A Marvelous Monday!

We started class off today by greeting Smith with our daily "Hello Smith" and then we went over our homework. (Posted at the end). Then Abby did her presentation on The Chicago Seven, Ned Kelly, and Marcus Yallow. We played Wheel of Fortune as part of her presentation and it was very educational and fun! Next we did our Fishbowl for Little Brother and the main topics of debate were what we thought were going to happen at the end of the book, who Marcus should and shouldn't trust, and also connections to 1984 and the real world. That took up all of the class period today so we did not have time to do grammar. Although we did right down the sentences which are:

• carla looked at herself in the mirror and recited the poem fire and ice
• we saw a mid summer nights dream at the buell theater after we saw it at ahs

Our homework is:

• Finish reading Little Brother
• Webspiration Account

Thats all for today! See you all on Wednesday after the late start because WE HAVE A SNOW DAY TOMORROW!!!

I'm on a Boat 1/31

 Today, on January 31, we started off by the usual "Hello Smith" then went into some hardcore grammar. Our sentence for the week is:

carla looked at        herself in        the   mirror         and         recited the    poem fire and me

  N     AV    PREP  PN     PREP ART   N     COO CONJ    AV    ART  N     (    APP    )

and the practice sentence is:

we saw  a midsummer nights dream at        the     buell theater after    we saw the    play at        ahs

PN AV (                    N                ) PREP  ART (      N       ) PREP PN AV ART N    PREP (N)

Our redone Ben Franklin quotes, last weeks diagramming test, our CSAP practice and last weeks grammar practice were all handed back today. 

Two groups presented shortly after that, still continuing from last Thursday about connections between Marcus, Ned Kelly and Chicago 7. Kelly's group with some battling to guess right words, and Caleb, on his own sharing his project.

Once that was finished, the class fishbowled on chapters 13-17 in Little Brother. This fishbowl was like analogy central, containing boats and scabs and great connections with these.

Friday January 28

Today is the last Friday of January!
We started off 5th period by saying our usual hellos and scurried to our seats. Then we completed our weekly grammar quiz. After our grammar quiz and sentence papers were turned in the remaining  'Comparison Project' groups set up to present. As a class we enjoyed a spider web of connections and some pink lemonade! When the presentations were completed Smith showed us the plan for the next month in her class. We will be started a Wiki-Paper in the next few weeks and we will have through about February 22 to complete it. Class, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE on this project, we are publishing it online, so it should be completed to show the amazing potential we all have. Then, the bell rang and we all ran to our final class of a crazy Friday, have a good weekend! Don't forget to do your homework....

HOMEWORK:
-Read through chapter 17 for Monday's Fishbowl.
-Create your Webspiration account at http://www.mywebspiration.com/
SUGGESTIONS:
-Finish the book Little Brother as the next few weeks in Smith's class will become increasingly busy.

Finally it's Friday!

At the beginning of class, Mrs. Smith talked about the upcoming weeks and the start of our Wiki essays. She showed us that throughout the next month, we will be working on researching and writing them both at home and in class. She hopes that the essays will be finished by the day we return from president's day weekend (feb. 22). She wanted to give us a head's up so we can begin to plan ahead.

Originally, we were going to fishbowl over chapters 13-17, but we all agreed that we needed more time to discuss the calendar, take our quizzes, and finish up presentations. The fishbowl is now scheduled for Monday.

Next, we completed our grammar quizzes using the purple packets.

We also continued the group presentations comparing Ned Kelly, the Chicago 7, and Marcus Yallow. All three groups all presented their connections using Prezi. Maria, Anna, and Janie kick off the day. Chad, Brendan, Chris, and Jared went second, and Steven, Luke, Dominic, and Aaron finished up. We still have a few more groups to present.

Mrs. Smith also recommends finishing Little Brother over the weekend and setting up a Webspiration account to kick off our projects. Click here: http://www.mywebspiration.com/user/register. She encourages us to play around with the website and create our own Webspiration about connections we see in 1984 and Little Brother. Specifically connections between the governments.


