I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and that your first week of Advent has started well!
Today's Literature Assignment: 1. Begin reading your nonfiction biography/autobiography/memoir book for Independent Reading Project #3. This was assigned in class on Monday, November 23. See your handout or the link below for details. 2. Set up your Google Slides for the project. You will need a title slide, ten quotation slides, and ten explanation slides. 3. Be ready to show your book and to talk about what you have read so far in our Google Meet Literature class on Friday, December 4. This will be worth 10 points. 4. Due Today: Please email me with the title and author of the book you have chosen. Write a paragraph of at least five sentences explaining why you chose this book and why it appeals to you. Be detailed and specific. Use your best writing skills. You do not need to create a Google Doc for this; you may write your paragraph in your email. This will count toward your attendance and be worth 10 points.
Reminders: 1. IXL GG.7 was assigned last week and is due tomorrow, December 1, by 3:00 PM. 2. The Gerund Phrases Creative Writing is due tomorrow, December 1, by 3:00 PM. Today, the 8th-Grade class will share our traditional Thanksgiving feast. Thank you so much to all who volunteered to cook and serve this food today. Writing Assignment: We will spend some time peer editing and proofreading our Creative Writing Paragraph for Participial Phrases. If you are working from home, this should be submitted by 12:00 noon today. See the blog entry from yesterday, Monday, November 23, for links and instructions. We will move on to the Gerunds lesson. See the link below. Please follow the directions in the Google Doc, watch the videos, and complete the IXL as assigned. Please email me if you have questions. Today, we are using this short week to make preparations for Thanksgiving, Advent, and a new eLearning schedule. This famous painting by Norman Rockwell is from his Four Freedoms series. The image represents our freedom from want, meaning our freedom from poverty. We have much to be thankful for in our great country and community. Literature Assignment: Today we went over our Independent Reading Project #3. Our assignment is to read a nonfiction biography, autobiography, or memoir about an admirable person. Our project is to collect 10 important quotations from the book and explain what each one reveals about the person. These quotations will be organized in a Slides show. We will not present these Slides. Instead they are to be shared with me by Thursday, December 17, 3:00 PM. Please know that this deadline could change based upon eLearning needs. Instructions can be found at this link. Writing Assignment: We will continue with Sentence-Composing Tools. Today we reviewed Participial Phrases. Use the link below to review the concept and to complete the exercises. The Creative Writing paragraph is due tomorrow, Tuesday, November 24 at the beginning of class. See the link below for the review videos and instructions. IXL E.5 and E.6: These are due today, Monday, November 23, by 7:00 PM. They cover identifying and interpreting figurative language and will be points added to the Literature grade. Reviewing these skills now will help us with the new poems and short stories in our third literature unit, which we will begin on Monday, November 30. Literature Assignments: Today, we began reading and analyzing the poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley. This is the last work in our second thematic unit, Unit II. Good over Evil. If you are working from home, you can access the poem, study guide, and dramatic reading at the links below. We will complete our discussion of the poem in tomorrow's class. Writing Class Assignments:
We began working on IXL W.1 and W.2 as our vocabulary lesson for this week. It is due with a score of 100 on Friday, November 20, by 7:00 PM. We then completed our STEM comic strip activity started last Thursday during the distance learning with the Glass Barns and the Indiana Soybean Alliance at the State Fairgrounds. Students worked in groups and turned in all STEM work at the end of the class period. Tomorrow in Literature we will read and discuss the poem "The Listeners" and then borrow some time to review participles and participial phrases as a sentence-composing tool. The day will begin with NWEA testing, so our classes will be shortened. We have begun talking about our plans for eLearning, which will start on Monday, November 30. An email from all of your teachers will be coming out later this week, but here are some of the tentative plans for now. Please realize that these plans could change as our situation changes. ELA Literature and Writing eLearning Plans:
Writing Assignments for eLearning:
Today we presented our Independent Reading Speech and Slides Project. We will finish all presentations during the first half of Thursday's class. If you are returning to school then, please be ready to present that day. Please make sure to share your slide show with me by the end of today. Tomorrow, literature classes will finish our discussion of Poe's poem, "The Raven." Assignment for eLearning
We used our class period today to put the finishing touches on our Independent Reading Speech and Slides Project. This project is due tomorrow. If you are working from home, please submit your slide show to me by the end of the day, Tuesday, November 10, 3:00 PM. You can present it to the class in person when you return to school. Please email me today if you have specific questions about your project. You may remind yourself of the requirements and grading rubric by linking to the assignment sheet below. Helpful Tips:
