Wednesday - December 19, 2012

7th Grade - finish reading the story "The Wall" and write 1/4 - 1/2 page about the motivations of the painter lady.  What did you think her motivation was at the start of the story?  How did your understanding of her motivation change by the end of the story?  Due Monday after break, or tomorrow, if you want to turn it in early.

8th Grade - Continue discussion of Declaration of Independence.  What is it that Makes American law and culture what it is, and why did we develop those notions of fairness anyway?  It's all there in the declaration's reasons for rebellion that they sent to the King.

10th Grade - We discussed the Commercials that students will be doing.  The guidelines are as follows:

10^th Grade commercial

You are going to create a product and market it to your classmates.  This can be serious, or a funny item.  Just keep it clean.  Your presentation should be 2-4 Minutes Long total.  You will need to find a box (no larger than a shoe box, please).

cover the sides with the following:

·         Ingredients of your product

·         Warnings for your product

·         A picture or logo for your product

·         Claims and marketing (What it does and does not do

*Your box should be bold and beautiful, full of color and wonder

*You will need to enlist the help of your friends for testimonials of your product.

*You may earn extra credit if you compose and perform a jingle to go with your product.

*Everyone will do their own product, but I expect you to help each other out.

Here is the grading rubric:

Commercial                        Name:____________________________________                  Score:________

Name of Product:

____  Ingredients/Materials – 10 pts                                                      ____  Creativity – 25 pts

____  Warnings/disclaimers – 10 pts                                                       ____  Quality/colors/looks, etc. – 25 pts

____  Testimonials – 10 pts                                                                         ____  Jingle for Extra Credit – up to 10 pts

____  Logo/Picture/Visual – 10 pts                                                           Comments:

____  What it does – 10 pts

History:  Popular Mechanic's 110 predictions for the next 110 years.  Class reading and discussion.

Tuesday - December 18, 2012

English 7:  Begin reading story "The Battle of the Wall" on page 282.  We are looking at motivation in this story. 

English 8:  Close reading activity with the Declaration of Independence continued

English 10:  To the library to work on Greek presentations

History:  Continue Close Reading with Declaration.

Monday - December 17, 2012

spelling words - Week 15
Villain - bad guy
Conscientious - thoughtful
Aggravate - annoy
Elicit - Draw out/bring out
Conceivable - Believable
Unappreciative - Ungrateful
Allegiance - Loyalty
Acquaintance - Person you know, but not well
Inaugurate - Swear into office/launch or begin an activity
Kaleidoscope - Colorful toy

7th Grade: 
DOL on the smartboard. 7th grade level
-Spelling words for week 15
-Review entire spelling list in preparation for Cumulative test
-Journal entry - Best Christmas present ever!  Use 5 of this weeks spelling words and UNDERLINE them in your journal!!!  Due Wednesday
-Read the story "That October" on page 273.  Answer questions on page 279.  # 1,2,5,6,7,8.  Due Tuesday.

8th Grade: 
DOL - 8th grade sentence.
Spelling for week 15
Journal - Best Christmas present ever - use 5 spelling words from week 15
Discussion of What happened to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Begin close reading of Declaration of Independence.  Continue into history class.

History:
Response to Cartoon - week 15.  Due today.
Continue close reading of Declaration of Independence.  We will continue this activity tomorrow in English class.

Friday  - December 14, 2012

History:  We took our test on the first set of notes on the Origins of American Democratic Ideas and Beginnings of Government.  We also read current events in class today.  Remember, each student needs to read 3 before the end of the semester.

7th Grade English (Afternoon class only):  We learned the proper format for current events summaries, which will be required every other week starting next semester.  Current events are good for students because they provide several things the District is looking for.
1.  They teach students great summarization skills
2.  They help kids learn how to use material from others without plagiarizing work
3.  They help give kids a global perspective
4.  By using the internet and technology to find them, they help kids develop 21st century skills.
5.  They help students develop critical thinking skills as they learn to connect the dots in the world around them and see the bigger picture.
6.  They give kids a great opportunity to practice writing and grammar skills.

8th Period:  ACT writing test prompt.