Homework: Read through chapter 19, create Webspiration account, experiment with the website, make connections between 1984 and LB

The Thursday Times

To start off, Mrs. Smith passed out a TIME article titled, "Books Gone Wild:The Digital Age Reshapes Literature." Please read this by tomorrow.  If you were absent, use this link to access the article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873122,00.html

Today in class, we reviewed grammar and and talked about diagraming the sentence. If you were absent, practice the following sentence to review for the quiz tomorrow: can you come over and watch the movie casablanca after school.

Then we transitioned into the comparison presentations between Ned Kelly, the Chicago 7, and Marcus Yallow from Little Brother. Clarrissa, Andrea, Maddie, Olivia, and Jenna gave a Prezi presentation and performed a country called,"Online" by Brad Paisley. Noah, Natalie, Savannah, and Grace presented a Political Revoulutionary Pyramid comparing the six food groups to comparisons between the three. Lastly, Rachel, Hannah, Mackenzie, and Maggie presented a techy video and a rap song! We will continue the presentations tomorrow.

Homework: CSAP packet due friday, read Little Brother through chapter 17 by friday, review for the grammar quiz on friday, and read the TIME article by friday.

LB 13-17 Period 5 Fishbowl

LB 13-17 Period 2 Fishbowl

Tasty Thursday!

Today in Smith's class was a singing-sugar rush!
The Ned Kelly/Marcus Yallow/Chicago Seven comparison projects were presented. The projects were very insightful and included; a delicious cake, a creative song, and some smart hula-hoops! Well done everyone who's presented today!

Homework:
-Read Little Brother through chapter 17
-Complete the CSAP packet given out on Tuesday
-Read the TIMES news article
-Prepare for grammar test tomorrow


Have a wonderful Thursday! One more day left!

-Anna White

Being a modern student

Today was a little different than a normal day in English Honors. We started like normal by taking out our agenda and writing down the homework. We got another CSAP packet that will be due Friday, and we need to read through chapter 17 in Little Brother by Friday. If you want to pace your self, get through chapter 15 by tomorrow. After we wrote down our homework Mr. Maas came in. Mr. Maas is the CIO of Littleton public schools. That means he is in charge of the computer. He sets up parent portal, our e-mail, and regulates all the filters. We learned how it is different being a student in the 21st century, and how we should use our electronics. there are notes below of the key points he talked about when he visited the class.

**Don't forget the presentations on Ned Kelly, The Chicago 7, and Marcus tomorrow!

Notes from today's visitor!

What is our responsibility as freshmen, teachers, and district members in the 21st century?
-    You have to have a lot of technical knowledge to be anonymous online
-    When Mr. Maas visited china, he got a text from the government welcoming him to the country.
-    Police can find people because of their cell phone; they can find the IP address in the computer and track people that way if illegal activity is connected to that address.
-    He always thinks about, would it be okay if this was published in the Denver post? Re-read and then if yes, send it , if no delete it
-    Our school E-mail belongs to the district, it is like a locker or being in a class room, all rules apply and the e-mails are monitored. The privacy is not assured, they can always look and the message sent, the staff needs to be professional like they would in class

-    The key question is no longer where did you find this information it is now how do you know you can trust it?
-    Mr. Maas always puts his full name because he is leaving a digital footprint.
-    Required by law to archive e-mails because they could be used in court.
-    Is there too much control from the admin?

-    Youtube- it is blocked but there are ways around it- facebook, myspace, are all blocked not even teachers can get in it but why block youtube?
o    Distraction in class, but it is also very helpful
o    Some things are bad on Google so why not filter some parts but not others of youtube?
o    They put a list of bad words and pages with those words are blocked but sometimes it is not actually a bad thing
o    Companies are also hired and to categorize online and put all websites into different spaces
o    Faculty super vision required….
o    There are laws that we have to have a filtering system to protect kids and filter online sites at school.
o    Youtube would be filtered by flag ratings by users
-    You can find bad stuff on Google
-    Personal products

A Wonderful Wednesday!

