October 9/10

Big News!!!!!

• The due dates for the Basic 8, Book #2 Assessment have been extended! 
• Have your passages on the blue sheet approved, then your rough draft (white sheet) approved -- all by  October 19.
• (Sooner is better!)   
• Then you MUST have your cube done and ready to present by Monday, October 22 for A-Day and Tuesday, October 23 for B-Day.   
• Don't forget to write the paragraph about your cube and have it ready for the 22nd or 23rd. 
• The term ends on Friday, October 26, and no late work is accepted during that last week so the 22nd and 23rd are firm deadlines.

Reminder:  The final test on the commonly confused words will still  be on  the 16th and 17th. 

We will also do a composition book check on that day.  

Composition Book Check #2 

1.  Learning about transitions -- Create a transition collection. 

2.  Computer lab to type, revise, and edit your comparison or contrast paragraph about two family members.  Add transitions. 
See the handout. 

CompareContrastParagraphPrompt(1).docx

Transitions.docx

PowerPoint: Paragraph3 Compare Contrast.pptx(1).pptx

You may write and revise these at home on MyAccess: https://www.myaccess.com/ 

through October 12 -- this Friday.

 

o   Username:  same as Skyward Username

o   5 letters of last name,

o   3 letters of first name, 000 (or 001, 003, etc.)

o   Password:  Student ID# (lunch number)

Using MY Access to Improve Your Writing

3.  Reading Time  

4.  iWrite: Window/Mirror  October 9/10

Is the character in your novel you’re learning about more of a mirror or more of a window to you? (Is the character a lot like you -- a mirror? How?  Or is reading about this character more like looking at a different type of person through a window?)

 

 





5. iWriteRight:  to/too/two

Our very own two to too posters.pptx

to/too/two  posters

 

 

6.  If we have extra time, we might be able to listen to The Outsiders. 
5.  iLearn,Listen,Read:  The Outsiders 
Listen to/Follow along with The Outsiders

A1 --   Today we read from  page 72 (16:29) to page 75 -- page break -- (We Crouched 22:23)

A3 --   Today we read from  page 74 (19:48) to page (none today)

A4 --   Today we read from page 75 (22:22) to page

B7 --   Today we read from the top of page 65 ("We Crouched" 5:10) to page
B8  --  Today we read from page78, about 2/3 of the way down (28:20) to page




Writing  a Great Comparison or Contrast Paragraph
Remember the Hamburger!   

Hamburger Paragraph

Paragraphs -- Let's Make Sure You Understand

Transition Words for Comparison/Contrast Paragraphs

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Important Reminder:  

Basic 8, Book #2 Assessment -- Character Cube

See also the tab above for Required Reading for more information, including more examples.

If you would like to print a hard copy of this assignment and worksheet, go to

 Book Cube.docx
or
Book Cube compatible.doc

Click on the Download tab and open it. 

Character Cube Description.doc
We are making the cube using cardstock paper.
Cube2.doc

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Extra Credit Poem Memorization:  Nothing Gold Can Stay

or

Extra Credit - A Poem in Honor of the Weather Today

  or

Extra Credit -- The Road Not Taken

 

 

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Today:

1. Self-Starter:

A. Students who did not receive at least a 38/45 on each part of the Paragraph Post-Test wrote another paragraph to make up points.
B.  Students who did not need to do the make-up work wrote Santa letters for extra credit.  The other students also had a chance to do a Santa letter today or by class time  Thursday.  These letters are helping to raise money for charity.

A. Paragraphs --
This is your make-up assignment:  Write a paragraph contrasting our society with that shown in The Giver. 
Include

• a topic sentence, 
• at least three major ways that they are different (supporting details in the body of the paragraph), telling about their community and ours within each major detail,
• and a conclusion.  
• Use transitions to show relationships between sentences and to show the place of the ideas in the paragraph.

Highlight your topic sentence with green, underline transitions, and highlight your conclusion with red.
___________________________________
This is a sample of a complete and contrasting paragraph:  (This is on a different topic, but shows a complete paragraph, with all needed parts and highlighted and underlined as directed.)

Hot chocolate and orange soda provide two very different drinking experiences for several reasons.   First, the hot chocolate is just that -- hot, while soda is best served cold.  Next, the hot chocolate smoothly glides through your mouth.  On the other hand, the soda bubbles and fizzes against your lips and in your mouth.  Color is another difference.  My favorite hot chocolate is a rich deep brown topped with clouds of white whipped cream.  Orange soda, in contrast, is a vibrant orange color.  Also, a generously sized mug holds the chocolate with whipped cream, but the soda is best from an ice cold and crystal clear glass bottle, just opened.  In conclusion, though hot chocolate and orange soda are different in temperature, texture, color, and in how they are served, either can quench your desire for a delicious drink.