Homeroom:  Going away party for Josh and Macey.  The 10th grade is losing two fabulous and very promising students next week.  We will miss them both!

Wednesday - December 12, 2012

7th Grade:  We read our endings to the story "Girls" from the textbook to the class.  There were some great endings written by students.  Then, I read the story "7th Grade" by Gary Soto to the class.  pg 261.  Assignment:  Find and describe 2 examples of direct characterization, and 2 examples of indirect characterization.  Also, make 2 inferences about what you think would have happened in the story if it had gone a little longer.  THere is a discussion about characterization and inferences starting on page 250 in the textbook.  Due Thursday.  Spelling test 14 on Thursday as well.

8th Grade:  We read the next three stories about Theme Across Genres starting on page 319.  After reading these stories (A Shot At It, How I Learned English, Ed MacMahon is an Iranian) write about what you believe is the theme of these 4 stories.  How do they all tie together, even though they are wildly different kinds of literature?  Due Thursday.

10th Grade:  No DOL today.  I passed out the Roman Mythology books to all the students today and assigned chapters for student presentations, which I hope to begin Monday.  The chapter assignments are as follows:
Bridger - 13
Alex - 1
Nick - 6
Owen - 4
Tanner - 16
Adam - 14
Josh - 19
Macey - 11
Trevor - 7
Angela - 10

2nd Period:
Connor - 18
Jess - 11
Quinton - 13
Steven - 19
Tristan - 1
Junior - 6
Ian - 20
Layne - 3
Jon - 5
Diana - 15
Justin - 14
Matt - 8

History:  Read Chapter 5, section 3 for Thursday.  Most of the period spent in the Lab working on History day.  Remember there is a test on the Origins of our American ideas for Government on Friday.  Study NOW.  Friday morning is too late!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Spelling Week 14:
Discipline - self control
Adequate - Good enough
Boutique - fancy shop
Apparent - Obvious
Ferocious - Fierce
Adjacent - Next to/Aross from
Succeed - Do well
Venomous - Poisonous
Bizarre - Weird         Homonym:  (Bazaar - Fundraising fair)
Binoculars - See far

7th Grade: 
DOL Week 14.1
New spelling words for week 14
Journal - Using 5 spelling words from week 14, write about a medical memory.  1/2 page  Due Wednesday.
Begin discussion of Inferences - Pg 250 in text.
Begin reading the story "Girls" by Gary Paulson on page 252.

8th Grade:
DOL 14.1
Spelling week 14
Journal - 3/4 page - Medical memory.  Due Wednesday.
Continue discussion of Themes in Literature.  Begin discussion Themes across Genres in Literature.  Begin reading "A shot at it" on page 309 together in class.

10th Grade:
DOL 14.1
Spelling 14
Work on Greek projects.  Class presentations tomorrow.

Tuesday - December 4, 2012

Spelling words from Monday
1.  Monotonous - Boring
2.  Periphery - On the edge
3.  Hypocrisy - Two faced
4.  Anomaly - Out of place
5.  Hippopotamus - Water horse
6.  Confetti - Paper Flecks
7.  Zucchini - Nasty Fruit
8.  Gorgeous - Beautiful
9.  Appetite - Hungry
10.  Ultimatum - Threat

Journal Entry from Monday.  Describe what you are doing to achieve your goals.  Use 5 of this week's spelling words in your journal.  Due Wednesday.

Tuesday's work

7th Grade - Make notecards for the spelling words from all 15 weeks.
We worked on an Adverb identification worksheet.  See Mr. Hawley for copies.

8th Grade - Make notecards for the spelling words from all 15 weeks
We worked on a  worksheet for identifying dependent and subordinate clauses.  Finish for Wednesday.

10th Grade - We continued taking notes on the 12 Olympians (and Hades).  I will have laminated posters up on the wall with this information as soon as I can dig them out of my files.  No homework.

Wednesday - Nov 28, 2012

7th Grade English.   Pg 212 - 215 in Text.  Read and highlight the article about the 7 year old girl who contracted Plague in Colorado earlier this year. See Mr. Hawley for copies.

