November 30, 2007

November 30, 2007

Giver link:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2013/04/11/176620943/when-animals-mourn-seeing-that-grief-is-not-uniquely-human?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130411

Today the novel portfolios, part 1 were due. Students handed in the packets with the first three assigngments : the main character chart, the illustration of the setting, and the cast of characters.
1. We talked about how to use the verbs lie and lay.

Notes on Lie/Lay Confusions
Lay, laid, laid = to place -- Notice that this verb takes a direct object. That means it is acting on an object. In the following sentences the object is the book.

Present tense (happening right now): I __________ the book on my desk.
Past tense (happened in the past): Yesterday I __________ the book on my desk.
Past participle (has happened in the past and may still be happening):
I have _________ that book on my desk every day for a week.

Lie, lay, lain = to recline -- Notice that this verb does not take a direct object. It is not doing something to an object.
Present tense: I ___________ on the couch.
Past tense: Yesterday I __________ on the couch.
Past participle: I have ___________ on the couch every day for a week.

2. We read from The Giver, chapters 13 - 15.
Questions about The Giver

Q.A.R. = Question-Answer Relationship
Where do you look for the answer to a question?
“Right there” -- Is the answer right there in the text?
“Think and search” -- Do you have to put together several things the author tells you, and perhaps look at several different sentences or pages to find the answer?
“Author and you” -- Do you need to know what the author says, and combine that with what you already know?
“On your own” – Could you answer the question just from what you know or think without ever reading the book?

Answer the following questions on the lined paper you have prepared in your binder under “Reading.” You do not need to write out the questions. Please do number your answers using the numbers on the questions.

The Giver, chapter 13
13. A. Why do you think Jonas tries to share colors with Asher even though he thinks The Giver would have refused permission? (Q.A.R.:This is an “author and you” question.)

13. B. What do you think The Giver means when he says, “without the memories, it’s all meaningless” (page 105)? Do you agree with him? Explain. (Q.A.R.:This is an “author and you” question.)

13. C. Do we need to protect people from wrong choices because it’s safer that way? Why or why not? . (Q.A.R.:This is an “on your own” question.)


The Giver, chapter 14
14. A. Do you think it’s better to share sorrows or for each person to try to bear his or her own pain? Explain your answer. (Q.A.R.:This is an “on your own” question.)

14. B. Why do you think Jonas was able to transmit a memory to Gabriel, when he couldn’t with Asher, Lily, or his father? (Q.A.R.:This is a “think and search” question.)


The Giver, chapter 15
15. A. The Giver shares a memory of war with Jonas. What war do you think this is, and why do you think that? (Q.A.R.:This is an “author and you” question.)

November 28, 2007

November 28, 2007
Remember that Part 1 of your Novel Portfolio is due on Friday. This will include the character chart for the main character, the cast of characters chart, and an illustration of the setting of your book.

Today:
Students made a tiny book to use for studying some of the confusing words (brake/break, desert/dessert, etc.). We will have a test on all of your confusing words in about two weeks, so make sure you know them.

We read/listened to chapters 11 and 12 of The Giver. Here are the questions we answered for those chapters:

Chapter 11 of The Giver
Vocabulary: frigid (80) = intensely cold
perceived (81) = saw, was aware of
poised (81) = staying in readiness
conveyance (84) = carrying, transporting
Write your answers legibly and in complete sentences.
Questions for chapter 11: Read through these before you read, and answer #1, #2, and then #3 or #4.
1. Which senses are involved in Jonas’s perception of the memories? (Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch?) List them as you listen, and jot down a couple of words to show what it is that Jonas is experiences for each sense.
2. How is Jonas’s understanding of the memories he receives different from his usual way of understanding things?
3. At some point in the past, the community seems to have chosen a way of life that is referred to as Sameness. What kinds of experiences and hopes to you think led to this choice?
4. In what ways do we preserve memories in our society?

Chapter 12 of The Giver
Vocabulary: fretful (88) = upset
commerce (89) = buying and selling
civil (89) =having to do with legal processes
abuzz (89) = filled with/communicating about
admonition (89) = warning
flustered (91) = confused, upset
distinctive (94) = noticeable; standing out
kinks (95) = imperfections, problems
relinquished (95) = let go of, gave up
Write your answers legibly and in complete sentences.
Questions for chapter 12: Read through these before you read, and answer #1, #2, and #3.
1. At the beginning of the chapter, what lie does Jonas tell to his mother?
2. What is the “seeing beyond” that Jonas had experienced with the apple and with Fiona’s hair?
3. How do you feel about “Sameness”? Explain. If you don’t like the idea of Sameness, what aspects of Sameness bother you the most and why?

