February 7, 2023February 7, 2023 litalive

2023

Assignments due for the week of February 6th, 2023

Valentine Day hearts

Quick Looks at Great Books

We talked about the life of Alexandre Dumas today and how his life influenced his writing. We went over the history of France during this time and how that affected the events of the story. (particularly the time frame of 1815) We took our quiz on today’s reading and went over the study guide questions. Those reading the unabridged version will help us fill in details of some of the characters. (They also get extra credit!) They’re all great readers, and I’m looking forward to going through this book with them. For next week, read the following chapters:

Chapters 13-27 (Abridged version)
Chapters 16-35 (Unabridged version)

Answer study guide questions 19-51. The suspense and excitement is building!! Note the change of setting in this section.

Watch this brief video of a current view of the Chateau d’If.

Practical Public Speaking

We discussed today two of the types of communication—intrapersonal and interpersonal. We completed all the pages in the workbook about these two areas. Then we began to prepare for our first set of public interviews. Each student will be either the one asking the questions or the one answering the questions.

We will reverse these roles once we are finished with the first biographical interviews. As questioner, asks the questions listed on page 11 in your notebooks. Add five other questions (or follow-up questions to those already asked). We will complete these next week after a few minutes for the paired groups. Let me know if you have any questions at all.

American History

We reviewed Chapters 10-17 with a game today, and the students did a fantastic job. I’m expecting their best grades ever, even on this comprehensive test. We reviewed EVERYTHING today that will be on the test. Continue to study these chapters for our test next week and read Chapter 18 (next chapter) in your text.

Review the life of President Abraham Lincoln.

Review the life of President Andrew Johnson here.

Review the life of U.S. Grant at this site

No-Spin Economics

We went over the homework sheet for the summary of Bastiat’s The Law. It’s amazing how a book written in 1850 could be so applicable today! We see his ideas being used and misused today! We also covered the Crash Course Economics #1 and made sure the students knew the answers to the questions so that they could study these sheets to study for a test later. We also worked in teams to answer the Discussion Prompts together. For next week, watch the Crash Course Economics #2 on Specialization and Trade. We’ll play a game to see just why “free trade” works. Also, bring your Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? book to class.

Crash Course Economics #2

Adventures in American Literature

We had great reports on two of Hawthorne’s famous stories—“Young Goodman Brown” and “Rappacini’s Daughter”. Audrey and Finley did a super job telling us these stories! We then covered all of the homework poems the students had read—William Cullen Bryant and all the Fireside Poets, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Emily Dickinson. For next week, read the poetry of Walt Whitman on pages 105-111. Then read the excerpt of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe on the handout you were given and answer the questions on the last page. This novel played such an important part in the history of the Civil War. Be sure to secure a copy (from the library if necessary) in two weeks of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I know you’ll love the adventures and the history portrayed!

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 litalive

Assignments for 01/30/2023

Assignments due for the week of January 30th, 2023

Winter cottage

Quick Looks at Great Books

We finished our Cyrano study guide today and played a review game to prepare for our final test. Based on how they did in the review, I think they did very well on the test!

For next week we will start our next book, The Count of Monte Cristo by the French author Alexandre Dumas. Complete the reading as follows for this week:

Chapters 1-12 (abridged version)
Chapters 1-15 (unabridged version)

Then answer questions 1-18 in your study guide.

Practical Public Speaking

We had a great time discussing all the forms of communication and the role verbal and nonverbal language plays in each of them. No homework this week! We will continue in our workbook next week in class and prepare for our one-on-one interviews. We will also discuss the layers of self-revelation that we tend to follow.

American History

We went over Chapter 17 — Reconstruction and will have a short quiz on this brief chapter. I gave the students the people, places, and terms they will need to know from this chapter. Also begin studying for our big test on Chapters 10-17 in your textbook. We will do a thorough review game next week, to prepare for the test, which we will take at the beginning of the next class period. (We will also have a reading assignment for that week.) To benefit the most from the review, please study the chapters for the test, particularly the ones that led up to the Civil War. (Chapters 10-15) That way you can see which areas you still need to study.

