The End of the Year!!! Wahooooooo!!!!!!

Friday--May 16th:

1. Silent Reading
2. Vocabulary #2
3. Read Act II
4. Grade Act I study guide


Tuesday--May 20th:

1. Silent Reading
2. Grammar--lie vs. lay
3. Review Vocabulary
4. Read Act III
5. Turn in Act II Study Guide

Thursday--May 22:

1. Silent Reading
2. Correct Grammar
3. Vocabulary Test
4. Read Act IV-V


Monday, May 26th--Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, May 27th--A-Day (French Food Party!!!)
Wednesday, May 28th--Lagoon Day
Thursday, May 29th--B-Day (French Food Party!!!)
Friday, May 30--Year book pick up and end of school!

Friday and Tuesday May 2, 5

UTOPIA PRESENTATIONS!!!!

Remember, Maria believes that a goverment can really be ruled by love. You go girl!

Wednesday we will be finishing up the presentations...turn in your research for Cyrano!!!

And, yes, the Anthem test is cancelled for lack of time on all parties parts. I am sure you are crying over your cheerios about this!

April 18-April 30

As soon as I am finished teaching you, 4th period, I am heading down to Vegas to see the iconic David Lee Roth play his mean guitar with Van Halen!!!! If you don't know who that is, you need to google....or listen to the song "Jump"--you've all heard it!!! Ah yeah!!

April 18, 22

1. We will be in the lab researching our Utopias!!

2. Then we may start the Village, it depends on timing.

April 24-30

CORE TESTING--think smart thoughts!!!!

April 16, 2008

We had a very short class period and worked on the discussion questions for Anthem in preparation for the final.

We will have the final when we finish The Village

April 14, 2008

Sorry for the lack of blogging, it's been having some issues.


1. Silent Reading

2. Anthem Vocabulary #2

3. Grade Grammar

4. Finish Anthem

5. Answer study guide questions!

April 4, 2008

1. Silent Reading (BOOKS DUE TO CHECK OFF!!!)
2. Review Vocabulary!!!
3. Grammar--School House Rock!
4. Go over Handout--Creating your Utopia
5. Reader Response #1 Due


HOMEWORK:

Article on Objectivism!!!!

April 2, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Group Reading of Ayn Rand Biography and Ideas found in the back of the book. Group presentation of the understanding of Rand's "Objectivism" ideas.

3. Class Discussion on Capitalism verses Communism

4. Go over Chapter One


HOMEWORK on Objectivism


Please read this article on Rand's ideas of Objectivism. Write a 1-2 page response (due on Tuesday) about your reactions to her ideas. What do you agree with or disagree with. Make sure to quote Rand's philosophy and intertwine it with your own.


Here is the site for the article--"The Philosophy of Objectivism"

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_pobs

Make sure to read all 6 pages (it starts on page 2, I believe)

New UNIT!!!! March 31, 2008

Welcome to the new unit--ANTHEM--by Ayn Rand!!!

1. Read Article on Libertarianism and Utopias
2. React to Article in Joural
3. Class Discussion
4. Read Chapter 1 of Anthem

Tuesday, March 25

1. Turn in Character Profiles
2. Proofread Inquiry Reports
3. Go over 4th Term Book Report List
4. Discussion/Reflections on Home Unit
5. Introduction to Anthem

HOMEWORK: Research Ayn Rand. Write your Short Stories!!!!

Book List:

Term 4
Any Novel by Kurt Vonnegut
Any Novel by Ray Bradbury
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Fall by Albert Camus
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
1984 by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
American Born Chinese by Gene Leun Yang
Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Any Novel by Ayn Rand (besides Anthem)
A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
There Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Any book by Annie Dillard
Any Book by Annie Proulx
The Three-Pound Enigma by Shannon Moffett
Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf
Any type of philosophy book by Darwin, Sartre, Descartes etc. (just clear it with me.)
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

Wednesday, March 19

1. Collect Inquiry Reports
2. Go over Short Stories again
3. Go over Letter for Personality Profile
4. Finish the Film


You have several writing assignments due--let me review them:

1. Inquiry reports due today
2. Personality Profile due on Tuesday
3. Short Stories due on Thursday


EMAIL ME IF YOU NEED HELP OR YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE!!!!!


