ENGLISH 7

Handed in Jonas Character study. All parts stapled. You all did some very nice work on the novel. Congratulations!

We will peer grade them on Monday.

Giver anticipation guide returned. Look it over. Have you changed your mind about anything in the book? Also, look over your perfect community work we did at the beginning of the unit.

Now write: 

1) How has your view of perfect community changed since reading The Giver?

2.) Have you changed your perspective on anything else?

3.) Take another moment to reflect on our unit on The Giver. What did you like best? Group work, drawing? Writing? Multiple choice tests? Would you want to read another book by Lois Lowry?

Listen, on audio, to an interview with the author, Lois Lowry.

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ENGLISH 8 

Women Authors on Women's Issues. Handout. Our next book, a choice of sorts.  Now that we have spent the last few months with decidedly male writers, it is time for women! 

Book choice due Mon., Jan. 31.  Must have book in hand and get approval from me. No vampire series books because it would be difficult to connect contemporary issues facing women (and in our interviews with those women) to vampires. You will have time on Monday to search through the classroom library as well as the school library.  Ask for help.  For ideas, go to ww.sonomalibrary.org, www.half.com, www.amazon.com.

Finished working on and discussed Section 1 questions.

HW: Mon Jan 31 Women’s Author book choice. Don’t be late on this one.

ENGLISH 7 

A bit of time to finish up grammar and mugshots.

Checked in mugshots, weeks 18 and 19, and grammar packets. Reviewed.

HW: Fri: Final draft, Jonas character study. Don't forget assignment sheet/graphic. Staple ahead of time, please.

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ENGLISH 8

 Listen/read: through page 40 of Old Man and the Sea.

Checked in courage handout.
QW: Chose one of the following five statements about old age as a starter for a freewrite in your notebook.
1) Old age is to be feared more than death.
2) Everybody wants to live a long time but nobody wants to be old.
3) Old age is like an incurable disease.
4.) There are people who get more beautiful as they get older.
5.) Old age offers peace and freedom.

Discussed courage handout and quick write. Nearly finished Section 1 questions. Feel free to finish for homework by looking at link to online text of OMS here.

ENGLISH 7 

Planners check

New mugshots. This time you will do two weeks at a time. Make sure to check your form. Tomorrow,  you are responsible for weeks 18 and 19. You can have the first 10 minutes of class on Thursday to finish up grammar and mugs because there is a lot to do!

Checked in rough draft Jonas character study. Peer-edited using the praise-question-polish edit form we worked on before. Was it a character study? Did you suggest ways to improve? 

HW: Thurs: Mugshots 18 and 19; grammar packet, parts of speech (extensions, too!) 

         Fri: Final draft, Jonas character study

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ENGLISH 8 

Checked in and discussed pre-reading vocabulary work.
  Handed out worksheet on courage. Due Thursday. 

Looked over back and front cover of The Old Man and the Sea. Predict.

“The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal—a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Written in 1952, the novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for literature…His tough, terse prose and short, declarative sentences did more to change the style of written English than any other in the 29th Century.”

Day 1: Listened and read Pgs. 9-29 
Section 1 questions. You will have time on Thursday to finish those questions. 

If you want to read more on your own, go here for the full-text, online version. If absent, make sure to stay current with reading. (You can also come by here at break and/or lunch to read.) 

HW: Thurs: Finish handout on courage.   Can work on Section 1 questions, due at end of period on Thursday. 

ENGLISH 7

Graded Spelling tests/exercises and The Giver test.

New grammar handouts. Mugshot handed out on Wednesday.

No spelling this week.

Quick “Grammar Girl” review of plagiarism. Overhead.

*Plagiarism tips, plainspoken, from the University of South Carolina:

“There are some actions that can almost unquestionably be labeled plagiarism. Some of these include buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying an entire paper or article from the Web); hiring someone to write your paper for you; and copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation.

But then there are actions that are usually in more of a gray area. Some of these include using the words of a source too closely when paraphrasing (where quotation marks should have been used) or building on someone's ideas without citing their spoken or written work. Sometimes teachers suspecting students of plagiarism will consider the students' intent, and whether it appeared the student was deliberately trying to make ideas of others appear to be his or her own. The key to avoiding plagiarism is to make sure you give credit where it is due.”

Bottom line for the Jonas Character study: Write your own. There is no need to be on the Internet to do any of this work. Use what you read, the book in front of you and your own ideas and writing. In the long run, it is your writing and your learning that matter.

Worktime, Jonas Character Study. Rough draft for peer edit due Weds.

HW: Weds RD for peer edit Jonas character study

       Thurs: Mugshots 18/19 and grammar packet

        Fri: Final draft Jonas character study.

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ENGLISH 8

QW “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” – Martin Luther King, Jr.  Write for at least 5 minutes. Think. React. Respond.

Graded Friday’s Hemingway video tests.

Finished note taking on Hemingway and Old Man and the Sea. Go here for a copy of class notes on Hemingway.

Pre-reading activity. Finish vocabulary handout for homework.