November 19, 2007

November 19, 2007
Confusing Words Quiz
Read and answer questions about The Giver, chapters 6-8.
See the previous blog for questions for Chapter 6.
Chapter 7
1. How would you characterize (describe) the chief elder?
2. What do you think of the ritual of thanking people – for example, for their feelings, their dreams, and their childhood? Should our society adopt this ritual?
3. Do the assignments given out seem appropriate to you? Explain.
4. Why do you think the Chief Elder skips Jonas? Give as many possibilities as you can.

Chapter 8
1. What is unusual about The Receiver? What else in the book can you connect this to? What meaning do you find in this?
2. What makes choosing a Receiver especially difficult?
3. What do you think a Receiver of Memory might do? Could anyone in our country/culture be considered a Receiver of Memory? In other countries/cultures that you know?
4. Imagine that you are Jonas. What questions do you want to ask The Receiver when you meet him?

Ms. Dorsey will be gone, so extra credit is available to students who are well behaved for the substitute. I'm going to New York City with the American Fork High School Marching Band.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

November 15, 2007

November 15, 2007
Today we went to the computer writing lab for the first half of class, to finish the MY Access assignment: "A Memorable Childhood Event." If you didn't finish, or would like to revise and edit more, you may do that from home until January 4. Sooner is definitely better.
Students listened to and followed along with The Giver, chapter 5, and answered questions about the chapter. If you have been absent, check the blue absent envelope for the questions and directions.

November 13, 2007

November 13, 2007
Students still need to hand in their Novel Approvals if they haven't yet done that.

Today we went to the computer lab to start typing the memories received from parents, grandparents, etc.

Writing Up Memories -- (Receiving and Giving)

1. Go to the computer lab to write
your essay, " A Memorable Childhood Event."
Draft, revise, and edit to make it the best you can.
Aim for a 4 or more on the overall scoring.

⇨ To get into GoMyAccess in the computer writing lab:
⇨ Click on the icon for Safari (Internet Browser).
⇨ You will be on the school home page.
⇨ Go to the lower right hand corner to click on GoMyAccess.
⇨ Log in with your username (firstnameSTUDENT#) and password (999lastname).
⇨ If your name shows up on the next screen, click on "Yes, this information is correct."
⇨ Go to assignments.
Start out by watching the tutorial.
Click on “Guided Tour of MY Access writing program” in the upper right hand corner. Watch the “Guided Tour.” (It takes about 10 minutes.) Then. . .
You are able to view this also from home.

⇨ Go to assignments, and click START by the assignment " A Memorable Childhood Event." If you did not receive a memory from an older person, use one of your own for less points for today. Replace it with an memory from an adult as soon as you can.

⇨ If you need help getting started, you might want to check out the "My Prewriting” tab, and look briefly at the Narrative Wizard or the Narrative Outline.
⇨ Go back to start typing.
⇨ Type up your story.
⇨ Submit and Final Submit. Check out your scores and the suggestions for improving it.
⇨ Revise and edit. Use "My Tutor" and "My Editor."

 Note: It is almost always helpful to add more detail. Make a movie in your mind of what happened, and then put what you see and hear into words.

 When you use "My Editor," make corrections, and then click on "My Editor" again to refresh it and see if you've gotten rid of some of the errors.

 Don't forget that GoMyAccess doesn't like contractions like "don't" and "doesn't."
Do not use them.

You can also look at Writer's Models (examples), and at Tutor and editor feedback after you have done a final submit.

→ Try to get your essay at least to an overall score of 4.
→ You do not have to print the essay.
Just make sure you have done a final submit.
→ We will be back in the computer lab for part of the period on this Thursday.
→ You may continue to revise from home. Make sure it is your own work.

November 9, 2007

November 9, 2007
Today two assignments were due:
1. The Novel Portfolio Book Approval can still be handed in for full points, but will not receive the extra credit points received by those who handed in this assignment by today.
2. The notes on two memories from two adults must be brought on Tuesday because we will be rough drafts, then typing in the computer lab. Students who brought the memories today receive points not available to those who did not.

Elders were appointed for each community (class).

The houses participated in a competition to practice commonly confused words (homophones and lie/lay).

We read and looked for answers to questions about chapters 3 and 4 in The Giver.

Novel Portfolio

The Novel Portfolio project is based on a book you select to read outside of class this term.
Don't forget that the book must be approved by a parent or guardian, and by the teacher.

See the Goldenrod packet for complete directions. Examples will be shown in class.
Due Dates:
Part 1 is due by November 30.
Part 2 is due by December 14.

