Daily Bell Ringer Schedule

Students are expected to spend the first 3-5 minutes of class completing the daily bell ringer.  A bell ringer is an activity or brief assignment for a student to complete as soon as he or she arrives to class and is seated.  All students are expected to be engaged in the daily bell ringer prompt by the time the bell rings signifying the start of class.

I will give students an opportunity to share their responses on occasion.  I will also circulate around the classroom to ensure that students are actively engaged in the bell ringer assignment.  Students may earn a weekly bell ringer grade for sharing a bell ringer response as well as completing all 5 bell ringer prompts for the week.

Students who talk while someone is sharing their written response, work on other assignments, interrupt or disrupt while others are sharing, or refuse to write quietly for the 3-5 minute period are subject to losing some or all bell ringer points for the week.

Below is the link to our weekly bell ringer schedule:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dFVNLomjjQw4nqqfHgG54DJ8A4XGb1AX8Ss9duZkcmo/edit?usp=sharing

Course Syllabus

You may access the English 1 course syllabus through the following link:

https://docs.google.com/a/nrschools.org/document/d/1Z9OQfxKk0OxcJ6yFZU4JQoz3NEnOZ7L81fbz55zjKEo/edit?usp=sharing

English 1 Summer Reading

A Lesson Before Dying

By Ernest Gaines

English I

Ms. Pride/Ms. Senter

New Richmond High School

Summer Assignment

Dear Students and Parents:

Summer reading is a requirement for all English courses at New Richmond High School. Therefore, you will need the following paperback book: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines so that you may complete the reading and journal assignment prior to the first day of school for the 2015-2016 school year. We will have copies of the novel available at the high school if you would like to get one.  Someone will be here on Monday evenings from 6:30 - 8:00 and Wednesday mornings from 9 - 11 during the month of June.  Should you lose this copy of the summer reading assignment, please visit Ms. Pride’s blog http://prideeng1.blogspot.com/  or Ms. Senter’s blog http://mssenterenglish1.blogspot.com for an additional copy.

FAQs:

1. How should I hand in my assignment?

     *You will hand this assignment in the first day of school, Thursday, August 20th.

2. How should I format my friendly letter?

     *We have provided a sample of a properly formatted friendly letter. Please use this as a

reference.  

*If you choose to type the assignment, the letter should be typed in

       Times New Roman, 12 point font, and must be single-spaced.  Please print your letter

       prior to class.

3. What if I have questions on the assignment over the summer?

      *Do your best to rely on yourself and to trust your own thinking. Try to think

        about what is being asked of you and think about the novel from another

        perspective. Think about why you are working on this assignment, and what

        might be the best way to proceed. Then just go for it! It is unacceptable to make

        no attempt.

Assignment:

You are asked to write a letter trying to lift Jefferson’s spirits and heal his pain because of his recent death sentence. Please reference 3 incidents from the story and tell Jefferson what you thought his biggest regret might be and what you feel was the most valuable life lesson he learned. Go beyond the obvious. Please don’t include his presence in the liquor store and being at the wrong place at the wrong time as his biggest regret.  You should carefully consider his relationships with other key characters in the novel.

NAME_____________________________

A Lesson Before Dying Letter and Care Package Rubric

Grade	Details	Commentary	Connection	Appearance
A 45 to 50 points	Writes 3 detailed, meaningful incidents and life lesson learned	Includes thoughtful interpretation and critical thinking	Makes insightful connections from the story	Is neat, organized, and professional looking; correctly formatted
B 40 to 44 points	Is less detailed, but contains 3 meaningful incidents and life lesson learned	Includes some thoughtful interpretation and critical thinking	Includes some connections from the story	Is neat and readable; correctly formatted
C 35 to 39 points	Is less detailed, and  contains 2 meaningful incidents and life lesson learned	Interpretation and critical thinking is vague and/or unsupported	Limited connections from the story	Is relatively neat; partially correctly formatted
D/F 30 to 34 OR 29 or less	Is less detailed, and  contains 1 or less meaningful incidents and life lesson learned	Interpretation and critical thinking is not provided and unsupportive.	No connections from the story	Is sloppy and unorganized and not properly formatted

Final Grade : ___________________________

Comments: ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

 

 1131 Bethel-New Richmond Road

New Richmond, OH 45157

 August 20, 2015

Dear Jefferson,

This is a body paragraph to uplift Jefferson’s spirits and help ease his pain with his recent death sentence. Please reference an incident from the story as evidence! Please be as detailed as possible in recalling the incident.

