Hunger Games Trilogy news

For those of you who have burned through the first two books in the Hunger Games series, the third book Mockingjay is slated for release on August 24, 2010. The book can already be pre-ordered if you find the five month wait a bit too long. Here's the description from amazon.com


SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't finished the second book, Catching Fire, you may not want to read what follows...

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

Tuesday 3/23/10

IN CLASS:
Today all classes took the exam for the poetry unit. Any students who were absent will need to set up ta time to take the quiz before the end of the quarter. If they cannot take it before Thursday, they will need to stay after school on the Monday following spring break to take the exam.

ASSIGNMENT:
It would be wise for students to begin reviewing for the vocab exam on Thursday. We will have a review activity tomorrow in class. Students will get more out of the activity if they have already reviewed on their own.

Monday 3/22/10

IN CLASS:
Today students took a practice test in preparation for tomorrow's poetry exam. Using Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," students answered questions closely resembling the ones on the test tomorrow. Additionally, students had the use of their notes, group members and teacher to help them along the way. Hopefully this helped to prepare them for tomorrow.

DOWNLOADS FROM TODAY:
Poetry Practice Test for Hours 2, 5, 6
Poetry Practice Test for Hours 7, 8

ASSIGNMENT:
Review notes and practice test for exam tomorrow

Friday 3/19/10

IN CLASS:
Today all students took the vocab quiz for lesson 12. Additionally, hours 2, 5, and 6 played a review game for vocab before the quiz. Hours 7 and 8 received a worksheet for homework giving them practice identifying foot and meter in lines of poetry. The worksheet is due on Monday.

Please encourage your student to spend some time this weekend reviewing the vocabulary words from this quarter. All classes will take a vocabulary exam over lessons 9-12 next Thursday.

DOWNLOADS FROM TODAY:
Vocabulary Review Sheet (Hours 2, 5, 6 only)
Foot & Meter Worksheet (Hours 7, 8 only)

ASSIGNMENT:
Hours 2, 5, 6

• Review vocabulary from 3rd quarter for exam on Thursday

Hours 7, 8:

• Foot and Meter Worksheet due Monday
• Review vocabulary from lessons 9-12 for exam on Thursday

Thursday 3/18/10

IN CLASS:
Today, again, classes all did slightly different versions of the same thing. Here's a summary of each hour.

• Hour 2: We started off with reading Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," and followed up with Lord Byron's story of breakup and broken hearts "When We Two Parted." Students looked at both the poetic elements in the text as well as the greater meaning presented through the poetry.

• Hour 5: We began by analyzing "Nothing Gold Can Stay." We found metaphor, personification, alliteration, and allusion within Robert Frost's short 8 lined poem. We then moved onto "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" by Emily Dickinson.

• Hour 6: We started off taking a clicker quiz (MCA style) over Shel Silverstein's poem "Forgotten Language." Then we slowing worked our way through Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death."

• Hours 7, 8: Today we tackled the somewhat tricky and baffling subject of foot and meter. Foot and meter is the way we name the specific type of rhythmic patterns used in poetry. Through an interactive activity of ta's and TUM's, we built, deciphered, and named the patterns in certain poems. The trick for students now is to be able to hear, label, and name the patterns on their own. They will get more practice with that over the weekend.

ASSIGNMENT:
vocab quiz 12 tomorrow

Wednesday 3/17/10

IN CLASS:
All classes ended in slightly different places today. Here's a rundown of what happened each hour.

• Hour 2: During Hour 2, we checked through the vocab assignment for week 12. Then we worked through a couple of poems using the CPS clicker system to answer questions about the poems in the style of the MCA. For the first poem, students worked with partners, and we talked through the correct answers as a class. For the second poem, students worked on their own.

• Hour 5: After checking the vocab for lesson 12, we finished up reading "The Cremation of Sam McGee." Then we worked through a couple of poems using the CPS clicker system to answer questions about the poems in the style of the MCA. For the first poem, students worked with partners, and we talked through the correct answers as a class. For the second poem, students worked on their own.

