APEnglish 12: September 27-October 1

Greetings APEnglish Literature Students!

I trust you all had a pleasant weekend. We've just one week left before Fall Break, so we need to stay focused and make the most of it.
I have several things planned for you this week:

• We'll finish our short story boot-camp with a culminating project that will be due the Tuesday after Fall Break.
• We'll start a study of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
• We'll review some new literary terms and rhetorical devices. You should know these for the exam, so study the list. Don't be surprised if a number of them show up on your midterm in December.
• We will continue in vocabulary. Study the J-L words on the SAT Vocabulary List for Friday's quiz.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

Pre-APEnglish 10: September 27-October 1

Greetings Pre-APEnglish 10 Students!

I trust you all had a pleasant weekend. We've just one week left before Fall Break, so we need to stay focused and make the most of it.
I have several things planned for you this week:

• We'll finish our study of Julius Caesar with a culminating project that will be due the Tuesday after Fall Break.
• I'll be giving back your final summer reading assignments on Friday.
• We will be reviewing the commendation and correction comment key I have linked to my blog sidebar, so you'll know what all my comments mean. This will include a review of the Kiss of Death errors, so you'll be sure not to make those egregious mistakes in your future papers.
• We will be issuing our literature textbooks and beginning a study of early American literature, with a look at Native American creation stories as our first lesson.
• We will continue in vocabulary. By the end of this week, all classes will have finished five lessons and five quizzes, so be prepared.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 12: September 27 - October 1

Greetings English 12 Students!

I trust you all had a pleasant weekend. We've just one week left before Fall Break, so we need to stay focused and make the most of it.
I have several things planned for you this week:

• We have our papers on Lord of the Flies due Thursday, so don't forget to bring hard copies of your rough drafts on Monday for peer evaluation.
• We will be reviewing the commendation and correction comment key I have linked to my blog sidebar, so you'll know what all my comments mean. This will include a review of the Kiss of Death errors, so you'll be sure not to make those egregious mistakes in your paper.
• We will be issuing our literature textbooks and beginning a study of early British literature, with a look at Anglo Saxon literature and Beowulf as our first lesson.
• We will continue in vocabulary. By the end of this week, all classes will have finished five lessons and five quizzes, so be prepared.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 10: September 27 - October 1

Greetings English 10 Students!

I trust you all had a pleasant weekend. We've just one week left before Fall Break, so we need to stay focused and make the most of it.
I have several things planned for you this week:

• We have our big test on Frederick Douglass on Monday and Tuesday or A and B schedules, respectively.
• We will be reviewing our parts of speech for a test as well.
• We will be issuing our literature textbooks and beginning a study of early American literature, with a look at Native American Creations stories as our first lesson.
• We will catch up in vocabulary. If you opted to take the lesson four quiz this week, as one class did due to testing last week, we'll have two quizzes instead of one. By the end of this week, all classes will have finished five lessons and five quizzes, so be prepared.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

APEnglish 12: September 20-24

Greetings APEs,

Wow! The weeks are flying by. We have SO much to do and SO little time.
This week we will be continuing our Short Story Boot camp.

• On Tuesday, be prepared to discuss "Miss Brill," "Hills Like White Elephants," and "The Japanese Quince."
• Thursday we will discuss "Fifteen Minutes in the Life of Larry Weller," "The Yellow Wallpaper," "Once Upon a Time" and "I Stand Here Ironing." Yes, I know that's a huge amount of reading, but I prefer to think of it as a veritable cornucopia of knowledge and insight.
• All this reading is not for naught. You will be writing an analysis of one of or a combination of these stories. I will post the topics soon and link them to my blog, so check regularly.
• As usual, vocabulary is on Friday. Study the "I" words.

See you Tuesday!

Mrs. SO

English 12: September 20-24

Hello Students,

This week promises to be another busy one.

•  I have an appointment Monday, and won't be in class, but I have left a very interesting documentary on The Lord of the Flies for you to watch. You will also be given the opportunity to retake your test for a higher grade. 

• On Wednesday, I will give those who want to participate in the Original Poetry competition for Poetry Out Loud the opportunity to recite your own poems. 
  

• We will also finish  discussing The Lord of the Flies in preparation for your essay on the novel. To get a head start on your papers, take a look at the proposed topics here. You must select one of the topics for your paper. Rough drafts are due on Monday September 27. Final drafts are due on September 30.

• I will also be distributing your British literature textbooks and introducing you to Medieval British texts.
  

• Your College Entrance essays will be returned, and I will review some of the most common grammar errors so you don't repeat those mistakes. 

• And don't forget your weekly vocabulary. This week's quiz is on lesson four.

See you Wednesday!

Mrs. SO

Pre-APEnglish 10: September 20-24

Hello Students,

This week promises to be another busy one.

