Final Week of April; Final Week of Testing

What beautiful weather we're having!  You just can't beat it.  I even love it when the thunderstorms come through, as they're supposed to Monday evening.  I'm not spending much time out in it, but I can see it from my window.  The good news for my students is that due to fact that we're reading a play in class, they haven't had a whole lot of homework from me, so hopefully they've been able to spend some time outside.

Which leads me to what we accomplished last week.  We finished off another verb packet, so we're firmly enmeshed in the verb tenses.  We also finished Act III and we've begun Act IV of The Crucible.  Testing for the state is just about done, so after this week, we should be completely back on a regular schedule.

So here's what's happening this week:

• Monday - we'll just about finish reading The Crucible.
• Tuesday - we'll finish the text of The Crucible and begin reviewing by watching the movie.  The movie is very close to the text, so it's a way to bring it all back to them.  Second Hour we have an assembly mid-way through the hour, so they'll be a touch behind.
• Wednesday - no advisory due to testing - we'll continue the movie.
• Thursday - no advisory due to testing - we'll finish the movie; after the movie we'll do final review and they'll have time to work on their notes.
• Friday - the objective test for The Crucible.  This is open note, so whatever they have written in their notes is eligible to be used on the test.

I will be available for Tuesdays with Teachers for anyone who needs to come get help or make something up.  Because they cancelled advisory this week, I'll also have quizzes available for make up during the movie.

I hope everyone has a great week! Ciao!

Final Week of April; Final Week of Testing by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Beautiful!

How great is Michigan when the weather cooperates like it has this weekend?  I hope everyone has had a chance to get outside and enjoy it.  I had the luck of having to sit outside for four hours during my son's double header.  It was a big sacrifice, I know, but someone has to sit in the sunshine and cheer him on. Luckily for my students, they didn't really have homework from me over the weekend, so I'm hoping they all had a chance to get some Vitamin D - the natural way.

We have a busy week coming up, but not nearly as busy as the last couple, so maybe we can settle back into routine again.  Last week they tested with the PSAT9 and most of them finished. Only a couple of people need to finish testing and I'll work with them to catch them up on what they will miss.

This coming week, we have the following:

• Monday - 2nd Hour needs to finish verb packet #6 for homework (the rest of the hours finished it last week); then we'll continue on with Act III of The Crucible and see if we can finish reading it. 
• Tuesday - they'll have a new verb packet that tackles past, present, and future verb tenses to do; then they'll work on their Act III study guide.
• Wednesday - we'll go over and turn in verb packet #7 and turn it in; then we'll finish off Act III, take a quiz, and turn in the study guide.
• Thursday - they'll get verb packet #8 and work on perfect tense verbs; we'll start Act IV (the final act of The Crucible) and get a new study guide
• Friday - we'll continue the perfect tense in verb packet #8; we'll continue Act IV of The Crucible.

By the following week, we'll be testing over The Crucible and start working on a project to synthesize the central ideas of the play.

Also, for anyone who chose to take me up on The Scarlet Letter extra credit, I'm going to meet with anyone who wants to go over the first three chapters on Wednesday during advisory day.

I hope everyone has a great week.  Ciao!


Beautiful! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com

PSAT Week is Here!

Good afternoon!  I'm running late today, but I've actually been up and moving all weekend.  I graded a bunch of stuff yesterday and put it into the computer, leaving only the essays and big papers to grade.  Only...ha!  Nothing like leaving the difficult stuff for last.  I'm as bad as the kids!  Anyway, I left the house at 7:00 AM this morning and didn't make it back until noon, followed by a pizza dough-making session.  It's an easy dough, and delicious, but it has to sit for at least 4-5 hours, so I guess we're eating it for dinner.  That leaves me lots of time to grade some papers and work on this blog.  So here goes the latter:

This week, we have our weird testing schedule, as follows:

• Monday - regular day
• Tuesday - no school in the high school, except Juniors for SAT testing
• Wednesday - PSAT9, PSAT10, MME11 in the morning; regular schedule picks up starting at 10:30 A.M.
• Thursday - regular day
• Friday - regular day

So here's the plan for my classes academically:

• Monday - we got behind last week, so they'll take the quiz for Act II and finish the Act II packet, turning it in by Wednesday or Thursday, depending on when it is that I see them next.
• Tuesday - no class
• Wednesday - no 1st or 2nd Hour; no advisory; 4th through 6th hours I don't have a plan yet, but I'm going to try to keep it light since they're testing all morning.
• Thursday - no advisory; first - verbs; we'll start Act III and they'll get a new study guide and continue notes
• Friday - first we'll finish verb packet #6 and turn it in; we'll continue reading Act III with study guide and notes

As a side note, I've offered extra credit toward Term 4 in the form of an extra credit book project.  They have a packet full of project ideas, they just need to pick a book that they would like to read (and that is appropriate in age and level) and do a project for it; it's not due to me until June 10, 2016, so they have lots of time.

Finally, we had a good time reading Act II last week.  They were in small groups which allowed for more people to participate.  Here are some pictures I took of the groups working together:

I loved listening to them work, and then 4th Hour had a group that decided not only to read it aloud, but act it out.  They were hilarious.  I tried to take a video, which isn't very good since you can hear another group in the background, but here it is anyway:

 

 

Have a great week! Ciao!

 
PSAT Week is Here! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.



Back At It with Two Months to Go!

The bad part of having an early spring break?  It's a looong stretch to the end.  However, that being said, it gives us plenty of time to accomplish a lot.  I'm going to get right down to business today, because it also means that we're now heading straight into State Testing Season.  So first, let me give you the schedule as I know it:

• Tuesday, 4/5 - 9th graders will be bubbling in the forms for the PSAT during their 2nd Hour
• Tuesday, 4/12 - no school for the high school: only 11th graders will be in the building doing the SAT
• Wednesday, 4/13 - 9th graders will take the PSAT in the morning; regular school schedules resume 4th Hour and continue through the end of the day

As changes occur, I will let everyone know.

So here's what's happening this week:

• Monday - All Type 3 Essays for Act I of The Crucible are due; we'll finish the Act I packet and turn it in.
• Tuesday - they'll get new seats; we'll do some verbs; they'll get an Act II packet and read pp. 47-52 in the play.
• Wednesday - we'll do some verbs; they'll read pp. 53-67 in the play and do the study guide questions.
• Thursday - we'll do some verbs; they'll read pp. 67-76 in the play and finish the study guide questions.
• Friday - Quiz over Act II; we'll finish the vocabulary in the Act II packet and turn it in

*Note: 2nd Hour will be a day behind starting Tuesday because of the bubbling of forms that day.

That's the plan as it stands today!  Hopefully everything will go smoothly.  If anyone has any questions, let me know.

Ciao!

Back At It with Two Months to Go! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at laurastubbs.blogspot.com.