Week of Dec 10th - Dec 14th

This week we will begin reading Twelve Angry Men, and explore the ideas of characterization and the United States judicial system.

Week of Dec 3rd - Dec 7th

This week we finished reading Animal Farm.  Study guide questions for chapter 6-7 were due on Monday and study guide questions for chapter 8-10 were due on Wednesday 12/5.  For all questions text support was required.  Thursday we had another dynamic socratic seminar and explored the questions:
Which character shows the greatest intelligence?
Describe how tyranny, oppression, and self-determination play a role in Animal Farm.
Friday we had an open book essay test.  For those that didn't finish in class, the test is due on Monday 12/10.  See me if you have any questions or need to catch up.  Friday 12/7 will be the last possible date to turn in any late Animal Farm assignments.

Week of Nov 26th - Nov 30

I have fallen behind in my weekly blog posts, but I'm sure you have been keeping track of class activities on the classroom white board.  Please see me if you have any questions or have fallen behind and want to catch up!
Animal Farm begins...we started by doing back ground research on:
Russian Revolution of 1917
Joseph Stalin
Leon Trotsky
Communism/Socialism
Capitalism
Totalitarianism
Propaganda

Animal Farm is an allegory (refers to historic events) and it is important to understand the context prior to reading the novel. The following is the schedule for the week:
Monday - read chapter 1-5
Tuesday - Test on chapter 1-5
Wednesday - Reading Day, read chapter 6-7
Thursday - Chapter 6-7 discussion questions
Friday - Read chapter 8-9 for Monday

Week of Oct. 1st - 5th

This was a full week with reading Lord of the Flies and vocabulary - quiz on Friday 10/5.  We read chapters 1-8 and prepared for a Socratic Seminar.  Socratic Seminar is a discussion lead by students and is based on Socrates idea that learning takes place through inquiry.  The key to a successful seminar is PARTICIPATION!  Open-ended discussion questions were turned in on Friday (10/5) and will be used to start the discussion.  Next week (10/8-10/12) we will finish reading the book, continue discussion and begin a project based on the novel.  Also, expect more DGP fun and a possible quiz at the end of the week.

Week of Sept. 24-27

We did Week 3 of DGP and learned about participles and compound sentence parts.  Our sentence was standing on a ladder i slipped and broke a window.  Come see me if you are feeling confused or frustrated by DGP (and no, I didn't invent diagramming, but it sure is fun)!  We read the first three chapters of Lord of the Flies and had a quiz over chapter 1 on Monday.  Stay caught up on your reading because I love pop quizzes.  We also had vocabulary words for the first three chapters.  Definitions were due on Thursday.  You can turn them in to me on Monday for partial credit.  Be prepared for a vocabulary quiz and quiz over chapter 1-3 on Monday.  Discussion questions for chapter 1-3 were given out on Thursday.  Be sure to provide page numbers and text support for your answers.  We will go over them on Monday 10/1.  Have a good three day weekend.  Read chapter 4 for Monday.

Week of Sept 17-21

This week we started with an in class writing sample (choose three questions and write a multi-paragraph essay).  If you did not finish the writing sample in class then it needed to be done for homework - due by Wednesday 9/19.  We also continued DGP, our sentence for the week was someones copy of lord of the flies a novel was found in the room but my copy of the play our town is missing  On Wednesday we had our first Reading Day - don't forget you need to read 600 pages by the end of the quarter (November 9).  Thursday we started reading Lord of the Flies.  We began with an activity on survival and answered some preview questions.  I also handed out a tentative reading and quiz schedule for the novel.  What a busy week!  I look forward to more excitement next week. - Ms. J

Week of September 10th - 14th

Our first full week of school has come and gone, and we are well on our way to a great year.  This week we began DGP (Daily Grammar Practice).  Each student was given a DGP workbook with notes for each day of the week.  This workbook must be used each day to complete the DGP activity.  We also did "ME BAG" speeches this week.  Each student brought an item to represent three aspects of their life (childhood, present self and future hopes/dreams) and share them with the class.  The purpose of this speech is to get to know classmates, and practice your public speaking skills.  I will use this as pre-assessment of your public speaking.  Have a great weekend, I look forward to seeing you next week!

Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year!

You found my blog...congratulations!  I am new to the blogging world, so be patient with me as I learn to post our weekly activities and upload assignments.  I will post our weekly the activities and assignments for class.  Please check this if you are absent or missed anything in class.  Feel free to give me feedback on the effectiveness of this blog, as I may change directions during the year.