We began class today with a very quick "Hello Smith" and then went over what our homework is! We need to finish our projects on the similarites between Marcus, The Chicago Seven, and Ned Kelly! Our project is due tomorrow in class for presentations! Make sure it is creative because there will be a prize for the winner! Other homework is to read Chapters 15-17 in Little Brother by Friday and to work on our CSAP packet we recieved today also due on Friday.

Today we did not do any grammer because we had a very special guest who is the CIO of Littleton Public Schools, Mr. Maas. For the rest of class we had a discussion with Mr. Maas about security and what our rights are regarding students at school.

Hopefully you all had a great day! See you tomorrow!

Project time Tuesday!!

Today in English Honors, it was a pretty routine day. We started by taking out our planners and writing down the homework. Read though chapter 17 by Friday  in Little Brother, work on labeling the sentence type and clauses on our grammar practice sentence for tomorrow, and work on our group research projects, due Thursday, and to correct the Ben Franklin paragraph if needed.

After going over the agenda we jumped right into grammar. We labeled the sentence parts and phrases of the sentence; can you come over and watch the movie Casablanca after school? You would be the subject, come and watch would be the verbs, movie is direct object, and Casablanca is the appositive. After school is a prepositional phrase and school is the object of the preposition.

 After grammar, we got started on our new project. Our task is to research, what do Ned Kelly, Marcus and the Chicago Seven have in common? We will be presenting on Thursday, and make sure you have the best connections and the most interesting presentation because there will be a prize! Good luck to everyone!

A Terrific Tuesday!!

We started off class today with an exciting “Hello Smith” and jumped right into our agenda! First we went over the homework which was to read Little Brother chapters 13-17 by Friday, work on our grammar sentences of the week, and to work on the project that was assigned in class. Also if you needed to redo your Franklin essay, your rewrite needs to be turned in to Smith by tomorrow at the latest.

Then we started on our grammar! Our sentence this week is:

 can(hv) you(PRN)(S) come(av) and(cc) watch(av) the(art) movie(n)(do) Casablanca(app)(n) {after(prep) school(n)(op)} prepositional phrase

The parts of speech follow the word as well at the phrases. For tomorrow try to figure out what type of sentence and clause this sentence is!

Next Smith introduced to us a new project due on Thursday! You need to make connections between Ned Kelly, Marcus (from Little Brother), and the Chicago Seven! You have a group of four to five people and the only requirement is that the project must be creative!  There will be a prize for the group that has the most exciting and creative project! We worked on our projects for the rest of class! Tomorrow we will have a guest speaker so we will not receive time in class to work on our presentations! That’s all for today! Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Fishbowl Monday!

Today we started with the usual "hello Smith" then we started on our grammar for this week. The sentence was, can you come over and watch the movie casablanca. Can is a helping verb, you is a pronoun, come is a verb, and is a conjunction, watch is a verb, the is an article, movie is a noun, Casablanca is a noun, after is a preposition, and school is a noun. Our practice sentence for the week is, the chemistry club visited boulder colorado for an experiment. After grammar we did a fishbowl discussion on chapters 6-12 of Little Brother. You can see the discussion below on this page. Again we discussed the illusion of safety or security and what we are willing to give up to feel safe. Homework tonight is very light. Smith suggests we get ahead on our reading and we need to be to chapter 17 by Friday. Also label the parts of speech on the practice sentence for tomorrow. Have a good night, see you all tomorrow!!

LB 6-12 Period 5 Fishbowl

LB 6-12 Fishbowl Period 2

1-21-11 Friday

Today in class we started off with a weak "Hello Smith!", which required a redo. After that we got out our grammar that we did for the week and turned it in, while also bringing out our CSAP packet. We swapped CSAP packets with our fellow classmates and graded each others multiple choice questions, and our written essay's topic sentence on a scale of 1-4. When the grading was done, it was time for the dreaded grammar quiz. We had to label nouns, verbs, prepositions, and more to get a good grade on that. When finished Mrs. Smith required us to write an essay either defending or rebuking Ben Franklin's statement, "They that can give up essential liberty for short and temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety." We had to write a one page response and finish in class. Overall it was a good day for english.
HW: Read Little Brother