Watch this brief video of our 18th President and the amazing life of U.S. Grant.

No-Spin Economics

The students received their final exams back from Government class today. They all did a fantastic job!! The students should show their parents all they know!! We then watched several videos on Economics and what it involves. We also watched a video on “Why YOU Should Study Economics” by Mr. Clifford who is the cohost of the Crash Course Economics series we will be studying. The students will need a copy of the book Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard Maybury in the next two weeks.

For next week, watch the brief summary of the important points in Frederic Bastiat’s The Law. Even though it was written many years ago, it is still applicable in so many ways and remains the foundation for our economic systems today.

Then complete the study sheet you were given in class. Study this sheet, which we will go over in class, and we will have a short quiz on the information on it.

Also, we will begin our study of Economics by watching the first of 15 videos we will cover this semester—Introduction to Economics. These videos will be reinforced with the information in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?. We will start our reading there in about two weeks. You were also given a study guide sheet with questions to answer from the video. These sheets should go into your notebooks to study from when we have tests on these videos.

Adventures in American Literature

Today we covered the questions on page 85 on “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Then we went over the excerpt from “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” and went over page 88 and the characters in general. I told the students the rest of the story so that they knew what happened in the entire story. We also did the oral reports on some of Hawthorne’s short stories and identified his use of symbolism in each of them. We will finish the remaining two next week.

For next week, continue with the second semester text you were given today in class. Read “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant on pages 89 and 90. Then answer the questions on page 91. Start reading the Fireside poets on pages 91-96 and answer the questions on pages 96 and 97.

Watch this brief video for more information about the Fireside Poets.

Also read and answer the questions on the poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Boys”. (pages 98 and 99) He was the class poet for the graduating class from Harvard in 1829.

Finally, read and answer the questions on Emily Dickinson’s poetry on pages 100-104. We will discuss all of these poems in class and analyze them as well. I will check your notebooks to see that you have read and attempted to answer the questions for these works.

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

January 24, 2023January 24, 2023 litalive

Assignments for 01/23/2023

Assignments due for the week of January 23rd, 2023

Winter cottage

Quick Looks at Great Books

We will have our final test on Cyrano de Bergerac next week. We will do a review game before the test and also finish the last three pages of your study guides. Make sure you obtain a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas by next week. You will receive your study guide and first assignment next Monday.

Since you have no new reading this week, complete the following pages in your Literary Terms notebook:

Onomatopoeia pages 31-33
Poetic License pages 83-85
Pun pages 86-88
Satire, Parody, and Farce pages 92 and 93

Watch the following final scene of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Practical Public Speaking

We will begin second semester next week, January 23, 2023. All you will need is a three-ring binder to hold the workbook I will give you. It will be a “fun” class, and I am looking forward to it! Lots of interaction and lots of practical experience!

American History

We went through the Civil War today and all the important points in Chapter 16. We will have a quiz next week on these main points you were given in Chapter 16. Also, read Chapter 17, our last chapter before our test on the events that led up to the Civil War, the war itself, and the Reconstruction period. This will be a good review of this chapter before the test.

Watch this video of President Andrew Johnson.

No-Spin Economics

Next week will be our first week of second semester. No homework of course! The only thing you will need is a three-ring binder to hold the pages I give you over the semester for Economics. This is such an important subject in the nation at this time. You will enjoy the study of our current currency as well as the principles of economics that we cover.

Adventures in American Literature

We went over Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau and their literary writings as well as the excerpt from Herman Melville’s Redburn. Then we had six wonderful reports on Poe’s short stories by six of our students. I loved the animated narration and dramatic emphasis with which each story was presented!

For next week, read “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This next week, we will become familiar with many of Hawthorne’s short stories. He is as well-known for these as he his The Scarlet Letter.

