Happy Monday, Jags!
We’re starting a new vocabulary unit this week! Yay! You’ll need to create two foldables this week: Unit 3 Root Word Foldable and Vocabulary 3.1 Foldable. Each foldable is worth 20 points total, so make sure you do them both!
Also, many of you didn’t bother to memorize the definitions to the root words in the last unit, which brought your quiz grades down considerably. Make sure you memorize those root words! They hold the key to the Continue reading
Howdy, Jags!
Here’s your video for vocabulary 2.4. As always, make sure you finish your foldable before taking the quiz on Friday. Also, don’t forget to write the definitions to the new roots, prefixes, and suffixes above the foldable to Continue reading
Welcome back to Quills and Thrills: Creative Writing for the Google Generation! If you were here last week, I hope you got your Ten Commandments of Digital Citizenship pledge and permission form signed by your parents because this week’s prompt is all about building your online presence!
If you are new to Quills and Thrills this week, welcome! You can check out last week’s prompt here, or just jump right into this week’s. Before you start building your online presence, however, you need to review the Ten Commandments of Digital Citizenship pledge and permission form with your parents and turn it in as soon as possible.
Dont have your Ten Commandments of Digital Citizenship permission form signed yet? No worries, you can still create the tools needed to build your online presence and set them aside until you get that permission form signed.
Prime your mind for creative thinking every week with the Figurative Language Throw Down Challenge! Check out the rules for the weekly challenge before playing.
Submit your weekly entry to Twitter using #QuillsandThrillsFLTD!
A small percentage of writing happens with a pen in your hand or a keyboard under your fingers. In fact, the bulk of writing happens through new experiences both profound and mundane. After all, how can you write about exciting new adventures without having a few adventures yourself? Continue reading
Happy Fridayish Tuesday, Jags!
As we dive into the last six weeks of the semester, I want to get some feedback from you regarding the vocabulary videos. I’ve noticed your quiz grades have dropped significantly the past few weeks, which makes me wonder if the vocabulary videos are working for you.
Please answer the question below before 2:30 today so I can use your feedback to make the Vocabulary 2.4 video this evening.
Enjoy your day off tomorrow! I’ll send out a remind message when All Things Vocabulary 2.4 has been posted.
Ms. Hayes
Want to know more? Read all about it at What is Quills and Thrills?
Ready to start the first writing prompt? Check it out at Quills and Thrills: Writing Prompt Week One!
Download a printable version of the Ten Commandments of Digital Citizenship Pledge and Permission Form today!
Hey Jags,
You’ll need your Hero’s Journey Planning Guide and your rough drafts for your Children’s Book Project today. By this point, you should have finished your rough draft and now you should be ready to double check your work to see what you have or haven’t learned. Remember, one of your objectives for the project is to apply the Hero’s Journey Archetype to your own writing by writing and illustrating a modern hero’s journey narrative. Well, today you’re going to annotate your rough draft to prove that you’ve met that learning objective. Simply follow the steps below to prove that you’ve learned what you were supposed to learn:
If you finish before the end of the period, please write the About the Author section and the Synopsis of the Plot for the back cover of your book.
Have a wonderful weekend! I’ll see you on Monday.
Ms. Hayes
Hey guys,
You’re taking Cornell notes on theme today by watching the awesome-sauce video below. Then, you’re applying what you’ve learned to the rough draft of your children’s book project. Before watching the video, please set up a blank sheet of paper Cornell Notes style and copy the essential question into the essential question section of your notes.
Essential Question: How can I intentionally write a story with a strong theme?
Remember to pause and rewind the video as necessary while you take notes! Happy learning! 🙂
Once you’ve finished watching the video, chunk your notes (hint: you should have seven chunks if you took good notes!) and write a possible test question for each chunk in the question section of your notes. Finally, summarize your learning by answering the essential question in the summary section of your notes.
Once you completely finish your notes, please work on your rough draft for your children’s story. Remember, you’ll have to write a letter to the reader explaining the theme of your story. Please reread what you’ve already written for your story. Based on what you’ve written so far, will you be able to clearly articulate the theme of your story with textual evidence (i.e. quotes) to support the theme? How will you revise your rough draft to have a strong theme? If you’re having trouble answering this question, revisit the strategies you can use to discover theme in literature, then use those same strategies to develop your own theme!
You need to copy the definitions to the words below from the Literary Terms Glossary section of your textbook (page R15) into the English Class Glossary (page 137) section of your interactive notebook today.
| 1) Suspense | 6) Foreshadowing | 11) Symbolism |
| 2) Allusion | 7) Metaphor | 12) Irony |
| 3) Hyperbole | 8) Simile | 13) Alliteration |
| 4) Repetition | 9) Refrain (not in lit book, see below) | 14) Onomatopoeia |
| 5) Personification | 10) Rhyme | 15) Imagery |
Refrain – a phrase of verse recurring at intervals in a song, poem, or narrative, especially at the end of each stanza or paragraph; chorus
When you finish, please work on the rough draft of your Hero’s Journey Children’s Book for the rest of the period.
Hey, Jags!
Check out your vocabulary 2.3 video below. As always, be sure to make your foldable and add the new roots, prefixes, and suffixes to the appropriate section of your notebook to earn the full twenty points for the foldable. Also, make sure you study your foldable to prepare for the vocabulary quiz. You guys didn’t do as well on your vocabulary 2.2 quiz, and I suspect that is because many of you made your foldable during the break and then didn’t look at it again before your quiz. It isn’t enough to make the foldable, you also need to study the foldable by quizzing yourself or having a friend or family member quiz you on both the vocabulary words AND the unit two root words.
If you forgot how to make the foldable or if you aren’t sure where to write the other roots, prefixes, and suffixes, check out the video explaining how to make the vocabulary foldables below.
Study study study, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Good morning, Jags!
I’m sorry I was unable to make it to school today. My cold is quite persistent, and I don’t want to infect any of you with my nasty cold cooties. Also, since I am not well enough to make a worthy vocabulary video, your vocabulary quiz has been postponed until next Friday. I’m terribly sorry to disappoint you.
Periods 1, 3, 4, and 5, your priority today is to complete Mr. Rasberry’s bell ringer and exit ticket and to read “Penelope” and “The Challenge.”
Periods 2 and 6, next Monday and Tuesday we’ll have a Socratic seminar in class. For those of you who don’t know what a Socratic seminar is, it is basically a discussion led by the students with the teacher acting solely as a facilitator. In order to prepare for the seminar, you will need to think deeply about how you will answer your assigned questions. You may also decide to bring your own questions about the text to the seminar.
Due to the lengthy process of Socratic seminar, we must split the class into two groups: an A group and a B group. To know which group you belong to, simply consider your assigned class number. This is the same number that determines which book you use and which iPad or computer you use:
You have the class period today to answer your assigned questions and to come up with any others you may wish to ask during the seminar.
I’ll (hopefully) see you tomorrow!
Ms. Hayes
Ms. Hayes' English Class 