DON’T FORGET TO REMIND EVERYONE TO VOTE THIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5!! Voter information for parents and adults.
Assignments for November 11th, 2024
Quick Looks at Great Books
We finished our covering of Chapter 10 and how it is that Dr. Manette is the third person to denounce Charles Darnay. Why did this happen and how was Dr. Manette’s letter found in the first place? After taking Quiz #5, we talked about what happened in the remaining chapters.
If students had questions, they were to ask, but I wanted to make sure that everyone understood exactly what had happened. Students were given a review “Chronolog” to complete for next week’s review. They were also given a genealogy to peruse in case they didn’t get all of the connections of each of the characters. We will have a final review next week and our final test. Please have your questions ready and listen to each person’s question in the game. We will also discuss the novels by Dickens and his life.
Watch this scene from the finale of the story.
Watch this 60 second recap of the characters of this story.
American History
We discussed Chapter 9 today and Thomas Jefferson’s 2 terms. We ended with the War of 1812 and James Madison’s Presidency. I gave them the terms they needed to know for Chapter 9. For Chapters 7-9, study just the Chapter Review terms I gave you. We will also have a review of Chapters 1-6. Those questions will come directly from Tests One and Two. Please study those two tests as a review, concentrating especially on any you missed. The Jeffersonian Era was an exciting time as was James Madison’s Presidency!
Watch this song that tells of the Battle of New Orleans.
U.S. Government
Just a note to parents—students should ask the same questions they answered on the different views of conservatives and liberals to their parents. Of course, there was no grade on this—just their opinions. It will be fun to compare the parents’ vs the students’ answers!
They all received their first test back in class today. (Voting, Electoral College, Political Parties, President, and Vice-President) Happily, we had over half of the class make some kind of A!! (Three actually made a perfect paper—many missed just one!!)
We then planned for Election Night. (Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024) Please, if at all possible, watch the election returns with your student. They have an Election Map with all the current Electoral votes listed for each state. Once a state has been called (winner has been announced), they should color that state as red or blue (like they see on TV). They also have one other sheet to complete (both sides). On the first side, there are seven states that have been called “swing states” for the 2024 election. (Battleground states—these have been visited repeatedly by the candidates.) They should check the winner for each of these states, and they should also complete the total popular vote when that total is announced. On the back of that sheet is listed important Senate races that are too close to call. It is very important which party has a majority in the two houses of the Legislative Branch of our government. Watch these races particularly, and complete which of each house as the majority. One-third of the Senators are up for re-election every two years. Please email me if you have any questions at all on what to do on Election Night. If some of the decisions are not made by the time students go to bed, they can check any channel the next morning. Even though these are tight races, they will be sure to be done and tabulated by next Monday! Be sure the name of each student is on the paper and that it is turned in to me on next Monday.
Make this as fun as possible for your students. A special or favorite meal or something red, white, or blue is always fun. Also, have favorite snacks available throughout the night as they gather information. The election will be covered on all the channels. If you don’t have cable, you can always use the internet or Youtube.
The students turned in a prediction of who will win along with the candidate’s electoral votes (270 to win). We will have a prize for the one who is the closest. What a great election to be a part of! Have fun together as you go through this Presidential season.
Parents, don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 if you have not done so already. Every vote DOES count, especially in a battleground state like Michigan!!
PSAT/SAT/ACT Test Prep
Today we spent the entire period doing a quiz and Practice Test English exercises. We took a grammar quiz as well, covering the ACT’s 12 Most Frequent Errors. The students were also given several sheets of grammar rules. Study pages 24-27 in your notebooks. (lists of PSAT grammar rules) We will have one last quiz next week before we take the ACT Grammar Test. (45 minutes) Then we will go on to review for the Math test the following week.
Adventures in American Literature
The students received their introductory quiz back from last week, which they all did very well on. We then went through all the assigned study guide questions on the chapters of the book (The Scarlet Letter) that they read for today. They seemed to understand everything really well, despite the 1600’s language and wordiness! For next week, read Chapters 7-12 and answer the study guide questions 15-28. We will discuss the chapters and study guide questions before we take the quiz.
Watch this reinforcement of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life.