8th Grade English:  Begin reading story on page 268 - Stop the Sun.  We are looking at "Themes" in this next unit of stories we will be reading.

10th Grade English:  I read a story book about Odysseus' journeys home afte the Trojan War.  We will finish this story tomorrow.

History:  We continued our notes on the Development and origins of the American Governmental system.  Here are the notes we took today:

 

n  Three specific ideas of importance still with us today are:

1.  Ordered Government: local governments      based on order and specific division of   powers.

2.  Limited Government: government that is       not omnipotent.

3.  Representative Government: the idea that   government represents the will of the people.

 

These ideas had roots in some early influential documents. . .

1.  Magna Charta (“Great Charter”)

n  In 1215 AD, King John was forced to sign this document by local Barons.  The Barons were seeking to protect themselves from the King’s arbitrary decisions. 

The Magna Charta included such basic ideas as:

n  trial by jury        

n  due process of law         

n  protection against the arbitrary taking of life, liberty or property

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

7th grade:  We continued working with the Bubonic Plague stories we are reading in the Text book on pages 207-214.  More to come tomorrow.  No homework on this as of yet.  Journals are due tomorrow. 

8th grade:  Close Reading of Information Skills Review.  We read pages 241-245 together in class and went through the questions at the end of the selection "Nincompoop" by Anton Checkov.  Homework:  Read  pages 245 - 250.  Answer the questions after the next two selections from the text book.  Due Wednesday. 

10th Grade:  We discussed the 5 types of conflict in literature.  They are:

1.  Person vs. Person
2.  Person vs Self
3.  Person vs Nature
4.  Person vs Society
5.  Person vs Supernatural/Aliens/robots/gods, etc.  (Kind of the "Everything else" category"

Homework:  Read the story Demeter on pg 270.  Discuss 3 kind of conflict found in the story.  One paragraph each.  Due Wednesday.  Also due Wednesday are Food Journals.

History:   Discussion of world events and politics with political cartoons.  Then we spent about 1/2 the period in the library looking for possible History Day topics.  Homework:  Have a topic picked out by Friday.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Spelling week 12:
Pentathlon - 5 event competition
Hydraulic - Liquid pressure
Hygiene - Healthy living
Phenomenon - Amazing event/thing
Myriad - 10,000 (lots)
Epiphany - Ah Hah! moment
Amnesia - Forget
Ergonomic - Proper posture
Protein - Meat
Angelic - Holy

English 10
DOL, Spelling words, Vocab worksheets, Pass  back papers.  Verb tenses.  See below.

Verb tenses

Past tense and past participle are often different forms of a verb.  We don’t ususally think about these until we are confused by which one to use in a sentence. 

• Present Perfect Tense: An action that happened in the past at an indefinite time or began in the past and continues into the present.
• The race has ended.   I have eaten
• Past Perfect Tense: An action that happened in the past before another past action.
• The race had ended, and the awards were given out.   I had eaten, before mom made dinner.
• Future Perfect Tense: An action in the future that will happen before another future action.
• The race will have ended before the awards will be given out.   I will have eaten, before mom will have dinner made.

 

Write a journal entry about a time you cooked some food, or a significant food memory.  Use at LEAST TWO examples of each form of verb tense.  Due Wednesday.

 

English 7:

DOL, New Spelling words,

Journal:  Write about a significant memory you have about food as related to the Holidays.  This could be a good memory (Grandma's cooking) or a bad memory (Eating too much and getting sick)

Daily Lesson: 

The main idea of a paragraph is what all the sentences are about. Read the paragraph and ask, “What’s your point?” That will help you zero in on the main idea.

Read each paragraph carefully. Choose the best answer to the questions that follow.

1. Juan loves to play games. His favorite game is chess because it requires a great deal of thought. Juan also likes to play less demanding board games that are based mostly on luck. He prefers Monopoly because it requires luck and skill. If he’s alone, Juan likes to play action video games as long as they aren’t too violent.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

a. Juan dislikes violence.
b. Juan likes to think.
c. Juan enjoys Monopoly.
d. Juan enjoys playing games.