____________________________________
Transitions:  This is a list of transitions that are useful for paragraphs that contrast.

Transitions show relationships and help your sentences to fit together.

Some of the transitions you could use in a paragraph that contrasts: conversely, instead, on one hand, on the other hand, on the contrary, rather, yet, but, however, still, nevertheless, in contrast, first, second, third, first of all, to begin with, in the first place, at the same time, in conclusion, with this in mind, after all, all in all, all things considered, briefly, in brief,  on the whole, in short, in summary, in the final analysis, on balance, to sum up, to summarize, finally

 


____________________________________
3. Reading The Giver
A1 read from 95 to 107
A2 read  81 to 94
A3 read 72 to 94
A4 read 77 to 100


Spelling  The Prefix "fore-"
 
Thursday: A1 Basketball Games -- Come to class.  Bring your dollar if you wish to go to the game.
We will take roll, and you will wait to be called down over the intercom.
A2, A3, and A4 will not be going to basketball games during class.

Reminder:  Study your spelling for January 5.
Take or finish your Book of the Month Assessment if needed. Times available to take or finish the Book-of-the-Month test are Tuesday and Wednesday during CaveTime in the Computer Writing lab 211, and after school on Tuesday and Wednesday in the same lab.


(SRI) 

Friday, October 7, 2011

You will have a substitute teacher today because I will be attending the Utah Council of English Teachers Conference and meeting Neal Shusterman, author of  The Schwa Was Here, Antsy Does Time,  Unwind, and others.   You will accomplish much while I am gone, I trust.

P.T.S.A. Reflections entries are due by Wednesday, October 19.   Extra credit is available in English class for entering the literature division.

Book orders are due by the 14th.  I could send an order before that if I receive enough requests.

Self-Starter:  Students completed a packet about "The Perfect Paragraph."  If you were absent, pick up a packet from the back of the room.

The class watched part  of  The Outsiders.
 A1 to the point where Johnny and Ponyboy at the lot.
A2 to Johnny and Ponyboy on the train.
A3 to Johnny and Ponyboy getting help from Dally before leaving town.
A4 to Dally, Johnny, and Ponyboy at the Dairy Queen.

Students filled out a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the movie and book so far.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Self-Starter:  Pick up the half-sheet tape-in.  Mark the paragraph as directed.   Paragraphs 1 2011.doc
Spanish only: Los párrafos 1 - 2011.doc

2.  About paragraphs:  We will be learning how to write Mary Poppins Paragraphs: Practically Perfect in Every Way!
What is a paragraph?
A paragraph is a group of sentences that have a topic in common.  Of course, there's more to it than that.  A paragraph can have any number of sentences, but for our purposes,  it will have at least five sentences. 

We are using color coding to mark the parts of a paragraph:
The topic sentence is green because it gets thing going.  It names the topic and makes a statement about it.  (You could also call it a CLAIM.)

The body sentences are yellow because they throw light on the topic -- lighting up or making it clear.  (They contain pieces of EVIDENCE that the topic sentence is true.)

The conclusion is red because it brings the paragraph to a stop.  Later when you are writing essays, there might not be a concluding sentence for a paragraph, or it may serve as a bridge into the next paragraph.

The paragraphs we will be writing will also use transitions to bridge smoothly from sentence to sentence, and to show the relationship from idea to idea or from sentence to sentence.

Learn more at http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html
___________________________

3.  Reading The Outsiders (and listening to the audio book) --
A1 from page 80 (page 45, track 2, 30:48) to page 99 (Chapter 6, 22:31)
A2 from page 75 (page 45, track 2, 22:21) to page 98 (Chapter 6, 22:21? top of page 98)
A3  from  page 75  (page 45, track 2, 22:24) to page 93, (Chapter 6, 14:36)
A4 from  82  (page 45, track 2, 34:34) to page 104, (Chapter 6, 32:0)

List episodes/events in your composition book.  

Students answered various questions, and we discussed Cherry's loyalty/disloyalty, whether Ponyboy was right when he said that Dallas Winston would never care about anyone, and other issues.  
For some of the questions, we drew names to find out who would answer. 

________________________________________
Today is the day for Book-of-the-Month make-ups during Cave Time.
Find more information about paragraphs at   November 2, 2010

Extra Credit Poem Memorization