the adventures of ulysses - council rock school district · “papa’s fishing hole” by...
TRANSCRIPT
English Class Newsletter
About a month ago, I attended conferences for my young children at their daycare. Although
I have been conducting conferences as a teacher for 15 years, the experience was entirely dif-
ferent for me as a parent. During the conference for my oldest, who is now a kindergartener,
I learned so much about what was going on in her classroom, as well as the “sight words” she
should know by now. I had no idea there were weekly sight words! On top of that, my daugh-
ter did not know them all. At that moment, I realized how difficult it is to know everything
that is going on in your child’s life at school. It is even more difficult I am sure, when your
child is in middle school and sees 7-10 teachers throughout the day. With that in mind, I de-
cided to put together this newsletter, with the help of your children, to hopefully connect you
with English class on Team Eagles. Hopefully you enjoy it! Happy reading!
The titles of the units of study so far this year are below. Each page of the newsletter re-
flects information about that unit.
Unit 1: Building Community
Unit 2: Facing Challenges
Unit 3: Poetry
Unit 4: Stand Tall and The Adventures of Ulysses
Unit 5: The 8 parts of Speech
Unit 6: Edgar Allan Poe
Building Community—Unit I
The first unit of the school year was dedicated to building a classroom community. Students
were engaged in activities that helped them get to know one another. These activities includ-
ed the Action Name Game, writing letters of introduction, Me in a Bag presentations, and
writing zines on ‘How to Survive the First Days of Middle School’!
A sample zine is below.
Many of the zines kids wrote this year were selected to be a part of Bucks County’s traveling
Art Mobile!
Facing Challenges—Unit II
In our English classes, the first unit we learned was themed Facing Challenges. In this
unit we read a short story about Stacy Allison, who wanted to be the first woman to
reach the peak of Everest. We also read “All Summer in a Day,” by Ray Bradbury. In this
story, kids were going to school on Venus and facing the challenge of life with no sun!
For one activity, we walked around the school with iPads to take pictures and demon-
strate examples of one of the three points of view (the first person point of view( I,
Me), the second point of view (You), and third point of view (He, She, They). We also
took pictures of the types of literary conflict which are person vs person, person vs.
self, person vs. supernatural, person vs. nature, and person vs. society. We continue to
learn new things each day and every day is a new adventure in learning.
Written by Kennedy Kuechler
Poetry—Unit III
One important unit students learned so far this year was the poetry unit. The unit began with students reading many different poems. Then there was a poetry recital where students had to memorize a poem and recite in front of the class. Overall the recital was a great experience. Next, students were taught two different types of poems. The first was the Ode. Ode poems are written as a tribute to a particular person or object. Then students learned about Narrative po-ems. Narrative poems are used to tell a story using first person. Poems like that do not need to follow a rhythm. The students also wrote both of the poems using different poetic devices and figurative language, such as personification, alliteration, simile, different rhythm patterns, or any other learned in class. Then at the end of the unit, after becoming decent poem writers, came the test. The test included multiple choice, short answers, identifying what was in a poem, and matching. Written by Madison Parillo
Sample Ode written in class:
The Land of Bears
By: Madison Parrillo
The rocks go SNAP, CRACKLE, and
POP
like rice krispies
As we pull into the campground
My mom shifts the gears to park
We all jump out
After driving forever
CLICK
The trunk opens up
Our equipment jumps out
The wood ignites
We unfold our chairs
Pull on our coats
and roast marshmallows
And begin laughing and singing
The laughs are loud
The singing is so off key
But we don’t care
Out in the land of bears
Hot chocolate boils
Ready to be drank
We crank down the heat
Pour it in our mugs
And chug, chug, chug
After so many hours
We run out of power
The wood burns out
And that was just the beginning of
wonderful camping trip
Poetry Unit-Continued
Narrative Poem written in class:
“Almost late”
By Jon Goodwin
The hallways begin to empty
People disappear into classrooms
But not me
My locker was jammed
When I finally get my stuff,
I realize the hallways are vacant
Void of human life
I begin my mad sprint
Across the school
Dreading the moment
When the bell screams my name
Finally I see the room
I swing the door open
Just as the bell rings
Yes! I made it-
Oh, wait…
Wrong classroom.
