September 2, 2011

September 2, 2011

Bell-Ringer/Self-Starter: Pick up your composition book.  In the middle section "Notes and Quick Writes" -- right after the plot line diagram -- label the page with date and title:  9/2/11  "Insiders and Outsiders?"   Write for about a half page or so on this question:  "Have you ever felt like an outsider, someone who didn't fit in somewhere?  When and where?"  and/or "Do we have insiders and outsiders at our school, or did you at your elementary school? Who were they?  (not specific names, but types of people)
 (If you were absent and do not have the plot diagram, copy it from the back white board if it's still there, or copy it from a classmate, or you can copy it from the class blog.)

Important: Have you signed up for your book-of-the-month book?  Ask for the list for your class.  
See more information about the Book-of-the-Month Assignment on the tab above labeled Book-of-the-Month.

Spelling Test:  Take the test on the names of your teachers, your counselor and the administration.
There will be a retake available after  two weeks during Cave Time.

Read from The Outsiders and take some notes on exposition.
A1 finished packet
A2 through the first page of packet
A3 through the second page of the packet
A4

Do this in your composition book -- in the middle section "Notes and Quick Writes" -- right after "Insiders and Outsiders?"

Label the page “Notes on Exposition”  with today’s date.

Create two columns.  Copy these headings and notes, then continue to take notes as we read.

What I've found out                          How I know from the text 

Examples: 

It’s daytime.                                                The narrator steps out of a

                                                            movie theater into bright

                                                            sunlight

  The narrator has                               He says so. He hates most

green eyes                                           guys with green eye.

Darrell (Darry) and Sodapop             The narrator tell us.

are the narrator's brothers

 
_______________________________________

Media Center Field Trip
Last 40 minutes of class: You are expected to be quietly attentive to Mrs. Jones, then to spend the extra time either getting acquainted with where books are in the media center,  looking up books on Alexandria, or finding a book and checking it out.

A1 9:00
A2  10:35
A3  12:05
A4   2:05


Important Note:  If you have brought your composition book and haven't yet received points for it, please show it to me.  I graded all that were here at the beginning of the week, but it is your responsibility to show me yours when you bring it in after that. 

7th Disclosure Dorsey 2011-2012.doc

Similes and Other Comparisons

The 56 best/worst similes

Borrowed from this blog, and seen multiple times in emails and on the internet.

1. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
2. He was as tall as a 6′3″ tree.
3. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
4. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
5. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
6. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
7. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
8. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
9. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
10. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
11. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.
12. The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
13. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
14. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
15. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at asolar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
16. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
17. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
18. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
19. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
20. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
21. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.
22. Even in his last years, Grand pappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
23. He felt like he was being hunted down like a dog, in a place that hunts dogs, I suppose.
24. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
25. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
26. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
27. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.
28. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
29. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
30. The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.
31. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.
32. Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like “Second Tall Man.”
33. The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
34. The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
35. She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
36. Her pants fit her like a glove, well, maybe more like a mitten, actually.
37. Fishing is like waiting for something that does not happen very often.
38. They were as good friends as the people on “Friends.”
39. Oooo, he smells bad, she thought, as bad as Calvin Klein’s Obsession would smell if it were called Enema and was made from spoiled Spamburgers instead of natural floral fragrances.
40. The knife was as sharp as the tone used by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) in her first several points of parliamentary procedure made to Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton.
41. He was as bald as one of the Three Stooges, either Curly or Larry, you know, the one who goes woo woo woo.
42. The sardines were packed as tight as the coach section of a 747.
43. Her eyes were shining like two marbles that someone dropped in mucus and then held up to catch the light.
44. The baseball player stepped out of the box and spit like a fountain statue of a Greek god that scratches itself a lot and spits brown, rusty tobacco water and refuses to sign autographs for all the little Greek kids unless they pay him lots of drachmas.
45. I felt a nameless dread. Well, there probably is a long German name for it, like Geschpooklichkeit or something, but I don’t speak German. Anyway, it’s a dread that nobody knows the name for, like those little square plastic gizmos that close your bread bags. I don’t know the name for those either.
46. She was as unhappy as when someone puts your cake out in the rain, and all the sweet green icing flows down and then you lose the recipe, and on top of that you can’t sing worth a darn.
47. Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.
48. It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before.
49. Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake.
50. You know how in “Rocky” he prepares for the fight by punching sides of raw beef? Well, yesterday it was as cold as that meat locker he was in.
51. The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium.
52. Her lips were red and full, like tubes of blood drawn by an inattentive phlebotomist.
53. The sunset displayed rich, spectacular hues like a .jpeg file at 10 percent cyan, 10 percent magenta, 60 percent yellow and 10 percent black.

Pennies -- Argument?

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/249343/#.Ttfnl-lj9xI.facebook

This is So Fun!

Found on Facebook


Don't you just love the English language?

I have been to a lot of places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently you can't go alone, you have to be in Cahoots with someone. I've never been in Cognito either. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport, & you have to be driven there. I have made several trips thanks to my friends and family. I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump and I'm not much on physical activity!!