YOU CAN DO IT KIDS!!

Monday: March 17

May the Luck o' the Irish be with ye!!! Note to self---go to Ireland one day and kiss the Blarney stone!

1. Silent Reading
2. Grammar--Interjections/Conjunctions
3. DUE: First five sentences of novels....
4. View: Cry, The Beloved Country


DUE NEXT TIME: Inquiry Reports ROUGH DRAFT (these will not go on this term's grades)

DUE NEXT TIME: Journals--ten entries!!

Thursday, March 13

1. Journal Entry—Absence of Home
2. Vocabulary Test #2
3. Review Short Story Guidelines again
4. Collage Presentations
5. Review Personality Profile
6. Lit Circle conclusions (if time)

Tuesday, March 11

DUE: Book Reports

Silent Reading
Review Vocabulary
Grade Grammar—Prepositions
Review Inquiry Research Paper (takes place of Compare and Contrast Essay—Due March 19th)
Group Collage Presentations Preparation


DUE NEXT TIME: Vocabulary, Two Voice Poem

Everyone take a chill pill….you’re way too stressed!

Friday, March 7

Dear Honors Students,

I am at a literary conference today, thus you have a sub and I know that you all know how to treat a sub--with great respect.

1. Silent Reading
2. Grammar--Prepositions
3. Lit. Circles



BOOK REPORTS DUE NEXT TIME!!!

Wednesday, March 5

DUE: Grammar--Adverbs, Practice Journal Entries


1. Poetry Presentations
2. Vocabulary #2
3. Lit Circles, finish Collages


READING, Book Reports, Lit. Circle Roles---Keep Up!!

Monday: March 3, 2008

DUE: Formal Letter, Collage Pictures, Vocabulary

1. Poem Presentations

2. Vocabulary Test

3. Intro to Personality Profile

4. Literature Circles: Collages


DUE NEXT TIME:

Grammar, practice Journal Entry


News Article to Read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7274929.stm

Thursday, February 28, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Grammar--Adverbs

3. Drafting Professional Letter--practice and in class examples

4. Lit. Circles

5. Review Vocabulary (Due Next time---Test On Monday!!)


Professional Letter, Vocab, and Grammar all due on Monday!!

Tuesday--February 26, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Lesson--Professional Letter Overview

3. Class Discussion--Truth vs. Perceptions

4. Lit. Circles

Friday, February 22, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Vocabulary #1

3. Guest Speaker to Class

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Introduce Literature Circles and Roles (handout on this!)

3. Get into the lit circles and begin reading your books (handout of the reading schedule!)

4. HOMEWORK--DUE FRIDAY

1. 10 facts about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict (modern and ancient)http://www.mideastweb.org/nutshell.htm

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/conflict/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-Palestinian_conflict

2. Map of Israel (including Gaza Strip, West Bank...etc.)http://www.mideastweb.org/misrael.htm

http://www.mideastweb.org/misrael.htm

3. 10 facts about Johannesburg --history and modern

http://www.joburg.org.za/

http://www.southafrica-travel.net/north/a1johb01.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Johannesburg

4. Define Apartheid--Give a Brief History of it in South Africa

http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid



Remember to Read!!

Friday, February 15, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2.Take Poetry Final

3. Share Poems

4. Turn in Poetry Books (100 points)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Analyze Poem "Dying" by Emily Dickinson (bio on her life)

3. Grammar

4. Class Poetry Activities

5. Review for Test

Poems to Memorize--Due March 3

Sonnets
At the round earths imagin'd corners by John Donne
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer by John Keats
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent by John Milton
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day, Sonnet #18 by William Shakespeare
Not marble nor the guilded monuments, Sonnet #55 by William Shakespeare
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth

Tales
Lord Randall by Anonymous
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
anyone lived in a pretty how town by E. E. Cummings
Ode on the death of a favorite cat by Thomas Gray
The Oxen by Thomas Hardy
La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats
The Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear
Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson
An Apple Gathering by Christina Rossetti
The Woodspurge by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
All the world's a stage by William Shakespeare
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
From Snow-Bound, 11:1-40, 116-154 by John Greenleaf Whittier


