Today in class, we took our vocabulary quiz. We also discussed revisions to your essays over cooperation, looking at a sample and the rubric. Here is that sheet: Sample Cooperation Essay – Your revision is due on Monday.

Also due on Monday is your GC Reading Guide 4: Glass Castle Reading Guide 4

But no vocab quiz on Monday!

Tomorrow is our feast day – remember that you can do Be the Bard if you want! 🙂

Be the Bard

During our feast tomorrow, we’ll recreate the heroic epic experience! We’re doing Be the Bard again (10 points on your MC portion of the second Odyssey exam).

Rules:

• The whole thing has to be memorized.
• Calypso’s speech to Hermes is off the table – choose something else.
• If you did this before, you can do it again, but you have to choose another selection.
• The purpose is to entertain your classmates – be passionate in your delivery!

Today we handed back mountains of papers! We also talked about what happened to all of the characters after the Odyssey, reviewed how to analyze an essay for PIE elements, and did some quick reflections on The Glass Castle. Then students spent the rest of class doing a gallery walk analyzing some of the most effective This I Believe essays.

Homework for this weekend was to complete the third reading guide for The Glass Castle. Glass Castle Reading Guide 3  Remember that you have a vocabulary quiz over the second GC list on Monday!

Today we finished the Hunger in America documentary. Remember that homework due tomorrow is the Glass Castle Reading Guide #2.

Some of you have mentioned that the page numbers on the electronic book don’t correspond to the reading guides – I’ll try to get those page numbers for the next reading guides.

Today in class, we watched a portion of a documentary on hunger in America (“A Place at the Table”) as an extension of our Glass Castle study.

Homework for tonight is to study the Glass Castle Vocabulary List 2 words on Vocabulary.com. Your GC Reading Guide 2 is due on Friday. Glass Castle Reading Guide 2

Also, some of you said you were out on Monday and did not get a copy of the GC Reading Guide 1. Here it is: Glass Castle Reading Guide 1

Hi students – As I mentioned in class last week, I’ve been having some surprise medical issues, and I’ll be out again tomorrow (Tuesday) trying to get better. I want to be able to rejoin you as soon as possible! In the meantime, I want to thank you for your patience and your hard work – all of your substitutes have left me glowing notes. I think I owe you some homemade cookies (I’ll wait until the infection clears to bake them).

Tomorrow (Tuesday), please turn your recipe project in to the substitute. Your homework due on Wednesday is the first Glass Castle reading guide. Tomorrow during class, you will write an expository essay in the STAAR style. Please do your very best work on this! It may count for a major grade.

Today in class, students read sample STAAR expository essays and then critiqued them for what worked and what didn’t. If you were absent, please come make this up with me – I don’t have electronic copies of those materials.

Homework for this weekend (due Monday) is to write one sentence for every vocabulary word for the Glass Castle List 1 (it’s under the Vocabulary section of the website, in case you misplaced yours). The sentences should demonstrate that you understand the meanings of the words.

And as a reminder, your recipe project is due on Tuesday.

Have a good weekend!

Hi students:

As I mentioned in class, I’m still waiting on approval of the list that I put together with our reading selections for the rest of the year. In the meantime, I wanted to give you a heads-up that we’re starting The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. We have books to check out for about 2/3 of our students, but there is also an electronic copy of the book that you can use. I’m posting it here:

The_Glass_Castle_-_Jeannette_Walls

Today students read this article on hunger in America The New Face of Hunger and completed the following reading guide: The New Face of Hunger Reading Guide

Hi students:

I’m not going to be at school today. Here’s a copy of the Solitude and Leadership reading guide that you will be doing: Solitude and Leadership Reading Guide You must work in solitude to complete this assignment – no sharing of answers! Give this to the substitute at the end of the period.

Here’s a copy of the essay, again: Solitude and Leadership

Homework is to complete these notes (expository essay powerpoint NOTES) using this PowerPoint (Expository essay PowerPoint. You will turn your notes in to me tomorrow. Please make sure that you are actually reading and considering the PowerPoint, not just searching for the answers – there is important information there that you will need to know to be able to write a STAAR-style essay correctly.

I hope very much to get a good report about your behavior when I return.