Try this: Post your l-o-n-g one-sentence story here. This should be a complete sentence, not a sentence fragment, to show that you understand how to avoid fragments.
Feel free to expand the one you started in class.
Extra Credit Posting: 10 points
This must be posted by 9:00 pm on Sunday.
You should be in bed after that to prepare for Terra Nova!
For our grammar review, we’ll use www.brainpop.com. Be sure to look for the username and password listed in Unit Guide #7: Overcoming Our Obstacles.
You will do the activities listed, and complete the graded quiz. Be sure that you mail the results to me.
Important: Due to the license from Lester, this can only work before 5:30 pm!
Some of you are missing this or the elephant brainstorm sheet from the Parts of Speech work. Send it along immediately.
For you kids missing school for JSHS or swim team, get ahead on work this week, including the MLK Imitation paper. Plan on staying after on Monday for Academic Success. I will offer a special tutorial session for you.
If you missed the first part of the film version of “Flowers for Algernon” on Friday, 2/26 or Monday, 3/1, you MUST attend Academic Success on Monday, 3/1, to watch it. This will ensure that you are up-to-date on the work before watching the second half.
This includes both absent students and those who worked in the library and missed it.
Since we readjusted the dates on the unit guide, I wanted to remind you of the homework due. It is all the same as stated in the unit guide, but the dates are off. Here’s what you’ll need:
White Day students on Monday:
(see page 3 in unit guide along with Writing Formally sheet
Three one-sentence thesis statements each with three branches.
Turn one into a complete introduction for a possible paper
Be sure to include a sentence start with -ing, another with two adjectives, one quotation from the book, and the title and author
Thesis comes at end of introduction
Print all on one page
Purple Day students on Tuesday, 3/2 and White Day students on Wednesday, 3/3:
(see page 3 in unit guide along with Writing Formally sheet
After completing the Sentence Opener Sheet in class and receiving feedback from a fellow writer, make appropriate changes to reflect improvement
Assemble in this order with a staple: Newest draft, former draft with comments, Sentence Opener sheet
Again, this is all the same information, but I changed the dates a bit.
Remember our homework due on Tuesday (periods 1, 3, 4) and Wednesday (periods 5 & 6)
1. Read “Flowers for Algernon” up to and including June 4 entry. I suggest that you finish the story to get ahead. Need the full-text of the story? Try www.wattpad.com/161946 or click here
2. Do the Clarifying Questions 7-9 and TWO squares. For each square, include a passage of 2-3 sentences from the text and the page number. Then, illustrate that passage. Again, you can finish all work.
3. Type your second draft of your scientific discovery. This should be different than merely typing your first draft. Be sure it is ready to deliver as a speech.
4. Study for our root word quiz 1-60. Are you using Study Stack to help?
5. Period 5 ONLY: Remember, Nick’s dad is offering to donate $10 the the Haiti fund-raiser for each student who completes a report on the earthquake in Haiti and what we can do to help. Include the following questions: Why is Haiti so important? How can Haiti help us in the future? What are some important facts about Haiti? Include your reaction to the devastation there. In addition to the $10 you’ll earn for the fund, I’ll give extra credit points for this as well. It is due no later than Tuesday, even though we do not have class that day.
Your Reading Log is due this week with 10 books recorded. You can turn it in anytime on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (White Day students: Thursday is OK). After that, I will not take them.
Remember, you now CAN include either of the two books we read in class, The Pigman or Nothing But the Truth.
Turn it in early to ensure you have it done correctly.
Come in to either Monday Academic Success or Tuesday Seminar to make up any quiz grade in quarter two.
You’ll need to do the following:
1. Have your graded quiz for the one you want to redo as your ticket. Bring that to either session.
2. If you are coming into Tuesday’s seminar, please write your name and the session you are coming in a comment to this post. I will request for your teacher to send you based on your name here. Please note: I can only request up to 10 questions per session. If there are already 20 names and sessions here, plan on coming to Monday’s session.
I will erase your old score and replace it with your new one.
To get us thinking about our Snapshot Project, this is a quick assignment for Purple Day students.
Simply add a comment, and type in your favorite quotation from chapters 13, 14, or 15. Be sure you put it in quotation marks, and include the page number.
Value-10 points; add no later than Monday, 11:59 pm.
Assignment that White Day students must complete: add one complex sentence as a comment. Be sure that it is about our novel, and mark off the independent and the subordinate clauses.
Example: Miss Narwin was dismayed that Philip was suspended because she thought he had potential.
Independent clause: “Miss Narwin was dismayed that Philip was suspended”
Dependent clause: “because she thought he had potential”
Value: 10 points; posting is due by Monday evening at 11:59 pm.
Remember, your assignment is to read chapters 6-8 this weekend. Be sure to complete the questions for these chapters on pages 3&4 (Active Reading page and Responding page). Print it off in the Shared Documents on Wildcatnet in you need a copy.
