Where are we?

Reading Quiz today on chapters 59 and 60.

Exit Ticket based on chapter 61.

Homework, continue reading through to the end of chapter 65... probably a reading quiz tomorrow.


Don't forget that Reading Homework....You should be turning one in every day as we are reading 5 chapters a day!!!

Life of Pi Vocabulary List 2

Life of Pi Vocab List 2

1. horizon: the line at which the sky and Earth appear to meet

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: I kept one eye on the horizon, one eye on the other end of the lifeboat.

2. whine: make a high-pitched, screeching noise

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: I could hear it whining.

3. reaction: a response that reveals a person's feelings or attitude

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: My only reaction was to freeze with fear.

4. typical: exhibiting the qualities or characteristics that identify a group or kind or category EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The look was nearly the typical look of a hyena—blank and frank, the curiosity apparent with nothing of the mental set revealed, jaw hanging open, big ears sticking up rigidly, eyes bright and black—were it not for the strain that exuded from every cell of its body, an anxiety that made the animal glow, as if with a fever.

5. float: move lightly, as if suspended

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: I seemed to be floating in pure, abstract blackness.

6. hull: the frame or body of ship

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: With small waves the result was a ceaseless, fist-like beating against the hull, while larger waves made for a tire-some rolling of the boat as it leaned from side to side.

7. dreadful: exceptionally bad or displeasing

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: And that dreadful night was preceded by a dreadful evening.

8. dorsal: belonging to or on or near the back or upper surface of an animal or organ or part

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: The largest one came at the boat quickly, as if to attack, its dorsal fin rising out of the water by several inches, but it dipped below just before reaching us and glided underfoot with fearsome grace.

9. scale: a measuring instrument for weighing; shows amount of mass

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Had Orange Juice been a male, had she loomed as large on the scales as she did in my heart, it might have been another matter.

10. simian: relating to or resembling an ape

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: She looked like a simian Christ on the Cross.

11. befuddled: perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: But the shipping clerk at the Howrah train station was evidently a man both befuddled and diligent.

12. sedate: cause to be calm or quiet as by administering a sedative to NOTES: In this case, he's sedating them through drugs -- that's actually the most common usage of this word.

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Father regularly sedated a number of the animals to lessen their stress.

13. sensation: an un-elaborated elementary awareness of stimulation

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: I have heard that the hunger for air exceeds as a compelling sensation the thirst for water.

14. buoyancy: the tendency to float in water or other liquid

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: Inside, it was not as spacious as might be expected because of the side benches and the buoyancy tanks.

15. ration: the food allowance for one day (especially for service personnel)

EXAMPLE SENTENCE: I found cartons of Seven Oceans Standard Emergency Ration, from faraway, exotic Bergen, Norway.

Welcome Back!

Today we are working a bit backwards to try to get us all on the same page again. 

We are listening to chapter 53, please read all the way to the end of 55 before class tomorrow. There will be a reading quiz on chapters 53-55 when you arrive in class before we move on. 

Vocab List 2 for Life of Pi will be distributed in class tomorrow, for a quiz on Friday. 

Keep doing your reading homework. We are reading 5 chapters a day, so you should be completing 1 homework sheet a day. Scroll down through the blog for the graphic organizer and the choice activities. 

Life of Pi Chapter Questions for Reading Homework

Ladies and Gents!

Today is Genius Hour Day!!! Please be sure to submit your work on the Genius Hour Log from the right had side of this blog page. 

Also, one of our groups has created a survey that they would like you to respond to. Here is the link to their blog, the survey is on the right. 

All expenditures for Projects need to be made and receipts submitted by the end of April. If you haven't done it yet, get your shopping done over spring break and bring me the receipts when we come back. 

If you have questions over the break, please email me: mrs.gericoats@gmail.com for help. I will answer you!

Monday

I want to give all of my students advance notice that I will be unavailable on Monday during lunch. As many of you are aware, we are currently in contractual negotiations with the school district and that we are at impasse requiring the State of CA to send in a mediator. On Monday, I will not be performing any of the actions that I would normally do that are outside of my contractual obligations. 

