Mrs. Wright’s Blog

Your nine weeks test was a book report on “A Christmas Carol.” The guidelines are listed below. It was due today (Dec. 20th) You were given time in class and I also made the computer lab available first and second hour yesterday and today. If you did not turn in your book report and wish to not recieve a zero, you may turn it in by Thursday handwritten.

Guidelines:

Paragraph 1:Introduction
Here you want to provide basic information about
the book, and a sense of what your report will be about. You should include:

Title (underlined)/Author
Publication Information: Publisher, year,
number of pages
Genre
A brief (1-2 sentences) introduction to the book
and the report/review.

Body: Paragraphs 2-3
There are two main
sections for this part. The first is an explanation of what the book is about.
The second is your opinions about the book and how successful it is. There are
some differences between reports on fiction or other imaginative writing and
reports on non-fiction books.
But for both, a good place to start is to
explain the author’s purpose and/or the main themes of the book. Then you can
summarize.
For fiction or other creative writing:
Provide brief descriptions
of the setting, the point of view (who tells the story), the protagonist , and
other major characters. If there is a distinct mood or tone, discuss that as
well.
Give a concise plot summary. Along with the sequence of major events, you
may want to discuss the book’s climax and resolution, and/or literary devices
such as foreshadowing. But, if you are writing a review, be careful not to give
away important plot details or the ending.
Analysis and Evaluation
In
this section you analyze or critique the book. You can write about your own
opinions; just be sure that you explain and support them with examples. Some
questions you might want to consider:
Did the author achieve his or her
purpose?
Is the writing effective, powerful, difficult, beautiful?
What
are the strengths and weaknesss of the book?
What is your overall response
to the book? Did you find it interesting, moving, dull?
Would you recommend
it to others? Why or why not?

Conclusion Paragraph 4
Briefly
conclude by pulling your thoughts together. You may want to say what impression
the book left you with, or emphasize what you want your reader to know about it.

DECEMBER 12th-16th

Monday:  In one paragraph describe a scene from any sport. Use these words in the paragraph:
bounced, struggled,   spied, roared, collapsed, giggled.

Tuesday: Describe someone who looks bored. Don’t use any form of the words: yawned, stared, or sighed.

Wednesday: Write one sentence consisting entirely of three-syllable words (not counting the articles a, an and the)

Thursday: Write a sentence that makes sense reading either from the left to right or right to left. Example: Bob liked Mary and Bill. Bill liked Mary and Bob.

Friday: Create a much more interesting version of this sentence: The dog barked.

DECEMBER 19th-22

Monday:
Create the most interesting sentence you can from this one: “The dog
barked.”

Tuesday:
Here’s what an artist named their painting “Ploar Bear Eating Vanilla Ice
Cream in a Blizzard.” To the viewer it just looked like a plain white
canvas. What might an artist name a completely black canvas?

Wednesday:
“Like looking for a needle in a haystack” is a descriptive phrase
that we have all heard. Create 5 of your own that mean the same thing.

Thursday:
Write about something you plan to do on Christmas break. Journals DUE today!

Journals Week of
November29th, 2011

No Monday Journal!

Tuesday: Write a paragraph about a girl named
Dot. Don’t use letters with dots (i, j).

Wednesday: “Silly” is a middle aged
man who combs his remaining limp strands of hair into an elaborate swirl over
his bald spot, gluing them into place with hair spray and hoping no one will
notice.

“Silly” is a golden retriever who
slinks sheepishly off the sofa whenever his owner comes home, hoping-despite
the piles of hair all over the cushion- that she won’t notice he’s been
sleeping there.

What or who else is “Silly?” Give
three examples.

Thursday: Write a par

agraph that includes at least 10 words that
rhyme with “be.”

Friday: Write a paragraph about a cat
attacking something, but don’t use the words “hiss,” “scratch” or “pounce.”

November 30th-December 1st we will be in the computer lab doing a webquest! You will need a pencil and paper and that’s it!

Go to this link and it will explain everything you need to know: http://students.rochester.k12.mi.us/west/A%20Christmas%20Carol/a_christmas_carol.htm

YOUR WEBQUEST IS DUE BY THE END OF CLASS TOMORROW (DEC. 1ST.)