• Hour 6: After checking vocab, students read Robert Frost's classic poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Then we worked through a couple of poems using the CPS clicker system to answer questions about the poems in the style of the MCA. For the first poem, students worked with partners, and we talked through the correct answers as a class. Students will answer the questions for the second poem on their own tomorrow in class.

• Hours 7, 8: After checking vocab, students read "The Cremation of Sam McGee." We discussed the plot of the story and the characteristics of a Ballad shown through this poem. Then we moved onto Robert Frost's classic poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."We broke the poem down and analyzed it considering both the meaning of the poem and the poetic elements present used in the text.

ASSIGNMENT:
none

Tuesday 3/16/10

IN CLASS:
Today we worked on analogies (relationships between words). We worked through a lesson that included practice using the CPS clicker systems. Analogies are like word puzzles that the students solve. This is a higher order thinking skill because students have to think through a process in order to find the answer. These types of questions show up on standardized tests as well as tests like the ACT and SAT once they get to high school.

Some classes also read another poem together in class ("Nothing Gold Can Stay" in 2nd hour, and "The Cremation of Sam McGee" in house 5, 6).

ASSIGNMENT:
vocab lesson 12 is due tomorrow

Monday 3/15/10

IN CLASS:
Today we went over root words for this week. Because we missed a week of root words at the beginning of the quarter, we have some extras this week.

• unus=one (as in unity, uno, unicycle)
• duo=two (as in duet, double, dual)
• tres=three (as in triple, tricycle, triangle)
• quattuor=four (as in quarter, quart, cuatro, quartile)
• quinque=five (as in quintuplets, quintet)
• se or sex=six (as in sextet, seis, sextuplets)

Next we moved back into poetry and looked at two CONCRETE POEMS from the book Blue Lipstick by John Grandits. Concrete poems are those poems that actually (literally) come in the shape of what the poem is talking about. We read The Wall and Pocket Poem from the book. Today's assignment is to make your own version of The Wall poem.

DOWNLOADS FROM TODAY:
Wall poem assignment sheet

ASSIGNMENT:
Wall Poem due tomorrow

Thursday 3/11/10

IN CLASS:
Today I passed back graded work and gave lists of work to students who have things to complete during hammer day tomorrow. After that we added some new terms to our poetry terms list: imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion, and symbolism. We had some discussion about the terms and a bit of practice using them.

ASSIGNMENT:
none

Wednesday 3/10/10

IN CLASS:
Today we heard some student limericks. Then we continued to look at the way figurative language is used in poetry .We read "Harlem" by Langston Hughes, "Lost" by Carl Sandburg, and "The Wind" by James Stephens.

ASSIGNMENT:
none

Tuesday 3/9/10

IN CLASS:
Today I returned a lot of graded work. I also spoke with students about their missing work, so they should be aware of what they are missing and how they should go about completing it. We next did a short quiz using the clicker response systems over simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole. Then, because we were reading Theodore Roethke's poem "The Sloth," we first looked at a picture of a sloth. I was quite impressed by the students' general knowledge of sloths. I hope they know as much about poetry by the time we're done. Finally, we read the poem and looked for examples of figurative language.


*Notice the resemblance to the Ewok.
























The Sloth
by Theodore Roethke

In moving-slow he has no Peer.
You ask him something in his Ear,
He thinks about it for a Year;

And, then, before he says a Word
There, upside down (unlike a Bird),
He will assume that you have Heard--

A most Ex-as-per-at-ing Lug.
But should you call his manner Smug,
He'll sigh and give his Branch a Hug;

Then off again to Sleep he goes,
Still swaying gently by his Toes,
And you just know he knows he knows.