This is a body paragraph to update Jefferson regarding what is taking place in the community while he is incarcerated.  You might consider telling him about specific people and their reactions to his incarceration in addition to updating him on what is occurring throughout the community. Please reference specific incidents and characters from the novel as evidence! Please be as detailed as possible in recalling the incident.

This is a body paragraph to uplift Jefferson’s spirits and help ease his pain with his recent death sentence. Please reference an incident from the story as evidence! Please be as detailed as possible in recalling the incident.

This is a body paragraph to tell Jefferson what you thought his biggest regret might be and what you feel was the most valuable life lesson he learned. Go beyond the obvious. Please don’t include his presence in the liquor store and being at the wrong place at the wrong time as his greatest regret.

Your friend,

 Signature

P.S. Tante Lou says hi.

Text Message Reminders for Homework, Tests, and Quizzes

Students and Parents,

Please feel free to subscribe to my Remind text messages.  Remind is a safe one-way communication tool that allows teachers to send text message reminders for homework assignments, quizzes, and tests.  I will not have access to anyone's cell phone number.  This is a great resource for students and parents, and it's very easy to sign up!  For more information, go to www.remind.com or check out the free Remind app on your phone.  I will provide copies of instructions for using Remind text messages at 9th grade orientation.

Text @k2gfa to 81010 to start receiving Remind text messages.

Thank you!

Class Supplies

Class Supplies

Students will need the following supplies for English class:

• blue or black pens 
• #2 pencils
• college ruled notebook paper
• a folder for keeping all handouts and assignments
• 1 writer's notebook (spiral notebook, composition notebook…whatever works for you!  One -subject spiral notebooks are usually less expensive)
• your school-issued student agenda
• helpful, but not mandatory:  index cards, highlighters, post-it notes 

Note:  I will ask you to decorate your writer's notebook during class time the first full week of school. Be creative and have fun!  Feel free to use cut-outs from magazines (pictures, words, phrases), song lyrics, photos, stickers, postcards, duct tape, art work, recycled greeting and birthday cards, print-outs from the internet, etc.  This is your writer's notebook, and you will be using it often, so have fun decorating it!

Summer Reading for Incoming Advanced English 2 Students 2015-2016

Summer Reading 2015 - Advanced English 2

Any student registered for Advanced English 2 is required to complete a summer reading assignment. The literary analysis over Anthem by Ayn Rand is due by midnight on Wednesday, July 8, 2015. While there is not a required written assignment for Night by Elie Wiesel, the book must be completed by the first day of school.  Night will be the focus of class for the first 2 or 3 weeks of class.

Failure to complete the summer reading assignments will result in a significant negative impact on your 1st quarter grade.  If you choose to transfer to English 2, the grades you earned 1st quarter will transfer with you.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I usually check my email several times a week.  My email address is senter_m@nrschools.org.  This is the same email you will use to share your summer reading assignment as a Google Doc.  You will need to make sure I have permission to view and edit your document.

Summer Reading:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oUKvI8JxW40ig1BLw5yx1stb3Gs1puN6MLYbGNKMos4/edit?usp=sharing

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Reading Schedule

The following link will take you to the tentative five-week reading schedule for To Kill A Mockingbird.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LuggcZcIJNHTx4Pc_HNyjrVKBl6QQ6lHr1M1lnJmlhQ/edit?usp=sharing

Want to follow along with the audiobook?  Here's how:

The following links will give you access to the audiobook.  Please follow along in your book while listening to the audio.

http://arc.rcboe.org/res_view_folder.aspx?id=ed68298c-7c70-4dbe-8b61-03418ce77a88&userGroupId=b1c0fb7d-9fd1-4701-ba6e-3d73d32fbc2e&userGroupType=C

http://johnsontwality.weebly.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird-audio.html

NOTE:  If you can not access the audio version of the text at either of the above links, you can likely find a working version via YouTube through a web search.