Thinking Thursday

Thursday 1-20-11

Another 'hello' from Smith started second period off right. After our greeting we jumped right into grammar and added the necessary edits to our sentence and then diagrammed it. The test is tomorrow and Smith suggested that we write down the practice sentence and take five or ten minutes labeling the parts of speech and diagramming it. We then watched a video in German about what airport security systems don’t pick up, scary stuff! The video is called Body Scanner Demonstration and is linked here. The rest of class was given to us to work on anything we needed to get done, CSAP packets, reading etc hence, 'Thinking Thursday'. Smith also gave us a helpful hint for writing paragraph responses for CSAP which period five came up with. The acronym is TARAW which stands for, Title Author Restate Answer Why.  

Homework- CSAP packet Hunger due tomorrow, Little Brother chapter 9-10, study for grammar test tomorrow, Read “The War on Secrecy”

January 20th, Greg Teaches Thursday

It’s Thursday and life is good for the English Honors class of Mrs. Smith. She talked to us about the homework that we must complete, including a grammar test tomorrow. We then conversed about the technological impact on privacy and the article “The War on Secrecy.” After Mrs. Smith left to check on Mrs. Moritz student assistant, Gregory stepped on stage and informed us about the program that lets us bypass Arapahoe’s YouTube blockade. The program is called Freecorder4, just Google it and you’ll find it. The program allows YouTube videos to be played as MP3 or WMV and it won’t be monitored. After you download it shows a tool box at the top that lets you download it at the YouTube Video. Greg showed us the video Meat Salad as an example, getting mixed reviews from everyone, including Mitch who kept on proclaiming “I Like It!” and Whitney who begged not to watch the video a second time. He then shows us the steps on getting the files, by pressing the icons on the tool box under the web browser, and downloading from the link. After being enlightened by Gregory, It was time for some grammar. Remember for the grammar ladder, the order is subject, verb, and then the direct object. For the rest of the time we just read Little Brother, worked on the CSAP packet, or reviewed our grammar for tomorrow.

HW: Read “War on Secrecy”, CSAP Packet, Read Little Brother 9-10, Grammar Worksheet and test and review over sentences.

Wenesday 19, January 2011 Pin cams, DDOS, Encryption, and so much more

Today, we had a special treat. Ben Horblit and Mr. Fisch came to our class to answer our questions about technology. I’ll get straight to the homework: Work on your CSAP “Hunger” packet and read Little Brother chapter 8 (best book in the world, ay?).In our sentence, we divided it into 2 independent clauses, and 2 ind. cl. = 1 compound sentence.

In our discussion, the first thing asked was: Is the technology in the book existent/ possible, and the entire class was surprised at the answer: Yes, almost everything in the book exists, other than paranoid Linux, face and gait recognition, and Pinhole cameras. DDOS exists, through which you can rent many computers that were hacked and use it to overload a system. Cryptography basically uses enormous numbers with enormous prime factorizations. (one for the receiver, one for the sender)  through a system called prime factorization to create a code in which the greatest supercomputer could not break in a thousand years without the keys. We did learn that the Bill of Rights is beginning to deteriorate, leading us to the end of our discussion. Never underestimate progress. Always think of what technology is doing to and for you. And always advocate for your rights. I want to extend a special thanks to Ben Horblit and Mr. Fisch for coming to our class.

The Wonderful World of Technology Wednesday

Wednesday 1-19-11

Today, class begin with a great big hello to Smith and another welcome to our speaker Ben Horblit and Mr. Fisch.  During grammar time (aka every ones favorite time) we learned an equation, independent clause + independent clause= complex sentence. That equation is helpful to know for the grammar sentence if you were absent today and is helpful to know for the grammar test on Friday and yes we are still allowed to use the purple packet. Also, in class we were given the privilege of listening and having conversations regarding technology with, Ben Horblit and Mr. Fisch below are some notes that I took that should give a brief overview of what was discussed,

Homework- CSAP packet Hunger due Friday, read chapter 8 of Little Brother, practice grammar for test Friday