ASSIGNMENT:
Limerick due tomorrow

Monday 3/8/10

IN CLASS:
Today we finished the back side of the yellow Poetry Terms You Should Know sheet. The back looked at different types of figurative language. Understanding figurative language is key to understand poetry, so we will be concentrating on simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole and irony. Students also received their first poetry writing assignment. The task is to write an original limerick, following the standard limerick rules:

Limericks usually tell of a series of events or describe something in a humorous or exaggerated way. They tend to begin with the words "There once was a..."

A limerick has a special rhyme scheme: the 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines rhyme with each other, and the 3rd and 4th lines rhymes with each other. Rhyme Scheme = A, A, B, B, A

There is also a specific rhythm patters: the 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines have three accents, and the 3rd and 4th lines have two accents.

Example:
There was an old man from Peru
Who dreamt he was eating his shoe.
He awoke in the night
With, oh, what a fright
And found it was perfectly true.

DOWNLOADS FROM TODAY:
Limerick Assignment Sheet

ASSIGNMENT:
Limerick due Wednesday, March 10th

Friday 3/5/10

IN CLASS:
Today students took the vocab quiz for lesson 11. After that, students worked on worksheet where they had to see the difference between similes and metaphors as well as to explain the figurative meaning of the simile or metaphor.

DOWNLOADS FROM TODAY:
Simile & Metaphor Worksheet

ASSIGNMENT:
Simile & Metaphor worksheet due Monday

Thursday 3/4/10

IN CLASS:
Today was a late start day, so all classes were a bit shorter than usual. To make good use of our time, we spent a while reviewing how to mark the meter in a poem (for a refresher, see the video from yesterday's post). We practiced on several different poems that had different kinds of metric patterns, and then the students showed what they had learned on a short quiz.

ASSIGNMENT:
Vocab quiz 11 tomorrow (remember to review the root words for this week--listed below)

Wednesday 3/3/10

IN CLASS:
Today we worked on marking out the meter of a poem. We used the poem on the bottom of the page from yesterday's blog entry (you can download it on the entry below). I made a video of how to go about marking the meter in a poem. To see the video, click here. It will take you to a website called Screencast which should allow you to watch the video. If it works (or not), please let me know (keasling.anne@slpschools.org).

ROOT WORDS FOR THIS WEEK:

• DENS/DENTIS=teeth (as in dentist, dental, dentures)
• BRACCHIUM=arm (as in branch, bracelet, embrace)
• PES/PEDIS=foot (as in pedicure, pedal, pedestrian)
• CORPUS/CORPORIS=body (as in corpse, corporal, corporate)

ASSIGNMENT:
none for tomorrow, but we will be having a short quiz over line, stanza, rhyme scheme and rhythm tomorrow during class.

Tuesday 3/2/10

IN CLASS:
Today we finished up hearing from students who brought in poems to present. Those students who were not ready to present will need to complete the assignment on the upcoming Hammer Day on Friday, March 12.

Next, we began looking at some poetry terms Today was the day for students who often feel like they don't understand poetry. Today we talked about the structure of poems rather than the meaning of poems. We counted lines and stanzas, found words that rhyme, labeled rhyme scheme, and began looking at rhythm in poetry. Our work will, as always, continue tomorrow.

DOWNLOADS FROM TODAY:
Poetry Notes 3/2/10
Vocab Lesson 11 (hour 2, 5, 6, only)

ASSIGNMENT:
Vocab Lesson 11 due tomorrow

Monday 3/1/10

IN CLASS:
We began class today by taking a pre-quiz over some poetry terms. The grades have been entered in PowerSchool, but the scores will NOT count toward the quarter grade. Because this was a PRE-quiz, it covered material that has not yet been taught in class. The students will, however, be tested over the material again at the end of the unit. Those grades will count.

After the quiz, we heard some poems students found for the favorite poem project that was due today. Those grades are also in PowerSchool.

ASSIGNMENT:

• None for tomorrow
• Remember that vocab 11 is due on Wednesday