Ms. Krill's Blog

week of April 28 through June 3

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:24:34 GMT

First, my apologies for not posting a blog for the last two weeks. There has been a technical issue with my blog and I have not been able to post anything. If you're reading this, it must have worked.

Several folks have asked about the number of grades posted in PowerSchool this trimester. This trimester there are fewer vocab assignments (we're actually done for the year), more combined assignments with Social Studies and more projects. Therefore, there are fewer grades in PowerSchool. The flip side of that is that any late or missing work could have a greater impact on final grades. Grades still to be posted include The Outsiders projects and The Outsiders Study Guides.

Below is the schedule of events for the remainder of the year.

April 9 - Students choose autobiographies

April 14 - Novels are handed out, students read.

April 15 - in class reading

April 17 - in class reading

April 18- in class reading

April 21 - discuss artifacts, read

April 22 - discuss group and individual projects

April 24 - work on projects

April 25 - work on projects

April 28 - work on projects

April 29 - work on projects

May 1 - work on projects

May 2 - work on projects

May 5 - work on projects

May 6 - work on projects

May 8 - work on projects

May 9 - Group projects & presentations due

May 12 - Community Service Day - no academic classes

May 13 - Speeches due, Artifact Presentations

May 15 - Present speeches

May 16 - Present speeches

May 19 - Final Essay assigned

May 20 - write

May 22 - write

May 23 - write

May 26 - No School

May 27 - Field trip to the Botannic Gardens

May 29 - write

May 30 - Final essay due

June 2 - credos

June 3 - credos

Week of April 7

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:32:40 GMT

This week we are finishing up our work on The Outsiders. Students will finish presenting their creative projects and we will be watching the movie. Students are required to write a movie/book review due Thursday. The review should be based on their opinion of the movie and the book, include evidence to support their opinion and include some elements of compare and contrast between the book and the movie; 300-500 words typed; due Thursday. No vocab this week. Next week we start Biographies.

Monday & Tuesday - The Outsiders Movie

Thursday - Letter writing project with Social Studies. Movie/book review due. No vocab.

Friday - No School.

Literature - Movie follow up of the book

Writing - Movie/book review due Thursday.

Grammar - no specific lesson

Vocab - no vocab this week.

The Outsiders Essay Questions

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:57:46 GMT

The Outsiders Essay Questions

Please formulate your responses in complete paragraphs using complete sentences and supporting details. Depending on the question your answer should have 3-4 paragraphs.
Remember to use at least one quote from the book for your book.

Good Luck!

     1. One of the themes of the book is “loss of innocence.” Explain this. Who and why? How is this “shown” in the book without coming right out and saying it? Why is that an important message?
     2. Johnny tells Pony to tell Dallas about sunsets. Sunsets are an important symbol in the book. What do they represent? What does Dallas need to know about them that Pony, Cherry and Johnny already know?
    3. A key message in this book is the value of family. How do the boys define family? What makes a good family? What role do adults play in this book? What role does each of the boys play in the “family?”
    4. Key symbols in the book are the colors. What colors are important? What do they represent? How does Hinton use them throughout the book? (hint: use the poem!)
    5. The title of the book was carefully chosen. No other title was ever considered. Explain the title and its meaning as it relates to the story and to real life (your real life).
    6. Beyond the obvious physical reasons for Johnny’s and Dallas’ death, the author chose for them to die to illustrate a point. What was that point? Why does she have to use such an extreme to make that point? Was there another, perhaps more effective way to make the point? Was Dallas’ death a suicide? What do you know his character that leads you to believe that?
     7. An important concept in the book is “ the hero”. How is a hero defined? Who is the hero in this book? (there may be more than one). What makes him/her a hero? Are there heroes in your life? Who are they? Why?

Week of March 31

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:51:52 GMT

I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break and that those who didn't finish before the break had a chance to finish reading The Outsiders. What a wonderful book- full of rich and exciting concepts for all of us to consider.

Monday- Finish up the Study Guide and prepare for the test
Tuesday- The Outsiders Final - multiple choice and essay question; Study Guide Due.
Thursday - Creative Projects due. Kids will present projects in class
Friday - Finish presenting projects in class

Monday& Tuesday of next week: The Outsiders- the movie (permission slip required)

Literature: Finish The Outsiders - study guide and test due Tuesday, Creative Project due Thursday.
Writing: Essay test on Tuesday (questions in a separate blog)
Vocab: None this week!
Grammar: no specific lessons this week

Week of March 17

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:55:36 GMT

This week we continue our study of The Outsiders. Students have a study guide which is due on April 1. the objective and essay test on this book will also be on April 1. Creative Projects are due April 3. The grade for this book will be divided between the study guide, the test (objective and essay), and the creative project.

Monday- introduce study guide and creative projects. Students have all of class to read.
Vocab words - matriarch, maternal, matron, matrilineal, matrimony, patronymic, patristic, patronize, patrician, paternity

Tuesday-Thursday - Read

Friday- Read and discuss chapters 5-10

Grammar - no specific assignments
Vocab - matris meaning mother; patris meaning father
Writing- short answer on study guide.
Reading- The Outsiders

Week of March 10

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:04:25 GMT

This week all sections will only meet three times.