Read “The Minister’s Black Veil” and answer the questions about it on page 85 in your notebooks.

Then read the excerpt from “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” on pages 86 and 87 in your notebooks and answer the questions on page 88.

Reports on the following stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne are due next week:

“Young Goodman Brown” — Audrey
“The Birthmark” — Norah
“My Kinsman, Major Molineux — Addison
“The Ambitious Guest” — Ethan V.
“Rappaccini’s Daughter — Finley
“The Maypole of Merry Mount” — Joyann

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 litalive

Assignments for 01/16/2023

Assignments due for the week of January 16th, 2023

Winter cottage

Quick Looks at Great Books

We are now oriented to Cyrano and his situation. Complete the play by reading Acts IV and V. You were to do page 6 in the study guide, and all the rest of the guide, we will do together in class. Have your questions ready on these two acts before we take the quiz. Also, be sure to have your Literary Terms notebook in class.

Watch this close-up of the duel scene that we watched in class today. Cyrano is fighting Valvert after his insult to Cyrano’s nose.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

Today, we covered the things to remember for an actual test day.
We also read actual writing essays on an ACT test and noted how that particular essay would have been scored. For homework, compose a writing plan with things you could use in any essay or writing assignment you may have. Include the following items:

10 Vocal words you could use in any writing situation
2 Personal experiences which could apply to many situations
2 Historical or Literature-based incidents you could use to illustrate your points. You could have 2 historical ones, 2 literature-related ones, or one of each.

Email me if you have any questions at all.

American History

We reviewed the lives of the four Presidents in Chapters 14 and 15 and then went over the events in Chapter 15 that you will need to know for our test. Tensions were high, and in Chapter 16, the War between the States finally broke out. Read Chapter 16, and we will cover the events that you need to know for our next test.

Watch the following video on President James Buchanan.

Watch this video on the life of one of our greatest Presidents—Abraham Lincoln.

U.S. Government

Today, we finished the lessons you completed for your last assignment. We went through State Government, City Government, and the Post Office. Since we have not had a quiz on these lessons or the four branches of the U.S. Military, I gave you the few terms in each lesson that you would need to know for the final exam. Next week is the last day of the first semester. Study for the final exam by reviewing your past quizzes and particularly the two major tests we had. We will do a review game next week before we take the exam. We covered the branches of the military in class, but if you missed last week or this week, here are the Crossword answers to pages 81, 85, 89, and 93, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. Make up any work you are missing and watch the following video of the popular songs of the U.S, Military branches.

Adventures in American Literature

Today, we had our quiz on the story the students read online—Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. We also watched a summary of Irving’s other most famous work, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We also looked at Sleepy Hollow today and the Halloween celebrations that characterize the town. (Tarrytown, New York)

We also discussed Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Black Cat”. We covered pages 70-72 in your notebooks by comparing the two Poe stories—“The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. We determined which narrator might more likely be truly insane. It was sad to see Poe’s tragic life illustrated in “The Black Cat”.

For next week, read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay entitled “Self-Reliance” on page 75 and answer the questions on page 76. We will discuss the influence of Emerson and his dedicated student, Henry David Thoreau. Then read the excerpt from Melville’s Redburn and answer the questions that follow on pages 79-84.

The following students were assigned a Poe short story to read and give an oral report to the class as to what the story was about. The rest of the class will also read a story and report to us on stories by other famous American authors.

The following are the stories due next week.

“The Fall of the House of Usher”—Ana Agapidis
“The Masque of the Red Death—Hadley Broyles
“The Pit and the Pendulum”—Colin Huyck
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue—Elizabeth Newton
“The Purloined Letter”—John Weger
“The Gold Bug”—Caroline Bates

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

January 10, 2023January 10, 2023 litalive

Assignments for 01/09/2023

Assignments due for the week of January 9th, 2023

Winter cottage

Quick Looks at Great Books

We will be starting our new book, Cyrano de Bergerac, a play by Edmond Rostand. The students received their study guides in class. For next week, read Acts I-III of the play. We will do the questions in the study guide together in class. Just do page 6 by drawing the people in the locations listed on page 5. This will help to picture how the play performance would have looked in Act I at the Hotel Bourgogne.

