Friday

Today we started with the vocab on page 118 (in the warm-ups). After going over that, students worked together to do questions 3 and 5-9 on page 117.

Wednesday &Thursday

Wednesday we wrapped up our work with "The Gift of the Magi" by revising the thematic paragraphs we wrote Tuesday. These were collected. We then began some of the preliminary work for "The Rightsto the Streets of Memphis." Thursday we added the "Memphis" vocab from page 111 to the "Selection Vocab" section of the binder. Then, after reviewing autobiography and cause and effect, students read the story and did margin questions A, B, C, and E. They should finish for HW if necessary.

Tuesday

Tuesday we did the vocab work for "A Gift of the Magi" (p. 104) in the warm-up, and then, after I collected the HW, we worked through writing prompt A on page 105.

Friday & Monday

Friday, after a visit from Mrs. Garnder to discuss the rules, we read O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" and did the prediction activities in the margin. Monday we started looking at the irony of the story's ending and then spent the rest of the period on questions 1-8 on p. 103 (9 is extra credit). Students should finish these for HW.

Sacrifice

Today we prepared for "The Gift of the Magi" with a warm-up and discussion on the concept of sacrifice. We then added the story vocabulary (p. 95) to the selection vocab notes and reviewed the definition of irony (also on p. 95). Students also handed in their time travel essays today.

Writing Time

Today, after a look at some helpful graphic organizers and sentence frames, we spent the whole period writing. Students should finish up their essays tonight for homework if they didn't finish them in class.

Time Travel Essay: the Plan & Intro

Today we worked on planning the time travel essay and started on the introductory paragraph. Students should finish the introduction and plan for homework.

Time Travel Essay, Day 1

Today I collected the first set of warm-ups and the vocabulary assignment from Friday. We wrapped up the period reading "The Physics of Time Travel" (p. 51) and got started planning an essay in response to prompt B on page 50.

Thunderous Vocab.

Today we reviewed the concept of theme and checked the homework (which was collected). We wrapped up the period doing the vocabulary work (all of it) on page 49.

Even More Thunder

We began with a warm-up looking at the sequence question from the homework (which I stamped). After that we reviewed foreshadowing sentences and the other work from yesterday. Students finished the day working on questions 1, 2, 8, and 10 (9 is extra credit) on page 48 in the textbook. This should be completed for HW if needed.

More Thunder

Today we finished "A Sound of Thunder" and began studying the story in earnest.

• Students started by choosing three examples of foreshadowing they had noted during the reading and wrote about them using the following sentence frame:
• When it says, "[a direct quotation from the story]," it seems to foreshadow [what you predicted would happen]. What actually happens is [what actually happens in the story].
• Next students completed the sequencing activity as explained in blue on page 33 of the text.
• Finally, students responded to margin questions C (p. 36), D (p. 37), G (p. 40), H (p. 41), and K (p. 47) printed next to the story in the text book.

Homework is to finish any part of this assignment not completed in class.

Finally, a Story

After a quick review of foreshadowing, we went over the vocabulary on page 33 in the textbook, adding it to a page in the "Selection Vocabulary" tab in the notebooks. Then we began Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," getting to page 39. At the end of the period I handed back intro letters and then collected them again for the student portfolios.

The Past

Today, after a short warm-up about time travel and its effects, we finished the close reading work on page 27 that we began Friday. This was collected.

Playing with Time

Today we began with a little flashback practice in the warm-up while I checked homework. Next we took some notes on sequence and time from page 26 and started the close read on page 27.
Have a great weekend!

On to Unit 1

Today we started looking at the concept of story with a warm-up taken from page 22 of the textbook. After wrapping up and handing in the "Walter Mitty" close read questions from yesterday, we reviewed plot and conflict.
HW: Do the close reading assignments on page 25.

Walter Mitty

Today we began the day taking notes from page 12 while I checked off organized binders. We spent the rest of the period reading the excerpt from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and answering the close reading questions on pages 13 and 14.

Feels like a Monday

Today we talked a bit about the binder check (postponed until tomorrow) and hall passes (check the course description for policy). We then reviewed the close reading examples on page 9 and I collected the students' close reading work (including last week's work).

Binders

Each student will have a three-ring binder (not spiral) stocked with lots of college-ruled lined paper. The binder should be clearly labeled “Freshman English” and prominently include the student’s name. The first page inside the binder will be the signed course description, and the binder will contain the following labeled sections in this order:

• 1.    Work in Progress
• 2.    Warm-Ups
• 3.    Notes
• 4.    Academic Terms
• 5.    Selection Vocab
• 6.    Graded Work

In addition, students concurrently enrolled in English Support should have a section labeled “Support.”

Picture Day

Today we began with a short quiz on the course description and talked about the rules. Then we had pictures taken and handed in final draft letters of introduction.

More Notes

We began the day by going over the many things going on tomorrow--school pictures, final draft business letters are due, course descriptions are due with a quiz--and then finished up the drama notes and close read (p. 7) and began the nonfiction notes and close read (pp. 8 & 9).