If you need to catch up on the binder and composition book assignments, here is what we've done so far:
English Binder So Far – Second Term as of 12-9-08
December 8/9 --
Topic or Theme Quiz
Word Sort
Prefix and Suffix Chart with Example Words
December 2/3 –
1. Types of Government
2. Giver Questions, Chapter 5-6
November 15/Dec. 1 –
3. Word Sorts, Exercise 1 and 2
4. Anticipation Guide for The Giver
5. Giver Questions, Chapter 3-4
November 21/24 –
6. Magical study guide
7. Yellow prefixes and suffixes chart
November 19/20
8. Word sort (half-page) for periods B1, B2, B3
Sentence Combining Worksheets:
9. Sentence Combining with Key Words
10. Sentence Combining with a Series of Words or Phrases
11. Sentence Combining with Compound Subjects and Verbs
12. Plot Map for The Smallest Dragon Boy with the back (Literary Elements) filled out.
13. Book-of-the-Month assignment
14. Book-of-the-Month approval
15. Reading Logs for theme that have been returned
16. Rough draft/Assignment for persuasive paper (Freedom or Security) (B-Day classes)
Composition Book Self-Starter Writing Assignments So Far – Second Term
November 5/6, 2008
Responding to Poetry -- Emotions and Ideas
Students responded to the poem "High Flight. " They read the poem, and in their composition books they a) wrote quickly for about two minutes about anything this poem brought to mind for them. b) borrowed one line from the poem and created a poem or continued to write their thoughts, focusing now on that one line.
November 7/10: Students wrote a response to a poem from their literature texts: "The Runaway."
a) Read the poem.
b) Write quickly for about two minutes or so about anything this poem brings to mind for you.
(In your composition book -- We're working from the back still.)
c) Borrow one line from the poem and create a poem or write about it, focusing on this line.
Students should write 1/3 to 1/2 page.
Notes for the poem: A stall is an enclosure within a stable where an animal is kept, and a bin is a container for storing food, especially oats.
November 19/20
Label it: "Perfect Society" (Write ½ page or more.)
If you could live in a perfect society, what would it be like? Who would be in charge? What rules would you add or get rid of? What else would you have or not have in your perfect society?
November 21/24 -- Self-Starter: In your composition book, working from the back, label the page: "Naming."
How did you get your name? Were you names after someone? How do you feel about your name? How important is a name? Are there any names you especially like? Write 1/3 - 1/2 page. (If you were absent, you could write this on lined paper to tape in your composition book.)
December 2/3: Ask for the blue sheet with the poem “Nothing In Heaven Functions As It Ought,” and follow the instructions on that sheet.
December 8/9 -- Read the song lyrics for "Something for Nothing." Write about 1/2 page about the whole song, or any part of it. Label it: "Something for Nothing."
Poems for Self-Starters:
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
Vocabulary Helps
surly: unfriendly or hostile
trod: to step or walk on, about, in, or along.
sanctity: holiness, a sacred thing
"The Runaway" by Robert Frost
Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall,
We stopped by a mountain pasture to say 'Whose colt?'
A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,
The other curled at his breast. He dipped his head
And snorted at us. And then he had to bolt.
We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,
And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and grey,
Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.
'I think the little fellow's afraid of the snow.
He isn't winter-broken. It isn't play
With the little fellow at all. He's running away.
I doubt if even his mother could tell him, "Sakes,
It's only weather". He'd think she didn't know !
Where is his mother? He can't be out alone.'
And now he comes again with a clatter of stone
And mounts the wall again with whited eyes
And all his tail that isn't hair up straight.
He shudders his coat as if to throw off flies.
'Whoever it is that leaves him out so late,
When other creatures have gone to stall and bin,
Ought to be told to come and take him in.'
"Something For Nothing"
Rush -- Lyrics by Neil Peart
Waiting for the winds of change
To sweep the clouds away
Waiting for the rainbow's end
To cast its gold your way
Countless ways
You pass the days
Waiting for someone to call
And turn your world around
Looking for an answer to
The question you have found
Looking for
An open door
You don't get something for nothing
You don't get freedom for free
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dreams might be
What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story
In your head is the answer
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor
And the beat of your own song
[ Rush Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