Grading for the Portfolio Project
Part 1
Main Character _______/20
Setting _______/15
Cast of Characters _______/15
Total for Part 1 _______/50
Part 2
Plot List of Important Events _______/15
Children’s Book of your Novel ________/50
Total for Part 2 ________/65
Extra credit is available for handing your work in early.

Students, if you have questions about the assignment or about whether you are doing it correctly, please see the teacher. If you need individual help, I am available most days after school (not Mondays), and remember that a late bus is provided on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Questions on Chapter 2

The Giver, Chapter 2 –
1. As you read, list words and phrases used in this community that seem unusual to you, or that are different from the words and phrases we use. Example: Instead of saying, “She turned nine years old,” they say, “She became a Nine.”
2. How do children come into families in Jonas’ community? (Write sentences to explain everything you’ve found out.)
3. How are children named?
4. What do people in the community think will happen when something goes to a committee for study?
5. In this community, what do they call the most important elder? __________________________
6. In Jonas’ community, what does “Assignment” mean?
7. Who decides assignments, and how?

November 7, 2007

November 7, 2007

⇒Students could hand in their novel approvals. These are due on Friday, November 9.
⇒The collected memories (one each from two adults) are also due on Friday.

1. Students received their Novel Portfolio Assignments. See the buff and goldenrod packet.
These are due in two parts – part 1 on November 30 and part 2 on December 14.
2. We staged a radio show, ferreting out information about this unusual community we are reading about in The Giver. Students earned house points for bringing up and backing up valid points.
3. We listened to Chapter 2 from The Giver, and students wrote answers to a few questions about the chapter.

November 5, 2007

November 5, 2007
Self-Starter: Follow the directions on the handout. Read -- Write -- Think.

Handout:
Read this:
The Utopian Novel
For thousands of years, writers and philosophers have been imagining how the world might be organized so people could live together more harmoniously.

In the sixteenth century (1500’s), just as the Europeans were discovering a New World in America, an Englishman named Thomas More wrote Utopia, a book about an ideal society. Utopia is a word More created from two Greek words – eu, which means “not,” and topia which means “place.” So, literally, utopia means “not a place.” The word eu can also mean “good.” More seems to be saying two things at once: this is a good place, but it is also no place – it doesn’t exist. Since the publication of More’s book, utopia has come to mean a place that is idea or perfect.

Write this:
On a sheet of lined binder paper (with no spirobits and with the holes not torn), write about the following:

Label it: My Utopia
• Think: Imagine you could create a perfect world.
• Think: How would it be different from the world you live in right now?
• Think: How would it be the same?
• Write: Imagine yourself living there and
describe what an ordinary day would be like.

Your written response to this will be filed in your binder under “Reading.”

You will need about sixteen (16) more pages of lined binder paper in that section for a reader’s journal you’ll use while reading The Giver.

Label the first “The Giver, Chapter 1”
Divide the page into about thirds, and label them (write only the underlined words):
1. Questions: You will record questions you come up with as you read.
2. Response (to one of the topics you’ll be given)
3. My Own Response (See the handout for Literature Response Journal and Group Discussion.)

You will individually read the rest of chapter one, filling out the paper you’ve just set up. Then you will participate in a group discussion with some of the other members of your house. See the back of the handout for Literature Response Journal and Group Discussion.


Receive assignment for "Collecting Memories." This is due by Friday the 9th. If you absolutely can't hand it in then, have it ready by Tuesday, the 13th. We will be going to the computer lab that day to type these up.

November 1, 2007

November 1, 2007
1. We went to the media center to look for books for the novel portfolio. Students completed a brief assignment sheet with information about three books they might want to read.
who were here, and would like to earn more points should ask me for the alternate assignment.
Students who were not here may make-up the assignment on their own time. Students who were here, and would like to earn more points should ask me for the alternate assignment.
Look for the call number on the back of a book.

2. We began reading The Giver.
Students filled out an anticipation guide about freedom vs. security/safety. How does our society balance the need for freedom with the need for security/safety? How should the two be balanced? A topic in The Giver is "Balancing Freedom and Safely." A theme is "Any society (or ruler(s) of a society) must make decisions about how much they are willing to restrict freedom in order to provide security for that society."
This is a very timely topic. Especially since the September 11 terrorist attacks, our nation has been grappling with this issue.
Students will pose as investigators, trying to find out about the community portrayed in The Giver.

3. We also had a brief end-of-term celebration. The winning house from each class had ice cream. Students were able to eat their own candy, and (almost) everyone received candy from Ms. Dorsey.

Notice: Don't forget to select a book for the portfolio, have it approved by a parent or guardian, and return the book approval slip (half goldenrod sheet) to Ms. Dorsey by November 9.)