I wish things were not like this. I come to work every day to work with your students because I love what I do. I enjoy teaching, I enjoy working with teens helping them move forward in their lives. This nasty business with our contract is a distraction and it is draining. 

We are stuck. We want to move on. We want to get back to our focus of teaching students.

Please understand that I will be spending my lunch break with my colleagues and thus unable to volunteer the time to students as I typically am available to do. 

(posted Friday April 11 2014, at 502pm from my home).

Letter to Parents

I have now sent home a letter to all my 10th graders suggesting/recommending that students AND parents take a look at the Smarter Balanced Assessments that will be in place next year. They 11th graders next year will be the first students to take the new assessments (aside from the field tests this year). That means the current 10th graders!!!

Look at the Practice Test. I'm not asking that you take the test, but you do have to put in answers to move from one question to the next. Look at what it asks you to do. Look at if you feel comfortable with the questions. This is very different than any standardized test you have taken so far. 

I am offering extra credit to students who bring back the signed letter saying that they have looked at the practice test. Please do so. Please don't just sign it and bring it back for the points. I want you to know what the test is like!!!

work work work

Get your work in !!!!!

The grading period ends this week. I have had zero lunchtime visitors :(

I am out on Friday.

All makeup anything must be in by the end of the day tomorrow! and I have a baseball game to go to after school so I will not be able to hang out at the end of the day. 

Life of Pi Reading Graphic Organizer

Life of Pi Choice Activities for Reading

1. Character Analysis

Tell one character trait that is demonstrated in this assigned reading. What occurs in the reading to show you this trait in the character. Be specific, include at least one quotation and page numbers.

2. Theme Analysis

Tell about a theme that is present in this assigned reading. How does the theme present itself in the text. Be specific, include at least one quotation and page numbers.

3. Personal Reaction

Write a reaction to something specific that occurs in the assigned reading. Would you have done the same thing as occurs in the book, or different? How would the outcome change? Be specific, include at least one quote and page numbers.

4. Guiding Question

Respond in Detail to the Guiding Question for the chapter. Give details and examples from the text to support your thinking.

Read Read Read!!!

Life of Pi!

Today in class we work on our Chapter Review Logs for chapters 1-25. 

Homework: Read chapters 26-30 by Monday.

Monday in class we will complete a Chapter Review Log for 26-30. 

Here are the guiding questions for many of the chapters:

We aren't here yet, but I found some beautiful images from Life of Pi and wanted a place to keep them. Check them out and enjoy.. they may come back as part of an assignment (hint hint).

Life of Pi

Today we are getting through chapter 23 in class, and you need to complete 24 and 25 before class tomorrow. 

Remember, feel free to use the audiobooks on youtube and summaries available online to supplement (not replace) reading the text in order to help you understand. 

Smarter Balanced Assessment Preview

As many of you are already aware, the assessment system in California has changed and we are coming up on the new form of assessment. In the past decade or so, we have used the CST to assess students’ growth and learning in school. The new assessment is very different and I would like you to take a look at it.

I think both students and parents need to see what this new assessment looks like. I am making changes in my classroom instruction as well as in how I assess students in order to prepare for this new assessment. Please plan a time when you can look through the practice test to see the different kinds of questions that exist. It is much different than the previous assessment where students would read a passage and answer multiple choice questions.

Here is the direct link: https://sbacpt.tds.airast.org/student/

You do not need to enter a user name or any kind of password. Just click "Sign in." Next, choose a grade, 10 is the test that I have been working from and click "Yes." Then choose the English Language Arts Assessment (although I also recommend taking some time to review the math as well. The next page is titled "Choose Settings." Do not change any items, just click "Select." Finally, click "Yes, this is My Test," on the following screen. You will now see some Test Instructions and a "Begin Test Now" button.

Life of Pi

We are in it my friends!

Life of Pi

Read it!!

We have currently read through chapter 15 and will continue moving forward.

Students will be expected to complete the graphic organizer for about every 5 chapters. I am not assigning specific chapters at the moment, but students must complete 20 graphic organizers over the course of the 100 chapters of the novel.