August 31, 2011

1. Pick up your composition book. Finish taking the central idea pretest. Hand it in, then quietly look for or read a book.
Next time:  Fieldtrip to the Media Center

2. Practice for spelling test on Friday.

An Effective Procedure for Studying Spelling Words

Forms of Address for Teachers 2011

Your writing must be legible -- each letter -- to receive points for a name or word.
You must also correctly  use capitalization.
You will lose a point if you have not included your first and last name on your paper, written legibly and correctly capitalized. 

3.  Receive a tape-in table of contents for your composition book. Tape in in as directed on the Table of Contents.  Add sticky-note bookmarks to divide up your composition book into sections.  Follow the directions on the Table of Contents paper.

4.  Types of sentences -- Take notes in your composition book right after the page about Four Types of Sentences. --  You can download this document and just view it on your computer, or print it.
Four Types of Sentences.doc


    Look at more information on end punctuation, especially exclamation marks.

Don't overuse exclamation marks.

5.  Plot -- create a plot line in your composition book on the first page of the Notes and Quick Writes section. 

6.  Some began reading The Outsiders.  A1 did -- through first page on packet, A2 didn't, A3 did -- through first page on packet,   A4



End punctuation:  There are four(4) types of sentences. The declarative sentence makes a statement. The interrogative sentence asks a question. The exclamatory sentence is a statement that shows strong emotion. And the imperative sentence gives a direction or a command.  Try this quiz:  http://www.quia.com/quiz/106467.html?AP_rand=299380519

See other explanations at 

http://www.rhlschool.com/eng3n21.htm 

http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/typesofsentences/preview.weml

Literary terms:  plot, parts of a plot:
exposition: character, settin, (who, where, when, may introduce problems)
inciting incident
rising action with episodes/events and conflict
climax
falling action
resolution

September 2, 2011

Visit Media Center -- Lesson from Mrs. Jones

August 29, 2011

Today is Early-Out Monday.  See the schedule below. 

Self-Starter:  Pick up your composition book and the half-page handout on the back table.
Read the information on the half-page handout and fill in the blanks. Leave it on your desk when we go to the computer lab.

Class activities:
1.  Assign computer numbers and go to Computer Lab 223 -- take along a  book in case you finish early.
a. Take SRI (computer reading test)
     For information and rationale for using this test, see  http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/sri_reading_assessment/index.htm    If you have further questions, contact Ms. Dorsey.
b. Take Central (Main) Idea Pretest -- paper and scantron
c. Bring your book to read in case you finish early. 


Back in class:
1. Composition book --

Tape in Table of contents -- Taping procedure -- next time

Tape in Learning Editing --  End Punctuation #1  -- Fill in the blanks. Tape this on the third page of your composition book (counting front and back).   
Periods 1 and 2 corrected the half-sheet.  Period 3 and 4 did not.
Periods 3 and 4 practiced the spelling practice procedure. 

2. Spelling teacher's names -- suggestions, practice --

In order to get something to stick in your mind long-term, you must interact with it in meaningful ways many, many times. That's true of almost everyone, though I did have a student once, when I was teaching college, who had a photographic memory.  That's very rare!   So don't feel stupid if you don't remember something after studying it just a few times. 

An Effective Procedure for Studying Spelling Words

Forms of Address for Teachers 2011

Your writing must be legible -- each letter -- to receive points for a name or word.
You must also correctly  use capitalization.
You will lose a point if you have not included your first and last name on your paper, written legibly and correctly capitalized. 

3. Recognize summer birthdays


Important Reminders:

• Have you selected and started your Book-of-the-Month yet?  See the tab above for Book-of-the-Month.
  Please make sure your parent or guardian approves of you reading  the book you select. 
• Have you brought your composition book to leave in the classroom?
•      If your family is unable currently to purchase school supplies, please contact me. 
• Are you practicing remembering and spelling the names of your teachers, our administration, and your counselor?

Teacher notes to herself:
plain paper
sticky notes cut into strips
computer numbers
tape, clear
copies: editing #1
table of contents for composition book
edit test -- 2 errors
passwords for SRI
SRI instructions
sign-ups for book-of-the-month
#2 pencils 



Monday Early Out -- Today

Time	Period	Minutes
8:15 – 9:25	1st Period	70 minutes
9:30 – 10:45	2nd Period/Announcements	75 minutes
10:45 – 11:15	First Lunch	30 minutes
11:20 – 12:30	3rd Period	70 minutes
10:50 – 12:00	3rd Period	70 minutes
12:00 – 12:30	Second Lunch	30 minutes
12:35 – 1:45	4th Period	70 minutes

We will have a
Minimal Day  on Monday, September 26.

Time	Period	Minutes
8:15 – 9:15	1st Period	60 minutes
9:20 – 10:20	2nd Period/Announcements	60 minutes
10:20 – 10:45	First Lunch	25 minutes
10:50 – 11:50	3rd Period	60 minutes
10:25 – 11:25	3rd Period	60 minutes
11:25 – 11:50	Second Lunch	25 minutes
11:55 – 12:55	4th Period	60 minutes