Chapel - Animal Farm: Vocab Quiz & Diagram Analysis

Students today:

• Attended chapel
• Took the Vocabulary Quiz over Animal Farm
• Worked collaboratively (or individually--their choice) to analyze and annotate a Diagram of Animal Farm. We brainstormed some of the things students could do to demonstrate their knowledge of the novel. Due tomorrow.
• Thanks to Jaycolt for this link showing whom the Animal Farm characters represent.
• Kudos to Wingboy for his Tagxedo of Animal Farm:

Assignments

1. For Thursday: Finish annotating the Diagram of Animal Farm
2. For Tuesday, 2/10 
• Quiz over Ch. 9, 10, 11 Summaries on the Texas Revolution
• Thanks to Mr. 12345 for kindly preparing a first set of Quizlet flash cards for your learning pleasure:

Rock Hunting - Timeline of Mexican Texas - Prejudice: In General & During the Mexican Period

Students today:

• Went on a secret hunting and gathering mission involving rocks
• Read and color coded the timeline of Mexican Texas, first coming up with categories for color coding (blue for U.S.A. terms, green for Mexican, red for battles, etc.)
• Prepared to read a scholarly article on Anglo Americans colonists' hostility against Mexicans by discussing various aspects of PREJUDICE - Click here to see notes taken during the discussion.
• Began reading the scholarly article; a list of difficult vocabulary words was added to assist with the reading.

Assignment - Due Wednesday: Read and come prepared to discuss the article on Anglo Americans'hostility toward Mexicans during the 1820s & 1830s.

A Christmas Carol, Stave 4 - Google+ Chat/Videoconference - Reading Ch. 5 on Spanish Missions & Settlements

Students today:

• Discussed several students' questions about Stave 4 of A Christmas Carol in various ways:
• Orally
• Google Chat
• Google Videoconference
• Semi-silently read Chapter 5 on Spanish Missions & Settlements, intermittently pausing to discuss key concepts:
• The role of French imperialism in Spanish policy toward Texas
• The relative importance of God, gold, glory, and the French in Spanish decisions whether or not to settle people in Texas

Assignments - For Thursday:
1. A Christmas Carol

• Read rest of the Carol (Stave Five).
• Write discussion questions.
• Stave Five Vocabulary, if you need it

2. Finish reading textbook Ch. 5: Missions & Settlements.

• Be thinking about the key concepts & questions mentioned above.

Tiny Tim - Discussion of A Christmas Carol

The Ghost of Christmas Present

Today students:

• Checked one another's blog-posted questions over Staves Two & Three of  A Christmas Carol
• Discussed Staves Two & Three of A Christmas Carol - A few insights here
• Decided to write a collaborative Christmas carol over A Christmas Carol rather than individual carols
• Set up a Google Doc to compile ideas they had written so far
• In answer to a question about Dickens' Tiny Tim learned there was another Tiny Tim from the 1960s. As it turned out, they'd already learned about his music from its being in various computer games, t.v. programs (Spongebob SquarepantsI, etc.). They just hadn't known the singer looked as follows:

Assignment for Tuesday

1. Read Stave Four of A Christmas Carol.
2. Write and post to your blog possible discussion questions over Stave Four.
3. Use the Vocabulary for Stave Four as needed.

Various Zany Approaches to A Christmas Carol - Less Zany Approaches to Spanish Texas

Today students:

• Discussed some of their questions over Stave One of A Christmas Carol - View them here and here.
• Acted out key words describing Scrooge, particularly this passage: "Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice." Things got a little zany indeed, but no one complained.
• Examined the mystery of the origins of the word humbug
• Began writing A Christmas Carol about A Christmas Carol
• We brainstormed various Christmas carols.
• Students chose one and then began writing their own carol based on what happened in Stave One.
• They will keep adding stanzas as we read each Stave.
• Things got a little zany during this activity as well. Indeed.

• Read one another's Essay Ranking Spanish Explorers. They can be read here and here. (You will need to select the second one by hovering and clicking, as it seems to be written in black. It can be read, though!)
• Examined and analyzed two sets of maps showing the competition between European powers to build colonial empires in the Americas
• Began examining a rather complex Chronology of Spanish Texas to note how Spain's interest in settling Texas waned and waxed as French threats to Texas waned and waxed.

Assignment: A Christmas Carol

1. Read Stave Two.
2. Write discussion questions, post them at your blog, add picture(s).
3. Write Verse 2 of your Christmas Carol, based on what happens in Stave Two.
4. Vocabulary help for Stave Two can be found here.

Communion - Brief Review for Quiz - Quiz over Ch. 5 Summary

Today students:

• Attended communion chapel
• Reviewed briefly for the Quiz over Ch. 5: Missions & Settlements
• Took the Quiz

Assignments - Due Thursday

1. Essay Ranking Spanish Explorers - 
• Have your finished essay posted at your blog by 8 A.M. on Thursday. 
• You can copy and paste it but also link to it in Dropbox.
• Mrs. Horner will let you work on it this afternoon, so use your time well.
• Add one or more pictures to the post, just to, you know, spiff it up.
2. A Christmas Carol - Stave One
• Read the rest of Stave One.
• Write good discussion questions. You can add them to the ones you wrote over the first 8 paragraphs.
• Post the questions to your blog. 
• Be sure to add a picture to the post.
• Use the Vocabulary list for Stave One to help you with difficult words.

