Here is the distribution of the exams from yesterday.

The average score was an 87, and the median was a 90. I’m really proud of you! Your hard work in class and at home paid off. 🙂

Today we took our parts of speech exam! Based on the scores I have seen so far, it looks like you really studied – I’ll post the average scores soon.

Homework for tonight is the next chapter of JLC (jlc-rg-13-magpies).

I’m sitting in Starbucks right now looking at your test for Monday, and I wanted to give you a few more hints about what you can do to be prepared. Although the test will be multiple choice, there will be all different kinds of questions. You will need to be able to…

• match the term for a part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, preposition, interjection, and article) to its definition.
• identify different parts of speech as used in a paragraph (common noun, proper noun, verb, adjective, adverb, personal pronoun, possessive pronoun, coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunction, preposition, definite article, and indefinite article).
• identify what kind of error is present in a sentence.
• complete sentences by choosing the correct form of a pronoun and a verb.
• understand the difference between “for” as a conjunction and “for” as a preposition.
• understand the difference between “to” when it is used as part of an infinitive (“to run,” “to jump”) and “to” when it is used as a preposition.
• know the differences between coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions.
• understand that all of the forms of “to be” count as verbs.
• identify abstract nouns.
• identify whether a verb is in past, present, or future tense.
• know what a linking verb is.
• know what transitive and intransitive verbs are.
• understand how the emphatic form of a verb changes its meaning.
• know when to add a comma in between a series of two or more adjectives.
• know when to use “farther” and when to use “further.”
• understand how using an adjective instead of an adverb to describe a verb is incorrect.
• know why skillful writers do not use unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.
• revise sentences for errors, including:
  • incorrect capitalization of proper/common nouns.
  • spelling of plural forms of nouns.
  • gender bias.
  • incorrect conjugation of irregular verbs.

Again, I just want to emphasize that I very deliberately did not give you any reading this weekend because I want you to make sure that you are ready to do well on your test! We talked about this in class, but again, here are all of the resources that are at your disposal to help you do your best:

• your parts of speech review

• the notes and exercises in your blue folder

• the lessons on the grammar portion of the website

• Khan Academy

• the website ChompChomp

After we finished our discusion of JLC today, we went over questions that students had about their exam on parts of speech on Monday. I did not give you any homework for the weekend because I really want you study!

After our discussion of The Joy Luck Club, students continued to work on their parts of speech review in preparation for our exam on Monday. I asked you to please try to finish it tonight so that you will know what is still confusing to you and we can discuss it in class tomorrow.

Homework for tonight is the next chapter of JLC (jlc-rg-12-best-quality).

And I told you that you will NOT have any reading homework for the weekend because I really want you studying for your exam!

After our discussion today, students began working on their parts of speech review (parts-of-speech-review) in preparation for their exam on Monday.

As I mentioned, I’ll be in the library tomorrow when you are in class, so you’ll be working with Mrs. Wu. I hope that she will tell me that you all worked very diligently on discussing tonight’s reading guide (jlc-rg-10-four-directions)! Please make sure that you turn that reading guide in to Mrs. Wu at the end of tomorrow’s class, and that you pick up the next reading guide for homework for Wednesday night!

Also, if you would like to order a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, please bring $6.50 by next Monday. We can also check one out to you, but please be sure not to write in it.

We took our last JLC vocab quiz today – results looked very good! With the remaining time, students got started on their homework for tonight (jlc-rg-9-rice-husband).

I passed out papers with information about Wednesday’s PSAT – make sure you keep that (or a copy of it) so that you know what room to go to that morning. Please make sure that you arrive on time – if you’re late, you’ll have to go to the late start room (which means a late lunch!).

I will be helping out with organizing the testing on Wednesday, so you will have a substitute. Her name in Mrs. Wu, and she’s very nice. She might even teach you some Chinese!

Also, if you would like to purchase a copy of our next book, The Count of Monte Cristo, you can bring $6.50 to school some time between tomorrow and next Monday (October 24). Please note that we read a special abridged edition of this book, so if you purchase a copy independently, make sure that it’s the right one!

Woohoo! Happy Early-Release Friday! 🙂

Today, we went over the vocabulary words from List 3 in preparation for your quiz on Monday. Homework is to complete the review chart for JLC (the-joy-luck-club-midway-review) – hopefully this will help with keeping names and such straight as we finish out the book.

Please remember that I will be doing a red vocabulary folder check on Monday while you’re taking the quiz! I am looking for the following things:

1. that you have the red folder.
2. that you have all of the lists I have given you, since the beginning of the year, with the first on top and the last on the bottom within the brads.
3. that you have been taking notes on the lists as we discuss them in class.
4. and that you are not storing any unnecessary papers in the folder.

Students completed the rhetorical analysis of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother today in class. Homework is the 8th reading guide for JLC (jlc-rg-8-two-kinds).

Happy mini-weekend!

We talked about Ying-ying’s story today in class. Afterwards, students began annotating sections from The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (the-battle-hymn-of-the-tiger-mother) in preparation for our class on Thursday.

Homework is Reading and Discussion Guide 7 for the next short story (jlc-rg-7-half-and-half).

See you Thursday! And Happy Yom Kippur to those of you who celebrate!