Friday, March 30th

Lesson Objectives - Students will evaluate writing samples in order to determine the effectiveness of content and structure.  They will propose ideas that the writers could use to improve these samples.  Students will then continue to work on their own rough drafts of their personal persuasive essays.  The final draft is due at the end of next week.

Thursday, March 29th

Lesson Objectives - Students will be able to identify and implement the effective use of adverbs in their writing.  They will then finish their group presentations and begin creating a graphic organizer that details the main ideas they will use in their own personal essay.

Homework - Students are to begin writing the introduction paragraph for their persuasive essay.  The final draft is due in a week.  Also, the RRS for March is due tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 28th

Lesson Objectives - Students will evaluate the effectiveness of the arguments used by Louis L'Amour in his persuasive essay, "The Eternal Frontier."  They will then apply these evaluative principles to their group presentations and eventually their own persuasive essays.

Homework - Interview Question:  Describe some of the pros and cons of downsizing our current space program.

Tuersday, March 27th

Lesson Objectives - After their quiz on "The Eternal Frontier," students will compose a list of possible persuasive essay topics.  Students will choose their essay topic and begin brainstorming arguments and organizing their information in order to create a rough draft.  The final draft will count as a test grade.  More details will follow.

Homework - Students can complete quiz corrections for additional homework credit.  This is the final homework assignment for the 3rd marking period.

Thursday, March 22nd

Lesson Objectives - Students are taking their final test of the third marking period today.

Homework - Class work pages 15-22 are due at the beginning of class tomorrow.  Please be sure to get these in on time for full credit.

Wednesday, March 21st

Lesson Objectives - Students will identify and create examples of prepositional phrases.  They will then continue presenting their projects from last Friday.

Homework - Students are to prepare for their test on "Boy: Tales of Childhood."  This is the final test of the 3rd marking period.  As a reminder, pages 15-22 are still due on Friday.

Tuesday, March 20th

Lesson Objectives - After a vocabulary quiz and test corrections, students will present their projects from last Friday.  They will also evaluate the projects from other students.

Homework - Students are to complete test corrections for "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."

Wednesday, March 14th

Lesson Objectives - Students will finish lesson 8 in the vocabulary book.  They will then start the next story, "Boy: Tales of Childhood."  As they read the story, they will make notes that show their personal connections with the ideas/experiences found in the story.

Homework - Answer the following in a paragraph:  When does a practical joke go too far?  Explain with details.  Students can also complete test corrections for "An American Childhood" for extra test credit.

Monday, March 12th

Today is the first round of Spring DCAS testing.  We will continue testing tomorrow.  Please do your best and show the Conrad community what hard workers you are this year!

Friday, March 9th

Lesson Objectives - Students are taking their test on "The Noble Experiment" today.

Homework - Monday is the first round of spring DCAS testing.  Although we are all moving our clocks ahead an hour this weekend, please do your best to come to school rested and ready to go.

Thursday, March 8th

Lesson Objectives - Students will read a non-fiction article that demonstrates the use of fact, opinion, and generalizations.  They will identify examples of each which will help them in the upcoming DCAS assessments.  They will then continue the presentations that they started yesterday.

Homework - Students should prepare for tomorrow's test on "The Noble Experiment."  For additional homework credit, answer the following on a one-page essay with a introductory paragraph:  "Who is your hero?  Why?"

Wednesday, March 7th

Lesson Objectives - After a few exercises in the vocabulary book, students will continue yesterday's analysis of the narrative poem, "Casey at the Bat."  They will focus on the poet's use of rhyme and meter.  They will then present their Jackie Robinson speeches to the rest of the class.

Homework - Interview Question: Failure is part of the learning process.  Explain a situation where you learned from failure.

Tuesday, March 6th

Lesson Objectives - Students will examine "Casey at the Bat" as an example of narrative poetry.  They will practice questioning techniques as well as document the poet's use of rhyme and repetition.  After this, they will continue with yesterday's extension activity involving a speech Jackie Robinson could have given to an audience.

Homework - Answer the following in a paragraph:  "Think of a real-life situation in which success or failure depended on the performance of a single person.  What goes through a person's mind at a moment like that?"

Monday, March 5th

Lesson Objectives - After some exercises with Vocabulary Lesson 8, students will be able to identify and edit examples of passive voice to make it active.

Homework - Class work pages 9-14 are due tomorrow.  Get your SDR signed as well.

Thursday, March 1st

Thank You!! - The month of February had the most visits in the history of this blog!  Not bad for the shortest month of the year.  Thank you for making this site such a success.   -   Mr. Swain

Lesson Objectives - After every group presents their extension activity from "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," we will start our next story, "The Noble Experiment."  Students will practice summarizing the key points of Jackie Robinson's autobiography

Homework - Interview Question: Many people saw Jackie Robinson as a role model for young people.  Should we expect professional athletes to be role models, or should we judge them only on their athletic performance?