English 10

For the many students that were away, we spent the period in the library working on the Sightlines final project.

Have a happy Halloween!

Reminders:

• Sightlines project: due Thursday, Nov. 4, 2015

English 9

In the spirit of Halloween, we watched a Simpsons parody; we then read Chapter 18 in BSP and spent the rest of the period in the lab working on the BSP final project.

Reminders:

• Finish reading the end of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas for Monday

English 8

Have a great Halloween! For those of you who weren't here, we spent the entire period watching The Outsiders movie.

Reminders:

• Outsiders Quiz (Chapters 9-12): Monday, Nov. 2, 2015
• Outsiders Test: Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015

English 8

Hurrah! We finished The Outsiders!

Today we read the last two chapters of The Outsiders and worked on the last set of chapter questions. We also started watching the first 15 minutes of the movie, which we will continue tomorrow.

Students worked on their 'Newsletter' assignments during the second half of the class.

Reminders:

• Chapter 10-12 questions: Friday, Oct. 30, 2015
• Outsiders Quiz (Chapters 9-12): Monday, Nov. 2, 2015
• Outsiders Test: Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015

English 9

During the first half of class, we worked in the library on a final assignment for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. 

During the second half of class, we read up to Chapter 18 in the novel and worked on the "Life at Out-With" assignment.

Reminders:

• "Life at Out-With" drawings: Friday, Oct. 30, 2015

English 10

During the first half of today's block, we watched the movie "Little Miss Sunshine"; students are completing a character analysis chart as we go through the movie. The movie ties in well with out 'Nonconformist' theme.

During the second half of class, we worked in the library on the Sightlines final project.

Reminders:

• Marks have been updates; please check in for missing assignments!
• We will have more library time on Friday; please bring any necessary materials for your project

English 10

We started off with a worksheet on punctuation. We then read, discussed, and worked on questions for the poems "Warren Pryor" and "Nonconformist".  Both poems share a similar theme of being influenced by others in society. To reflect on that theme, students wrote their first 'practice' original composition for the Provincial Exam. The topic  was: "People are influenced by a variety of sources".

Reminders:

• Bring any materials you made need for the Sightlines Final Project for tomorrow's class!

English 9

Silent reading and grammar.
We read and discussed Chapter 14 in BSP, worked on questions, and started a creative assignment. For the creative assignment, students needed to draw both Bruno and Schmuel's perspective of "Life at Out-With". We will continue this next class.

Reminders:

• BSP Chapter 13/14 questions: due tomorrow, Oct. 28, 2015

English 8

We started off the day with a quiz on The Outsiders. We then proceeded to finish Chapter 10, and work on rough copies for the 'advice column' component of the newsletter assignment.


Reminders:

• The Outsiders 'Advice Column' rough copy: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015

English 10

We started off today with a worksheet on apostrophes, and went over it as a class. We then finished the last five minutes of the movie "My Left Foot" and went over the worksheet together. After that, we discussed conventions for "How To" instructions and watched the satire "How To Start a Movement" on Ted Talks. We then read "How To Act If You Do Not Want To Be Called On" (p. 46 in Sightlines 10). Students then worked on a corresponding worksheet.

To finish off class, I went over the structure of the English 10 Provincial Exam; we then went over the writing rubric for the original composition, and looked at five actual examples. Students then graded the pieces of writing and we went over the 'real' marks that were given. The purpose is to understand the expectations for the written portion of the exam.

Reminders:

• "How To" worksheet: due Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015

English 9

Silent reading and grammar (punctuation).

We started off with a group activity in which students completed a chart comparing the father son relationships in "Life is Beautiful" and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. We then discussed Chapters 11 and 12 in teh novel, and worked on questions. We also started reading Chapter 13.

Reminders:

• Finish Chapter 13: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015
• Chapters 11/12 questions: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015

English 8

Silent reading and grammar (punctuation)

Today we read through Chapter 9 and started Chapter 10 in The Outsiders; we also completed corresponding questions and vocabulary.

