On to December - and Christmas!

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.  I hope everyone enjoyed some good food and lots of family.  Now we march forward to the Christmas season.  Only one month to shop!  I don't know about everyone else, but I've barely started.  It's not time to panic, however; lots of time left for that!

Over the course of this weekend I've gotten a lot accomplished for school.  I've been planning and grading, grading and planning.  I've got HAC up to date with everything that's in my possession in the books (I think - unless something was left behind at school, like my planning book).  As we go forward with Term 2, I notice that my English 10 have had a lot of tough academic assessments lately.  So I'd like to remind everyone that if they have a Type 2 quiz that is lower than they'd like, they can do test corrections for half credit back; if they have an analytical paragraph that is lower than they'd like, they can revise and edit it and re-submit it for full credit (I'm using these to build a Type 4 beautiful essay, so I'm mostly concerned that they get it right).  I've offered this to all of my English 10 (only a few have taken advantage of this offer), and as we begin the process of writing and quizzing in English 9, they, too, will have the same offer.

So here's the plan for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 11/27 - hand back papers to 1st and 3rd hours, 2nd Hour will do prepositions; we'll read Act II scenes v and vi and finish the study guide.
• Tuesday, 11/28 - Academic Advisory - quiz over Act II; begin writing Analytical Paragraph #1 for Romeo's character.
• Wednesday, 11/29 - continue writing Analytical Paragraph #1 - due Thursday.
• Thursday, 11/30 - 9th Grade Info Meeting - Scheduling for 10th Grade - finish, print, and submit Analytical Paragraph #1; move on to Act III, Scene i.
• Friday, 12/1 - get Reading Log #11; silent reading.

English 10

• Monday, 11/27 - hand back papers; type intro. paragraph; revise, edit, copy and paste body paragraphs into Type 4 5-paragraph Essay.
• Tuesday, 11/28 - Academic Advisory - nouns; brainstorm and type conclusion paragraph; proofread, edit, and revise Type 4 5-paragraph Essay - due Wednesday.
• Wednesday, 11/29 - print and turn in Type 4 5-paragraph Essay; go get Henrietta Lacks book from the library; start working on HeLa cell handout.
• Thursday, 11/30 - Character Advisory - nouns; finish and turn in HeLa cell preview handout; read pp. 1-7 in Henrietta Lacks.
• Friday, 12/1 - get Reading Log #11; silent reading.

That's the plan for the week.  I enjoyed seeing so many of you at P/T conferences.  If I missed you due to long lines and/or time constraints, please feel free to contact me!  Ciao!

On to December - and Christmas! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's already the holidays - can you believe it?  This is a very short, but important week.  So this will be a very short, but important, blog post.

Monday is a full day of school, but parent-teacher conferences run from 2:30-6:30.  I had my students analyze how they did for Term 1 and then set some goals for Term 2.  I'll bring this to the conferences for you to take with you.

Tuesday is a half day!   Students are released before 10:30 A.M. for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Hopefully everyone will get some much needed rest.  I did not give out Reading Logs for this week, and there won't be any for next week either!  This will give them a nice two-week break, but I still want them reading!!!!

So here's the plan for the upcoming week:

English 9

• Monday, 11/20 - 2nd hour - prepositions, then an activity for Act II, scene ii; 1st and 3rd Hours will continue reading Act II for scenes iii and iv
• Tuesday, 11/21 - all - watch Act II, scene iii and iv movie clips

English 10

• Monday, 11/20 - we'll finish watching the movie for "The Palace Thief"; possessive noun worksheet; we'll begin to create the Introduction and Conclusions for our 5-paragraph essay (they've already created the body).
• Tuesday, 11/21 - we'll finish creating the Introduction and Conclusion paragraphs for our 5-paragraph essay.

And that's it!  I hope to see many of you at conferences, and then I wish you many blessings for the Thanksgiving holiday.  If you're traveling, may you have safe travels, and I'll see everyone on the other side of the holiday break!  Felice Ringraziamento!


Happy Thanksgiving! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://laurastubbs.blogspot.com.

Last Full Week Before the Holidays!

Well, you can definitely tell that we're heading toward winter.  It's kind of cold out there!  In between grading papers and running around supporting my kids in their endeavors, yesterday I was able to clean up the outside of the house - the final mowing of the year happened, along with composting the pots of annuals and putting outdoor furniture away.  I feel like we're ready for the winter holidays to commence - sort of.