Students read and analyzed the following
poems in class this year:
“Dreams” and “Dream Deferred” by Lang-
ston Hughes
“Flint” by Christina Rosetti
“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
“Guest House” by Rumi
“The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by
Tupac Shakur
“One Inch Tall” by Shel Silverstein
“Taste III Leopard” by Diana Ackerman
“Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanca
“Restless” by Dorothy Bettencourt Elf-
strom
“You Can't Write a Poem about McDon-
ald's” by Ronald Wallace
“The Little Stuff ” by John Bressler
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Various limericks by Edward Lear
“Hands” by Daniel Beatty
“Knock Knock” by Sarah Kay
“Equestrian Fiasco”
“The Lie” by Donald Graves
“Papa’s Fishing Hole” by Elisabeth D. Babin
The Adventures of Ulysses—Unit IV (Honors English)
One of my favorite topics we have done so far was when we read The Adventures of Ulysses. When we start-
ed this in November, I wasn’t too interested because I knew a lot about Greek and Roman Myths. When we
finished, I really liked it! First of all, we used Google Classroom. We got assigned a packet, and we had to fill it
out. It had its ups and downs, but it worked out. Eventually. Each day, we had a question we had to answer.
For example: “If you could see your future, would you or would you not? Why?” We would then discuss it,
and we all had a different point of view. We also had to read (Duh. It’s a book!) Mrs. Donmoyer let us read
with a partner sometimes. Once we were about halfway through the book, we took an oral exam. An oral ex-
am is where you are asked a question, and instead of writing the answer, you say it. I think it was practice for
a job interview, but that’s none of my business. At the end, we took a test. We had to write an essay saying
one character trait that Ulysses had, and say why. Some people said Heroic, or Determined, but if you don’t
know the story, you wouldn’t get it. So I hope you enjoy…
Daniel’s really quick guide to…
THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES!
So, after the Trojan War, Ulysses and his crew went home. On the way home, they meet Polyphemus, a cy-
clops. Ulysses outsmarts him, but then gets cursed by Polyphemus’ dad Poseidon, god of water and fish and
stuff. So… adventure! He gets to the island of Circe, where his crew gets turned into pigs. Ulysses stops her.
Ulysses: 1 Curse: 0. He gets to this strait of water, where there is a giant squid that eats boats and this squid
bird thing and each are on either sides of the water. He wins again. He meets Calypso, he almost died, 15
times. So he eventually makes it back to his home, and he gets to see his wife again. THE END.
Daniel’s book reviews- ***** “A great book. I loved it!”
Written by, Daniel Shiloh
(Who did you think?)
Stand Tall by Joan Bauer—Academic English
In November we read the book Stand Tall. This book is about the life
struggle of a boy named Tree. You might think that “Tree” is an odd
name for a person, but he got the name because he is very tall ( 6ft 4in).
He later finds out that his parents are splitting up. In the end, he figures
out how to deal with it.
Later in the unit, we had an oral exam. Mrs. Donmoyer took us one by
one and asked us three questions to test our understanding of the book.
After that, we had a written test that was about thirty questions. We also
wrote an essay. The unit took about three weeks.
In my opinion, this book was a 4 out of 5 star book!
Written by Cailey Hiscox
Parts of Speech—Unit V
In December students learned the eight parts of speech. This
was a very difficult unit that involved a lot of work! Students
learned nouns, adjectives, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections,
verbs, adverbs, and prepositions.
In The Spotlight
2016 Grammar Gurus!
These students earned this year’s Grammar Guru
awards for their exceptional achievements during the
Parts of Speech unit!
The Eight Parts of Speech—continued
Now that all 8 parts of speech have been learned, students are able to identify the
Parts of Speech in a sentence. Each poster below has all 8 parts of speech in it.
Test your knowledge. What is the part of speech of the underlined word?
1. The boy ran toward the house.
A. verb B. noun C. adjective D. pronoun
2. Love is something we celebrate on Valentine’s Day.
A. verb B. adverb C. preposition D. noun
3. Soon it is time to get ready for spring!
A. verb B. adverb C. adjective E. conjunction
4. The furry rabbit was on the boat.
A. preposition B. verb C. noun D. adverb
Which is correct, I or me?
5. The teacher gave the gift to Bobby and ( I , me ).
6. Can Tori and ( I, me) go to the library after school?
For answers see last page.
Edgar Allan Poe—Unit VI
Currently we are reading stories and poems written by famed author Edgar Allan Poe. These
tales are cryptic, dark, and sometimes even horrifying! Students have studied the language
used by Poe in his tales through vocabulary exercises, and students will further discuss Poe’s
brilliance and madness in essays. Grammar study continues in this unit, with particular atten-
tion being paid to the various sentence types. Students will also be reworking and identifying
run-ons and fragments, as well as identifying subjects and predicates.
Riley Schaffer had the opportunity to visit the famous Poe house in Baltimore! See be-
low.
This newsletter is only able to highlight some of the great work com-
pleted by students so far this year in English class. There is much more
in their writing folders and binders to share! Please look through the
writing folders to see the great work. Also, please encourage your child
to hang on to his or her Parts of Speech packet for eighth grade Eng-
lish. It will come in handy all year long!
Parts of Speech answers:
1. B
2. D
3. B
4. A
5. me
6. I