked on our DOL (daily oral language) practice.  Our first quiz on these skills will be Friday, 20 August.  Fourth period students received their lockers.  Students were reminded of our "Brown Bag It" introductory homework due tomorrow.

Bring your reader to class next week and continue until futher notice. 

Wednesday, August 11

Students received their textbooks today.  These should be covered prior to bringing them back to class.  The introductory letter was due.  Student who did not have the letter filled out an explanation why they did not have their assignment.  Anyone missing this assignment tomorrow will stay after school on Friday to complete the homework assignment so that I do not have to assign any zeroes.   I will call parents tomorrow to information them of missing work.

We went over our benchmark assessment, so now I will have a feel for where everyone is at this time with regard to specific reading skills.

HW: The brown bag it assignment is due on Friday.

Tuesday, August 10th

Today we began (fourth finished) a benchmark for reading comprehension and reading knowledge.  I informed students that we will issue their literature books to them tomorrow, so they need their book covers.  We wrote in our journals, responding to the prompt "Who make the best friends?"

The homework due tomorrow is the introductory letter; the assignment is linked to my Lakeside home page if you have misplaced the assignment.

Monday, August 9, 2010

We began our day with reminders about our blog, the teacher home page, and class materials.  I will be issuing the textbook soon, so everyone needs to make sure to get the oversized book covers.

Our first two assignments, both linked to the teacher home page (at lhspanthers.com), were addressed.
On Wednesday, students will have written a 3-paragraph personal letter which describes themselves as learners (past, present, and future).  The Brown Bag It assignment is due on Friday (that is linked to my website as well).   We will use this assignment as a means of introducing ourselves to the rest of the class.
This small assignment addresses our speaking/listening skills standards while the letter addresses the writing and conventions standards.

Students were reminded to get their notebooks in order, using the 5 sections (literature, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and resources.

HW: Work on the introductory letter that is due on Wednesday.  Don't forget your homeroom forms that should be signed by the parents and returned.