(We will continue with "The Raven" at our next Literature class, Wednesday, November 11.) This morning we completed a STEM lab sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Glass Barn at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. After watching two PowerPoints over genetics and DNA, we followed lab instructions to extract soybean DNA. This activity will continue on Thursday, November 12, as a distance learning Zoom conference with a scientist at the Glass Barn. This conference will focus on GMOs, genetically modified organisms, and their role in agribusiness. Use the links below to prepare for this conference. Literature and Writing Assignment Reminders: 1. We will discuss "The Raven" on Monday. Please make sure you have answered #1-5 on the study guide. See blog post on November 5, 2020. 2. Independent Reading Speech and Slides is due on Tuesday. Please share your slide show with me that day. You can present when you return. 3. IXL Skills O.3, O.6, and GG.6 are due today by 7:00 PM. As always, please email me with any questions. Have a great weekend! Literature Assignments for eLearning: 1. Today we will begin class by wrapping up any lingering questions about "The Tell-Tale Heart" and discussing the "Context and Connotation" column of the vocabulary chart on the study guide. Please submit this study guide and the Film Interpretation worksheet today. You may scan or take photos of the pages and email, or you may write your responses in a Google Doc. If you are returning to school tomorrow, you may turn in this work in person. 2. We will watch a short biography of Poe. This will help us better understand the theme and craft of the poem "The Raven." 3. After discussing the biography details, we will read "The Raven" and answer all questions on the study guide. Use the two links below for this activity. 4. You should consult the video lecture at the link below for extra help, especially in understanding the allusions. The lecture does not, however, provide enough information about the Biblical allusion to "a balm in Gilead." This is a reference to Jeremiah 8:21-22. That entire Old Testament chapter is an expression of great sorrow for wickedness and despair. In Christian theology and in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is understood to be the "balm in Gilead." Through his death and resurrection he can heal the sin sick and wounded soul. It is through Jesus, through God's great mercy, that we can be reunited with our loved ones in Heaven. This is an important idea to know in order to understand the poem. As always, you may email me throughout the day with questions about the assignments. Thanks for keeping up with your work. Writing Assignments for eLearning: 1. Today, we are spending the first part of class on IXL Skills O.3 and O.6. These exercises will help us recognize and correct common errors in writing. This will also help us prepare for the Language Sub-test on Saturday's High School Placement Test. These IXL are due with a score of 100 by Friday, 11-6-20, 7:00 PM. 2. We are also introducing Sentence-Composing Tool #8--The Participial Phrase. Some of you have the packet at home. If you do not, it is linked below. Answers to each section are provided at the link.
3. To help us understand Participial Phrases better, we are also working on IXL GG.6 today. This IXL is due with a score of 100 by Friday, 11-6-20, 7:00 PM. 4. We are taking Vocabulary Quiz #4 (Words #1-79) today in class. You may not use any notes, flashcards, or other resources to take the quiz. You are on the honor system. I trust you to be honest. The link to the quiz below will be open today from 2:30-4:30 PM. The quiz should only take a few minutes. Please email me if you have a schedule conflict and cannot take it at that time. |
English 8Daily homework assignments and grades are available through Jupiter. Please contact me through school email if you have questions. Patron Saint of Test-Takers,
St. Joseph Cupertino Patron Saint of the Internet,
St. Isidore
Patron Saint of Students,
St. Gemma Galgani Patron Saint of Procrastinators,
St. Expeditus All you Holy Men and Women, pray for us!
A Classroom Prayer
Holy Spirit, Giver of all good gifts, enter into my mind and heart. Give me the gift of knowledge and the grace to use it wisely. Help me in all my endeavors. Give me perseverance and fortitude. Help my memory, that I may remember what I learn and recall it when necessary. Guide me in the classroom.
O Jesus, You who are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, let me not be deceived by false teaching. Our Lady of Good Studies, pray for me. Amen. Mary, Undoer of Knots,
Pray for Us! A Prayer to Christ, the Divine Teacher
O source of all Wisdom, Christ the Teacher,
You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Teach us to embrace the truths You have revealed to Your Church. Fill our souls with Your Grace that we may love God above all and our neighbors as ourselves. Christ Jesus, friend and Teacher most patient, bless us and teach us. O Light of the world, teach us always to follow You that we should not walk in darkness, but have forever the Light of Life! Amen. Archives
August 2023
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