Then we spent time in our Literary Terms notebook, beginning to cover the terms which have been assigned and discussed this year in the books you have read.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

We reviewed the four subject areas on the ACT today with the use of specific ACT flash cards. Even if you learned a new fact that helps you get one or more questions right this spring, it will be worth it!! No regular homework this week. Each student was given a list of the work they still needed to make up. Many were missing the grammar quizzes. Study the Principal Parts of the Verb and the 12 Classic ACT Grammar Errors to review and prepare. Plan to have all your work made up in the next two weeks.

American History

We reviewed some of our past lessons and studied in groups some sample McGuffey readers that would have been used in all the schools in the 1800’s. Amazingly, the readers taught great Biblical stories, Shakespeare play plots, geography, history, grammar, pronunciation, cursive writing, and moral decision making.

For next week, read Chapter 15 in your history books. (Slavery and Secession.) Our quiz next week will be an objective one over the following four videos on the lives of these U.S. Presidents.

James K. Polk

Zachary Taylor

Millard Fillmore

Franklin Pierce

U.S. Government

Today, we played the same game we played on the first day of class. Amazingly, the students know so much more about our government!! This is also a good review for our upcoming final exam.

For next week, complete the following lessons in your notebooks:
State Government (pages 70-73), City Government (pages 74-76), and The Post Office (pages 78-80). Here are the answers to the Crosswords on pages 69, 73, and 77. State Government, City Government, and The Post Office.

In class today, we also covered the first branch of the U.S. military—the Army. Watch the following video to hear the rousing songs for each branch of the military.

Adventures in American Literature

We began our study of Edgar Allan Poe today by watching a dramatization of his famous story, “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Then we reviewed and listened to some of his poetry and did pages 66-69. For next week, read another Poe short story “The Black Cat”. Then do pages 70-72, answering questions and comparing the two stories. Read the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe.

Also, read the story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving and be prepared for a quiz.

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 litalive

Assignments for 12/12/2022

Assignments due for the week of December 12th, 2022

Merry Christmas and Tree

Quick Looks at Great Books

We finished reviewing the entire book (Silas Marner) before our final test today. We did two rounds of a Jeopardy review game to go over characters and events. The students did a great job in answering questions and remembering details! We finished with he final test on this book. For next week, continue working in your Literary Terms book with the following pages:

Genre (pages 66-68)
Mood and Tone (pages 74-76)
Moral and Theme (pages 77-78)
Plot (pages 81-82)
Rhetorical Question (pages 89-91).

I will check these pages to see that you have kept up with the assignments in this notebook when we get back from Christmas break. We will then work on going through what you have done.

Next week, we will celebrate a Victorian Christmas as Charles Dickens and George Eliot would. Many do not know how many of our current traditions really came from Queen Victoria and her family, along with the contributions of Charles Dickens. We will celebrate in some of the ways they traditionally would.

Watch this 60 second recap of one of Dickens’s most beloved stories.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

We prepared for the final section of the ACT test today—the Science Test. We went over the 3 types of passages the students would encounter and did practice sheets for each of them. They did an amazing job of reading the graphs, charts, and experiments!! They do not have to be proficient in the many fields of science. They just have to interpret the information given to them in each passage. Next week, we will review and take the final test so that they can see their overall score for the ACT.

American History

We took our quiz on the videos today and then discussed Chapters 11 and 12. Students were given which of the terms they need to know in the Chapter Review at the end of these two chapters. Next week, we will have a quiz on the key points in Chapters 10-12 as well as the following four videos.

