Nearing the end...

Nope, not of the school year, but of the first six-week grading period, and of the current units of study for both English 1 & 2. For those of you who don't know, the grading period ends this Friday, so you will be receiving progress reports in the mail sometime in the next couple weeks. Students, if you are reading this, and you leave me a comment on here letting me know you stopped by (that means leave me your name and a nice hello), it might just be worth a few participation points....

English 1 -- During this class meeting, we finished up Act Three of Romeo and Juliet. This Act is known as the climax of the play, where we have the loss of two important characters (Mercutio and Tybalt) in scene one, and we find that Romeo is sentenced to exile, or banishment, from Verona. As if this isn't bad enough, in the last scenes of the Act, we learn that in an effort to cheer her up after her cousin Tybalt's death, Juliet's parents have moved up her impending marriage to Paris...it is now going to take place in three days! Wait, doesn't Juliet already have a husband? Yup, that's right, so for her and the rest of the characters in the play, it's all downhill from here!

We also worked a little bit with our newly-assigned personal narratives. To recap, the prompt for the paper is to write about a time when someone made a decision for you, and you had no say in the matter. Student's came into class ready to put their chosen topics in writing, which they did...in only 25 words. No more, no less, and without using "be" verbs. It was a tough little task, I know, but it's a good way to learn that in writing, our words have to pack a punch, so we need to use them wisely!

English 1 Homework:
Read Act Four of Romeo and Juliet in your textbook. Fill out Act Four questions in your study packet, and be ready for a reading check quiz next class. Also, make sure you have any writing on your personal narratives with you next time we meet.


English 2 -- During this class meeting, students brought with them a rough draft of their body paragraphs. Introductions and conclusions were still allowed to be a little shaky since we just learned the correct format for them today in class, but those students who had the rest participated in the all-important peer reader response activity. Students traded their papers with classmates to get friendly criticism and suggestions on their progress so far. Next class each student will have a personal conference with me to discuss their current drafts.

Today in class we also watched a video called The Wave, which is based on the true story of one California high school in 1967 that got caught up in a Nazi-like frenzy at the forming of a student group. Since I have had many students ask how the Germans could have let Hitler rule them and let the Holocaust happen, I hope this video gave them a little insight into how it could have possibly been done.

Last but certainly not least, next class (Thursday) we have a TEST over Night and the three Connections pieces we read. Don't forget to study the Night chapter question sheets I have handed back...they will help tremendously!

English 2 Homework
STUDY for the test on Thursday!
Bring all research paper materials next class as well, since you will be having individual paper conferences with me.

That's all for now!

-Mrs. K