Is It Really Almost May?

I can hardly believe it's almost May!  This year really flew by: it's crazy!  And of course, I'm as busy as ever, and trying to keep up, though I get further and further behind.  On a personal level, between birthdays for both of my boys, baseball, and international music trips, this time period is a challenge to say the least.  My younger son just turned 15 (your prayers are much appreciated), he has had six games in the last seven days, and my older son traveled to Toronto (and I was able to tag along) at the end of last week.  Here are a few photos from the Toronto trip:

 My son and his friend waiting to perform.

 Two bands, 150 kids, and lots of loading and unloading.  I love the combo of tuxedo and hat/headphones so many wore.

Competing in an international music festival at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.  I love this shot because I can see my kid so clearly (he plays clarinet).

The hall was amazing, both for the decor and the acoustics.

Unfortunately, the performance venue was right around the corner from where a van drove down the sidewalk and plowed into pedestrians, killing 10.

 The memorial was just starting to build on Friday because the police had just re-opened the area.

Lots of therapy dogs were there to comfort the grieving.

 I was not an official chaperone, so I didn't get to enjoy this meal at the top of the CN Tower, but I love this picture that includes the back of my son's head, far away from the windows.  He's just like me: heights make him sick. 😄

Yesterday (Saturday) they were able to go to a master class with a member of the Toronto Symphony, and I was able to watch and listen.

Today he's off to Niagara Falls, but I came home late last night instead of finishing the trip with them since I didn't know how I would get up and work on Monday if I went on that leg of their journey (they're not getting home until 9:30 or 10:00 tonight).

Anyway, so that's what I've been up to, which simply means I have a lot of work to do today.

Last week, English 9 finished packet two of four for Sugar Changed the World, so this week we'll do packet three and hopefully start packet four.  In English 10, we finished reading Macbeth, so we'll be taking the test on Tuesday and then watch a movie before moving on with A Raisin in the Sun.

Here's the plan:

English 9

• Monday, 4/30 - College Board and Khan Academy for PSAT scores; start packet #3 for Sugar Changed the World with study guides and annotations.
• Tuesday, 5/1 - Academic Advisory - perfect tense verbs; continue packet #3
• Wednesday, 5/2 - 1/2 Day for All - perfect tense verbs
• Thursday, 5/3 - Academic Advisory - perfect tense verbs; finish packet #3
• Friday, 5/4 - perfect tense verbs; start packet #4

English 10

• Monday, 4/30 - College Board and Khan Academy for PSAT scores; video of Act V and final review of Macbeth
• Tuesday, 5/1 - Academic Advisory - Macbeth Test; begin video
• Wednesday, 5/2 - 1/2 Day for All - continue video
• Thursday, 5/3 - Academic Advisory - finish video; start A Raisin in the Sun
• Friday, 5/4 - continue A Raisin in the Sun

That's the plan as I see it.  I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weather that is on the way. 

Is It Really Almost May? 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.

Normal Schedule? What's That?

Every time I think we're going to go back to "normal" in our schedule, something is off.  In this case, it's two things:

1.)  On Wednesday during 3rd Hour we'll be taking a few minutes to go over different lock-down scenarios in case we had a situation that would warrant putting the ALICE system in place.  This system would only be used in a situation that warranted evacuation of the building, or barricading in the building.  We're not doing drills, and it shouldn't take long, but we will cover a couple of scenarios. This can be disturbing for some students (as it is for me), so I thought as parents some of you would want to know that we're doing this.

2.)  I forgot - on Friday I'm going with my son to Toronto for a school competition, so I'll be out for the day. 

