We took our last Odyssey vocabulary quiz today! Please remember that your Book 11 reading guide — about Odysseus’s descent to Hades — is due tomorrow.

After our discussion of Circe today in class, we talked about nouns — please see the grammar section of the website for that lesson and those notes. I also handed out the reading guide for Book 11 (Book 11 Reading and  Guide7 – Book 11).  That will be due on Tuesday.

Remember that Vocabulary.com needs to be finished by Sunday night and that you will have a quiz on Monday!

We started today by watching this video investigating whether there might be some scientific basis for the Circe legend in the Odyssey:

After that, we chatted about the Odyssey Vocabulary List 3. Your Vocab.com and 20 vocabulary sentences will be due by Sunday at 11:59 PM.

Remember that Book 10 of the Odyssey is due tomorrow!

And we will have an extra credit film tomorrow afternoon! It will be Unbroken, and it should be finished by 6:00 PM.

We started today with a conversation about Odysseus’s adventure in the cave of the cyclops! Your next reading assignment (Book 10 Reading Guide and 6 – Book 10) will be due on Friday, so you have a couple of days for that.

With the remainder of our time, we read a short story of this episode told from Polyphemos’s perspective. If you were absent, please come in on Friday to make up the questions that we answered about that piece.

Oh, and we will have an extra credit move this Friday after school, but I haven’t decided what it will be yet (we’re not as far along in the Odyssey as I would like to be able to show you the second half, so I think it’s going to be something related to the Hero’s Journey).

I hope that everyone had a lovely long weekend, and shana tova, if you were celebrating!

Today we eased back into our routine with a vocabulary quiz and a look at the graphic novel version of The Odyssey. Homework for tonight is Book 9 (5 – Book 9 and Book 9 Reading Guide). We’ll chat about the cyclops tomorrow!

Happy weekend!

Some important reminders for what’s coming up:

Monday by Midnight:

• finish Vocabulary.com for Odyssey List 2
• submit 15 vocabulary sentences from List 2 to Turnitin.com

Tuesday in Class:

• we will take our vocabulary quiz (all words from List 2 and some review words from List 1 will be on it)

Tuesday at Midnight:

• your nonfiction summer reading essay is due

In class today, we took a quiz over the syllabus, and we finished discussing vocabulary. Then we listened to Suzanne Vega’s “Calypso” and wrote a paragraph in response to it (PIE Paragraph 1 v2).

After yearbook pictures today, we talked about Books 6, 7, and 8 of the Odyssey and began discussing our second vocabulary list. You don’t have any reading homework for tonight! You can, however, begin working on your 15 vocabulary sentences (due via Turnitin.com) and your vocabulary.com, both of which are due by Monday at midnight.

We began today with a conversation about Odysseus and Calypso, and then we spent the remainder of the period completing the district-mandated Renaissance Learning Universal Screener. Homework for tonight is Books 6, 7, and 8 (Books 6, 7, and 8 Reading Guide     4 – Books 6, 7, and 8).

Two important reminders:

1. Yearbook pictures are tomorrow!
2. We’re watching the first part of the film version of The Odyssey on Friday after school (for 10 points of extra credit on next vocab quiz).

Happy second-week-of-school!

You will take yearbook pictures a the very beginning of class on Thursday, so please come wearing what you would like to be remembered in.

I also gave you a paper copy of the rubric for your nonfiction summer reading essay (Nonfiction Summer Reading Essay Rubric), which will be due a week from today, Tuesday, September 11, via Turnitin.com.

After we took our vocabulary quiz, students began working on the next section of the Odyssey. Book 5 (3 – Book 5 and Book 5 Reading Guide) is due tomorrow.