·          Swagger cameras

Not very good because they can fake natural gait, could possibly be better

·         Facebook technology

Not paying you’re the product

·         X-net

X-box allows people to connect and connect until they can reach unprotected wifi

·         Onion routing

Every time the X-boxes connect they add another layer of crypt and it is sent on hard to trace back, peer to peer network, every time you go to a web page or go on Google, the internet provider logs it

·         Wi Fi

Putting incryption on wifi makes sure that other people cant connect to it

·         Making a crypt

Uses prime numbers people know how to solve the math but with prime numbers it is almost impossible

·         Secure conversations

Pretty easy to have secure and safe conversations

·         Private Browsing

      The “cookie” remains after people go to certain web pages , doesn’t start people from tracing you with the onion router doesn’t block the IP addresses, and can sometimes be traced back to the DSN

·         Online

Association with different people, revealing strong feelings can disqualify people from some jobs, NSA

·         Schools and individual rights, cyber bullying

Borderline on following rules and rights, and bullying online and privacy

·         Writing programs

Can be easy can be very difficult, program Java, and calculators TI basic

YAY! WE'RE DOOMED! Tuesday the 18th

The ever- ominous, suspicious Tuesday the 18th. It was terrible! I enjoyed it, personally.

We received our new sentence of the week to dissect: jeb likes cars but he cant drive yet    .  We labeled the parts of speech,  sentence parts, and phrases. This also introduced our first compound sentence, with both independent and dependent clauses. We also had a truly fascinating discussion for Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, on chapters 1 through 5. The arguments on both sides were truly fascinating. How much freedom is too much, how much security is too much, what we can sacrifice in terms of security, etc.  were all argued very well. To see the full conversation of the outer circle, click on the live discussion for Smith 5 shown below this post.

Our Homework assignments are simply to study our grammar, think about the loggel for Little Brother, and to read chapters 6 and 7 for tomorrow.

But I also have an interesting idea for this class. It will provide us with a great class project and should be fun. I want anyone who wants to learn a programming language. I want to do something in which we create something that will benefit someone, and I want us to do it together. I am currently learning Java, but Python is also excellent for first-timers. Look up a language comparison (There are also C++, basic, all kinds of things) or quiz to figure out the best fit for you. Most have at least 1 free processor.  For those of you that are interested, contact me at school or on the phone.

Back to Buisness Monday

 Period Two 1-18-11

After the long three day weekend, Smith welcomes us back with the usual, enthusiastic, hello and we jump right into it. In class today we received our grammar tests back which were significantly better than our last one. Great job period 2! We were also given a new sentence for the week which is, jeb likes cars but he cant drive yet and we labeled for Monday and Tuesday. After that exciting grammar we jumped into the fishbowl. The inside circle had a great conversation going, which included a lot of discussion of the police, government, and the Department of Homeland Security. To see what was covered in the Live Blog just replay it on the main blog page.

Homework

• Read Little Brother chapters 6-7 for the next fishbowl on Monday
• Work on the practice grammar sentence of the week, Kristin watches the tv show law and order in her law class
• And finally come with technology/government questions for our guest speakers, Ben Horblit and Mr. Fisch tomorrow

LB 1-5 p.5

LB 1-5 period 2

January 14, 2011

TGIF! And a long weekend to come! Hopefully you have gotten some Little Brother reading done because chapters 1-5 are due on tuesday! Today in class we took our second grammar quiz (with packets) (Grammar test) and watched three shocking vidoes of advanced technology. (MIT TED talk , Saavy Shop ,   Google Goggles ). Watch each of these videos and think about the good and bad pieces of each of the advances (ex: cool and handy, but can be used negatively to further encourage stalking online and using information against you...) We also discussed answers to the "Einstein" packet and turned in our Grammar notes for the week. Have a great long weekend!

Finally the weekend

After the introduction of our guest speaker, Mr. Escue, we listened and discussed his opening topic. He started off with a question, “Which do you guys value most, freedom or security?” that is all our class needed to start off our discussion about securities and freedoms in our country today. Not to many things to scribe about today but our homework is reading Little Brother chapters 1-5 by Tuesday. Well have a great long weekend!