 

2. Maria is watching too much television. A toddler shouldn’t be spending hours staring blankly at a screen. Worse yet, some of her wild behavior has been inspired by those awful cartoons she watches. We need to spend more time reading books with her and pull the plug on the TV!

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

a. Watching a lot of television isn’t good for Maria.
b. Books are good.
c. All cartoons are bad.
d. Some cartoons are bad for Maria.

3. Samantha, I can’t eat or sleep when you are gone. I need to hear your scratchy voice and see your lovely toothless smile. I miss that special way that you eat soup with your fingers. Please come home soon!

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

a. Samantha, you have bad manners.
b. Samantha, you should see a dentist.
c. Samantha, I miss you.
d. Samantha, I have lost my appetite.

4. Someday we will all have robots that will be our personal servants. They will look and behave much like real humans. We will be able to talk to these mechanical helpers and they will be able to respond in kind. Amazingly, the robots of the future will be able to learn from experience. They will be smart, strong, and untiring workers whose only goal will be to make our lives easier.

Which sentence from the paragraph expresses the main idea?

a. Someday we will all have robots that will be our personal servants.
b. We will be able to talk to these mechanical helpers and they will be able to respond in kind.
c. They will look and behave much like real humans.
d. Amazingly, the robots of the future will be able to learn from experience.

Main Idea

Read the paragraph and then select the main idea for the paragraph.

1. When scientists explore a sea vent on the ocean floor, what are they looking for? Far below the surface, the atmosphere is dark, hot, and under a lot of pressure. Not only that, sea vents expel toxic chemicals that would kill ordinary sea creatures. So, what are they looking for? Life forms. That's right - they are looking for unusual forms of life that thrive on sulfur. Explorers find Jericho worms, orange worms, red palm worms, and giant tube worms living, and growing at an amazingly fast speed, around sea vents. The main idea in this passage is: creatures that live around sea vents sea explorers Jericho worms How sea vents are explored

2. Memorial Day - it's a great holiday! It assures us that summer is just around the corner. Of course, Memorial Day was first celebrated for a more serious reason. Memorial Day, begun in 1868, was the day that Civil War soldiers were honored. Later, it became the day to remember all American soldiers who had died in a war. The main idea in this passage is: Memorial Day was first celebrated in 1868. Memorial Day is the first holiday of summer. Memorial Day is in May. Memorial Day honors fallen soldiers.

3. This state is a small one. It is located on the East Coast. It is between Pennsylvania and Virginia. Its capital is Annapolis. The Chesapeake Bay is in this state. It is called the Old Line State. Its flag is red, white, black, and yellow. The main idea in this passage is: the state of North Carolina the state of Maryland the state of Pennsylvania the state of Virginia

4. Booker T. Washington knew what it was like to be poor with no hope for the future. He helped others build better lives for themselves. The school he founded over a century ago is still helping young people to reach for their dreams. The main idea in this passage is: Booker helped others reach their dreams. If you are born poor, you'll always be poor. Booker helped found a school. Booker didn't want to be poor.

 8th Grade English:  Same as 7th Grade, except use your own DOL, and there is no journal assighment for 8th grade.

History:  Quiz on chapters 10 - 16 on Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Chapters 17-18 on Friday. 

Political Cartoons for the new week.

Begin discussion on essential question:  How did relations with England fall apart and result in a Revolutionary War between the Colonies and the Empire? 

Powerpoint slides for the day:  Bear with me. These don't translate very well from Powerpoint into this web format. 

 

n  Development (Origins) of American Democracy

n  From Magna Carta

n                                                  to

n                                       Constitution

n  Development of American Democracy

n  Early English colonists to the New World (America) brought the ideas of English Politics, Law, and Tradition with them.

Hey, after a LONG absence, I'm back.  Hopefully, I'll be better this time. 

English 10 - We are beginning our Greek Unit.  Today's lesson was a history of Athens and Greek culture.

English 8 - Studying literature, and reading "The Witch of Blackbird Pond."  Today, we watched a video about the horrors of the Salem Witch Trials.