Monday- turn in "verdict" essay ( a persuasive essay about the verdict from "The Crossing". 2-3 paragraphs, must include 3 quotes from the articles).

Tuesday-Thursday: Read Chapters 2& 3 of the Outsiders. Do NOT read ahead. As a class we will be looking at character development and symbolism.

Friday - Vocab quiz and next week's vocab

Writing: persuasive essay on the verdict, due Monday
Reading: we start our study of The Outsiders by SE Hinton
Grammar: no specific lessons this week
Vocab: inter meaning between
intra meaning within

February 28 and week of March 3

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:05:12 GMT

First, my apologies for not updating my blog for the last two weeks. I was out last Tuesday and this week, time just got away. Please be assured that students have been notified in class on a daily basis of deadlines for the end of the trimester. Next week, the week beginning March 3, begins the third trimester. Its hard to believe that we've come so far.

What's coming this week -

Reading - reading logs are due Monday. Nine logs for sections 2, 3 & 4. Six logs for sections 5 & 6.
We'll also be reviewing literary terms from earlier in the year and introducing new terms for upcoming novel studies.

Writing - editing and organization

Grammar - more work with verbs - strong verbs, verb tenses.

Vocab - morph meaning change

---
Friday, Feb 29 - Vocabulary Final; multiple choice.

Monday, March 3 - Vocab; working with verbs; reading logs due
Tuesday, March 4 - Analyze "the Door", eBooks editorial and compare & contrast essays
Thursday, March 6 - editing for organization and word choice
Friday, March 7 - vocab HW due; vocab quiz; independent reading

Week of February 11

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:48:17 GMT

We've been writing a lot lately and this week is no exception. We'll be reading an article from Newsweek about the new wave of books - digital books. Kids will read the article, summarize and look for key points. This will lead into a quick look a editorials.

Monday- Read "The Future of Reading". Summary and analytical questions.

Tuesday - Discuss "The Future of Reading" and how to write an editorial. Homework is to research for your editorial.

Wednesday - Journalism kids - this is our next major deadline for the yearbook. We have 32 pages today!

Thursday - Quickwrite an editorial about digital books and their viability.

Friday - Quiz over hyper/hypo words. Reading logs due (9) for periods 5 & 6. After the quiz, work on editorials, next week's vocab and reading.

WRITING - Analyze an article from Newsweek, research for an editorial, quick write on Thursday.
Analysis due Tuesday.

READING - Read an article from Newsweek. Continue reading logs - Three logs per week.

GRAMMAR - no specific grammar lessons this week

VOCABULARY - hyper- Greek meaning above, hypo- Greek meaning below
The rules for the Vocabulary homework changed last week. Students may choose to draw or demonstrate the definition instead of writing a sentence. They must still include the definition and part of speech in their homework. Homework will be given 5 points for definitions, 5 points for demonstrating understanding (either by drawing or sentences).

Week of January 28

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:41:01 GMT

We've got a great week planned. Many kids are making plans and reservations for SATs, High School entrance exams and, of course, the state required CSAPs. To better understand how to write for standardized tests, we need to look at the types of questions that are asked, and how to approach a response. The good news is that these skills are the same skills used for answering essay questions on exams.

Monday - Revise the CDE writing rubric so that it makes sense to kids and is a useful teaching tool, not just a meaningless or mysterious score. Students typed up their own rubric over the weekend; today, they combine their efforts in small focus groups.

Tuesday - Writing on Demand to a narrative prompt. We will review the necessary elements for narrative responses and write one of our own. Reading log check (7 due). Verb practice - due Thursday.

Wednesday - Journalism kids will be re-working their yearbook pages and uploading/importing pictures.

Thursday - Using the rubric that we created we will score our writing from Tuesday and look at other examples of narrative writing. Vocab due; Vocab quiz on -ism and -ist

Friday - No School for kids

Writing - Focus on writing to prompt/essay questions. Using a self created rubric we will score our own writing.

Reading- Continue to work on reading logs. Remember 3 per week, 3 quotes per log.

Vocabulary - ism Greek suffix meaning a practice, doctrine or belief.
-ist Greek suffix meaning a person who follows a specific practice, doctrine or belief

Grammar - Tuesday and Thursday we will be talking about verbs. Verb practice due Thursday.

Week of January 22

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:50:35 GMT

It was great to see so many parents last week. Thank you for your continued support.

This week we will be working on identifying types of writing prompts and how they are scored. Next week we will work on how to respond to the various prompts.

Monday- No School
Tuesday - hydro vocab due; hydro quiz; writing in journal about thoughts, experiences and questions related to standardized testing.

Wednesday - Community will be setting our calendar for our work with Children's Hospital; Workshop will be looking at various ways to tell stories; Journalism - we have some pages to finalize in the yearbook, then we need to assign stories for the newspaper.

Thursday - We will look at the rubric used to score the long essay on CSAP and figure out what it means in our own writing.

Friday - pyro vocab due; Pyro test; 7 reading logs due.

Writing: Figure out how standardized tests work and strategize how to be more successful.
Reading: Independent Reading Logs are due Friday. (7 logs with 3 quotes each).
Vocabulary: hydro due Tuesday; pyro due Friday.
Grammar : we will talk briefly about relative conjunctions on Thursday.