English Class Newsletter

Transcription

1 English Class Newsletter About a month ago, I attended conferences for my young children at their daycare. Although I have been conducting conferences as a teacher for 15 years, the experience was entirely different for me as a parent. During the conference for my oldest, who is now a kindergartener, I learned so much about what was going on in her classroom, as well as the sight words she should know by now. I had no idea there were weekly sight words! On top of that, my daughter did not know them all. At that moment, I realized how difficult it is to know everything that is going on in your child s life at school. It is even more difficult I am sure, when your child is in middle school and sees 7-10 teachers throughout the day. With that in mind, I decided to put together this newsletter, with the help of your children, to hopefully connect you with English class on Team Eagles. Hopefully you enjoy it! Happy reading! The titles of the units of study so far this year are below. Each page of the newsletter reflects information about that unit. Unit 1: Building Community Unit 2: Facing Challenges Unit 3: Poetry Unit 4: Stand Tall and The Adventures of Ulysses Unit 5: The 8 parts of Speech Unit 6: Edgar Allan Poe

2 Building Community Unit I The first unit of the school year was dedicated to building a classroom community. Students were engaged in activities that helped them get to know one another. These activities included the Action Name Game, writing letters of introduction, Me in a Bag presentations, and writing zines on How to Survive the First Days of Middle School! A sample zine is below. Many of the zines kids wrote this year were selected to be a part of Bucks County s traveling Art Mobile!

3 Facing Challenges Unit II In our English classes, the first unit we learned was themed Facing Challenges. In this unit we read a short story about Stacy Allison, who wanted to be the first woman to reach the peak of Everest. We also read All Summer in a Day, by Ray Bradbury. In this story, kids were going to school on Venus and facing the challenge of life with no sun! For one activity, we walked around the school with ipads to take pictures and demonstrate examples of one of the three points of view (the first person point of view( I, Me), the second point of view (You), and third point of view (He, She, They). We also took pictures of the types of literary conflict which are person vs person, person vs. self, person vs. supernatural, person vs. nature, and person vs. society. We continue to learn new things each day and every day is a new adventure in learning. Written by Kennedy Kuechler

4 Poetry Unit III One important unit students learned so far this year was the poetry unit. The unit began with students reading many different poems. Then there was a poetry recital where students had to memorize a poem and recite in front of the class. Overall the recital was a great experience. Next, students were taught two different types of poems. The first was the Ode. Ode poems are written as a tribute to a particular person or object. Then students learned about Narrative poems. Narrative poems are used to tell a story using first person. Poems like that do not need to follow a rhythm. The students also wrote both of the poems using different poetic devices and figurative language, such as personification, alliteration, simile, different rhythm patterns, or any other learned in class. Then at the end of the unit, after becoming decent poem writers, came the test. The test included multiple choice, short answers, identifying what was in a poem, and matching. Written by Madison Parillo Sample Ode written in class: The Land of Bears By: Madison Parrillo The rocks go SNAP, CRACKLE, and POP like rice krispies As we pull into the campground My mom shifts the gears to park We all jump out After driving forever CLICK The trunk opens up Our equipment jumps out The wood ignites Hot chocolate boils Ready to be drank We crank down the heat Pour it in our mugs And chug, chug, chug After so many hours We run out of power The wood burns out And that was just the beginning of wonderful camping trip We unfold our chairs Pull on our coats and roast marshmallows And begin laughing and singing The laughs are loud The singing is so off key But we don t care Out in the land of bears

5 Poetry Unit-Continued Narrative Poem written in class: Almost late By Jon Goodwin The hallways begin to empty People disappear into classrooms But not me My locker was jammed When I finally get my stuff, I realize the hallways are vacant Void of human life I begin my mad sprint Across the school Dreading the moment When the bell screams my name Finally I see the room I swing the door open Just as the bell rings Yes! I made it- Oh, wait Wrong classroom. Students read and analyzed the following poems in class this year: Dreams and Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes Flint by Christina Rosetti Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe Guest House by Rumi The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein Taste III Leopard by Diana Ackerman Identity by Julio Noboa Polanca Restless by Dorothy Bettencourt Elfstrom You Can't Write a Poem about McDonald's by Ronald Wallace The Little Stuff by John Bressler The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Various limericks by Edward Lear Hands by Daniel Beatty Knock Knock by Sarah Kay Equestrian Fiasco The Lie by Donald Graves Papa s Fishing Hole by Elisabeth D. Babin

