HOME READING:
This is a weekly activity. Students are assigned to read fifteen or more minutes each evening in preparation for quarterly book projects (please see below).
They then fill in a simple formulaic home reading sheet completely and obtain a parent signature to turn in. Students determine their grade by turning in the sheet on the following Monday for "4 points", Tuesday for "3 points"... The goal with this procedure is to give young people some autonomy in determining assessment in this area. Home reading sheets may not be turned in for credit after Friday or the last day of the school week (unless the student has been absent the entire week. Accommodations are made for those absent at the beginning of the week as well).
They then fill in a simple formulaic home reading sheet completely and obtain a parent signature to turn in. Students determine their grade by turning in the sheet on the following Monday for "4 points", Tuesday for "3 points"... The goal with this procedure is to give young people some autonomy in determining assessment in this area. Home reading sheets may not be turned in for credit after Friday or the last day of the school week (unless the student has been absent the entire week. Accommodations are made for those absent at the beginning of the week as well).
BOOK PROJECT
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BOOK PROJECT
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BOOK PROJECT
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BOOK PROJECT
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LANGUAGE ARTS
The goals of our language arts core class include building reading, writing, and speaking skills. Students study a variety of literary genres, writing modes, and engage in both informative and persuasive speeches and quarterly debates. Language arts coursework and our novels' central themes and/or settings are intentionally aligned with our work in history to provide integrated units of study.
QUARTER-I [8/30-11/02]
With our first unit, "Unsolved Mysteries," students examine mystery and science fiction genres. The contents herein will enable them to better differentiate fact from fiction, make inferences, evaluate data, and draw realistic conclusions through evaluating the classic work of Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, W.W. Jacobs, Frank R. Stockton, and southern tales collected by Patricia McKissack in The Dark Thirty.
QUARTER-II [11/06-01/26]
Our second quarter unit of study begins with our class novel, Crispin, the Cross of Lead, by Avi.completing work from the previous unit. We continue our quarter with a unit on "Poetry." Students critique both classic and contemporary works as well as mimick style and tone. They engage in writing formulaic poetry, traditional forms (some that incorporate iambic pentameter [we save the more difficult meter for highschool :-) ]), free verse, and finally participate in the more modern art form of slam poetry.
QUARTER-III [01/30-04/12]
The third quarter unit of study centers around various African short stories and Suzanne Fisher Staples' novel, Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind. Students evaluate this piece of (fairly recent) historical fiction and its multiple concepts presented (tradition vs. modernization, gender roles, use of natural resources, religion...) in the story using varied cultural lenses. They're introduced to a variety of literary devices present and apply their benefit to story development.
QUARTER-IV [04/16-06/08]
Our fourth quarter unit of study includes reading abridged Shakespeare. Plays include 'Romeo & Juliet,' 'Othello,' 'MacBeth,' 'Hamlet,' 'The Tempest' and more.
QUARTER-I [8/30-11/02]
With our first unit, "Unsolved Mysteries," students examine mystery and science fiction genres. The contents herein will enable them to better differentiate fact from fiction, make inferences, evaluate data, and draw realistic conclusions through evaluating the classic work of Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, W.W. Jacobs, Frank R. Stockton, and southern tales collected by Patricia McKissack in The Dark Thirty.
QUARTER-II [11/06-01/26]
Our second quarter unit of study begins with our class novel, Crispin, the Cross of Lead, by Avi.completing work from the previous unit. We continue our quarter with a unit on "Poetry." Students critique both classic and contemporary works as well as mimick style and tone. They engage in writing formulaic poetry, traditional forms (some that incorporate iambic pentameter [we save the more difficult meter for highschool :-) ]), free verse, and finally participate in the more modern art form of slam poetry.
QUARTER-III [01/30-04/12]
The third quarter unit of study centers around various African short stories and Suzanne Fisher Staples' novel, Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind. Students evaluate this piece of (fairly recent) historical fiction and its multiple concepts presented (tradition vs. modernization, gender roles, use of natural resources, religion...) in the story using varied cultural lenses. They're introduced to a variety of literary devices present and apply their benefit to story development.
QUARTER-IV [04/16-06/08]
Our fourth quarter unit of study includes reading abridged Shakespeare. Plays include 'Romeo & Juliet,' 'Othello,' 'MacBeth,' 'Hamlet,' 'The Tempest' and more.
