Sunday, February 26, 2017

Adar! Fun and frivolity!

From Mr. Frank: Spirit Day – February 27
In honor of Rosh Hodesh Adar, we’ll dial up our Davis ruach for our third Spirit Day Monday. Students and Faculty are invited to wear Davis uniform bottoms or jeans and any Davis Academy spirit top.

I know you all want your essay grades. Please be as patient with me as I was with you. I want to make sure to give you feedback that will help you improve your skills. That will take a few days.

Remember: Tutorial for the Verb Unit on Monday and Tuesday during study hall. Recovery assessment Wednesday during study hall.

Enjoy reading this unit's novels. Standard annotation: questions, comments, predictions, and connections. You should be finished with your book by March 31.

This week:

Day 1: Avoiding fragments, run-ons, and comma splices.
Day 2 and Day 3: Descriptive writing - how to make your sentences more elaborate and specific.
Day 4: Our Native American ancestry and how it connects to our ancestry as Jews.

Homework this week: Continue with Membean and read your novel.

NOTE: Friday is a "B" schedule as we kick off Adar with all-school Kabbalat Shabbat.

FYI...the eagle chicks are about 2 weeks old. Here's a recent shot:

Thursday, February 23, 2017

ESSAY NOTICE FOR BLOCK 3

You have until the end of class tomorrow (Friday) to complete your essay.
You do NOT need to "TURN IT IN" on Google Classroom.
You DO need to PRINT your essay, including Works Cited, and any prewriting (outlines, bullet points, brainstorming).

I can help you with this in class tomorrow.
Thank you!

Monday, February 20, 2017

Organizing among chaos

For those who were concerned, I rescued the plant from the classroom Friday afternoon. It was getting blasted with the monster blow dryers. I am extending the essay due date one additional day to give us time in class on the introduction and conclusion. The essay will be due, FIRMLY, on Thursday by the end of the school day. You will have our regular Day 2 and Day 3 to work on the essay in class. On Friday will be a Membean Test, then I will hand back the Peak Test and Verb Unit Test, assuming all students who missed either one have taken them.

I will hopefully distribute the next novel sometime this week. You will choose a science-fiction or fantasy novel from the ones I will have available to you. I can't distribute these until the elevator has been repaired, so the date is currently unknown.

Remember that we now meet in the Mac Lab for class. Bring your computer, if you wish. We will have the classroom computers available.


NOTE: Unable to document original artist. https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/articles/migrated-images-in-body/extra_essay_cartoon1.jpg

Sunday, February 12, 2017

A.L.M.O.S.T...T.H.E.R.E...

This week we will complete the Verb Unit as well as the first draft of the essay. No journal entry again; focus on the essay. Continue with Membean - test next week. Return Peak. The Peak Test will not be returned until all students have taken it.

Day 1: Review for the verb unit test. HA!HA! Just kidding!! Enjoy your day off. I am! If you are hanging out with "nothing to do," PLEASE spend some time on your essay. I have left comments on all essay drafts. Additionally, you can review for the verb test by using these activities:
Jeopardy Game (it has some banned words - I didn't create it)
Irregular verb wheel
Subject Complements/Objects Game

TUESDAY: Please continue working on your essay. Here is a link to the information I had planned to share on the introductory and concluding paragraphs. INTRO/CONCL

WEDNESDAY: "A" Schedule - Verb Unit Review
THURSDAY: "A" Schedule - Verb Unit Test

No class on Friday or next Monday. We will all enjoy the long weekend coming up!

Pushing everything back two days means the essay will be due 2/22 and the Membean Test will be on 2/24.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

BRING PEAK TO SCHOOL THIS WEEK!

While I don't yet know the outcome of Superbowl 51 (LI in Roman numerals), it is my hope that the Falcons pull out the win! Whether or not they succeed, we will have school, and that means wrapping up our Peak novel study. BRING the book TO SCHOOL this week.

Day 1: You will prepare for the short answer test on Day 3. BRING THE BOOK with you to check annotations.

Day 2: I will explain the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism. I will also provide more resources for the writing portion of your notebook - transition words and phrases, using third person point of view.

Day 3: Test over literary elements in Peak, focusing on conflict and plot structure.

Day 4: Work on the essay. I will explain the difference between parenthetical citations and a "works cited" page.

Your first draft (whatever you have completed to this point) is due Friday afternoon. TURN IT IN on Google Classroom. I will review and return it to you to continue working on next week.

HOMEWORK: Make sure you have noted conflict in the novel.
Continue to use Membean to grow your vocabulary.
There is no journal entry this week. Work on your essay instead.
Review the information you learned in the verbs unit. Try the irregular verbs wheel.
Link to irregular verbs wheel: CLICK HERE