6 The Adventures of Ulysses Unit IV (Honors English) One of my favorite topics we have done so far was when we read The Adventures of Ulysses. When we started this in November, I wasn t too interested because I knew a lot about Greek and Roman Myths. When we finished, I really liked it! First of all, we used Google Classroom. We got assigned a packet, and we had to fill it out. It had its ups and downs, but it worked out. Eventually. Each day, we had a question we had to answer. For example: If you could see your future, would you or would you not? Why? We would then discuss it, and we all had a different point of view. We also had to read (Duh. It s a book!) Mrs. Donmoyer let us read with a partner sometimes. Once we were about halfway through the book, we took an oral exam. An oral exam is where you are asked a question, and instead of writing the answer, you say it. I think it was practice for a job interview, but that s none of my business. At the end, we took a test. We had to write an essay saying one character trait that Ulysses had, and say why. Some people said Heroic, or Determined, but if you don t know the story, you wouldn t get it. So I hope you enjoy Daniel s really quick guide to THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES! So, after the Trojan War, Ulysses and his crew went home. On the way home, they meet Polyphemus, a cyclops. Ulysses outsmarts him, but then gets cursed by Polyphemus dad Poseidon, god of water and fish and stuff. So adventure! He gets to the island of Circe, where his crew gets turned into pigs. Ulysses stops her. Ulysses: 1 Curse: 0. He gets to this strait of water, where there is a giant squid that eats boats and this squid bird thing and each are on either sides of the water. He wins again. He meets Calypso, he almost died, 15 times. So he eventually makes it back to his home, and he gets to see his wife again. THE END. Daniel s book reviews- ***** A great book. I loved it! Written by, Daniel Shiloh (Who did you think?)

7 Stand Tall by Joan Bauer Academic English In November we read the book Stand Tall. This book is about the life struggle of a boy named Tree. You might think that Tree is an odd name for a person, but he got the name because he is very tall ( 6ft 4in). He later finds out that his parents are splitting up. In the end, he figures out how to deal with it. Later in the unit, we had an oral exam. Mrs. Donmoyer took us one by one and asked us three questions to test our understanding of the book. After that, we had a written test that was about thirty questions. We also wrote an essay. The unit took about three weeks. In my opinion, this book was a 4 out of 5 star book! Written by Cailey Hiscox

8 Parts of Speech Unit V In The Spotlight 2016 Grammar Gurus! These students earned this year s Grammar Guru awards for their exceptional achievements during the Parts of Speech unit! In December students learned the eight parts of speech. This was a very difficult unit that involved a lot of work! Students learned nouns, adjectives, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, verbs, adverbs, and prepositions.

9 The Eight Parts of Speech continued Now that all 8 parts of speech have been learned, students are able to identify the Parts of Speech in a sentence. Each poster below has all 8 parts of speech in it. Test your knowledge. What is the part of speech of the underlined word? 1. The boy ran toward the house. A. verb B. noun C. adjective D. pronoun 2. Love is something we celebrate on Valentine s Day. A. verb B. adverb C. preposition D. noun 3. Soon it is time to get ready for spring! A. verb B. adverb C. adjective E. conjunction 4. The furry rabbit was on the boat. A. preposition B. verb C. noun D. adverb Which is correct, I or me? 5. The teacher gave the gift to Bobby and ( I, me ). 6. Can Tori and ( I, me) go to the library after school? For answers see last page.

10 Edgar Allan Poe Unit VI Currently we are reading stories and poems written by famed author Edgar Allan Poe. These tales are cryptic, dark, and sometimes even horrifying! Students have studied the language used by Poe in his tales through vocabulary exercises, and students will further discuss Poe s brilliance and madness in essays. Grammar study continues in this unit, with particular attention being paid to the various sentence types. Students will also be reworking and identifying run-ons and fragments, as well as identifying subjects and predicates. Riley Schaffer had the opportunity to visit the famous Poe house in Baltimore! See below.

11 This newsletter is only able to highlight some of the great work completed by students so far this year in English class. There is much more in their writing folders and binders to share! Please look through the writing folders to see the great work. Also, please encourage your child to hang on to his or her Parts of Speech packet for eighth grade English. It will come in handy all year long! Parts of Speech answers: 1. B 2. D 3. B 4. A 5. me 6. I