Thursday, August 26th

We finished reading "The Necklace". After discussing the story, we did a cause/effect activity and established the rising action, climax and falling action of the plot. Finally, students took a quick quiz for understanding. Students who read aloud will receive their extra credit pts. on the quiz.

I had students fill out a survey to give me an idea where we stand as a class with regard to the writing as a process. This will give me an idea what writing elements students have a firm grasp of and what we will have to hit hard.

Assignment: Come to class on Friday with a topic for a paragraph. We will take the paragraph through the writing process as a tune up for our first essay.

Wednesday, August 25th

Credit for RAV Week 1 was given today. This activity was worth 20 pts. If I did not see it today, make sure it gets to me by Friday.

We continued reading "The Necklace".

Two hour early out and an advisory day schedule made for a short period!

Tuesday, August 24th

Finally, we had a regular school day schedule! We began ER (Everybody Reads) today along with double entry journals. ER and double entry journaling will occur daily.

Next, I gave students a few minutes to finish up their "Words to Know" sheet for the short story "The Necklace". We covered introductory material and then began reading the story. Volunteers earn 5 pts. extra credit for reading aloud.

RAV Week 1 due tomorrow.

Monday, August 23

We traveled to the LMC today to select a fiction novel of approx. 200+ pages. We will be reading daily the first 15 min. or so of class. In addition, students will be keeping a double entry journal about this book and use it to help write a Critical Analysis at the end of the term.

Required Academic Vocabulary: RAV will be introduced weekly. Students are to record the term, the definition and draw a non-linguistic representation (picture) of the word. This vocabulary will be checked on Wednesdays. Week 1: anecdote, coherence, plot, and conflict.

Finally, students completed two activities covering the vocabulary of our first short story, "The Necklace".

Friday, August 20th

Welcome the 2010-2011 school year! I really hope this blog can be a useful tool for all of us! I will try to communicate as often as possible to let you know what is going on the the classroom. If you would like to respond on the blog, you will need to create a gmail address. This is free and very simple to do. Otherwise, you may always contact me at kroeningj@davenportschools.org or 386-5500 ext. 230. Later on in the term, I will have the students create their own blog which will require them to create a gmail address.

Today the syllabus should be coming home. This contains very important information. Please read it carefully and return the acknowledgement sheet. Students were also issued The Literature of Language text book. They will be responsible for this book until the end of the term.

I am looking forward to a great year!