English 7 - Awesome story today.  "To Build a Fire" is by Jack London.  It has wonderful examples of foreshadowing in it, which was our focus.

History 8 - We are discussing the reluctance of the American Colonists to go to war with England.  But, as England made ever more restrictive laws affecting the colonies, they felt like they had fewer and fewer options.  We watched a video from PBS today called "Reluctant Revolutionaries."

Week 11 Vocab and Spelling and Grammar and Lit terms and blah blah blah . . .     :-)

Literary Terms – week 11

1.  Didactic – literature or other types of art that is instructional or informative.  The term "didactic" also refers to texts that are overburdened with instructive and factual information, sometimes making it hard to read, like this sentence.  J

·         The Bible, textbooks, “Dummies” books, etc.

2.  metonymy (me-TAH-nah-me): a figure of speech which substitutes one term with another that is being associated with  that term.

Calling someone a “Husky” instead of Burlington student, Vice Principal instead of Mrs. Barney, etc.

3.  persona (per-SO-na): the persona is the narrator, or the storyteller, of a literary work created by the author.  The persona is not necessarily the author, but the author’s creation--the voice “through which the author speaks.”

·         It’s the voice that comes on in TV shows to explain things

o    Dukes of Hazard, etc.

4.  slant rhyme - is also known as near rhyme, half rhyme, off rhyme, imperfect rhyme, oblique rhyme, or pararhyme. 

A rhyme in which two words have only their final consonant sounds and no preceding vowel or consonant sounds in common.

·         Now men will go content with what we spoiled
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled,
They will be swift with the swiftness of the tigress.
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Courage was mine, and I had mystery,
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery:
To miss the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.

Spelling words

1.  Exhilarate – very exciting

2.  Exceed – To go above and beyond

3.  Fiery – scorching, blazing

4.  Gauge – to measure or estimate

5.  Hierarchy – Pecking order

6.  Inoculate – vaccinate, immunize

7.  Liaison – contact person

8.  Medieval – middle ages

9.  Pastime – activity, hobby

10.  Questionnaire – survey, feedback

Grammar Link:

Demonstrative adjectives -  this, that, these, and those.

A demonstrative adjective is used to modify a noun to point out or demonstrate a specific item.

Parallel structure – all verbs end the same way in a sentence

            Jon wants to fish, to eat, and to shower. 

NOT Jon wants to fish, to eat and he showered.

Journal:  Describe how the school year went for you.  Ups and downs, highs and lows, easy and hard, fun and boring, etc. 

7^th graders – ½ page

8^th graders – ¾ page

10^th graders – 1 full page

Vocab week 10

Lit terms

·         Novella – A work longer than the standard short story, but shorter than a full novel. 

o   Spanish TV is mostly game shows, news, and “telenovelas”

§  Short 6-12 week shows with LOTS of Melodrama.

·         Oxymoron – a combination of contradictory terms

o   Jumbo shrimp, tough love

·         Paradox – A statement that seems contradictory to common sense, yet may in fact, be true.

o   The coach considered this  a good loss.

·         Parody – a form of literature that intentionally uses comic effect to mock a literary work or style.

o   Galaxy quest, Vampires suck, etc.

·         Pathetic fallacy – a form of personification giving human traits to nature

o   Cruel sea, howling wind, dancing raindrops, singing trees, etc.

Spelling words

1.  Dilemma –

2.  dilapidated – run down

3.  discrepancy – mismatch

4.  Dissatisfied – not happy

5.  dyeing – coloring

6.  effervescent – bubbly

7.  embarrass – shame

8.  eminent – very close, nearly here

9.  etiquette – proper manners

10.  foliage – leaves and plants

Grammar link

·         Transitive verbs – A verb that communicates action – something has to follow.

o   The city council passed the new ordinance

o   John blew his nose on his mom’s nice new towell.

o   The boy kicked his skateboard after wrecking for the 15^th time.

·         Intransitive verbs – a verb that is complete on its own.  Doesn’t need anything else to help out with meaning.

o   The boy  flew on his skateboard

o   He jumped and flipped and twisted.