Greetings!
We had a delightful class this week. Our class time was quite full.
We started with a Quick Write, and today they had 5 options (4 of which came from their own ideas): Tell what your favorite Disney character is; tell which you prefer, Marvel or D.C.; what would be better to live in, a tree house, a hobbit hole, or under water: what is that one product that you will not compromise quality for; or whatever else is on your mind. I had a lot of homework to hand back, so they students had a lot of time to write.
Our Words of the Day came from Nalani, Ellie, and Maddy today. As I put the words on the board, I asked the class to make up definitions for the words. Some of them had some pretty creative definitions
etymology-- fr. Greek etymon, "true sense" and logia, "the study of" -- studying the underlying semantics and meanings of words
gubbins-- from obsolete old English, gobbon, raw fish or flesh -- a foolish or futile person; the parings or refuse from a fish
gobbledygook-- first recorded in 1940/1945; a fanciful form of gobble -- language characterized by circumlocution and jargon
While the students were writing for their Quick Writes, I handed back homework; we usually do a short Homework Check after these beginning of class activities. This week, I reminded them of my late homework policy. I give students three weeks to get assigned work in (actually, they have 4 weeks from the assigned date until I will no longer take it.) After that extended time, assignments will be given zeros. I also explained that while I don't have a specific day for correcting homework, I correct homework all at once and don't check and re-check Google Classroom for late assignments. If homework is handed in on time, it will automatically be included when I correct homework. If it is late, it could be included, or it might not be. Most weeks, I will enter scores on Track My Grades. (Another reminder, you can check to see if you are missing on any homework on Google Classroom, but you need to use your chatclasses email. And a further reminder -- if you handed in an assignment in class, leave the assignment on Google Classroom alone. I will go through and mark as finished.)
Students handed in the final drafts of their Mystery Stories, and I'm really excited about reading these because their rough drafts were so good! As a reminder, they should hand in their rough drafts with my marks/corrections when they hand in the final drafts. The final drafts could be handed in during class or uploaded to the Google Classroom assignment.
When we finish one paper, we start another. For the next round of essays, students can choose to write a Cause/Effect Essay or a Problem/Solution Essay. For the both of these essays, the writer usually chooses to focus the bulk of his/her attention on one part of this 2-part essay. Students have the next two weeks to do their brainstorming and research. The pre-writes and rough drafts should be handed in on March 11.
We have finished our Sherlock Holmes book, and the students wrote an essay exam in which they define "hero" and then explain if Sherlock Holmes is a hero. As it happens every year, the class was divided in their opinions. I had the class separate into Hero/Not a Hero groups and told them to come up with their top 5 strongest points to support their position. (We had a little bit of a debate, that probably would have been better if we could have hear one another better. The concrete walls and masks muddies a lot of the voices.) At any rate, they had done some careful thinking about the sides that they chose.
We are now starting into our next book, which is a collection of Short Stories. The class is to read the Russian authors for our next class time and to fill out the worksheet that I gave them.
At the end of class, I gave a very brief Grammar "power lesson" about the commas that follow introductory elements. These elements can include interjections, personal addresses, prepositional phrases, and dependent clauses. We finished a few in class, and they are to complete the worksheet for our next class time.
I want to commend this class in its ability to take down the room every week. Because we're the last class to meet in our room, the students have to fold the tables and take them to another room down the hall. Then they have to load all of the folding chairs onto a rack. They always do it with cheerful attitudes, and I'm so grateful for their work!
A reminder -- we don't have class next week ; the next time we see one another will be March 4.
Assignments for March 4
Short Stories: Read Pushkin (162); Tolstoy (169); Chekhov (26) (Note -- we are week behind with the stories because I didn't assign last week due to the essay exam
- Short Story Packet #1
Links for This Week
Class Notes
Have a good weekend and a wonderful week off!
Blessings,
Mrs. Prichard