Andrew Jackson

Martin VanBuren

William Henry Harrison

John Tyler

Only key facts from Lessons 10-12 will be on the quiz: Era of Good Feelings, Missouri Compromise, Trail of Tears, and Sojourner Truth for examples. Also, read Chapters 13 and 14, which we will go over in class. No big test until after the Civil War!

U.S. Government

Today we reviewed the lessons of Voting, The Electoral College, Political Parties (Democratic and Republican), President, and Vice President with a competitive game. Then we took the test on these pages in your notebooks. We then made sure that everyone had the correct answers to the Lessons on Immigration and Citizenship. For next week, complete Lessons 16 and 17 on The Law and Trial. These lessons follow the unit on the Supreme Court that we covered last week. The test will cover the following lessons: Supreme Court, The Law, Trial, Immigration, and Citizenship. It will be True/False, Short Answer, Matching, and Multiple choice. (The Short Answer will always be things we have covered the entire semester.) I have included the answers for Lesson 16 The Law and Lesson 17 Trial on pages 61 and 65. We will also do another game to review all of the material for the test. There will be two bonus questions that will come from the videos on Air Force One and The Beast you had in last week’s assignment. Let me know if you have any questions.

Adventures in American Literature

We played a Jeopardy game to review key characters and events in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and then took the final test. The students have done a great job with this difficult book and have good grades to prove it!

For next week, read Washington Irving’s “Early Life in Manhattan” on pages 56-61 and answer the questions on each page. Irving wrote this story under the pseudonym of Diedrich Knickerbocker. We will then cover many facts you may not know about Irving and how he helped develop our American Christmas celebrations.

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

December 6, 2022December 6, 2022 litalive

Assignments for 12/05/2022

Assignments due for the week of December 5th, 2022

Merry Christmas and Tree

Quick Looks at Great Books

We continued our discussion and finished Book I and then took the quiz on that section. We will finish with the discussion of Part II and then play a review Jeopardy Game team competition in our next class. If we have time, we will finish watching the final scenes from the BBC version of the book. It was great to see Eppie and Silas grow together today. Make sure you have completed the Chronolog review page you were given to review the characters and events in chronological order. We took questions and then took the final quiz on Part II. Next week, we will do the game review before we take the final test. Since you have no assigned reading this week, compete the following lessons in your Literary Terms notebook:

Alliteration (pages 22-24)
Characters and Characterization (pages 52-53)
Conflict (pages 54-56)
Flashback (pages 62-63)
Foreshadowing (pages 64-65)

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

We completed our ACT Math test today. Only one more test to complete all of the ACT as well as the PSAT (SAT)! Next week, we will review for the final test, Science. We will go over what the test will cover and practice each of the types of sections that will be on the test. We will also review some vocabulary words, which should help on the Reading section of any standardized test. We will then make sure of any make-up work that needs to be done by any of the students.

American History

We went over Chapter 10 in our textbooks today, which covered the Presidential terms of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. We also had a little information and trivia about the six first ladies. Then we took a few minutes to review once more the 50 states and capitals to prepare for the test at the end of this semester. Some of you have been studying these!! We had an unbelievable “roll” with three of the girls in our class!!

For next week, read Chapters 11 and 12, which covers the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the Second Great Awakening, and those who responded to the call to reach out with missions to various groups who needed to hear the Gospel.

We will have a quiz on the information in the following videos. Much of this is covered in your text, but the quiz will come solely from the videos.

War of 1812

James Monroe

John Quincy Adams

U.S. Government

Today, we studied the last of the three branches of our government—the Judicial Branch. We had a slideshow on the Supreme Court and its current justices. We learned their functions, their salaries, and by which President they were appointed. Then we covered the pages you did in your notebooks on the Supreme Court. Hopefully, you now know their names and could recognize their faces. Remember that John Roberts, appointed by President George W. Bush is the current Chief Justice. He has extra duties as well as serving as head of the highest court in the land.