Reminders:

• Chapter 7-9 questions and vocabulary: due Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015
• The Outsiders quiz: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015

English 8

Today we started a Newspaper project for The Outsiders and students typed up their "Trial by Fire" articles. We then read Chapters 7 and started Chapter 8, which is to be finished for homework. Students also worked on a crossword puzzle and completed chapter questions.

Reminders:

• Read Chapter 8 for next class
• Chapter 7/8 questions due : Monday, Oct 26, 2015
• The Outsiders Quiz: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015

English 10

I was away mentoring yesterday, but I hope all went well!

Students wrote a grammar quiz, read an excerpt from Christy Brown's memoire "My Left Foot" in Sightlines (and completed a corresponding worksheet),  and watched the movie version of the story.

Reminders:

• "My Left Foot" worksheet: due Monday, Oct. 26, 2015
• "This is a Test" title page: due Monday, Oct. 26, 2015

English 9

Yesterday students wrote a quiz on The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and watched the movie "Life is Beautiful". We will do a comparison between the movie and BSP next week.

Reminders:

• Read Chapter 12 in BSP

English 8

Today we had an open-book grammar quiz,  worked on a news article (based the events in Chapter 6 of The Outsiders), and started Chapter 7.

Reminders:

• Greasers and Soc collage: due today!
• News article - rough copy: due Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015

English 9

Today we had an open-book grammar quiz and read Chapter 10 in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. We also discussed the swastika/star of David origins, talked about the history of Eva Braun, and watched "10 Facts about WW2". Students were assigned questions, and independent reading for Chapter 11.

Reminders:

• Bruno's letter to grandmother due!
• Read Chapter 11 for next class
• Chapter 9/10- questions: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2105

English 10

Today we finished "This is a Test", worked on questions and a title page assignment.Thank you to those students who finished them!

Reminders:

• Grammar quiz: tomorrow, Oct. 21, 2015
• "This is a Test" title page: Monday, Oct. 26, 2015

English 9

Silent reading and grammar.
We spent the majority of class working on a writing assignment for Chapter 8. The assignment is to write a letter from Bruno to his grandmother explaining his experiences at Out-With. Thanks for working so well! We finished off class by reading Chapter 9.

Reminders:

• Bruno's Letter: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015
• Open-book grammar quiz (capitals and apostrophes): Oct. 20, 2015

English 8

Silent reading and grammar.

Today we discussed the significance of Chapter 5 in The Outsiders and some of the symbolism. We analyzed the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost, and watched a scene from the movie "Gone With The Wind" to understand Johnny's concept of the 'heroic southern gentleman'. We also completed corresponding questions and started Chapter 6.

Reminders:

• Greaser/Soc collage: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015
• Chapter 5 questions: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015
• Finish reading Chapter 6: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015
• Open-book grammar quiz (capitals and apostrophes): Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015

English 10

Today we watched the 'Dancers of Damalahamid' at the Performing Arts Theatre.

Reminders:

• Character paragraphs due today!!!
• Open-book Grammar Quiz: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015

English 10

Many were absent today, so we didn't get through a lot of content, but for those who weren't here, this is what you missed:

I gave students more time to work on the character paragraphs that we started last class. This will be due Monday. We also watched a TED TALKS by Cameron Russel, as it relates to a few of the texts we just read about body image and media. We also started reading the play "This is a Test" in Sightlines 10 (we read p. 8-15 only and will continue it next class).

Reminders:

• Character paragraphs: Monday, Oct.19, 2015

English 9

Silent reading and grammar (apostrophes)
Today we worked on questions for Chapter 6 and 7 in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, we watched a Disney Anti-Nazi Propaganda clip, and read Chapter 8.

