Ms. Humphreys

December 21

I hope that you all have a safe and happy vacation!  See you in 20008!

December 19

We have finished reading The Outsiders and used a Venn diagram to begin a discussion of the rival characters and gangs. 

HW:  Be sure all of the questions in your reading notebook are carefully done.  If you did not bring your notebook home tonight, you still may bring it home tomorrow.  The notebook will be used in determining your final grade for this unit.

December 18

The students are finishing reading The Outsiders, and I believe everyone will be done with the novel tomorrow.  Some students in 4th period, (lunch class), are practicing more with subjects and predicates and will re-quiz on this tomorrow.   

HW: None, if you checked out a book, keep reading! 

December 17

Students are working on finishing The Outsiders this week. Students may check out a copy from the classroom to use at home.  Students should also review the subordinate conjunction song to help them memorize the subordinate conjunctions.

HW:  Review song, if you checked out a copy of the novel, keep reading.

December 13

The students worked hard today on finishing the outlines for the persuasive essay about their favorite vacation spot.  The essay will be written in class tomorrow, and I am looking forward to reading them.  We also discussed independent and dependent clauses and made the connection between dependent clauses and subordinate conjunctions.  Not much time for The Outsiders today,but we will have time tomorrow.

HW:  None.

December 12

We played BINGO as our warm-up activity today to practice sentence formulas and to recognize sentence fragments.  Students then used their research on their favorite vacation spot to outline the next persuasive essay assignment, which we will write in class on Friday.  We also began to learn about subordinate conjunctions by singing a song about them.  Just a minute or two for The Outsiders!

HW: Review notes on sentence formulas and sentence fragments.

December 11

We looked at some examples of persuasive essays today and also discussed the next topic, which will be a favorite vacation spot.  We also took notes and practiced with sentence fragments.

HW:  Bring in research for your persuasive essay.  The research should have evidence of why this spot would be so much fun to visit.  Think about the attractions you would like to see.

December 10

Today we discussed and took notes on simple sentence formulas. Students then applied the formulas to a variety of simple sentences. Students also read The Outsiders; as students finish the book, they are taking the AR test on the computer in the classroom.  Our goal is to finish reading by next week; students may check out a book overnight, or check one out over the break and take the AR test on January 8th.

HW:  Review notes on simple sentences.

December 7

Students wrote their persuasive essay about downloading today.  Those who were done were able to also do some reading in The Outsiders.  Most students also re-did the adjective and adverb phrase portion of their quizzes, I will return them on Monday,

HW:    None, have a great weekend.

December 5 and December 6

On Wed.,  we spent time discussing The Outsiders and putting a new set of questions in each student's reading folder.  Students are reading at his or her own pace; our goal is to have the book done by December 18th. 

We  spent the rest of the class period preparing to write our first practice persuasive essay.  Students had to write their positions on downloading music, their evidence, and the source of the evidence.  You may look at eh form by clicking here:  Download plan_sheet.doc  Some students realized they did not have enough evidence ( research) to support their positions, so they may complete research at home and bring it Friday.

After the quiz tomorrow, Thursday, students will be able to read  The Outsiders all day.

HW:  Wed. night--Study for the quiz on phrases. Thursday:--Bring research to class, if needed.