Tuesday, January 8 ~ Welcome Back!

EQ: Why is free writing a much needed break from our past?

WARM UP:

Grammar - Word Choice - Click on the link below:
there, their, they're

TODAY:

J1 - Free Write - Choose one of the following 3 prompts:

           Prompt 1: Pick one from each list to make a creature and animal combination. Now write a short

            short story or scene in which this creature appears.        

List 1                                                           List 2

Vampire                                                       porcupine

Ninja                                                           armadillo

Zombie                                                        pig

Pirate                                                           goat

Mummy                                                      lobster

Clown                                                         possum

Banshee                                                      shark

Wraith                                                         moray eel

Prompt 2: What does your name mean? Free write about names: names you like, names you don’t, how a name can affect a person’s life, how you feel about your own name, why your parents chose your name, etc.

Prompt 3: What animal lives beneath your human skin?  A mouse? A cougar? Or what? Explain with writing.

FYI: You might be asked to share your writing.

HOMEWORK: NO

Week of December 10 ~ The week might be dead, but we're not!

EQ: What's on the final?

FYI: Short story due tomorrow, December 11.

STUDY GUIDE FOR SEMESTER 1 FINAL

THE BREAKDOWN

• 30 pts. - Word Parts
• 20 pts. - Grammar
• 10 pts. - SAT Vocab 
• 10 pts. - Short Story
• 30 pts. - Essay

The final is worth 20% of your semester grade.

THE SPECIFICS

• Word Parts - You should have been recording your word parts all semester. If not, I suggest you scroll through the blog and either make note cards, a Quizlet or some other kind of doc to ensure ease of study and review. This will be matching.

•  Grammar - We covered 4 areas of grammar. This will be multiple choice. I suggest you use the following practice links, or  visit IXL and look for the 4 areas and practice.

1.  Fragments
2. Comma Splices
3. Pronoun Agreement 
4. Apostrophes 

• SAT Vocab - The following vocab is from our short story unit. This will be matching. Also, be able to incorporate at least two of them into your essay. So, not only is knowing the meaning important, but how to use them properly is as equally important.

1. profuse - plentiful (adj)
2. sagacious - wise (adj)
3. contagion - a disease that spreads (n)
4. emanating - coming forth (v)
5. sedate - calm; quiet (adj)
6. phantasm - a figment of the imagination; an illusion (n)
7. cessation - ceasing or stopping (v)
8. lamented - said with regret or sorrow (v)
9. listlessly - without energy or interest (adj)
10. discordant - clashing; not in harmony (adj)

• Short Story - Know the plots, characters and authors of each one of the 5 short stories we read in class.  I have listed the links for each story just in case your head was not in the game when we read them. This will be multiple choice.

Two Kinds
The Masque of the Red Death
Lamb to the Slaughter
By the Waters of Babylon 
There Will Come Soft Rains

• Essay - You do not want to miss Block Day this week. We will read the short story and talk about writing your analysis essay for the final. I will provide the rubric on Block as well.

WHEN IS OUR FINAL? ENGLISH 2 FINAL IS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18
WHAT TIME? 8:10
WHERE? HS GYM
PROCTOR? 5TH & 7TH - WITMER
                     6TH - COACH HUEV
WHAT DO YOU NEED THE MORNING OF THE FINAL? PEN (optional) AND A NO. 2  PENCIL (not optional)

Block Day, December 6 ~ Is next week really dead?

EQ: Will you finish strong?

WORD PARTS:

Prefix

• utilis - useful

• vide, visibil, vis - see

Root

• dox - opinion, praise

• dura - lasting

GRAMMAR:

Apostrophe Practice 


 TODAY:

• Please take this Student Survey
• Finish reading Bradbury's short story   
• Work on J25. It's due Monday. Refer to Wednesday's blog.
• Check J24 
• Short story due Tuesday. Late stories will NOT be accepted! So don't give me any story about your late story. I don't want to hear it!

Wednesday, December 5 ~ Short Story #5

EQ: Why is the setting so important when reading/writing a short story?


GRAMMAR

Apostrophe Practice

TODAY

Short Story #5

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

Journal 25
Part 1 - Who's the author?

Take some bullet point notes on Bradbury.
Bradbury Bio


Part 2 - As You Read

1. Create a chart on a piece of paper. The chart should include the following:
   • three columns
     1. Label column 1 Time of Day.
     2. Label column 2 What Seems Ordinary?
     3. Label column 3 What Seems Unusual?
2. As you read the story, find five examples where Bradbury explicitly gives the time.
3. Write the time in the left hand column.
4. Write what seems ordinary in the middle column. Use as many specific details as possible.
5. Write what seems unusual in the right column. Use as many specific details as possible.

Part 3 - Writing

Thesis: In “There Will Come Soft Rains”, Bradbury uses setting to establish the premise of the story.

• In a paragraph, analyze the setting by comparing what seems normal to what seems unusual.
• Be sure to use specific details from the story to support your opinions.

Part 4 - Did you know?

Bradbury's story is influenced by a poem written by Sara Teasdale.

The story takes its title from her poem. In Teasdale's poem "There Will Come Soft Rains", Teasdale envisions an idyllic post-apocalyptic world in which nature continues peacefully, beautifully, and indifferently after the extinction of humankind.

There Will Come Soft Rains

Sara Teasdale, 1884 - 1933

(War Time)

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, 
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone. 

Prompt (Two paragraphs - Intro. and one body)

Compare and contrast the authors’ themes in Sara Teasdale’s poem and Ray Bradbury’s short story "There Will Come Soft Rains". After comparing and contrasting explain why the author included the poem within his short story. Compose an argument and support your claims with valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence from the text, including direct quotes with page and line numbers. Use specific details from both works to support your answer.

Journal 25 is due Monday, December 10.

Tuesday, December 4 ~ Whatever happened to the good old apostrophe?

EQ: What is allusion?

WORD PARTS:

ROOTS

• acu - sharp

• ali, allo, alter - other

• am, amor - love, liking 

• anni, annu, enni - year

GRAMMAR

Apostrophe Practice

TODAY

Finish Journal 24 from By the River of Babylon (refer to yesterday's blog)
Journal 24 due tomorrow.