Longhornliteracy's Blog

9th Grade Summer Reading Lists will be published soon!

C. Smith — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:51:38 +0000

Attention all rising LHS 9th graders: summer reading assignment will be posted on the LHS web page by early June. The lists will be posted according to the class for which the student enrolled. 9th graders who enrolled in either Honors or Gifted classes will be in a class called Pre AP. There will be no classes called Freshman Honors or Freshman Gifted. Instead, students who enrolled for either of these classes have been enrolled in a class called Freshman Pre AP. There is a link to the LHS website on my blogroll on the right hand side of this page if you should need it.

Looking for something to read?

C. Smith — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:25:54 +0000

You can download this attachment for an annotated list of this year’s winners. Please note that I have not read most of these books thus I am not recommending them. I strongly advise each parent to always be aware of what your student is reading by talking to them about the character(s) and plot(s) and being ready to answer any questions that he/she might have upon encountering the text.

Download the annotated list here —-> 2009-2010GAPeach

A letter from the Georgia Department of Education about choosing books for your student: Parent Lexile Letter

Assignments for the final week

C. Smith — Sat, 22 May 2010 22:00:56 +0000

We will review using the Q4 study guide that was given to all students during the first week of this quarter. At that time, students were told to work on completing the guide throughout the quarter so that they would not be in a crunch to do so as we came to the end. Hopefully they listened. The completed study guide is due in class on Monday, May 24th. Those who have the study guide completed, will participate in an in-class review. Those who do not will be given space in another classroom to complete the work and then will have to rely on their own resources to make sure they know the correct answers for the study guide, are familiar with the format of the two exams, and have any questions that they might have answered.

First and second academic classes will take their LA exams on Tuesday. The first exam is an open-ended test and the second exam is multiple choice. Third and fourth academic classes will take the same exams on Wednesday. As each class finishes with both exams, we will hopefully get to finish viewing the Animal Farm movie that was begun in class on Friday as groups finished their Animal Farm assessment projects.

Assignments for the Week of May 17 -21

C. Smith — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:21:22 +0000

We are working on our text reformation project all week this week. We were in class for an introduction of the project on Monday and then in the computer lab Tuesday – Friday in order to complete the work. For a full description of this project and a copy of the grading rubric, click on the “Animal Farm Assessment Project” link at the top of this page. Don’t forget that this is your assessment over the novel and will count as a test grade.

Don’t forget that your final exams are next Tuesday and Wednesday. 1st and 2nd academic LA classes will take their exams on Tuesday and 3rd and 4th academic LA classes will do so on Wednesday. On Monday, May 24, 2010, you must have your completed review packet for this quarter in class with you. For a copy of the materials that were handed out during the first week of this quarter to be used when reviewing for the exam, download these two documents—-> Common Assessment 4 Study Guide 2010

What did you think?

C. Smith — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:59:21 +0000

View This Poll

Assignments for the week of May 10 – 14

C. Smith — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:04:58 +0000

We will continue to read Animal Farm in class this week with students focused on gathering information in order to respond to our blog posts. Don’t forget that if you are absent any day this week, you can access an online copy of the novel. All information can be found under the “Animal Farm Blog” tab at the top of this page.

Don’t forget that by the end of this week, you will have posted 5 different entries on the Animal Farm blog:

One blog entry in response to the question posted on Friday, 5/7/10 – due Monday, 5/10/10 (20 pts)
One blog entry in response to the question posted on Monday, 5/10/10 – due Wednesday, 5/12/10 (20 pts)
One blog entry in response to the question posted on Wednesday, 5/12/10 – due Monday, 5/17/10 (20 pts)
Two comments about fellow students’ blog entries – making a comment, a connection, or asking a question Both comments must be posted by Monday, 5/17/10 (40 pts)
This 100 point grade will be recorded as a quiz grade

Next week will be spent completing a culminating project with Animal Farm that will be recorded as a test grade.

Lanier Yearbook Raffle

C. Smith — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:08:07 +0000

Any remaining yearbooks available after pre-ordered books have been distributed will be raffled on Wednesday, May 12. If you would like to take part in the raffle, please follow the procedures below:

Yearbook price is $45 – CASH ONLY and EXACT CHANGE – if you provide a check or incorrect change, your raffle entry will not be considered.
Place your money in an envelope and write your first and last name, grade level, and your homeroom teacher’s name on the front.
Bring the envelope to Mrs. Wilson in room 1.138 on the first floor during homeroom on Wednesday, May 12. Envelopes will only be accepted during homeroom Wednesday, May 12.

If your name is chosen in the raffle, you will receive a yearbook on Thursday morning in homeroom. If your name is not chosen in the raffle, your money will be returned to you. If you have any questions, please contact Janelle Wilson.

Assignments for the Week of May 3 – 7

C. Smith — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:23:31 +0000

Students who want to retake the “Rockin’ Vocab” test from last Friday, will need to complete the appropriate paperwork and plan to be in our classroom at 8:30 Wednesday, 5/5/10. This is the only time the retake will be offered. The retake will not be a multiple choice test and a word bank will not be provided. Remember, unless you have presented the required paper form for a retake by the end of the day on Tuesday, you will not be given a retest on Wednesday. The higher of your two test grades will be recorded in your gradebook.

