Lit. Circles Day

Essential Question: What does it mean to be American?

Goal: To practice the Literary Luminary role.

Agenda:
1. Read Silently
2. i-Time Activity
3. Lit. Circles

Stargirl: We will read chapters 11-12 in Stargirl. Then we will all practice the Literary Luminary role.

Vocabulary will be changing this week. We will try using Vocabulary.com to learn vocabulary.

Reading Diagnostic Day 2

Today we will be finishing the reading diagnostic. When you are finished you will do the following activities IN ORDER:

• Finish any missing assignments
• Vocabulary from last week (1-12)
• Add to your Literature Circle assignment
• Watch one of the videos below if you are done with the above activities
• Penn and Teller Fool Us
• Anything from this website

Reading Diagnostic

Today we will be taking a break from our usual schedule and taking a reading assessment. 

The i-Ready assessment lets you and I know how well you read. This data will help me recommend books to you and give the support you need in reading.

Lit Circles Day 3: Connector

Essential Question: What does it mean to be American?

Goal: To understand the role of the connector

Agenda:
1. Read - I would recommend using Google Play books to read your book instead of Readium. The link is on the right side of the blog.
2. Read chapters 8-10 of Stargirl

Today we will read the next few chapters of Stargirl and practice the Connector role. The job of the connector is to relate the book to current events. I would suggest using Newsela, other classes, or your own life as a source of connections.

Homework:
1. Finish the first twelve items on you vocabulary chart

Lit Circles Day 2: Discussion Director

Essential Question: What does it mean to be American?

Goal: To practice the discussion director role

Agenda:
1. Read silently and fill out reading progress form
2. Literature Circles

Today we will read the next few chapters of Stargirl and practice the Discussion Director role.

Homework:
1. First twelve words on your vocabulary chart are due tomorrow.

Starting Lit Circles

Essential Question: What does it mean to be American?

Goal: Begin reading Stargirl and practice the first role.

Agenda:
1. Reading
2. Read Stargirl

Today we will read at least chapter 1 of Stargirl and practice the first role for Lit. Circles.

We will also choose our discussion groups. We are trying for groups of six.


When you are finished with everything:
1. Work on vocabulary chart
2. Read silently

Learning About Literature Circles

Essential Question: What does it mean to be American?

Goal: Understand how literature circles work

Agenda:
1. Read
2. Read about literature circles

First, we will add to our English Journal (in Google Docs)

Make a top ten list of what means to be an American.

We will read about  literature circles and come to a common understanding of what they are. You will also pick your groups today and try to decide on a novel to read.

Literature Circles TEXT VIDEO

Novel choices:

1. Joy Luck Club

2. Stargirl

3. My Antonia

When you are finished with everything:
1. The first twelve words on your vocabulary chart are due on Friday.
2. Read silently
3. Check your grades and make sure you turn in missing assignments

The Immigrant Contribution

Essential Question: What is the meaning of Freedom?

Goal: To understand JFK's defense of the role of immigrants in American history.

Agenda:
1. Read: You should be finishing your first book this week
2. Read and annotate immigrant contribution

First, read of the Immigrant Contribution AUDIO. Notice how JFK defines and describe immigrants. Annotate his main ideas about immigrants.

Formative to check for understanding

Next, you will explain the annotations you made in the text. We will also practice close reading together.

Purpose and Persuasion on page 31

Research to Clarify and Explore

Summary of The Immigrant Contribution

When you are finished with everything:
1. Work on your vocabulary chart I will grade the first 12 words this week
2. Study your vocabulary words
3. Take extra time to read

Newsela and Close Reading Skills

Goal: To practice your close reading skills independently.

Agenda:

1. Silent Reading
2. Newsela

Here are the steps for today's Newsela:
1. Go to Clever
2. Login with Google
3. Choose Newsela from the menu
4. Under Your Assignments you will see the 3 articles you need to read.

ALL THREE ARTICLES ARE DUE BY THE END OF THE PERIOD.

In order to receive full credit you MUST:
1. Annotate each article
2. Answer 3 of the 4 questions correctly
3. Complete the writing assignment. Make sure you write a paragraph and not just a few sentences.

When you are finished:
1. Work on your vocabulary assignment
2. Read Silently

Practice Close Reading Skills

Goal: Practice our close reading skills

Agenda:
1. Read
2. A Quilt of a Country

First, we review the most difficult parts of the text. Then, we will answer the close read questions for A Quilt of a Country.

Then we will create a word network for Identity.
Finally, we will summarize A Quilt of a Country to solidify our understanding of the article.

Research to Clarify: Choose one idea, person, or event that you are unfamiliar with.

Top ten list for English Journal

English9 Journal #2: Summary and Top 10 List

Vocabulary and Quizlet Live

Goal: Learn our vocabulary procedure

Agenda:
1. Read
2. Learn how to complete the vocabulary chart
3. Play Quizlet Live!
4. NoRedInk Pretest 

Our vocabulary charts are on Google Classroom. I will walk you through the instructions today.

