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Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Watsons Go to Birmingham I

We started reading this delightfully amusing, but ultimately tragic, civil rights story last week. Requirements are the same as with Devil's Arithmetic: well considered chapter summaries for each chapter.

Special attention is going to be paid in the remaining weeks on the quality of student writing. Chapter summaries will occasionally be edited and rewritten for a grade (Minor grades to start and then major grades once expectations are firmly in mind).

One strategy I am encouraging to write effective summaries is to divide each chapter into 'scenes.' A scene ends whenever the setting shifts. Each scene should be described in two or three sentences, concentrating on the main points and not getting caught up in smaller details.

Sentences are to be complete, grammatically correct and composed according to the conventions of written English; that is, correctly punctuated and capitalized.

Students should have read through chapter five by Monday.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Devil's Arithmetic IV

Students took a quiz yesterday on chapters 11-16 and today rewrote the chapter 18 summary for a major grade.

The book must be finished tonight and all summaries ready to be checked for another major grade. Also, the book exam is tomorrow. There are 30 short answers and two essays to be completed in one period. I told each class that anyone who needs more time must plan on finishing after school.

Spelling test will be on Tuesday.

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Devil's Arithmetic III

Students should be finished through chapter 16 for tonight. There will be a quiz tomorrow on chapters 11 through 16 tomorrow. Keep up with chapter summaries!

Friday's spelling/vocab quiz was today. This weeks list is as follows:

Vocabulary #28


1. similarities – (adj.) likenesses; having same features, but not exactly alike

2. beautiful – (adj.) giving pleasure to the senses or mind

3. requirement – (n) a need

4. encyclopedia – (n) a book or set of books giving information about all branches of knowledge, or about one subject intensively

5. essential – (adj.) indispensable

6. familiar – (adj.) well known; often seen or experienced

7. diversity – (n) variety

8. remember – (v) to keep in one’s mind

9. important – (adj.) having or able to have a great effect

10. strength – (n) the quality of being strong

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Devil's Arithmetic II

Students should be done through chapter 6 for today and chapter 8 for tomorrow. Chapter summaries are checked on a daily basis. There was a quiz today and summaries 1 through 6 were checked for a minor grade.

Vocabulary #27


1. jealous – (adj.) feeling or showing resentment toward someone considered a rival

2. parallel – (adj.) of lines or planes traveling at the same distance from each other

3. cemetery – (n) a burial ground other than a church yard

4. nuisance – (n) a source of annoyance

5. probably – (adv.) likely to happen or be true

6. poetry – (n) a poet’s art or work

7. calendar – (n) a chart showing the days, weeks, and months of a particular year

8. bulletin – (n) a short, official statement of news

9. closet – (n) a small storage room or cabinet

10. emergency – (n) a serious happening or situation needing prompt action

Thursday, May 08, 2008

The Devil's Arithmetic I

Today we started The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, a Holocaust story. We read the first chapter together and I modelled how to write a chapter summary. Chapter summaries will be written in notebooks in the following format:

1) Date and chapter number
2) Write a title for the chapter, should reflect the main idea
3) While reading, seperate the chapter into scenes. Write a few sentences explaining the action or improtant ideas in each scene.

Model for chapter 1:

Chapter 1: Annoyance

Hannah doesn’t want to go to Passover dinner. Hannah is being picked up by her mom at Rosemary’s house. They argue about going to Grandma’s for Passover. On the way Hannah argued a bit with her brother Aaron. He’s scared about asking the Four Questions. Hannah comforts and encourages him. At Grandma’s Aunt Eva greets Hannah with a kiss. Eva is her favorite and Hannah is named after Eva’s dead friend.

We'll try to finish about two chapters each day, one in school, one at home. Students need to read chapter 2 and write the chapter summary.

Spelling test tomorrow.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Presentations

Research Presentations started today. Anyone called on who did not have there's ready lose 10 points and must present tomorrow.

We will be starting our final novel of the year, The Devil's Arithmetic, later in the week.

Come in tomorrow with definitions for 20 extra credit points!

Vocabulary #26


1. article – (n) a particular or separate thing

2. characteristic – (adj.) showing a distinctive feature

3. independence – (n) being free from control by another person or thing

4. obstacle – (n) a thing that obstructs progress

5. weight – (n) an object’s mass numerically expressed according to a recognized scale of units

6. author – (n) the writer of a book or article

7. auditorium – (n) the part of a building where the audience sits

8. guest – (n) a person visiting by invitation

9. comfortable – (adj.) giving ease and contentment

10. respect – (n) admiration felt toward a person or thing, and the politeness arising from this