January 13, 2011

Hello fellow period 2 goers! Today our class consisted of stimulating conversation with Mr. Meyer about his thoughts on technology and politics today. A few important points you may have missed:
-Is technology going to get into the way of our founding fathers' unexceptional Bill of Rights?
-What have we done and how far have we gone to make ourselves feel secure? (he used the example of the Patriot Act and exceptions to the 4th amendment to make his point)
-HOW FAR IS TOO FAR?
-THERE SEEMS TO BE NO TRUST ANYMORE
-we need to protect ourselves from LAZINESS
Each of these topics were humorously answered by Mr. Meyer and engaged the entire class. I hope you were not absent to miss it!
HOMEWORK: Read Little Brother ch.1-5 by TUESDAY (a sign up sheet for fishbowling was passed around during class), LOGGEL is due tomorrow, Grammar notes turned in and quiz tomorrow (hint: know how to label/diagram "our neighbor Tom is the next president after Obama"), and the Einstein packet will be due tomorrow.

January 13, 2011

First thing we did today was go over our grammar sentences for the week and talked about our test tomorrow. A signup sheet was then passed around for signing up for the fishbowl on Little Brother. Our class then discussed our CSAP practice homework Einstein’s Practical Joke. We then watched a series of videos talking about future technology and how our lives will be changed. Last thing we did was talk about our homework. Read Little Brother chapters 1-5 by Tuesday and if you don’t have a copy of that book then get it and read those chapters by then.

Wednesday Late Start

Our customary hello to Mrs. Smith was said as we came in for todays installment of honors english.  Tonights Homework is:

• Copy of Little Brother
• Loggel finished by Friday
• Read Little Brother
• Questions for Mr Escue
• Einsteins Practical Joke Packet

Today in class we started out by talking about predicate nominatives in our grammar packets.  After we finished our grammar packet we moved onto a discussion about the end of 1984 and why Orwell wrote such a depressing book.  We came to the conclusion that he wrote it as a warning to democratic societies that you could become like this.  We could become the party and every freedom we fought or would be lost.  After this the bell rang and we all went of in different directions to our next period.

Totalitarian Tuesdays

Today in English Honors was an average day talking about extraordinary topics.  In class today we had a grammar discusion on parts of our modified senatance, and went over the take home grammar quiz from last week.  Mrs. Smith continued to hold her mini onferances over our CSAP scores while the rest of the class seperated into two groups discussing 1984.

HW:

• 1984 Finished 
• Loggel comlete by friday 
• Copy of Little Brother (Free Copy available online)

Thats all for today. Remember to study for the grammar quiz.

1-11-11

The day started out with the usual Helllllllllo Smith. We jumped right in with us updating our planners with our homework which was:
1. Loggel
2. Final Questions for Discussion
3. Little Brother Copy which can be found for free at craphound.com
4. Read
The lesson started out with the grammar on: my friend alex plays tennis
We were to identify the sentence parts of speech for homework and went over the correct answers in class. We added a new part to the sentence: (after my friend alex plays tennis) he drinks a smoothie after dinner. We were dragged off topic with a discussion how period 5 was the best. Sorry, 2nd place again period 2. After grammar, we reviewed the CSAP paragraphs that were very good. The biggest thing that we need to focus on as a class is our topic sentence and its detail connecting back to the topic sentence.
Next we discussed the pages we were supposed to read in 1984. We divided into five mini fishbowls. As we discussed Mrs. Smith finished talking with us about our previous CSAP scores. The things we talked about will be used in a larger fishbowl tomorrow. Good luck!
Stephen Walker

1984 Fishbowl 224-274 Period 5

1984 Fishbowl 224-274 Period 2

Waxed Monday

Today in Mrs. Smith we greeted our teacher with a less than cheery hello as we had just received the news of our recently pased fellow Warrior. 

Tonights HW:

• 224-274 In 1984 by tommorow
• DOL parts of sentance and clauses
• Little Brother Copy

In class today we started of by simply labeling the parts of speech on our new sentance.  We then broke off and started to finish our waxed generation papers which we turned in at the end of the period.  In case your wondering this weeks DOL sentance is.... My friend Alex plays tennis.  Keep posting on the loggel and remember the comment Mrs. Smith made about how atrocious some of our posts were.  Add pictures and videos, breathe some life into it.  Thats all for today.