Novella as parable. About life. About man's struggle for survival in a world seemed designed to destroy him. Handouts.
 

HW: Weds: Finish vocabulary handout

ENGLISH 7

Completed Spelling test, Unit 19. Turned in exercises and test. We will grade next week.

The Giver  Multiple Choice test. If finish early, worked on Jonas Character sketch final writing assignment.

Handed out late passes for third quarter. If absent, your responsibility to ask for now, not later. (Thank you. )

Have a great three-day weekend!

HW: Weds. Rough draft of Giver writing assignment

        Fri: Final draft, Giver writing assignment

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ENGLISH 8

Watched the rest of the biography on Hemingway.

Quickie quiz check-in on film. You can use your notes.

We will grade them next week.

Notes on Hemingway. Mine. Take more notes!

Handed out late passes for third quarter. If absent, your responsibility to ask for now, not later. (Thank you. )

Have a great three-day weekend! See you Tuesday.

ENGLISH 7
Checked in and reviewed mugshot. Handed in grammar packet, to be peer-edited next week.

Finished literary circle expert presentations.  Multiple choice test Friday on The Giver. Look over any notes you may have. It won't be hard if you have read the book and kept up!

HW: .Fri: Spelling exercises, Unit 19, p. 93, 1-20;  The Giver, Unit test, multiple choice.

ENGLISH 8
You wrote down one piece of information that stood out in the film on Hemingway. What was astounding, interesting, useful, or....

Nearly finished watching Ernest Hemingway biography. Took notes. Maybe a quiz on Friday???

ENGLISH 7

Planners check. New check-in sheet handed out.

Handed out and discuss  final Giver writing assignment.

Began literary circle discussions.

HW: Thurs. Mugshot and new grammar packet, Unit 3, parts of speech. You do not have to do the flashcards assignments in Exercise 12. We will do in class at a later date.
Fri: Spelling exercises, Unit 19, p. 93, 1-20;  The Giver, Unit test, multiple choice.

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ENGLISH 8

Handed in Personal Oasis work, stapled, with final draft, peer edit and self-reflection rubric and picture attached.

Ernest Hemingway biography on film. A comment on him: 

"Some consider Hemingway's writing simple. Hemingway is not simple. The simplicity has to evoke an emotion. From the moment he was born, he was going to be a great writer."

 Hemingway, one of America's greatest writers, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature,  joins the ranks of those writers --- John Steinbeck. F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner - who we admire and study for their insights into people and writing. We will start reading Hemingway's  Old Man and The Sea  in class. It is the novel he wrote just before winning the Nobel Prize.

ENGLISH 7

Portfolios. Handed in. 
The Giver.  Finish and class discuss ending ideas from yesterday.
Literary Circles. Work on The Giver.  Your group is responsible for answering your assigned questions and being the "experts." You will present your answers to the class beginning Wednesday. You will get work-time points for staying on task with this.
Final writing project on The Giver to be handed out tomorrow and due next week. 

HW: Weds: Planner check Thurs. Mugshot and new grammar packet, Unit 3, parts of speech Fri: Spelling exercises, Unit 19, p. 93, 1-20;  The Giver, Unit test, multiple choice.

 ENGLISH 8

Cleaned out portfolio “junk”

 Personal Oases. Did you finish yours? Peer editing. Then take it home and re-write, accordingly. Use the peer edit as your self-edit as well. Include both for the rubric to hand in on Wednesday.  


HW: Weds: Final Draft Personal Oasis, with Peer edit and self-evaluation rubric, and picture attached.

Third Quarter, Second semester begins today. Clean slate!

ENGLISH 7

Graded Friday's grammar Unit 2 test.
Spelling pre-test Unit 19

Listened to last chapters of The Giver. Write: Where are they going now? What happens? Support your answer. Say why. There are no wrong answers on this one.

HW: Tues: Portfolio with parent signature BOP

Weds: Planner check 

Thurs. Mugshot and new grammar packet, Unit 3, parts of speech

Fri: Spelling exercises, Unit 19, p. 93, 1-20;  The Giver, Unit test, multiple choice. 
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ENGLISH 8

Portfolios. On desk. Do you need to staple?

Finish work on A Personal Oasis. Five-paragraph minimum, due Tuesday. Does not have to be typed, but has to be legible.

HW: Tuesday: A Personal Oasis

ENGLISH 7
Completed Spelling, Unit 18 exercises and review. 
Quick quiz on Unit 2 grammar.

Last day, work-time, portfolio, due Tuesday. Link to portfolio assignment.

HW: Make sure to have The Giver with you on Monday.
Tues: Jan. 11: Portfolio, with parent signature. No late passes.

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ENGLISH 8
"A Personal Oasis." Creative writing. Handout.  Half to be done with a partner, but most of it is on your own. Read directions. (Not for homework. Will finish in class on Monday.)
Unused late passes handed in today.

HW: Monday: Portfolio and essay with parent signature due Monday. No late passes.
Link to 8th Grade Portfolio assignment.