General Information
Happy November! A quick note to parents: in general, all of my classes are struggling to show respect for the shared classroom space. Papers and writing implements are left behind, food is frequently found on the ground, and homework assignments and textbooks are also forgotten. A messy classroom can be very distracting to our learning, as well as extra work for me and the school custodians. Please remind your students that they need to be responsible for their garbage and belongings.
L.A. 8
We are finishing up our Horror Unit with a section in our Close Readers. This will be a poem by Edward Field called, "Frankenstein." Students will use the skills we have learned in the Horror Unit to complete the assignment on their own. We will then begin to transition into our Shakespeare unit with an article about how Shakespeare's work improves brain activity among children. You can't teach Shakespeare without some acting, so we will be trying our hand at a modern-English translation of Romeo and Juliet this week.
Contemporary Literature
Last week, we completed Act 1. This week, we are beginning Act 2 by drawing a graphic novel version (with comic book-style panels) of Macbeth's soliloquy from Scene 1. We've done some simple acting, but will get into more in-depth acting soon. We are also going to refresh our thesis statement skills, then practice them on an article about how Shakespeare's work improves brain activity among children.
Writing Lab.
Our time in first trimester Writing Lab. is almost over! With three weeks left, we are finishing up the very last writing assignment - a Thank You Letter to our writing subject. This will be followed by a Dedication Page, then assembling our "Gift of Gratitude" Scrapbook. Students will not be required to buy outside crafting supplies, but are asked to do their best to make this project visually appealing and creative. They will also be given the opportunity to do rewrites on any writing assignments from the trimester that they wish to improve. This can raise their grades.