Quiz Prep - Pre-Reading Discussion for A Christmas Carol

Today, the student and I:

• Prepared for tomorrow's Quiz over the Chapter 5 Summary: Missions and Settlements
• Examined an Animated Chronology of Spanish Settlement in Texas
• Finished reading, highlighting, and analyzing the Ch. 5 Summary
• Quizzed one another over key facts and concepts in the Summary
• Used a Practice Study Map to quiz one another over locations of key missions and presidios
• Prepared to Read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by
• Generating a list of Possible Discussion Questions About Christmas
• Choosing one of the questions and discussing it
• Agreeing to read the first few paragraphs of ACC (see below)

Assignments

1. Quiz over Chapter 5 Summary
2. Be working on your Essay Ranking the Explorers (Due Thursday; Mrs. Horner will let you continue working on it in Grammar/Writing class.)
3. Read the first 8 paragraphs of Stave One of ACC (clicky clicky): "Marley's Ghost" 
4. Write at least two discussion questions over the reading.
5. Vocabulary for ACC: If you're having trouble understanding some of Dickens' "big words," here are some Stave-by-Stave lists of words, defined for your learning and reading pleasure. (Thanks to Phil Jones for doing this!!) 

• Stave One 
• Stave Two  
• Stave Three 
• Stave Four 
• Stave Five

Shipwrecked in Outer Space - Began Lord of the Flies: Vocabulary - Assigned Characters - Began Reading

Students today:

• Did an excellent job of ranking and discussing the 16 options in "Shipwrecked in Outer Space"
• Attempted to reach a unanimous decision for each step after arguing vigorously when their ranking differed from a classmate's.
• Demonstrated excellent logical reasoning in defending their rankings
• Were so thorough we didn't have time to finish; you can see what they accomplished here.
• Discussed Vocabulary for LOTF
• Were given the names of several characters in LOTF and chose a part to play as they read and discuss the novel. 

• Wingboy = Ralph
• Jaycolt = Piggy
• 12345 = Jack & Samneric
• Teacherman = Simon
• Began working together on a sheet to help Piggy (the character, not the student playing the character) improve his grammar.
• Read the first several pages in character

Assignment for Friday:

• Read the rest of Ch. 1 of LOTF.
• Read it from the point of view (POV) of your character
• Come prepared to discuss the events of Ch. 1 from your character's POV
• Write 5 good interpretive questions from Ch. 1

TMDG Vocab - History of Classmate Revision - Logic Picture Puzzle

Students today:
Chose the 10 words they will learn for Friday's Vocabulary Quiz over "The Most Dangerous Game"

• They were encouraged to choose words they will find useful, either in everyday life or for academic or future reading and writing. 
• On the Quiz they should be able to:
• define each word
• use the word in a good sentence that shows they understand the meaning of the word.

Did a Chronological Sequencing Puzzle called "A Short History of America" - They:

• placed 11 pictures in what they considered to be correct chronological order.
• collaborated to come up with a class sequencing.
• speculated as to the time in history they pictures were depicting.
• began identifying CONTINUITIES & CHANGES the pictures illustrated in American (and Texas) history.

Assignments

• Continue revising your History of a Classmate; finished product will be read and critiqued by CCS Principal Dr. Betsy Carpenter on Monday.
• Prepare for Friday's TMDG Vocabulary Quiz, as described above.

Student Short Short Stories - TMDG Vocabulary - Discussion of TMDG

On this day in histlitlogic:

• Students read one another's short short stories entitled "The Most Dangerous Game." Each student's story is posted at his blog.
• Each student examined a page of vocabulary words from Richard Connell's TMDG and defined the ones he knew. A vocabulary quiz will be given Friday based on the words the student isn't yet able to define.
• Had a long, in-depth, incisive discussion of "The Most Dangerous Game." Student-made questions were used first, with teacher-made ones interspersed. Here are a few of them:

• Did Rainsford and Zaroff have a battle to the death at the end of the story?
• Why did the author not put immediately in the story that Zaroff hunted animals?
• Is Rainsford a good person?
• What happens between the last two paragraphs in the story?
• To what extent were the legends and lore about Ship-Trap Island true? Why did these legends exist?

Assignment - Due Wednesday - Venn Diagram Collaboration

• Working together - or on your own, should you prefer - fill out a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Rainsford and Zaroff as depicted in "The Most Dangerous Game."
• Use lots of detail from the story.
•  I have shared the Google Doc of a Venn Diagram with you, but you may alter it, color code it, make a completely new one (there are jillions of them online), etc. if you like. 
• Including some pictures might add a splendid touch.