Poetry OUT LOUD!

Winter Break is over and it is time to prepare for finals. For the last few weeks of school, we will be studying poetry. The final exam will be a test on poetry terms, but it will also include something else - a poetry reading BY YOU!

Each student will choose a poem from the Poetry Out Loud website to memorize and perform for the class. You can see the list of poems here:

POETRY OUT LOUD

There are MANY poems to choose from - some of them have only 25 lines of fewer. Look around and read some poems until you find one you like - or you can hit the "random poem" link and see what you get.

While we do not have any homework over the break, you can still take this time to choose and practice your poem.

Enjoy your break!

Found Poems

The week before Winter Break we spent one class period making Found Poem posters to hang on the wall. The classroom looks very colorful!

Below are a few selected poems "written" by students in our class. Enjoy!

        "Someone Was Watching"

        They ran past their food.

        "If this is some kind of joke - "

        The room blurred and faded out.

        Piggy banks were opened.

        Maybe you think I was supposed to read your mind.

                                        - Kevin. W (per. 2)

     
        "The Moon's Full Silver"

        Outside, the rain dripped

        Shizuko wondered.

        In fact, the truth surpasses imagination

        but the sense of evil lingered.

        You shall be the wolf.

                                        - Andrea Z. (per. 1)

     
        "Virtue, Knowledge, and Ignorance"

        I am the wing.

        The delicious cool saved us from the heat above

        black as Black Beard's beard.

        Very, very ugly.

        They are awful berries.

                                       - Raymond T. (per. 1)

     
        "By the Midnight"

        Three years ago on a spring evening

        Seething, but not wanting to make a scene

        I put the sunglasses on.

        The window itself was different.

        Of all the bouncing balls, the football is the most predictable.

                                      - Patrick L. (per. 3)

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.

November, December, and January Class Calendars

Here are the November, December, and January pdf versions of our class calendars. I will copy and pass them out each month, but you can also download them here:

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012

Print each calendar and keep a copy in your binder. Use it to add and keep track of tests and other major assignment due dates, etc.

You can also see the AHS online calendar here:

AHS Calendar

Grammar: Phrases and Clauses

Get it? CLAUSES??

Phrases and clauses will show up for sure on the English Benchmark (December 15th). They can be kind of complicated.

If you would like to get a head start on this grammar point, try this website about clauses (there is even a power point and two practice quizzes):


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


And this one on phrases (there is a helpful practice quiz):


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


We will start studying this in class after Thanksgiving Break. Enjoy your Tofurky!

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!