Beginning of second semester

Snowy Greetings!  I wanted to update my blog, but ran out of time with the end of the semester.

10th Grade English- we are continuing to better writing skills especially 5 paragraph essays.  Students will be asked to write a 5 paragraph essay for next years big tests.  We are working to develop those skills.  The biggest hurdle we need to overcome is paragraph length.  Many students don't want to put in the extra effort to make a paragraph that is acceptable in length. It is very hard to persuade anyone when the paragraphs are only three sentences.  We will continue to focus on five paragraph essays throughout the year.  My tenth grade classes will begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird in the next few weeks.

13th Grade English- The Senior classes are continuing to read The Glass Castle. Upon completion of the memoir, students will be asked to write their own memoir.  This will brush up on writing skills and also give meaning to their work.  This will be an ongoing project and finish just before graduation.  I am hoping to have 20-30 pages of memoir finished by then.

Economics- We have just finished  up Civics.  We began by taking a pre-test to see if anyone is able to test out of econ.  That was not case this semester.  We began our first unit yesterday.  I explained that knowing the vocabulary will be very important to student success.  I have printed out vocabulary sheets that we will stop and fill in as new terms come up. If any parents would like an email  to notify them of upcoming test, please let me know.

Have a good Winterfest week!