CAHSEE

The California High School Exit Exam will take place on March 13th and 14th. Tuesday is the English test and Wednesday is math. The tests mostly cover what you learned in 9th and 10th grade, so you know most of it already - that doesn't mean, however, that you can't study.

Here are two links to handy on-line CAHSEE study guides. Many teachers also have paper copies of these guides available if you ask.

English/Language Arts Study Guide

Math Study Guide

We will also be reviewing/preparing for the English test in class. Good luck!

Grammar

We're reviewing several grammar points this week to prepare for the Benchmark (which is on Thursday) and the CAHSEE (which is in March). Here is a good website to help you study (try taking the quizzes):

 

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

 

On Monday we covered the following points:

 

• Capitalization
• Parallel Structure
• Passive/Active Voice
• Possessives
• Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement and
• Punctuation (commas, colons, semicolons, ellipses, quotation marks, inside quotation marks, hypens, brackets, and parenthesis).

 

There is more to come tomorrow!

Commonly Confused Words

Have you ever been confused when you are writing and have to choose between words like "there, their and they're" or "affect and effect"? Well, you are not alone! These are among (not between) some of the most commonly confused words in English.

Commonly Confused Words (also sometimes called homonyms, commonly misused words, common mistakes, etc.) are often included on tests like the CAHSEE, the SAT, the CST, and the English Benchmark. Often, you just need to study and learn them to get them right.

One way to learn the rules when it comes to commonly confused words is to use tricks or mnemonic devices such as "The principal is your pal" to remember the difference between (not among) the words Principal and Principle.

Below you will find some links to websites that provide lists, tricks and tools, practice quizzes, etc. to help you learn proper usage. Good luck!

Here is a copy of the List of Commonly Confused Words we went over in class (of course, it doesn't cover ALL of them).

Here is a handy chart listing many of the words.

This list is pretty long.

This one focuses mostly on verbs and has examples with pictures!

This list of commonly confused words and phrases comes from the style guide at Sparknotes.

You can take a practice quiz here and here.

Coming Up: The CAHSEE (Practice) Essay! UPDATED

All 10th grade students at our school will be taking a CAHSEE practice essay in English class on THURSDAY, December 8th. (Originally it was scheduled for Tuesday, but it has been moved to Thursday).

We will be going over the CAHSEE essay in class this week.

In the meantime, here is a helpful study guide with information about the CAHSEE essay.

And here is some more information about how to write a business letter (our assignment).

Finally, here is a copy of the CAHSEE Essay Practice Sheet we filled out in class, if you need an extra.

More details to follow.

Welcome to Ms. Naylor's Class!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break and are ready to begin our last two units of the semester! Here is a brief summary of what's coming up:

• We will be learning about clauses and phrases to prepare for the English Benchmark on Thursday, December 15th.
• We will be reading the classic Greek Drama Antigone (see the picture, above).
• We will be working on literary terms, drama terms, and poetry terms.
• After winter break, we will study poetry.
• We will be preparing a poetry reading.

The first semester ends on January 27th - after that it will be time to prepare for the CAHSEE. Let's work together to have a great end of the first semester!