The Friday Post

Today Mrs. Smith's 2nd period class welcomed a visitor, named Josh from the newspaper. He observed our class fishbowl discussion over pages 147-224 in 1984. Josh took notes about the structure of the class, the notions that our students mentioned, and the discussion taking place in the inner and outer circles. To review Friday's discussion from the Live Blog, click here: http://smith9h1011.blogspot.com/2011/01/1984-fishbowl-117-224-period-2.html. Josh made his way around the classroom asking students questions about their thoughts on the activity and the topics of the discussion while taking pictures. He said that his article about our class would appear in a couple of weeks and he will be informing Mrs. Smith when it does. 


Some key points continued to reoccur during the discussion. Some topics include: Julia's affection for Winston, what our government can access on sites like Facebook and Twitter and whether or not it affects the content of our postings, the meaning of the phrases 'War is Peace', 'Freedom is Slavery' and 'Ignorance is Strength', and whether Goldstien exists at all. The inner circle seemed to discuss the control a government has over a society for a good portion of the time. Mrs. Smith brought up the fact that in London they use video surveillance excessively and can watch people's actions. For more about this topic, click the link to read a relating article, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/weekinreview/08landler.html. 


On a normal Friday, Mrs. Smith would have given us the weekly grammar test, but because of the visitor, she let us take the quiz home and gave us permission to use our purple packets. If you missed class or lost the grammar quiz, then 1) identify the parts of speech; 2) identify the sentence parts; 3) identify clauses and sentence type; 4) add punctuation and capitalization; and then 5) diagram the sentence. The sentence: each of the girls did their homework. 


HOMEWORK: Complete grammar quiz for Monday, read pages 225-274 (section 3, chapter IV) by Tuesday, get a copy of Little Brother by next Friday (download one for free or buy a copy), read and sign the class expectations (for new students only), and finish up Loggel sections if it applies to your chapters. 

Puzzling Sentences and a lot of Talk

Friday, January 7, 2011:

Today we took our first grammar quiz. As a special surprise, Ms. Smith let us use our purple grammar packets for assistance. The quizzes were a compilation of everything we worked on this week, with no topics, rules, or parts of speech we had not covered in class. The quizzes were individual and involved labeling parts of speech, sentence parts, clauses and sentence type, and diagramming the sentence. Before taking the test, we also turned in our vocabulary work we had done over the course of the week.  Make sure to turn this in on Monday if you missed class today. 

The class fishbowl over pages 147-224 in 1984 also took place today. Some main topics covered include: the timing of Winston and Julia’s arrest, trust, government censorship, and how the current world is developing to be like society in 1984. To view the blogging discussion on Cover it Live, scroll down this page to replay Period 5's discussion.

Homework: read pages 225-274 (up to Section III, Chapter IV) by next Tuesday, 1/11; complete Loggel entries if not yet done (due date TBA), and obtain a copy (online or hard) of Little Brother for class next Friday, 1/14. If you are new to Ms. Smith’s class, also be sure you read and sign the class expectations this weekend.

Just for Fun:



Complex sentence diagamming

1984 Fishbowl 117-224 Period 5

1984 Fishbowl 117-224 Period 2

The Thunderous, Thankful, Theologian, Irrelevant Thursday of Period 5

Today in class, Smith opened by telling us the story of her most hated student: A senior, who was not particularly happy about his grade, ripped up his paper and threw it in Smith’s face in front of the whole class. He continued to urk everyone, everyday. In a class of of noble football players who wanted to beat him up. We turned in our “The Pendulum Swings” paragraph, and we continued on how to dissect sentences- We learned that you separate the predicate from the verb with a line, then separate the dependant clauses and phrases with a line underneath them, diagonally. Make sure to pay attention, because our test is tomorrow. Here is a link to help you learn parts of speech, after the homophone song, the parts of speech are given in song form http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0J-T2lr0Ms . We then finished the short response portion of “Waxed Generation”, and also drafted an outline of the extended response. Bring in 3 big Discussion questions from 1984 for the Fishbowl tomorrow on 167- 224.