Today we will play our first Quizlet Live! game. I will also help you signup for my class on Quizlet.

Finally, we will complete a pretest on NoRedInk to take a pretest for the grammar skills

Reading our first whole class text

Essential Question: What does it mean to be "American"?

Goal: To understand that a country made up of different cultures can be complicated

Agenda:
1. Read silently
2. Introduce Whole Class strategies
3. Read our first nonfiction text


First read of A Quilt of a Country You can access the audio HERE

Today we will sign up for GoFormative. It is a tool we will use to check for your understanding.

Steps to Sign-up for Formative:

1. Click on http://goformative.com
2. Click on "I Am A New Student"
3. Google Sign Up
4. Click on Join a Class or Assignment
5. I will give you the code in class.

Click HERE to access the questions for A Quilt of a Country.

I will also introduce how we will complete our vocabulary assignments. Go to Google Classroom for the instructions.

Research to Clarify
Research to Explore

Introducing our first unit

Essential Question: What does it mean to be "American"?

Goal: Introduce first unit AMERICAN VOICES

Agenda:

Read
Introduce our first unit
Write a summary

After reading today, we will fill out our first reading progress form: https://goo.gl/forms/5sIIfTtyiBwesIEo2

Pearson Realize

Watch "Define American" video
Unit Goals form: https://goo.gl/forms/8vLZkRWRUtGBKo653
Read Music for My Mother; Listen to audio if needed.
Word Network for Identity
Summary of Music for My Mother

To create this summary, we will make a new document called "English Journal." Here are the steps:

• Open Google Drive
• Click on NEW and choose GOOGLE DOCS
• The title of the document should be LASTNAME FIRSTNAME English Journal
• Your first entry should look like this:

In your summary, be sure to:

Write in the present tense
Include the title of the work
Be concise; A summary is shorter
No opinions

Another test of your Google skills

Goal: Learn New Things About Google Slides

Read:

1. By this time you should be at least on chapter two of your book.
2. At this point, you should be making a decision on whether to stick with this book or not.
3. If you are "breaking up" with your book, please see me if you need a book recommendation.

Google Slides Scavenger Hunt

Open Google Classroom and start the Google Slides assignment. This scavenger hunt is more difficult than the last one. You will definitely need to work together in order to finish it.

Publishing Six Word Memoirs:

• In Google Classroom there is an assignment entitled Six Word Memoir Slides
• There is a slide deck attached to that assignment with 42 slides. 
• Use the slide that matches the number I gave you in class. 
• Pick your favorite Six Word Memoir. Make sure it is personal, six words, and spelled correctly. Then add it to the slide. 
• You can add an image to the slide, but only from photosforclass.com and only on your slide. 
• Note: If you have not yet joined out Google Classroom the class code is posted in the back of the room.

If you finish early you have extra time to read today. Try to get through the first two chapters!

Reminder:

1. Fill out the Student Data Form
2. Fill out the Reading Survey
3. Finish and publish your Six Word Memoir ASAP

Textbook check out day aka bicep improvement day

Textbook check out day aka bicep improvement day.

GOAL: Textbook check out, reading, and six word memoirs.

READ: get out your book or borrow a new one. 

Textbook check out:

• We will all go to the library to check out our textbooks.
• Bring your ID and your schedule.

Back in the Classroom:

Six Word Memoir Project

• Watch the videos from the bottom of yesterday's blog to help you understand what a Six Word Memoir is.
• Open the assignment from Google Classroom entitled Six Word Memoir and complete the document.

If you finish early you have extra time to read today. Try to get through the first two chapters!

Reminder:

1. Fill out the Student Data Form
2. Fill out the Reading Survey

Day two, let's get going

First Step: Read!

If you brought a book today, make sure you take it out and beginning reading for ten minutes. If you do not have one, follow these steps:

1. Open this Google Drive folder.
2. View these Google Slides for book recommendations.


3. Right click on one of the files and choose download.
4. Install this app from the Chrome Web Store.
5. Open the app and choose the PLUS SIGN in the upper right corner.
6. Click on the book file you downloaded.
7. Start reading the book!

WATCH THIS VIDEO if you are having trouble.

Second Step:
Fill out the reading survey. This survey will help me know what kind of reader you are.

Third step:
Sign-up for our Google Classroom. I will give you the code in class.

How good are your Google Doc skills? Complete this assignment in Google Classroom to find out.

Once everyone has successfully achieved these goals, our first project of the year will be to write a Six Word Memoir. We will talk about this, but here are some helpful videos and websites to get you started in this process:

• Six Word Memoirs written by Teens
• Six tips for writing six word memoirs (video)
• Six Word Memoirs written by Teens (video)

Welcome to BHS and High School English

Hello and Welcome to Beaumont High School!

We're going to have a fantastic year of learning together, and that means we have a lot to do today. The first thing to know is that this blog will be where we start each day, and it will link you to everything else you will need for our class. We're very excited to get to know all of you, so let's get started!

Reminders for Wednesday (that's tomorrow):

• Review the syllabus.
• Fill out the student data form.
• Bring a book for reading in class.