Greetings!
We've started a new year with fresh reading and writing assignments. I'm glad to be back in the class and working with the students.
We'll again start the classes with Quick Writes and some Vocabulary work. Our Quick Write for today was "Freaky Friday on Tuesday." The students were to imagine what it would be like if they woke up as someone else (either a parent or an older sibling.) For our "Mystery Words" I shared with the students some words I encountered while on my trip to England after Christmas: bailey, motte, barbican, and parsonage. For Extra Credit I asked them to tell me what they knew of the Magna Carta (I got to see it at the Lincoln Gaol!)
I handed out a fresh syllabus for this semester. These are also attached, on Dropbox, and on the blog (literature and writing) I briefly introduced the books that we'll be using this semester: Sir Conan Doyle's Six Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Great Short, Short Stories (Dover Publications), and 101 Great American Poems (Dover Publications). My goal is to use the literature to connect to encourage critical thinking skills and to connect to the students own writing processes.
As for writing, the students will write 3 new essays this semester (a 2-part Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution essay, an Evaluation Essay, and an Argument/Persuasive Essay). I've also assigned one essay "re-write." Being a good writer is an exercise in producing original work AND editing and improving already written pieces.
For their first writing assignment, the students can choose to write either a Cause/Effect essay or a Problem/Solution essay. These are 2-part essays, and we spent some time brainstorming with a variety of topics. For next week they are to brainstorm, outline and do some research for this paper.
The students are to read 2 of the Sherlock Holmes stories and fill out the worksheets for "The Red-headed League." I'm using a study guide from the Core Knowledge series for some of the questions related to these stories. You can find the entire guide at this website.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read “A Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League”
-- Fill out the worksheet
-- Extra Credit: give definitions for vocabulary words
-- Pre-Writing for Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution essay (brainstorming, outlining & research)
This week's blog entries: Literature Syllabus, Writing & Grammar Syllabus, Sherlock Holmes Quotes, Class Notes
Looking forward to next week. Keep warm!
Mrs. Prichard
We've started a new year with fresh reading and writing assignments. I'm glad to be back in the class and working with the students.
We'll again start the classes with Quick Writes and some Vocabulary work. Our Quick Write for today was "Freaky Friday on Tuesday." The students were to imagine what it would be like if they woke up as someone else (either a parent or an older sibling.) For our "Mystery Words" I shared with the students some words I encountered while on my trip to England after Christmas: bailey, motte, barbican, and parsonage. For Extra Credit I asked them to tell me what they knew of the Magna Carta (I got to see it at the Lincoln Gaol!)
I handed out a fresh syllabus for this semester. These are also attached, on Dropbox, and on the blog (literature and writing) I briefly introduced the books that we'll be using this semester: Sir Conan Doyle's Six Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Great Short, Short Stories (Dover Publications), and 101 Great American Poems (Dover Publications). My goal is to use the literature to connect to encourage critical thinking skills and to connect to the students own writing processes.
As for writing, the students will write 3 new essays this semester (a 2-part Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution essay, an Evaluation Essay, and an Argument/Persuasive Essay). I've also assigned one essay "re-write." Being a good writer is an exercise in producing original work AND editing and improving already written pieces.
For their first writing assignment, the students can choose to write either a Cause/Effect essay or a Problem/Solution essay. These are 2-part essays, and we spent some time brainstorming with a variety of topics. For next week they are to brainstorm, outline and do some research for this paper.
The students are to read 2 of the Sherlock Holmes stories and fill out the worksheets for "The Red-headed League." I'm using a study guide from the Core Knowledge series for some of the questions related to these stories. You can find the entire guide at this website.
Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read “A Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League”
-- Fill out the worksheet
-- Extra Credit: give definitions for vocabulary words
-- Pre-Writing for Cause/Effect or Problem/Solution essay (brainstorming, outlining & research)
This week's blog entries: Literature Syllabus, Writing & Grammar Syllabus, Sherlock Holmes Quotes, Class Notes
Looking forward to next week. Keep warm!
Mrs. Prichard
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