Also, you are now working on your first chapter of your Snapshot Project.
Show off your talents. Over the holiday, I’m collecting student memoirs that explains your holiday celebrations and traditions. We’ve been working on these for some time, so those one, two, or three memoirs that you post should be powerful and concrete.
(BTW: The picture links to Amazon’s page for the teen version of Six-word memoirs. You may want a copy of your own.)
If you are interested in earning +10 extra credit points, post your own, and then comment on at least one other student’s work. I’ll post the best in class after we return. Remember, these must be as powerful as the professional ones. You must have impressive work here to earn the credit.
Your only task over our vacation is to continue reading toward your Reading Log. Our next checkpoint is 10 books due in the first week in February.
If you want to get a sample of our work in January, the new unit guide is available in our Shared Documents folder. Feel free to print and prepare your notebook for the upcoming notebook check.
Purple Day students will read The Pigman first. White Day students will read Nothing But the Truth.
I want to inform you of the upcoming novels that we will read in Language Arts class after winter break. Some students enjoy having their own personal copy to underline, make margin notes, etc., for further understanding and appreciation of the text. Because of this, I want to send you the list in case you want to purchase a personal copy over the break. There are used copies available on Amazon for a few dollars. This is of course only optional, and there is no class requirement for buying a copy.
When I read, I like to have my own copy to write in, and I thought you would as well.
Looking for a chance to show off your root word skills AND earn a little extra credit at the same time? Here’s your chance.
Create two nonsense words from our list of root words. Each of the two must include a prefix, two roots, and a suffix. Then, give the definition to your new word.
Things to remember:
1. Use only the roots we’ve covered so far. It’s OK to use new prefixes and suffixes
2. You MUST be signed in properly. See my very first post.
3. Post by 11:59 pm on Sunday.
If done correctly, you’ll earn 10 extra credit points!
Remember, you’ll need to turn in your Reading Log with 6 books total on 12/7 (12/8). Turn it in beforehand to ensure you have it done correctly.
When turning it in, be sure it is in this order:
1. New, typed Reading Log with 6 books
2. Former Reading Log with my grade and comments on it
3. Any new typed evidence pieces. Be sure each it formatted properly with class heading, and includes title in italics and author
4. One staple throughout the packet
(This is in our usually Shared Documents folder on the Wildcatnet).
[Here is where you can also add a comment for your Forum Entry, another option for your Reading Log evidence. Compare your book with something else that we've read in class. Examine the characters, plot, theme, etc. This will be a minumum of 150 words.]
Here is the link to the teen site for six-word memoirs. Remember, some may not be appropriate for 8th graders. If you encounter one, move on to another. http://www.smithteens.com/. Go to the site and submit one. Who knows? You may be in the next book.
In the meantime, add a comment here and write one or two showing off your writing powers. Eventually, I’d like to add a six-word memoir portion to my site to showcase your work. This is a graded assignment; each student must post at least one. Be sure you are logged in as we are supposed to be (see first post), and that your memoirs are properly punctuated. This is worth 10 points.
If you are feeling in the writing mood and want to earn 10 extra credit points, try this:
1. Log in. You MUST be logged in with a username as stated in the first post.
2. Reply to this post with a 100-150 word scary story, using only one syllable words as we have done in class.
3. Be sure it has a title.
4. Focus on the traits of word choice and conventions.
This must be accomplished by 7 am on Monday, November 2.
Remember, your quiz on roots 1-5 is next class, and you’ll need your completed flash cards 1-5 then before you take the quiz.
However, I STRONGLY recommend that you spend two hours or so creating all 99 flash cards. You will have to do it anyway, and I think that this weekend affords you the time to get far ahead of your work. Outside of reading for your reading log, you have no English homework.
I will give 10 points extra credit for those students who have all 99 completed. Review the requirements in the unit guide to ensure you do them correctly.
This link may help you study: http://www.studystack.com/studystack-176316 . I’ll post the newest cards on this to help you prepare for quizzes. Our first one is Tuesday/Wednesday.
The LA Forum on the Wildcatnet was not working as well as I had hoped. Students said that they found it difficult to navigate. If it was not being used, then it is not worth having it.
So, I returned to the forum that I used last year. Here is your weekend assignment:
……………………………………….
1. Create a new account on this. See how to name it below! 2. You will receive a password confirmation. It’s a long, difficult one.
3. Go into your account and change it to one you will easily remember.
……………………………………..
Create an account using the following:
Period, First Name, and Initial of last name. So, if Jerry Seinfeld is in my period 2 class, he would create a username of 2JerrySUse capital letters for your first and last initial as in the example.
Got it? Now give it a try. Remember, absolutely no last names.
I hope that you enjoy this new forum. To return to Wildcatnet, simply click on the link to the right.
