Suspenseful Moments Book Project

Welcome Back!

1. Learn more about your suspenseful moments book project by watching THIS VIDEO. Then go over to Google Classroom to review the project assignment. Many of you already have a head start on this because you were doing the things I asked you to do last week. The whole project, all the parts, and the essay, is due by Friday May 8th. If you need more time please let me know, but I think two weeks should be plenty of time. Get started today.

2. Please do the ATTENDANCE FORM for THIS WEEK. I have to mark you absent on Friday if you haven't done the attendance form by 3:00 PM on 5/1. You only have to do this ONCE a week. If you already did it for this week you don't have to fill it out again. (If the last attendance form you did was LAST week then you need to do this one.)

We are beginning the grading phase of our distance learning experiment. If you are not familiar with the "no harm" grading policy please see the post below.

Office Hours: Mrs. R will have optional office hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00-3:00 PM. You will find the zoom link in Google Classroom. (It will be posted just before the hour.) Office hours are for students to stop by to say hello and ask questions. They are not required.

Week of 4/20

Welcome back
I hope you are reading a good suspenseful book. Next week I'll be assigning your first distance learning project and it will be a lot easier for you to do if you have already read a good suspenseful book.

Do you understand the "no harm" grading policy? 
I have a PDF of your grade from what it was as of work submitted by 3/13. This includes your Poe/Laughton essay that was due on 3/13. Those are graded and the scores are in Power School. (You can revise and request a regrade if you want to.) So, your grade in Power School today is the lowest your grade can be in June.

It is not true that grades can ONLY go up. Between now and June your grade can go up and down. If you don't do your assignments, or do them poorly, your grade can go down. In June though, I will compare the grade you have in Power School to the grade you have right now. The grade you earn then will be the higher of those two grades.

For example, if you have a C now and you do your work well, your grade could go up and stay up. If you don't do your work now your grade will go down, and then in June I will change it back to a C.

Your grade right now is the lowest grade you can earn in June, but you may see your grade rise or fall between now and then.

*IMPORTANT*

Please complete the ATTENDANCE form for THIS WEEK. (You only have to do it once this week.)

Class Assignments:
Monday: Go you your English Journal and add a new entry at the top with today's date. Write an entry about what you think about the "no harm" grading policy. How will it help you or hurt you? What impact do you think it will have on your learning? Do you think it is a good idea or not?

Tuesday: Want a head start on your suspense book project? Start organizing your evidence. (You don't have to do it all today, but get started.) Get a copy of the organizer here. Share it with your teachers.

Wednesday: Most of you still need to create your suspense organizer with the link from Tuesday. Remember to share it with me at jroberts4@sandi.net. Also be sure you did the attendance form for this week linked above. You only have to do it once a week, but if you don't do it by 3pm Friday I have to mark you absent for the whole week.

Thursday: Lets get an update on your reading progress. FILL OUT THIS FORM about your reading. Also, do you remember that last week I gave you a practice Quizizz about suspense? Next week I'm going to give you that same quiz for a grade. Want to PRACTICE some more?

Friday: New discussion question assigned to you in Google Classroom. Go there to answer it. And while you are there fill out the email request form, if you didn't already, to have your stu.sandi.net email turned on.

Week of 4/6 and 4/13: Distance Learning Begins

Welcome back everyone,

First read my letter about our distance learning plan. It will probably answer a lot of your questions.

Second complete THIS SURVEY about yourself. (Most of you did this last week.)

If you do not have a laptop CLICK HERE. The pick up date for PLHS was 4/9, but I'm told you can go any weekday. Just read the directions in the link above first.

Until 4/27 you will be able to find your current assignments in the slide deck below. I'll add a new slide every few days with something you should work on. Click the square box next to the gear icon if you need to see the slide in full screen.

The post just below this one has some good suggestions for accessing digital books. If you need a book to read please get one of the library apps. Adults can apply for a library card online and use the temporary card number to borrow digital resources.

While school is closed

Welcome,

While school is closed, I'll post some activities here that you can do at home. I'll use the slide deck below and add a new slide everyday on top. You can flip through the slides to see previous days.

Remember, except for reading, all of the activities here are optional. Click the square box next to the gear icon if you need to see the slide in full screen. 


Be sure you have books!
Physical books are great and I hope you have a lot, but if you want to access digital books I have two app suggestions:

Cloud Library- This is the app for the San Diego City Public Library. Once you get the app you'll need to enter your library card number, (or your parent's library card number). Then you can borrow ebooks and audio books. If you also get the Kindle app from Amazon then you can send those ebooks to your Kindle app for easier reading. (If you don't have a library card see the Libby app below.)

Libby- This is the app for the San Diego County Library. You can often get a digital library card right from your phone without having to visit a library. With Libby you can also opt to send books to the Kindle app.

Epic- If you have younger children in your household, you should look at Epic. It is free for 30 days and has tons of kids books online.


Remind: If you haven't joined our class on Remind yet you can find directions for that on our Google Classroom.

If you can't remember your district password you can message me on Remind or email me. I will make you answer security questions and everything.

Poetry Analysis

Goals: Learn some elements of poetry analysis.

Agenda: 
Read
Poetry Analysis

• Is your book checked out to you? 
• Do you need a new book or an extra book? 

Ms. Dowd will be teaching you some important aspects of poetry analysis. 

I'll add her slides here later today. 

Reminders: 

• Your POE/LAUGHTON ESSAY is due today. 
• Keep reading. You should be done with book #8 and starting on book #9. 
• Have you joined Remind for your class period? Codes are posted in the classroom or email Mrs. R and ask for your class code.