ELA 10: Nov. 30-Dec. 4

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had a great week at the Maguire house. Lots of family, food and fun times with the kiddos.

In ELA 10 this week, we are wrapping up our work with the literature circle books (hopefully your students finished these over the long weekend!).  Students will do a final reading constructed response and another discussion with their small groups about the book.  

While those discussions are going on, I’ll be reviewing the informational text reading skills we worked with prior to break in small groups with the students.  Students will review objective summarizing, citing with MLA, choosing and embedding quotes, finding biased language, and assessing the validity of an argument.  On Wednesday, students will take the final assessment of those skills by reading a new pair of articles and applying what they’ve learned to them.  I had hoped to do this assessment prior to break, but

On Thursday and Friday, we’ll turn our attention to preparing for our trip to the DIA.  We will begin examining how the context of a piece (written, visual, or spoken) impacts the author’s message. We will begin working on researching a writer’s or artist’s background and time period to better understand his or her purpose. All of this work is preparation for our next big writing assignment: a research based essay about a piece of art the students see at the DIA on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Three important notes for this week:

1. DIA permission slips and $2 are DUE on Friday.  Students who cannot attend for any reason need to see me ASAP as they will need to do some additional work to make up what they will miss on the field trip.  Students who cannot pay the $2 should see me as well, and we can find a way to cover the cost.
2. Students planning to retake the Unit 1 Reading Test need to come to Academic Advisory this week to read and annotate the story for the retake test. Students who do not come this week will not be able to take the retake test. 
   
3. We’re having a party soon!  Even in high school, we need to celebrate and have a little fun.  On the Wednesday prior to winter break, we will be celebrating our reading accomplishments this semester and setting some goals for the New Year by making some Reading Resolutions. If you’re willing to help out by sending in some snacks, please click here.  If you’re missing the days of elementary school parties and you’d like to help me out with some crafty decorations, please send me an email. I’d love some help making this reading celebration extra fun for the students!

Have a great week and enjoy the rest of this chilly Sunday. I’m off to Kensington for a hike with the cub scouts :)

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