It is time for our second novel study of the year! We will be reading the classic novel, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. We will begin with an introduction (here is the powerpoint from class: christmascarol_nn_ce ) to the author and the historical context of the novel. Then we will delve deeper into reading the novel. This is a novel full of imagery, symbolism, with a theme that translates through the ages. I think you will all enjoy this unit. Remember, your nine weeks test will be a five paragraph essay about the novel to be submitted through edmodo.com.

The following is the vocabulary for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our test is Friday. It is open note but will NOT have a word bank!

Act I

austerity  n. condition of lacking pleasure or
luxury

beguile  v. to trick

cloister  n. place where members of a
religious community live

dote  v. to love with foolish fondness

extenuate  v. to lessen the seriousness of

feign .
to pretend

idolatry  n. false worship

reveling n. enjoying festivities

Act II

dissemble  v. to pretend

flout  v. to mock

progeny  n. offspring

promontory  n. peak of land that juts out

wanton adj. shameless

Act III

bequeath v.
to leave to or
pass on to, as in a will

chide  v. to scold

derision  n. scorn

entreat  v. to beg

rebuke  v. to scold

recompense  n. payment

sojourn  v. to stay somewhere for a while

spurn v. to reject

Act IV

discourse n.
conversation

enmity  n. hostility

paragon  n.
model of
perfection

Act V

amends n.
something done
to make up for a fault or mistake

audacious  adj. bold

gait n.
manner of
walking

premeditated  adj. planned

reprehend  v. to find fault with

satire  n. literary work exposing human
vices and shortcomings to ridicule and scorn

transfigure  v.
to change

I am so excited that we will be doing a unit on Shakespeare this year! We will be reading “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in class. This unit will last until about Thanksgiving Break. I feel that it is crucial for my students to develop a good foundation in classic literature such as Shakspeare. So often Shakespeare has a tendency to overwhelm or intimidate students, which leads to a dislike of the literature. I want this unit to be a light hearted study of Shakespeare’s use of humor. This play is the original romantic comedy! We are using a translation of Shakespeare that keeps true to his original wording, but is easier to understand. I hope my students will enjoy this unit and realize Shakespeare isn’t SCARY!  Here is a picture of good ol’ Will himself!

It is one of my favorite things every year to do a socratic circle activity. This is a method adapted by the educational strategies of Socrates in ancient Greece. This is Socrates:

Basically, the activity involves the students sitting in a large circle and carrying on a methodical discussion on topics that they have created leveled questions for before hand. For instance, our first topic is cyberbullying. Students are to come up with level 1,2, and 3 questions to pose for discussion. So a level one might be, “What is cyberbullying?”  a level two might be, “Why would the use of technology change how someone bullies another? and a level three might be, “What can we do as students to stop cyberbullying?” The questions get more in depth as we go along. The role of Socrates, or in this case, me, is to monitor the progress and let them lead eachother through the discussion. We started today and I think they are really getting the hang of it!

The word of the week is: PERSERVERANCE

Monday: Write down the word for the week and its definition:

Perseverance: steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles,or discouragement.

After writing the definition, write at least one way you
show perseverance in your life.  If you
can’t think of one for yourself, write about someone else you know.

Tuesday: Watch the following video clip: http://youtu.be/BU3jfbb172E about an
athlete with perseverance. Students are to answer the following questions after
watching:  How does the athlete show perseverance? Why is it important to finish the race, even though he does not
win?

Wednesday: Find a quote in your agenda that goes with the word
of the week: perseverance. Write it down and why you chose it.

Thursday: Think about what the world would be like if human
beings never had the emotion of perseverance. What things about history might
never have happened? Fun facts to help with this:

http://des.emory.edu/mfp/efficacynotgiveup.html

Friday: Reflect on your week. What is one thing you learned,
one thing you could improve upon and one way you showed PERSEVERANCE?

Monday: NO JOURNAL, explaining our new PLUS program to the
students.

Tuesday: Word of the week: INSPIRATION: The process of being mentally
stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: “flashes of
inspiration”. Students are to write the definition of the word and one or more
things that inspire them.

Wednesday: Find a quote from your agenda that inspires you. Write it down and
explain why it is inspirational.

Thursday: Reflect on your week. Write one thing that you learned, one thing
that INSPIRED you and one thing you can improve upon next week.

Friday: Parent Teacher Conferences/No Journals