A day students - no homework this weekend besides reading!  Oh, and study for the Unit 1 Post Test that we will take on Tuesday (figurative language and making inferences).

5B - Finish reading "Same Song" and "Without Commercials" and make an inference at the end of line 85.  Also, make inferences using the questions labeled with the "G" and "H," as well as #s 4, 5, and 6 on page 397.  We will take the Unit 1 Post Test on Wednesday.

6B - Complete your alliteration paragraph.  You need twenty words that have the same sound as your name (first, middle, or last) and then you need to compose a paragraph that mostly uses that same sound.  Try to make your paragraph make more sense.  We will take the Unit 1 Post Test on Wednesday.

7B - No homework besides reading.  We will have a lot of work to cover on Wednesday, so come to class prepared to buckle down and work!

1A and 2A Homework - Finish your alliteration "tongue twisters"/paragraphs for next class.
5B - Tomorrow, you should turn in your revised extended responses from "All Summer in a Day."  If you never turned one in, this also gave you an opportunity to make up that grade.  For Thursday, you will create an alliteration paragraph (you will receive instructions tomorrow).
6B - Hyperbole homework is due tomorrow.  In class, we will work on revising the extended responses from "All Summer in a Day."  We will talk about what a good extended response should look like and model ours after the example.  If you never turned in a response, you will have the opportunity to write one tomorrow.
7B - Last class, we worked in groups to analyze three poems in the exploratory journals.  You should have made it to the extended response on personification, as well, but I understand that some did not make it there.  We will work on those tomorrow, as well as on hyperbole.  You will most likely receive homework on hyperbole tomorrow, to be due Thursday.

Gradebook Change

While updating grades today, I realized that I needed to make a change to the gradebook.  I had decided to begin the year by making the gradebook weighted, so that assignments as a whole were worth more than tests, for example.  I was under the impression that individual assignments under each category would be weighted within the category, depending on the number of points given.  However, each assignment in a category is given the same weight, so that a 10 point assignment ends up being the same as a 50 point assignment.  I don't like that, so I'm going back to a points-based system.  Each assignment that has more points will be worth more in the gradebook.  As a whole, this should improve most grades at the moment.

Sorry for the confusion!

Please follow the homework for your class (some classes are at different points):

1A/2A/5B - You received a worksheet on personification last class.  There are two parts to the worksheet and it is due on Friday (for A day students) or next Monday (for B day students).

6B - Finish your reflections for "All Summer in a Day."  Don't forget that you need to answer everything the prompt asks (see the last post for the prompt) and give support!

7B - Finish filling in the similes and metaphors chart for "All Summer in a Day."  We found all of the similes and metaphors...you just need to finish explaining what they mean.  Also, you need to complete the reflection for "All Summer in a Day" (see the last post for the prompt).  This is an extended response, so you should fill up most of one page with your thoughts and support for  your thoughts.

**Don't forget that I do not accept late work.  Some of you have already discovered this firsthand and your grades will, unfortunately, suffer a bit because of it.  Please make sure you have everything ready to be turned in AND WITH YOU (not "at home") when I ask for it.  Stay organized by keeping a notebook.  I gave you instructions for organizing your notebook on Day 1!

Grades are now updated!  You will notice that I put in your Unit 1 Baseline grade, but I saved it as "uncalculated."  This means that it should show up when you look at your grades, but it is not factored into your grade.  The post test WILL be factored in.  I also added two points to anyone who turned in BOTH the essay and the book in a bag within the first two days of school.  You will see those two points added to the book in a bag grade (52/50 points).

Over the past two days, we have begun studying similes and metaphors by reading "All Summer in a Day," by Ray Bradbury.  We also began our exploratory journals with the poem, "How to Eat a Poem," by Eve Merriam.  A-day students received homework today, as follows.  B-day students will receive this homework tomorrow (A-day: due Monday, B-day: due Tuesday):

1.  Finish your extended response reflection for "All Summer in a Day."  The prompt is as follows...

What do you think Margot will do once the other children let her out of the closet?  How will she feel?  Be specific!  How would you feel if you had waited for something for so long – and you wanted it so much that your life nearly depends on it – only to have that thing taken away from you?

Your papers should NOT look like this:

Margot will be sad and mad.  I would be sad and mad because that would not be fun.

2.  Complete the Similes and Metaphors handout that you received in class.
3.  As always, add to your reading logs by reading every day.

Here is a copy of the reading log, via scribd.com:

Reading Log for Mrs. Fifield
http://www.scribd.com/doc/105141162