Thursday 9/30/10

IN CLASS:
Hours 2, 4, 8--Classes today finished up with "The Man to Send Rainclouds" and turned in the writing on situation and conflict from the story. Then we began reading "The Lady or the Tiger."

Hours 3, 5--Students finished reading "The Lady or the Tiger." Then they did some review of the Elements of Fiction. The writing assignment for the day was to answer the question posed in the last line of the story in the form of a paragraph.

ASSIGNMENT:

• Hours 2, 4, 8--none
• Hours 3, 5--Finish elements of fiction formative assessment and write paragraph answering the question at the end of the story.

*My apologies to students who may have stopped by my room to pick up a copy of the story after 6th hour. I was delayed in the lunch room and didn't make it back until the buses had left. You will have until Monday to turn in the assignment as needed.

Wednesday 9/29/10

IN CLASS:
Classes today started with root words:

• DORMIO=sleep (as in dormitory, dormant)
• HYPNOS=sleep (as in hypnotize, hypnology)
• ANNUS=year (annual, annuity, anniversary, centennial)

Next all classes finished up notes on the Elements of Fiction. Some classes needed to finish reading "The Man to Send Rainclouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko. Hours 3 and 5 began reading the next story, "The Lady or the Tiger."

ASSIGNMENT:
none

Tuesday 9/28/10

IN CLASS:
All hours today read the short story "The Man to Send Rainclouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko. Students worked on describing the situation of the story as well as identifying the conflict of the story. This work, along with the 3-2-1 notes from yesterday's reading, were turned in at the end of class. If students did not finish, it is homework.

ASSIGNMENT:
All hours--

• Finish reading "The Man to Send Rainclouds"
• Complete situation and conflict writing if not turned in already

3rd hour only--Complete the classwork above as well as the double bubble map comparing the rituals of Leon and the Priest.

Monday 9/27/10

IN CLASS
Hours, 2, 3, 4, 5--Today classes did some non-fiction reading preparing us for the fiction reading we'll do tomorrow. The topic for this cheery morning was death and the way different cultures deal with the ultimate unknown. Tomorrow's short story will look at the conflict that arises between two different cultures when trying to reconcile their opposite rituals for the dead.

Hour 8--Because 8th hour is behind in our note-taking, we took today to get caught up with notes.

ASSIGNMENT:
none

Friday 9/24/10

IN CLASS:
All classes took the vocabulary quiz for lesson 18 today. Also, there was time for silent sustained reading. Some classes got to watch a bit more of Alfred Hitchcock's version of "Lamb to the Slaughter." Per their request, I also showed the full film after school for those who were interested in staying.

• Click here to read Roald Dahl's short story "Lamb to the Slaughter"
• Click here to watch the full episode on You Tube

ASSIGNMENT:
none

Thursday 9/23/10

IN CLASS: Hours 2, 4, 8--Today we checked the vocabulary assignment for lesson 18 (though it was technically due yesterday). After that, students took a short answer quiz on "Lamb to the Slaughter." At the end of class, we watched the first few minutes of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode of the same title.

Hours 3, 5--Today students had the opportunity to share a few of the Point of View rewrites they did on "Lamb to the Slaughter." After that we played a short review game for the vocabulary lesson--they may still want to do some studying for tomorrow. Then we got started watching the Alfred Hitchcock Presents interpretation of Roald Dahl's short story.

Watch the Alfred Hitchcock Presents version of Lamb to the Slaughter

ASSIGNMENT: All Classes--

• Review for Vocab Quiz 18 tomorrow
• Bring Independent Reading Book to class tomorrow

Wednesday 9/22/10

IN CLASS:
Hours 2, 4, 8--These classes finished up the last of the reading assessments. They also turned in their vocab, but we didn't have time to check it. We'll do that at the beginning of class tomorrow. All students should have finished reading "Lamb to the Slaughter" by tomorrow's class.

Hours 3, 5--Today we checked vocab lesson 18. Then we took a spelling test recommended by the state to identify students who may be missing certain phonetic patterns. Students turned in their Point of View rewrites.

ASSIGNMENT:
Hours 2, 4, 8

• Finish reading "Lamb to the Slaughter" (due tomorrow)
• Vocab Quiz 18 on Friday
• Bring Independent Reading Book to class on Friday

Hours 3, 5

• Vocab Quiz 18 on Friday
• Bring Independent Reading Book on Friday