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Week of September 21 - September 25

Friday, September 25:  Poetry analysis:  "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost (class notes handout).  Silent Sustained Reading. DON'T FORGET:  The final test over The Outsiders is this coming Monday, Sept. 28!!  Re-read important parts of the novel, and study all of your handouts and class notes!!!!

Thursday, September 24:  Discussed parent information letter for next week's viewing of The Outsiders.  Completed class notes over The Outsiders.  Small group discussion:  major themes in The Outsiders.  (Prewriting for the essay portion of the final test, which is this coming Monday, Sept. 28).  Silent Sustained Reading tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 23:  Took a grade over Ratatouille focus questions.  Reviewed chapters 10-12 of The Outsiders, then took the quiz. 

Tuesday, September 22:  Corrected and reviewed assignment over nouns, pronouns, and prepositional phrases and turned it in for a grade.  Quiz tomorrow over chapters 10, 11, and 12 of The Outsiders.  Mrs. Simoneaux was here for the last part of the class period doing a counseling presentation.

Monday, September 21: Class notes over The Outsiders.  Reviewed characterization, point of view, setting, period piece, universal truths, and author's background and purpose. 

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES: 

• The assignment over nouns, pronouns, and prepositonal phrases from Friday is due tomorrow. 
• The quiz over chapters 10, 11, and 12 of The Outsiders is this Wednesday (day after tomorrow). 
• The final test over the whole novel (and all handouts, book annotations, class notes, etc.) will be on Monday, September 28 (one week from today).

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Week of September 14 - September 18

Friday, September 18:  Assignment over nouns, pronouns, and prepositional phrases is due Tuesday, Sept. 22.  Also, please make a note that the date for the quiz over chapters 10, 11, and 12 of The Outsiders has been changed to Wednesday, Sept. 23.  Silent Sustained Reading.

Thursday, September 17:  Review of prepositions and prepositional phrases.  Corrected and reviewed vocabulary lesson 2, pp. 31-33.  Took Vocabulary Test 2.

Wednesday, September 16:  Grammar in Real Writing: PREPOSITIONS. Went over graded Outsiders quizzes from Monday.  Reviewed chapters 7, 8, and 9 of The Outsiders and took the quiz over those chapters.  Took a grade on A Bug's Life focus questions.  VOCAB. TEST 2 TOMORROW!!!!  Vocab. pages 31-33 are due tomorrow as well!

Tuesday, September 15:  Review of pronouns and antecedents.  Discussed how in both English and in foreign languages like Spanish and French, pronouns must agree in number and in gender with their antecedents, and they must be clarified when referring to more than one person of the same gender.  Also reviewed subject pronouns, object pronouns, and possessive pronouns.  Watched a short clip from Disney's A Bug's Life, and used written focus questions to compare and contrast the film with The Outsiders.  QUIZ TOMORROW OVER CHAPTERS 7, 8, and 9 OF THE OUTSIDERS!!  VOCAB. TEST 2 ON THURSDAY!!

Monday, September 14:  Passed back and went over graded Outsiders quizzes from Thursday.  Reviewed chapters 5 and 6 of The Outsiders and took the quiz over those two chapters.  Class notes:  Pronouns.  **Don't forget:  Quiz this Wednesday, Sept. 16, over chapters 7, 8, and 9 of The Outsiders.  Vocabulary Test 2 is this Thursday, Sept. 17. (Vocab. pages 31-33 are due on Thursday as well.)

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Week of September 7 - September 11

Friday, September 11:  Class notes (annotations in the book) over chapters 1 through 4 of The Outsiders.  These notes were over foreshadowing, flashback, symbolism, and characterization in the novel. Silent Sustained Reading.   

Thursday, September 10:  Parts of Speech pretest.  Made parts of speech flip charts and took class notes over nouns. 

Wednesday, September 9:  Corrected focus questions over yesterday's film clip from The Incredibles and turned them in for a grade.  Reviewed "point of decision" and compared and contrasted the film clip to chapter 4 of The Outsiders.  Took the quiz over chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of The Outsiders.

Tuesday, September 8:  Passed back graded vocab. tests.  Introduced vocabulary lesson 2.  From now on, you only have to do the vocabulary sections entitled Completing the Sentence, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Choosing the Right Word.  For this lesson, that's pages 31, 32, and 33 only.   The vocabulary test over unit 2 will be on Thursday, Sept. 17, and the lesson pages are due on that day as well.  We also watched a short clip from Disney's The Incredibles and discussed what "point of decision" means, with regard to Mr. Incredible in the film and Johnny at the end of chapter 4 of The Outsiders.  DON'T FORGET:  Quiz tomorrow over chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of The Outsiders!!!!!

Monday, September 7:  No school.  Labor Day holiday.

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Week of August 31 - September 4

 Friday, September 4:  Turned in our summer reading essays.  Went to 5/6 assembly room for Picture Day.  Reviewed upcoming quiz dates (see below)  for The Outsiders.  Sustained Silent Reading.  Enjoy the long weekend!

 Thursday, September 3:  Discussed and reviewed vocabulary lesson 1.  Took vocabulary test.  Finished writing our essays over our summer reading.  Also, we wrote down these important dates for upcoming quizzes over The Outsiders:

                    *  Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4:  Wednesday, September 9 

                     *  Chapters 5 and 6:  Monday, September 14

                     *  Chapters 7, 8, and 9:  Wednesday, September 16

                     *  Chapters 10, 11, and 12:  Tuesday, September 22

 Wednesday, September 2:  Discussed and took a grade on Shrek focus questions.  Took a practice test over vocab. unit 1 in preparation for the real test tomorrow (a major grade).  Time in class to work on summer reading essays, which are due on Friday.

Tuesday, September 1:  Watched a short clip from Shrek and completed our focus questions ("An Examination of Stereotypes").

Monday, August 31:  Today students were issued their two textbooks for language arts.  Then we began a writing assignment over several key elements of our summer reading novel.  We discussed what makes a good paragraph, how to use transitions to help focus and coherence, and how to adequately support our statements using specific evidence from the text.

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 Week of August 24 - August 28

Friday, August 28:  Distributed forms for Picture Day next week (Friday, Sept. 4).  All money for pictures must be brought to school on that day!  We had our first Silent Sustained Reading day today, after which we shared our reading choices with the class.

Thursday, August 27:  Went over Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) contracts and signed them.  Discussed stereotypes and how they apply to The Outsiders.  Journal writing over stereotypes in everyday life.

Wednesday, August 26:  Finished vocab. visuals and presented them to the class.  Worked in groups on vocabulary lesson 1, pp. 21-27, which is due on the day of the vocabulary test (Thursday, Sept. 3).

Tuesday, August 25:  Began our discussion of The Outsiders by annotating several key points in our books.  We discussed flashback, characterization, and point of view.  We then continued working on vocabulary lesson 1 with a group activity called "Vocabulary Visuals."

Monday, August 24:  Course information (with syllabus).  Set up L.A. binders.  Introduced vocabulary lesson 1 (pp. 21-27), which is due on Thursday Sept. 3, the day of our first vocab. test.