This is our final full week before the holiday season kicks off.  We have a lot to accomplish, even though last week we did quite well meeting the deadlines I set.  Last week English 9 finished Act I, which is the longest of the acts to do.  It's where all of the introductory notes and information are, so it feels like it takes forever!  English 10 finished the second section of "The Palace Thief" and wrote their second analytical paragraph. We capped off the week with a wonderful and moving Veteran's Day assembly.  It sure made me proud to be a part of this community and my country!

So here's the schedule for this week:

English 9

• Monday, 11/13 - we'll hand back some papers, then we'll finish off the study guides and vocab. cards for Act I and turn them in (1st Hour has already done this); we'll do the Activity Packet for Act I that focuses on Romeo's character.
• Tuesday, 11/14 - Academic Advisory - 2nd Hour will work on prepositions (1st and 3rd finished the unit); quiz for Act I; we'll begin Act II with a study guide.
• Wednesday, 11/15 - 2nd Hour prepositions; continue Act II
• Thursday, 11/16 - PSAT Advisory - TURN IN READING LOG #10; 2nd Hour prepositions; continue Act II
• Friday, 11/17 - no reading log this coming week (Thanksgiving Week); finish Act II; silent reading.

English 10

• Monday, 11/13 - possessive nouns; finish reading and annotating "The Palace Thief"
• Tuesday, 11/14 - Academic Advisory - possessive nouns; final quiz for "The Palace Thief"; begin analytical paragraph #3
• Wednesday, 11/15 - possessive nous; finish and turn in analytical paragraph #3
• Thursday, 11/16 - PSAT Advisory - TURN IN READING LOG #10; movie for "The Palace Thief"
• Friday, 11/17 - no reading log this coming week (Thanksgiving Week); movie for "The Palace Thief"

That's the plan.  I hope everyone has a great week!  Ciao!

 
Last Full Week Before the Holidays! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://blogspot.laurastubbs.com.

A New Beginning

Yeah for new beginnings.  It's the start of a new term which means that any of my students who struggled in term 1 get a fresh start.  We'll average term 1 with term 2 to get the semester grade, and that will be the one that determines credit for the transcript.

As we move forward, it's good to look back, so here's what we accomplished last week: English 9 finally finished Act I, Scene i of Romeo and Juliet; English 10 got through a large chunk of "The Palace Thief"; and all of us learned more about using Destiny to negotiate our way through the library with the help of our media specialist Mrs. Brakel.

This coming week has a special activity - a Veterans Day assembly on Friday.  We will honor our country's veterans and the students are asked to wear specific colors: 9th grade wears white; 10th grade wears blue.  We'll be on an activity schedule that day so that the assembly can take place from 1:30 - 2:15.  I always enjoy this assembly and hope they will, too; I also hope we all learn a bit more about what it truly means to make a sacrifice for others.  It's always good to be reminded, and always good to honor those who step up and serve to protect all of us.

Here's this week's schedule:

English 9

• Monday, 11/6 - prepositions - 1st, 3rd turn in packet #3; finish scene i notes and vocab.; continue reading Act I
• Tuesday, 11/7 - Academic Advisory - prepositions - 1st, 3rd short assessment; continue Act I
• Wednesday, 11/8 - 2nd Hour prepositions; continue Act I
• Thursday, 11/9 - PSAT Advisory - TURN IN R.L. #9; Act I activities and quiz
• Friday, 11/10 - Activity Schedule - hand out R.L. #10; silent reading

English 10

• Monday, 11/6 - nouns; jigsaw activity for "Palace Thief"; read through p. 199
• Tuesday, 11/7 - Academic Advisory - nouns; finish and turn in study guide; quiz for pp. 175-99
• Wednesday, 11/8 - nouns; write Analysis Paragraph #2 - due Friday
• Thursday, 11/9 - PSAT Advisory - TURN IN R.L. #9; continue writing/typing Analysis Paragraph #2
• Friday 11/10 - Activity Schedule - TURN IN ANALYSIS PARAGRAPH #2; hand out R.L. #10; silent reading

And there you have it.  I hope everyone has a good transition in to November, and a great week.  Ciao!

 
A New Beginning by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.laurastubbs.blogspot.com.