Jane Eyre- final weeks

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

We are coming to the end of Jane Eyre and I wanted to post information about the upcoming project.  We will have one final quiz on Tuesday (12/3) over Chapters 28 through the end and all student projects are due on Friday December 6th. Also, for anyone absent on Tuesday- here is the final vocabulary chart! 

Project Requirements are posted below.  :)

Jane Eyre Creative Project Options

Jane Eyre Project Rubric

Vocabulary Chapters 28- end

Discovering Jane Eyre

With our new 9 weeks we have started a new unit!  

On Tuesday students were given their very own copies of the classic tale, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  We will be working in Literature Circles for this unit in an effort to give every student a voice withing their own groups.  They will each fulfill a different role each week and will collaborate to carry on their own group discussions.  Role Sheets and vocabulary are attached below.  :)  

Discussion Director

Character Watcher

Passage Finder

Literary Terms Tracker

Vocabulary- Chapters #1-10

Final Week of the 1st grading period!

The school year is flying by and we are already bringing our first quarter to a close!  Students took a test over "The Cask of Amontillado" today and had a one-paragraph essay response to finish as a take home element of the test.  The essay is due on Monday.  Grades officially close on Friday and we will have just a few more items entered into the grade book next week.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about final grades!

If you missed the previous post, please also take advantage of Remind101 to stay in touch with what we're up to in the classroom!  

Remind 101

In my continued attempt to best keep in touch with students and parents, I have opened a new account using Remind 101.  This website allows me to send out text message reminders to students and parents without compromising any personal information.  The text message will only go one way (students cannot respond) and I cannot see phone numbers of students, only the names of those who have enrolled.  Please check out the document below if you would like to enroll in Remind 101 as well!  I'm excited about this new means of communication!

Hope you're enjoying a beautiful Sunday!  

How to sign up for Remind 101

Short Story #2: "The Cask of Amontillado"

Last Friday we read one of Edgar Allan Poe's chilling tales, "The Cask of Amontillado."  

On Monday students worked with a partner to create their own textual questions based on Bloom's Taxonomy- Higher Order Thinking.  Today they did an amazing job leading their own small groups through a discussion on the story!  It was fantastic to see the groups at work today!  Wednesday we are on an alternate schedule for various tests at the high school and Thursday students will quiz over their Cask vocabulary and work on the concept of Irony within this story.

It is a short week, but we have kept very busy! I am continually impressed by the students ability to grasp higher order thinking skills and to venture outside of the box!  :)  

Short Story #1: "The Utterly Perfect Murder"

This week we began our short story unit with Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Utterly Perfect Murder."  Students worked on vocabulary, literary terms, and discussion questions on this story.  Monday we will have our class discussion and our quiz will be Wednesday.  For anyone who was absent, or did not finish the story in class- Here is a link to the online text-

Utterly Perfect Murder TEXT

Have a GREAT Homecoming weekend!  :) 

Parent Conferences

It's that time of year already!  This year for conferences we are changing the format a little.  

From 5-7:30 you may select a time to meet with me individually about your student's progress.  Conferences will be scheduled in 15 minute increments.  Please e-mail me (or call) to set up a conference time.  

From 7:30 to 8:30 there are no scheduled appointment times, so you may feel free to just stop in at your convenience!  I look forward to seeing you then!  

Please e-mail me at cf_mihalyov@cfalls.org

Reminder!

Bring earbuds for the I Ready testing tomorrow! 

Essay Writing Continued...

We have continued to work on our 5 paragraph expository essay this week with a focus on Motivators, Thesis Statements, Transitions, and Super Clinchers.  

We will be in a computer lab (520) on Monday and Tuesday to revise our rough drafts (due Monday) 

and complete our final copies.  

Essays are officially due at the end of the period on Friday 9/27.  

Next Wednesday and Thursday we will be completing our 9th grade IReady assessments and then we are finally on to Figurative Language and Short Stories!  

The following is a video clip about "How to Write a Hook" that we used in class.  

Our rubric is attached below as well.  

Have a Great Weekend!  

Expository Essay Rubric 2013

Essay writing

Over the next few weeks we will be working on well-developed paragraph writing and the 5 paragraph essay. While these are skills that our students hopefully begin the year with, we use this time to ensure that we all have the same definition of what makes a solid essay at the high school level.

I have almost finished the summer reading essays and they will begin appearing in Progress Book this week and weekend. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Here are some documents that we are using for this unit:
Fatal Errors list
Fatal Errors Practice
MLA Format
Well-developed Paragraph Rubric

Sigh of Relief!

We have almost completed week 1!  Students are off to a great start and we had fun getting to know each other this week!  

Students- 

1.  Don't forget to report to the Library on Friday during your class period for Orientation.  

2.  Also don't forget to bring your summer reading novels with you to class on Tuesday (if you still have them!)

3.  Make sure your parents have looked over your syllabus and have signed your parent letter!

Parents-

1.  Open House is next Thursday (September 5th) at 7pm.  I'd love to see you all there!

2.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!  

Have a great long weekend! 

It's almost time!!

Just in case a few of you are still working on your 

summer reading essays... (cough, cough)

Here are a few questions that I have gotten through e-mail (cf_mihalyov@cfalls.org) that I thought may be helpful to all of you!

1.  Does the header count in the required word count?  Nope!  Just the actual content of your essay.

2.  Should I use quotes to support?  You are required to support your thoughts.  Quotes are a great way to do that!

3.  Are the essays really due on the first day of school?  Yep!  We will hit the ground running! Be prepared to have them already printed out and ready to hand in on Monday!

4.  Will there be a test over the novels?  There will be one final essay that encompassed all 3 novels within the first couple weeks of school.  

*If any other questions crop up, please feel free to e-mail me!  I'm usually very quick to respond!  Enjoy these last few days of freedom!  :) 

One month to go...

Tomorrow marks exactly ONE month until school starts!  Hope the summer reading is going well!  Please feel free to e-mail me at cf_mihalyov@cfalls.org if you have any questions regarding the essays.  :) 

Hope you are having a WONDERFUL summer vacation!

Our classroom site is under construction for the summer.  Please make sure to subscribe with your e-mail address to receive updates for the 2013-2014 school year for Enriched Language Arts 9!  :)

9th grade summer reading list 2013-14

MLA formatting for summer reading