Reminders:

• Chapter 6/7 questions: due Monday, Oct. 19, 2015
• Open-book grammar quiz (apostrophes/capitals): Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015

English 8

Silent reading and grammar (apostrophes)
We spent a good chunk of time getting photos taken today. We also went over Chapter questions and started reading Chapter 5 in The Outsiders. 

Reminders:

• Greasers vs Socs Collage: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015
• Open-Book Grammar Quiz (capitals/apostrophes): Tuesday. Oct. 20, 2015

English 9

Thanks again for helping setting up chairs this afternoon!

Today students took notes on apostrophes, and completed Chapter 4/5 questions for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I also showed personal pictures of Eastern Europe and Auschwitz to help students understand some of the imagery and the description of the context in the novel. We then watched a short clip from the movie "Anne Frank" to help understand some of the events during the Holocaust. We finished class by reading up to Chapter 8.

Reminders:

• Literary paragraphs were due today!
• Chapter 4/5 questions: due Friday, Oct. 16, 2015

English 10

Have a nice long afternoon!

Today we started a literary character paragraph based on one of the characters in our Sightlines 10 unit. I went through the process of planning a paragraph, and went through the proper paragraph structure. After that, we watched the ending to a version of the movie "Oedipus", which we read last class. To finish off class, we read "I'm not My Brother; I'm Me" and "My Body is My Own Business" in Sightlines 10, and worked on corresponding questions.

Reminders:

• "My Brother"/"My Body" questions: due tomorrow, Oct. 16, 2015
• Literary character paragraph: Monday, Oct. 19, 2015

English 8

Silent reading and grammar (capitalization)
Today we went over the 'Greaser' character worksheet, read Chapter 4 in The Outsiders and continued with corresponding questions/vocabulary. For the second part of class, we worked on a collage with images that represent old and modern stereotypes of both Greasers and Socs. We will continue this next class.

Reminders:

• The Outsiders Chapter 4 questions: due Friday, Oct. 16, 2015

English 10

Today we finished a worksheet on run-on sentences and corrected it as a class. We also read the poem "Envy" in the Sightlines textbook and completed a Venn diagram comparing "The Face in the Pool" and the poem. Furthermore, we read a version of Sophocles's play "Oedipus"; we discussed the definition of the 'Tragic Hero', some main themes in the story and the Freudian theory of "The Oedipus Complex". Students completed corresponding questions for the story.

Reminders:

• "Oedipus" questions: due Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015

English 8

Silent reading and grammar (apostrophes)
Today we read Chapter 3 in The Outsiders and worked on corresponding questions. We also continued working on a 'Greaser' character worksheet, which we will go over together tomorrow.

Reminders:

• Chapters 2 and 3 questions: due tomorrow, Oct. 14, 2015

English 9

Silent reading and grammar (capitalization)
Today we read Chapters 4 and 5 in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and answered corresponding questions.

Reminders:

• Chapter 4 questions: due Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015
• Literary paragraphs: due Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015

English 8

Have fun this weekend!

Today we worked on apostrophes, a character worksheet for 'The Greasers' and we started reading Chapter 2 in The Outsiders. 

Reminders:

• Have your progress reports signed!

English 9

Have a great long weekend!

Since yesterday, students wrote a final test on short stories, worked on literary paragraphs,  and read Chapters 1-3 in The Boy in The Striped Pajamas. Students also worked on corresponding questions for the chapters.

Reminders:

• Progress reports went out today! Make sure to hand in any missing assignments!
• Literary paragraphs (plan, rough copy and good copy): due Thursday October 15, 2015

English 10

Have a great weekend!

Since yesterday, students wrote a final test on Animal Farm; we also read and discussed the story "The Bicycle". Furtheremore, we read and discussed the myth "The Face in the Pool" today. Along with this, we discussed the theme of narcissism and watched a short video called "ABC: The rise of Narcissism" (pertaining to the growth of social media). There were corresponding questions to complete for both these stories.

Reminders:

• Progress reports went out today! Make sure to hand in any missing assignments.

