SAS/H English 7 (Period 1) Assignments

Please read Ch. 1-2 of Tom Sawyer and answer #1-6 in the Study Questions.

Your presentations must be done by Monday, February 1st.  Names will be drawn randomly to determine the order of presentations, but be ready by the 1st!

Oral presentations begin on February 1st, but your individual due date is (of course) determined by you presentation time slot.  Be ready a day before you're due to present so that if we have time left over, you can get extra credit for presenting a day early.

If you have not yet shown your parents the sheet about our presentation project, please do so and have them sign off.  (If they have an objection, please have them email me BEFORE TUESDAY.) By Tuesday, you should have done some preliminary research on your topic and be ready to do more in-depth research on the Computer Lab. 

Please finish your vocabulary questions by tomorrow, Wednesday. The quiz on these commonly confused words is on Friday!

 

Directions: Answer the following questions in complete sentences, and highlight or underline the vocabulary word in your answer.

 

1. How does the weather AFFECT your mood?

2. What EFFECT does a good night's sleep have?

3.  According to you, what is a GOOD dinner?

4. Do you think you eat WELL?  (i.e. nutritiously)

5.  What ADVICE would you give incoming 6th graders?

6. Have your parents ever ADVISED you to do something you did not want/like to do?

7. What s the FARTHEST away from California you have ever been?

8. What one subject or topic would you like to study FURTHER?

9. Write a sentence in which you use LIE correctly.

10. Write a sentence in which you use LAY correctly.

There will be a quiz on possessive apostrophes on Wednesday, December 2nd!  See how well you do on a practice quiz here:

 

 

Grade sheets were distributed to students today. They are due with a parent signature on Tuesday. Work from October and November can be made up for half credit. September assignments can no longer be made up.

The final draft of your narrative is due tomorrow! 

 

Basic requirements:  (Parents, these were explained at length in class -- this is only a short list to jog students' memories!)

Homophone Quiz on Friday, 11/13. 

Please bring the rough draft of your narrative to class on Thursday, 11/12.

 

Create an advertisement or illustration OR write a one-page essay about your favorite book. Your creation should name the title and author of your favorite book, and it should give us a sense of what's so awesome and amazing about your book. 

 

This is actually a school-wide contest in conjunction with Barnes & Noble, so all submissions will not only receive extra credit from me, but they will be entered into the "My Favorite Book" contest. Winners will be revealed and posted at Barnes & Noble in Calabasas on November 7th. There will be a winner from every class!

 

Come see if you won, and buy a book (or CD or DVD or even just a pastry from the cafe!) to help raise money for our English Department. We're trying to raise money to buy at least 1,000 new novels.  Just shop between November 7th and 15th, tell them it's for Hale -- no flyer needed -- and we get 20% of the profit from your purchase. How easy is that?!?!

 

P.S. Tell your friends and family! Post it on Facebook! People can go into any Barnes & Noble in the country between the 7th and 15th, and as long as they tell the cashier it's for Hale in Woodland Hills, CA, we will get a portion of the profits. 

Final drafts of your compositions are due Thursday, October 22nd. Please be sure to staple your rough draft to your final draft.

In class, we used color-coded editing to take a close look at our compositions. We underlined our assertions in green, our support (examples) in blue, and our commentary (explanation and analysis) in red. Please see yesterday's lesson for an explanation of how each paragraph should be organized.

 

In class, we reviewed the Venn diagram you should have completed on Friday, and I went over the componenets of a good analytical paragraph. (see below) The students began turning their diagrams into a 2-paragraph composition, and everyone should finish their rough drafts for homework.

 

For this writing assignment, we are focusing on paragraph structure. You will be graded on how closely you follow this structure, and how well you support your assertions with examples from the texts and your own commentary.

 

Your composition should have the following parts:

 

1. Thesis Statement: This sentence states what you are trying to prove in your composition. In this case, you should write a statement that summarizes one major similarity between the two stories you've chosen, and one major difference. Your thesis statement should name the two stories you will be discussing. Normally, a thesis statement is part of an Introduction, but for this composition, you need only write your thesis statement.

 

2.  Comparison:  Please explain ONE major similarity between the two stories.

 

3. Contrast:  Please explain ONE major difference between the two.

 

Follow the structure above for each of your two paragraphs.

 

When you are finished, you should have a thesis statement and two body paragraphs.

Please finish reading "Ribbons" (p. 466) and complete the theme chart. Do not forget to bring your textbook to class tomorrow and every day unless I specifically tell you not to! 

Please finish reading "Two Kinds"on page 16 of your textbook. Be prepared to identify the conflict, the cause(s) of the conflict, the resolution, and the theme tomorrow.

The Idiom Project was assigned on Friday, September 25th, and is due on Friday, October 9th. Do not leave it until the last minute!

Review "Seventh Grade" (p. 116) and write down 5 examples of figurative language. For each example, write down the sentence or phrase, the page number, and the type of figurative language (metaphor, simile, idiom, etc.) being used.

Finish the "Visual Summary" (aka plot summary chart) on "After Twenty Years." You should review the story in your textbook (p. 428) if you did not completely understand it, but I will go over the events of the story with you tomorrow if it really doesn't make sense.