How Did All This Come to Be?

Today, students read and responded to Ch. 3 of Mythology: How the Universe and Mankind Were Created.

Here is a link to the Notes Sheet I gave out.

Students were quick to notice a particularly well-known name explained, mythologically, in this chapter:

Pandora

as in...
The Music Streaming App
The Jewelry Store
The Planet

So, did curiosity kill the cat? Perhaps.
But it also made life worth living.

HW: Finish Ch. 3. Remember, if you need the book, scroll down to see a post explaining where the text is.

"Tidy! Where's the book?!?!"

It's right here.

You have a quiz tomorrow on the Mythology that we've read so far.

Study your Introduction, Ch. 1, and Ch. 2 class notes.

Esp. the Big 12.

TCAP Writing Practice Sched. & Materials

The schedule for next week:

TCAP Practice Schedule:

Monday, Jan 12^th

1^st Period – 8 – 10:20am

2^nd Period A- 10:25 – 11:35 (1^st half of practice)

Lunch -  11:35 – 12:30

2^nd Period B – 12:30 – 1:40 (2^nd half of practice)

7^th Period – 1:45 – 3pm

Tuesday, Jan 13^th

3^rd Period – 8 – 10:20am

4^th Period A- 10:25 – 11:35 (1^st half of practice)

Lunch -  11:35 – 12:30

4^th Period B – 12:30 – 1:40 (2^nd half of practice)

7^th Period – 1:45 – 3pm

Wednesday, Jan 14^th

5^th Period – 8 – 10:20am

6^th Period A- 10:25 – 11:35 (1^st half of practice)

Lunch -  11:35 – 12:30

6^th Period B – 12:30 – 1:40 (2^nd half of practice)

Awards/Rewards Assembly – 1:45 – 3pm

The .pptx with notes from class today
The .pptx, but saved as a .pdf (if link above doesn't work)

TDOE Website with TCAP Resources

Written Response Rubric (Long Format)

Written Response Rubric (Short Format)

Scored Sample Responses (Key @ End)
In response to the sample tasks in the .pptx notes above

Tips for the Assessment

Courtesy Mrs. Williams

Something you want that you don't see here?

E-mail me.

Or just come see me next week.

Also: Spirit Week Schedule

1/12-1/16

Monday – 'Merica Monday (dress as patriotically as possible – all American flag type things, red, white and blue theme)

Tuesday – Twin Tuesday  (It takes two)

Wednesday – Wacky Wednesday (tacky day) (please remember we have a dress code)

Thursday – Switch Thursday (opposites)

Friday – Blue and White Day – MLK School spirit

From Ms. Flakes

Sentence Combining

I did take up the document from yesterday that asked for students to take a swing at combining sentences, but it wasn't for a grade, I just wanted to look through them quickly and eyeball trends (positive and negative).

While I was looking through those, students examined the official notes on Sentence Combining as a skill:
This is a link to the EOL notes sheet on Sent_Comb.

I also let students go ahead and complete Exercise 1, using the blanks on the back of the Notes sheet for their answers. Yes, I know I left 10 blanks, but you only need 5 to complete the exercise. Thanks, Jenny.

Tomorrow we'll review answers to those 5 practice exercises, as well as begin preparing for the upcoming Practice TCAP Writing Assessment taking place next week. Try to contain your enthusiasm.

Welcome Back! Q3

After attendance and a stretch, I handed back to students some leftover work from Q2.

Then I introduced our next educational pursuit: Greek Mythology & The Odyssey. Students don't have to purchase either text -- The Odyssey is in the Literature book (turquoise). And we're not reading Edith Hamilton's Mythology cover to cover, just choosing a small selection of myths to focus on.

Finally, to dip our toes back into the waters of having school, and class, again, students read a short story based on a Greek myth: "Antaeus".

Here is a link to the story itself.

I also gave students a short collection of questions that accompany the story, and on the reverse, an exercise in sentence combining.

Here is a link to the questions.

And here is a link to the sentence combining activity.

HW:

• Finish the "Antaeus" questions
• Complete the Sentence Combining activity
• Also: 7th period students got a permission slip that is due TOMORROW to 1st period teachers.

It's good to be back.