English 9

Silent reading and grammar editing.
Today I handed out an outline of things to study for the short story test on Thursday, and I went over the plot analysis for "The Bridge Builder". We also got copies of our next novel study The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. For the rest of class, we discussed some background information for the novel, including the causes of WW2, fascism, the rise of Hitler, anti-semitism, and the Holocaust. We finished the class with John Green's "Crash Course on WW2".

Reminders:

• Short Story Test: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015

English 8

Silent Reading
Open-book quiz on Parts of Speech
During the rest of class, students took some notes on Irony (for the test tomorrow); we also took out The Outsiders books from the library, and watched a Crash Course clip on the 60's to explain the context of the novel.

Reminders:

• Short Story Test: Wednesday, Oct.7, 2015
• Character paragraph: Friday, Oct. 9, 2015

English 10

We started off class working on run-on sentences. We then read and discussed the story "Borders" by Thomas King. We also discussed the history of Aboriginal people in Canada to help us understand the political themes in the story. I showed some video clips explaining Residential Schools, and a clip of the NFB documentary "You are on Indian Land". Students then completed questions and a characterization worksheet. We will finish the booklet next class.

Reminders:

• Animal Farm Test: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015

English 8

Silent reading and grammar (parts of speech)
Today students had a bit more time to work on their character paragraphs; This will be due Wednesday. After that, we went through the short story review booklet that we started last week, and played a Jeopardy review game.

Reminders:

• Open-book grammar quiz: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2105
• Short Story Test: Wednesday, Oct.7, 2015
• Character paragraph: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2105

English 9

Silent Reading and grammar (capital letters)
Today we had plot analysis quiz on "Armageddon". Students that were not here for the entire movie can stream it on their own timein the library, and finish completing the quiz at lunch or after school. After the quiz, students started drafting out a plan for a literary paragraph.

Reminders:

• Short Story Test: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015

English 10

Today we reviewed sentence structure and correcting run-on sentences. We also read the story "Lather Then Nothing Else" in Sightlines 10. We discussed the historical context of the story and students completed questions and a character worksheet. We also watched a current video about revolutionaries in Colombia, as it relates to the political history of the story.

Reminders:

• "Lather Then Nothing Else" worksheet
• Animal Farm Test: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015

English 10

Today we finished the "Animal Farm" movie and completed an allegory chart; the chart will be useful for the upcoming test next week. We then read the story "Terrible Things" by Eve Bunting and discussed its symbolism to the Holocaust. I also showed personal pictures of Poland and Auschwitz to add to our discussions. Students handed in corresponding questions.

Reminders:

• Propaganda project: due today!
• Animal Farm Test: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015

English 8

Silent Reading and Grammar (Adjectives)
We finished working on the character paragraphs that we started yesterday, and we started a review booklet for the Short Story test.

Reminders:

• Sightlines Collage: due today
• "Fantastic Mr. Fox" analysis: due today
• Open-book grammar quiz: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2105
• Short Story Test: Wednesday, Oct.7, 2015

English 9

Have a great weekend!

We finished watching the movie "Armageddon" and discussed some of the main parts of plot - there will be a quiz on Monday.

Reminders:

• Satire Projects: due today!
• Short Story Test: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015

English 8

Good luck at the volleyball tournament tomorrow!

We started class with silent reading and a worksheet on Parts of Speech. We then went over "The Monkey's Paw" questions. After that, I introduced the format for literary paragraphs and students drafted out a plan for a character paragraph based on one of the stories we read in Sightlines. We will continue this tomorrow.

For the rest of class, we watched a the movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox" as a finale to the short story unit. Students then started a plot analysis worksheet for this.

Reminders:

• Short Story Collages: Friday, Oct. 2, 2015
• "Fantastic Mr. Fox" plot analysis: Friday, Oct. 2, 2105
• Open-book grammar quiz: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015
• Short Story Test: Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015