For a copy of the required form, click here to download and complete—-LMS Academic Recovery Plan for Retest

MONDAY Students read and discussed some information about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and then read and summarized information from our Scholastic Scope magazines about the importance of the protection and conservation of the earth’s oceans. I was not in class today due to a meeting I had to attend. If you, too, were absent, see me upon returning to school. You have to have a copy of the magazine in order to complete today’s assignment.

Don’t forget, we’ll be completing our audio visual poetry project with the “Where I’m From” poem in class tomorrow and it will be due at the end of the class period. If you have pictures that need to be scanned at school for your project, you must bring them with you to class tomorrow.

TUESDAY Students completed the audio/visual poetry project today in order to publish the “Where I’m From” poems they wrote. These were due at the end of the class period and will be recorded as quiz grades by the end of the week.

WEDNESDAY We began working with George Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm, in class today. We started with an anticipation guide, discussion, and a short film to lay the back ground for the allegory that Orwell uses in the novel. After today, all students should be able to explain what the literary term ‘allegory’ means. If you were absent in class today, download the discussion items for the anticipation guide here —> Anticipation Guide Using their Writer’s Notebooks, students wrote whether they agreed or disagreed with each statement in the anticipation guide and then wrote a short 2 – 4 sentence defense of their viewpoint.

THURSDAY Students read along with a taped reading of Animal Farm in class today in class. Homework: Before class on Monday, every student needs to have blogged a response by going to the “Animal Farm” tab at the top of this page and posting his/her response.

FRIDAY We took a break from working today for a little end-of-the-year fun. After an exciting field trip to the new Lanier High School to take a look around, our students were treated to a fun-filled 8th grade day. Thank you to the LMS PTSA for providing this day for us!

Don’t forget your blog response for the first section of Animal Farm that is due before your classtime on Monday.

Assignments for the week of April 26 – 30

C. Smith — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:03:54 +0000

Gather pictures – either from your family or generic pictures to represent your family – to illustrate your “Where I’m From” poem. If you have electronic copies of the pictures that you can save to a disc or thumb drive and bring it to school with you, that would be best, but you can bring hard copies of pictures, too. Pictures can also be emailed to me and we can save them here for you to use. You will need these beginning Wednesday when we start working with Windows MovieMaker to create your “Where I’m From” audio/visual presentation.

2nd Period EL students – if you need to see the directions for this week’s paraphrasing activity, you can click here —-> Shakespeare

MONDAY We began with DGP and are conducting this activity differently this week in order to prepare for our final DGP test which will concentrate mostly on sentence structures. To see the 3 sentences that we are working with this week and read all the directions for this week’s assignment (which will culminate in a quiz grade), click on the “DGP” link at the top of this page and open the document titled “DGPweekofApril26″.

After DGP, we sang and reviewed both of our new “Rockin’ Vocab” songs – “Amazing” and “Spitball in the Eye”. The test over the vocabulary in these two songs will be this Friday, 4/30/10. That date was announced to students over 2 weeks ago and everyone should be prepared. However, those who are sitting in class and not taking advantage of the opportunity to practice the new vocab and those who are not spending time each night working with the vocab will have difficulty passing the test.

Once DGP and vocab were finished, we began creating story boards for the audio/visual representation of our “Where I’m From” poems. For more information about this project that we began in class last week, you can download and review these two attachments that were given to students in class last week. where i’m from Where I’m From Handout

The final audio/visual project will be due on Tuesday, May 4th.

TUESDAY After completing today’s DGP, we played a review game with the vocabulary words that will be covered on this Friday’s “Rockin’ Vocab” test. Students were given anytime that was left to continue working on their story boards for the “Where I’m From” audio/visual poetry project.

“Rockin’ Vocab” Test – Friday, April 30th

“Where I’m From” audio/visual poetry project due Tuesday, May 4, 2010.

WEDNESDAY After DGP and singing our “Rockin’ Vocab” songs, students were given access to wireless laptops in class to begin working on their “Where I’m From” audio/visual poetry project. Only students with completed story boards were able to begin working with the movie maker and audacity programs today to complete the project that is due on Tuesday, May 4th.

Don’t forget your “Rockin’ Vocab” test that is this Friday, April 30th.

THURSDAY

After DGP and singing our “Rockin’ Vocab” songs, students were given access to wireless laptops in class to begin working on their “Where I’m From” audio/visual poetry project. Only students with completed story boards were able to begin working with the movie maker and audacity programs today to complete the project that is due on Tuesday, May 4th.

Don’t forget your “Rockin’ Vocab” test that is this Friday, April 30th.

FRIDAY Students completed the “Rockin’ Vocab” test in class today.

Don’t forget that your “Where I’m From” audio/visual poetry project is due on Tuesday, May 4th. Tuesday is the only day next week that you will have access to the laptops in class. Plan accordingly.

We’re Taking a Fieldtrip to the New High School!!!!!

C. Smith — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:43:41 +0000

For more information or if you need a new copy of the permission slip to sign, click here —> 09-10 Lanier High School Field Trip permission