• On Tuesday, I will give those who want to participate in the Original Poetry competition for Poetry Out Loud the opportunity to recite your own poems. 

• We will also finish reading and discussing The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. You guys are doing a great job with this difficult text, so pat yourselves on the back. 

• I hope to show you some clips from a couple different presentations of Julius Caesar for comparison.

• We'll break into teams and complete some AP style multiple choice questions on Julius Caesar, as well, and by next week, you'll have a test on the play.

• I also will finish our review on the parts of speech, so expect a test on these next week.

• And don't forget your weekly vocabulary. This week's quiz is on lesson five.

See you Tuesday!

Mrs. SO

English 10: September 20-24

Hello All,

I have another busy week planned.

• I have an appointment Monday, but have left a study guide for The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass for you to do if you have me on A day. B day students will do this on Tuesday. Your study guide will help you on your test, which will be next week.

• On Wednesday we will complete our Poetry Out Loud class competition and give anyone who is interested in the Original Poetry competition an opportunity to recite his or her original poem.

• We also will continue our grammar studies. We will review conjunctions, interjections, and prepositions. Prepare to have a test on all the parts of speech next week.

• Of course, we will also continue with our vocabulary study. The quiz on lesson five is this week.

• I also hope to start our study of early American literature. We will start by examining some Native American creation myths and comparing them to other creation stories. 

It promises to be a great week. Get plenty of rest and come prepared to learn a lot!

Mrs. SO

APEnglish 12: September 13-17

We are more than half-way through our first quarter. I hope you all gave your parents your grades and PIN numbers so they can check your progress.

This week will be as busy as the last:

• We will be holding our Poetry Out Loud Competition for the class level. 

• Good luck to each of you. If you’d like to review the judging rubric, click here.
  

• We'll have a vocabulary quiz on the SAT F-H words this Friday, so study.
  

• We'll continue with our short story boot camp, so prepare for some reading and Socratic seminar discussion of the texts. After our deconstruction of several short texts, you'll choose one or more to write an analytical paper.

Get ready for a fun but busy week!


Mrs. SO

Pre-APEnglish 10: September 13-17

We are more than half-way through our first quarter. I hope you all gave your parents your grades and PIN numbers so they can check your progress.

This week will be as busy as the last:

• We will be holding our Poetry Out Loud Competition for the class level. 

• Good luck to each of you. If you’d like to review the judging rubric, click here.

• We'll have a vocabulary quiz on lesson four this Friday, so study.

• We'll continue with our study of Julius Caesar and do some AP Literature style multiple choice questions on some excerpts from the play.

• And, of course, we'll do some grammar review on complements, adjectives and adverbs.

Get ready for a fun but busy week!

Mrs. SO

English 10: September 13-17

We are more than half-way through our first quarter. I hope you all gave your parents your grades and PIN numbers so they can check your progress.

This week will be as busy as the last:

• We will be holding our Poetry Out Loud Competition for the class level. 

• Good luck to each of you. If you’d like to review the judging rubric, click here.

• We'll continue with our study of adverbs and will add prepositions and conjunctions. Expect a quiz on these things.

• Remember you’ll have a vocabulary quiz this week  so study both lesson four.

• We'll finish our study of Frederick Douglass, so be prepared for a writing assignment on the book as well as a comprehension check test.

I hope you’re ready for a full week!
Mrs. SO

English 12: September 13-17

We are more than half-way through our first quarter. I hope you all gave your parents your grades and PIN numbers so they can check your progress.

This week will be as busy as the last:

• We will be holding our Poetry Out Loud Competition for the class level. 

• Good luck to each of you. If you’d like to review the judging rubric, click here.

• We’ll be completing our study of Lord of the Flies this week, and you will be writing a paper as a culminating project. Here is the assignment.

• Remember you’ll have TWO vocabulary quizzes this week on Monday and Thursday respectively, so study both lessons three and four.

• We’ll do a grammar review of some problem areas, particularly how to recognize (and avoid writing) run-on sentences. 

• We’ll distribute text books this week and begin reading Anglo-Saxon literature, with a focus on Beowulf.

I hope you’re ready for a full week!
Mrs. SO

My Apologies...

Hey everyone,
I'm very sorry I missed my weekly post. If you weren't in class this week, remember my grade-level seniors had a test on The Lord of the Flies yesterday, so you need to make that up. Also, your weekly vocabulary quiz has been bumped to Monday, so you'll have two next week.

In AP we read and discussed "Clothes" and will be presenting on that story. We turned in our "Garden Party" essays, too. We are on schedule with our vocabulary quizzes.

As for 10th grade, the Pre-APE class is still reading and discussing Julius Caesar, and the grade level classes will be finishing up Frederick Douglass soon. We had several grammar quizzes, and a vocabulary quiz, so if you missed class, check STI to see if you need to make one of these up.

More about next week later,

Mrs. SO