Meditations
Oh Captain, My Captain by Walt Whitman
Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
Stanzas by Emily Bronté
To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant
From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron
Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson
Mending Wall by Robert Frost
The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy
The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendall Holmes
Spring and Fall by Gerard Manley Hopkins
To Autumn by John Keats
On His Seventy-fifth Birthday by Walter Savage Landor
Snow-Flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Shiloh or The Martyr by Herman Melville
The House on the Hill by Edwin Arlington Robinson
From Adonais, 49-52 by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith
Mnemosyne by Trumball Stickney
Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson
From In Memoriam by Lord Alfred Tennyson
The Kraken by Lord Alfred Tennyson
A noiseless patient spider by Walt Whitman

Monday: February 11, 2008

Nothing tells your Valentine that you care for them like a subscription to The Economist!! By the way, you are all WAY too young to have a Valentine. And remember, Saint Valentine was the patron saint of friends, familys, and lovers...it says so on his grave in Dublin. So remember to celebrate your great friends on Thursday and don't give into Hallmark Capitalism!!


POETRY FINAL ON FRIDAY!!!!!


DUE: POETRY UNIT (how to read a poem, focus on language, focus on meaning, focus on sound and structure....worth 50 points)

1. Silent Reading

2. Proofreading #3 (due next time!)

3. Analyze Poem-- "anyone lived in a pretty how town" by e.e. cummings (also his bio)

4. Get handout on Oh Captain, My Captian--bio of Walt Whitman

5. Create Alliteration Poem with group


HOMEWORK: Create an inspiration poem!!!


This Friday you have your poetry book due! This is an original book of poems that you type up, illustrate, design a cover for, and put together. It is worth 100 points.

This is the order your poems should go in:

1. Narrative Poem (childhood memory)

2. Alliteration Poem

3. Limerick

4. Haiku

5. Inspiration Poem

6. Metaphor Poem

7. Original Poem (free verse or any other form you want--no limericks or haikus! nothing about roses, rainbows, or the sun!!)


You get 30 points for a cover (title, name, design), illustrations, and neatness

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Obama Rocks!!

DUE:Grammar and Childhood Memory Poem (Narrative Poem)

1. Silent Reading

2. Grade Grammar--Verbs and Verb Phrases

3. Journal Entry: Give 2 examples of simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification, hyperbole, and onamatopoeia

4. Handout: Focusing on Sound and Structure.

This now completes your poetry packet. You need to gather these papers together and turn them in on Friday:
A. How to Read a Poem

B. Focusing on Language

C. Focusing on Meaning

D. Focusing on Sound and Structure

5. How to write a Limerick and a Haiku

6. Review all Figurative Language and Poetry Strategies for Test!!!



HOMEWORK:

Create an original Limerick and Haiku!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Today is the Utah primary campaigns! Keep a close watch to see who takes Utah!!!!


1. Silent Reading

2. Anaylyze poem: The Raven (with a little help from the Simpsons!)

3. Grammar-Verbs

4. Compose a poem about a childhood memory (narrative Poem) ***

5. Focus on Sound and Structure


The Poetry Unit will be due on Thursday!



***Narrative Poem Requirements

Must have two similes or metaphors

Must have one use of alliteration

Must have deliberate punctuation

Must have at least 8 lines, formed into stanzaz

Must be typed

Illustrating is a Good Thing!

Friday, February 1, 2008

SNOW DAY!!!! WAHOOOO!!!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Analyze a Poem in Journals

3. Finish up Focus on Language

4. Ode to Poetry Song

Monday: January 28, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. I can't remember what we did, this is my problem, this is why I need to update the blog everyday. I think we worked on our sentence combining poems! Ahh! My brain is gone!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

1. Silent Reading--remember to get your Pulitzer Prize winning novels by Feb. 19th!

2. Analyze Poem in Journals

3. Correct Grammar

4. Finish and Present "Sentence Combining Poem" in groups

5. Focus on Language (handout)

Friday, January 18, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Grammar #3

3. How to Read a Poem

4. Sentence Combining Poem Activity--Take all the words from William Butler Yeat's poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" and create a new poem from it.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

1. Silent Reading

2. Grading Papers (proofreading, grammar)

3. Writing Prompt--write a 5 paragraphy essay on:

Books to Choose From

A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird


Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye



Cry, the beloved Country by Alan Paton