Nicholas Say- Boo

Thursday, January 6th 2011

All week we have been practicing CSAP skills, grammar and paragraph writing! Fun right? At least we will score well :) Anyways, at the beginning of class Smith collected our paragraphs we were assigned to write for CSAP practice on the story "The Pendulum Swings" by O. Henry. After all the essays were passed up front, we continued grammar practice with the same sentence; their team will practice after school. We practice both Thursday and Friday activities because tomorrow (Friday) we have a test. Make sure to practice! Go back through the sentence and see if you can name everything. Parts of Speech, phrases, correct punctuation. Anything in the packet might be on the test! Some websites for extra practice will be at the end of the post. After being enlightened on how to diagram sentences correctly, we continued our work on "The Waxed Generation". The due date has been moved to Monday, January 10. However, you should already have a plan on what you are going to write. Tomorrow in class is our fishbowl on pages 167-224 in 1984. Come prepared with 3 big discussion questions. Also remember a reporter will be visiting our class tomorrow! Smith asks we show our school spirit by wearing black and gold! Our homework for tonight is below; remember to practice for the grammar quiz tomorrow! Have a great week!

Homework:

Read pgs 167- 224 in 1984

Add to Loggel (You should have your Loggel done if we have read to you section by tomorrow)

Write 3 big discussion questions about your reading in 1984

Grammar Practice due tomorrow ( The sheet you have been working on this entire week)

Grammar test tomorrow… STUDY!

Websites for grammar help:

http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html (Parts of speech)

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quiz_list.htm (Clauses and Sentence Types)

http://www.guilford.edu/about_guilford/services_and_administration/lc/grammarland/practice_clauses.html (Clauses)

http://www.gamequarium.com/punctuation.html (Punctuation)

http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm (Sentence diagramming)

Clauses and Sentence Wednesday... January 5, 2011

"HELLO SMITH!" 

That was the greeting we had to try twice as Smith walked in the door this January 5, 2011. Next was the homework, which will be posted below at the end of this post. Today, Smith had an important announcement. Friday, January 7, a reporter from a local newspaper will be visiting our period two class for interviews and pictures. Remember to show school spirit by wearing black and gold! Next was our new daily activity, sentence practice! Clauses and sentence type were learned today, confusing many students! Again, we used the sentence... their team will practice after school. Details can be found in the purple packet. If you are still having trouble, Mrs. Smith will be available for extra help. Then we completed more CSAP practice, looking at examples and tips on how to test well. A good tip is to read the questions before a story, so you know what to look for in the text.  The rest of the day, we worked on our "Waxed Generation" packets which will be due tomorrow (Thursday) at the end of class. Good luck and have a great week!

Homework:

Read 167-224 in 1984, 

Add to Loggel, 

class expectations

Welcome back... January 4, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


So, we're back from winter break... sigh... but no worries, at least we can look forward to english! So today in class Mrs. Smith introduced a new activity, sentences! 
We are taking apart sentences piece by piece, learning the components. Since we didn't have school yesterday (Monday) we completed the Monday and Tuesday activities using the sentence... their team will practice after school. Monday's activity tested our ability to name the parts of speech: nouns, verbs, conjunctions, etc. Tuesday's activity went over sentence parts and phrases: subjects, verbs,complements, etc. 
Everything you need to know is in the purple packet Mrs. Smith handed to us.  
Mrs. Smith also announced we will be doing more CSAP practice. Followed by a new packet, "The Waxed Generation". We have to read the story, answer questions, write short responses, then write an in depth essay.  I will write the main idea of the essay question at the end of this post. We worked on this for the rest of the class period. The packet and essay are due Thursday at the end of class. Have a great week back!


Homework:


Read 147-167, 
Add to Loggel, 
parent fill out 
Google Form(for new students)
 read class expectations




Essay question: 


It will be a letter to the school on why or why not you support school uniforms and why. The detailed essay question will be shown in class but a plan, draft and final are due by the end of class thursday!