So here's what we've got going this week:

English 9

• Monday, 4/23 - revise and edit rough drafts - self edit; peer edit; read aloud
• Tuesday, 4/24 - Academic Advisory - print and turn in final copies of research papers (1-day grace period for emergency situations); verbs; start Sugar Changed the World Packet 2
• Wednesday, 4/25 - verbs; continue Sugar Packet 2
• Thursday, 4/26 - Advisory - verbs; finish Sugar Packet 2
• Friday, 4/27 - quiz for Packet 2; Ted Talk - modern day slavery

English 10

• Monday, 4/23 - grammar; 5th Hour - 15 minutes to finish Act III paragraph; begin Act IV; texting activity
• Tuesday, 4/24 - Academic Advisory - grammar; finish Act IV
• Wednesday, 4/25 - grammar; vocab. activity; read Act V
• Thursday, 4/26 - Advisory - grammar; finish the play; get review sheet for test - TEST TUESDAY
• Friday, 4/27 - review activity for Macbeth test

That's my plan.  Hopefully everyone has a good week.

Normal Schedule? What's That? 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.

Testing - Ongoing

Thank goodness that mandatory testing is pretty much done for 9th and 10th graders.  The only ones who still need to do testing this week are those who need to do a make-up session because they were absent.  The 11th grade, however, is going to do their M-Step this week for social studies and science, so our schedules will be affected.  We have three advisories this week, so that shortens most of the rest of the hours:

• Tuesday - regular academic advisory
• Wednesday - really long advisory
• Thursday - really long advisory

So we're still not quite on schedule, but we're coming close.

For the rest of the week, this is what the schedule looks like:

English 9

• Monday, 4/16 - online review of verbs; 5-10 minutes to answer final questions about research paper drafts - ROUGH DRAFT IS DUE ON GOOGLE CLASSROOM BY MIDNIGHT!; online map activity on Google Classroom to introduce our next text - Sugar Changed the World.
• Tuesday, 4/17 - academic advisory - verbs; get materials for Sugar - text, vocab. packet, study guide; go over annotation instructions; read the first half of Packet 1
• Wednesday, 4/18 - really long advisory - verbs; finish packet 1 of Sugar
• Thursday, 4/19 - really long advisory - verbs; game to review packet 1; quiz
• Friday - 4/20 - start Packet 2 of Sugar

English 10

• Monday, 4/16 - online grammar review; finish and turn in vocab. packet for Act II; Hot Seat game
• Tuesday, 4/17 - academic advisory - grammar review; get Act III materials; begin reading
• Wednesday, 4/18 - really long advisory - grammar review; read Act III
• Thursday, 4/19 - really long advisory - grammar review; finish Act III
• Friday, 4/20 - analytical paragraph for Act III

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

Testing - Ongoing 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.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a great spring break and was able to find time to relax, whether it was a traveling vacation or a staycation.  Coming back from Spring Break means one thing to me: we're in the final stretch of the year.  So here are a few important dates:

• Tuesday, 4/10 - PSAT10 day.  It is VITAL that 10th graders show up, calculators in hand, to take their PSAT.  It is not necessary for 9th graders to come - no classes are scheduled to happen that day.

• Wednesday, 4/11 - PSAT9 day.  It is VITAL that 9th graders show up, calculators in hand, to take their PSAT.  It is not necessary for 10th graders to come - no classes are scheduled to happen that day.

• Monday, 4/16 - English 9 Rough Drafts of the Research Paper are due by midnight, turned in on Google Classroom.

• Tuesday, 4/24 - English 9 Final Copies of the Research Paper are due, printed, and turned in to the basket in the classroom.

As for the rest of our schedule for this week, here's the plan:

English 9

• Monday, 4/9 - last call for notes, works cited, thesis statements, and outlines; start typing rough drafts - due in 1 week.
• Tuesday, 4/10 - no classes because of SAT/PSAT10
• Wednesday, 4/11 - no classes because of PSAT9
• Thursday, 4/12 - type the rough draft of the research paper
• Friday, 4/13 - type the rough draft of the research paper

English 10

• Monday, 4/9 - last call for Act I annotated packets, vocab., and analytical paragraphs; get Act II study guides, vocab. packets, quotation packets; start listening to Act II
• Tuesday, 4/10 - no classes because of PSAT10
• Wednesday, 4/11 - no classes because of PSAT9
• Thursday, 4/12 - continue reading Act II; type 1
• Friday, 4/13 - finish Act II - reading, study guide, vocab., quotes

That's the plan as I see it now. I hope everyone has a good finish to the vacation. Ciao!

Welcome Back! 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.