We also began talking about the special airplane (Air Force One) and the special limo (The Beast) provided for the U.S. President.

Next week, we will have our first test over several lessons we have finished: Voting, the Electoral College, Political Parties (Democrat and Republican), President and Vice-President. We will do a game review before we take the test. Also, watch the following two videos to learn more about Air Force One and the President’s special limo. There will be a quiz on the information given in these videos.

Air Force One

The Beast (Cadillac 1)

Adventures in American Literature

Great job in finishing The Scarlet Letter and in understanding Hawthorne’s attempt at 17th century dialogue!! We had a question time before we took the final quiz, and we had amazing questions about events and characters! We reviewed the Chronolog (p. 17 in your study guide), which reviews the entire book in chronological order. Next we will play a Jeopardy review game (with assigned teams) before we take the final test on the book. Study any characters or events you are unsure of or just review the questions in your study guide.

Also, for next week, read pages 53 and 54, an excerpt from James Fenimore Cooper’s The Deerslayer. Cooper was one of America’s first novelists, and he wrote about the American frontier hero. Before our Christmas break, we will study Washington Irving, who was the first American novelist to be recognized and praised by Europeans.

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 litalive

Assignments for 11/28/2022

Assignments due for the week of November 28th, 2022

Hello November

Quick Looks at Great Books

We continued discussing Silas Marner and where his life is going. Everyone seems to be having no trouble understanding what is going on as well as learning about the characters that play an important part in his life. We will finish the questions for what you read today and have Quiz #2 next week. For our next assignment, read Part II, Chapters 16-21 (and short “Conclusion”) and answer the study guide questions for the rest of the book. This is now happening sixteen years later, so many changes have taken place. Surprise events happen that surely have not been expected!! Enjoy your read.

Dramatic irony plays a giant role in the reading of Silas Marner. Do this brief review to make sure you understand the term.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

We practiced with a sample reading section and then took the ACT Reading Test. The students did a great job on the English Test last week. Next week, we will take the third of the four tests on the ACT—Math. To prepare for the test, review the procedures on page 47 in your notebooks. Make sure you know how to do these ten problems. If you need help, ask a parent or your math teacher. (I know Mrs. Ohland has been happy to help if you have any questions.)

American History

We did a competitive game review before taking our test on Chapters 7-9 and the review from the first six chapters. Any questions on the review section came from our past two tests. Students can study from their past tests since I put all the correct answers in when I grade them. I think the students knew this material and did well. I will have the tests back to them next week. For our next class, read Chapter 10 in your text and answer the four short Section Reviews. This chapter is only ten pages long, so it shouldn’t be hard to get through it even on a holiday week. 🙂

Watch this short video to learn more about our fifth U.S. President.

U.S. Government

We finished talking about the midterms election and that some of the races are still not called!! We then tried to review and catch up with the lessons they have completed in their notebooks. For next week, complete Lesson 15 (The Supreme Court) on pages 58-60. Here are the answers for Lesson 15 crossword from page 57 in your text. Copy the answers into your notebooks and then do the rest of the pages. This is the third and final branch of the U.S. Government. In class next week, we will have a slideshow with more information on the highest court in the land and become familiar with all of our current justices.

Watch this video to learn more about the Supreme Court building.

Adventures in American Literature

We finished our third section of the novel today, and everyone seems to have a great understanding of the events and characters. We then reviewed some basic facts from literature to make your student a true “Lit Wit”! They did especially well identifying characters and quotes from the greatest work of literature ever—the Bible! We also covered some famous authors we will be reading second semester. Hopefully, they will remember the quotes as we read these authors’ famous works.

For next week, complete The Scarlet Letter by reading the last six chapters (19-24) and answering the study guide questions 43-50. Do the Chronolog on page 17 to review all the events of the book in chronological order. We will continue to review and prepare for the final test, which will be on the following week. Then we will continue in our American literature text with James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. (Irving is famous for his Christmas stories and traditions.)

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

November 22, 2022November 22, 2022 litalive

Assignments for 11/21/2022

Assignments due for the week of November 21st, 2022

Hello November

Quick Looks at Great Books

Great start on understanding our new book, Silas Marner. We discussed all that you read and the characters that you have met. Don’t forget to bring your Literary Terms notebooks to class each week. We WILL get to it in the near future. Two literary terms in today’s reading were “Flashback” and “Dramatic Irony” (one of the three kinds of irony you had in your notebooks). This book gives you a perfect example of the reader’s knowing something that the main characters do not. We will take the quiz on the first seven chapters at the beginning of our next class. For next week, continue reading Chapters 8-15 and answer the corresponding questions. Silas experiences a new change in his life since the theft of his money. You will be reading through Part I. We will begin with Part II next time and finish the book. Part II takes place 16 years later! Wow! What changes will take place!!

Watch this brief description of “Flashback”.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

We went over our quizzes from last week to make sure that no one missed the same errors on the test as they had on the quiz. Then the students received new answer sheets and took the ACT English Test. They will receive those back next week with a scaled score for that section. That will give them an idea of how the new evaluation works. Next week, we will prepare for the Reading Test on the ACT. We will do some practice tests and other reviews before taking the test.

American History

We are now over halfway through this semester’s work in American History. Next week we will have a test on Chapters 7-9. (You should have all the circled items you need to know for each chapter on the final Chapter Review of each lesson.) Also, there will be 15 review questions from the first six chapters. Study your previous tests. All the questions will come from those two tests. It will be a review of the most important events we have covered. You should have the correct answers on your tests. All questions will be matching, multiple choice, or True/False. This is a really important section covering the writing of our Constitution through the War of 1812.

Watch the following video about the War of 1812.

Remember—the Battle of New Orleans, which made Andrew Jackson a famous war hero, was actually fought after a peace treaty was signed!! They just hadn’t heard!!

U.S. Government

We talked about last week’s election and especially the results of issues in Michigan. Unbelievable that we still don’t know the status of Representatives in the U.S. House after a whole week!! I told students that they should turn in the current count so far, and by next week, hopefully, there will be a definite majority. In the Senate race, we won’t know the final count until after Dec. 6 since Georgia will have a run-off between the the top two candidates. Neither received 50% of the vote, so, according to Georgia law, they must have a run-off. We’ll see what the final result is after the December vote.

Next week, we will have a quiz on the Electoral College. Study the sheet of notes we went over from the slideshow we did. Also watch the following video to review what you saw in the slideshow and and a few other points as well.

Also, for next week, do Lessons 13 (Immigration) and 14 (Citizenship) in your Government notebooks. Here are the answers for Immigration Lesson 13 and Citizenship Lesson 14 (pages 49 and 53). Once you have the Crossword answers, complete pages 50-52 and pages 54-56. It’s a real process that immigrants must go though to complete the Naturalization process! This is topic currently in the news today!

Adventures in American Literature

We continued our discussion of the second assignment in The Scarlet Letter. The students really did well even though they thought they were confused! 🙂 We took Quiz #2 after we had gone over the chapters and the study guide questions. For next week, continue your reading with Chapters 13-18 and study guide questions 30-42. We also played a game to review some of the authors we will study and their works and also authors that our writers patterned themselves after.

Previous Assignments for School Year 2022 – 2023:

November 14, 2022November 14, 2022 litalive

Assignments for 11/14/2022

Assignments due for the week of November 14th, 2022

Hello November

Quick Looks at Great Books

We had a great review of the entire book (A Tale of Two Cities) today. We took the final quiz and went over it, discussed the characters and applied some of our literary terms, discussed the themes, and ended with a competitive game review. I think all of the students understood the characters and events in the book. I’m expecting great grades on the final test! 🙂

For next week, begin our new book, Silas Marner by George Eliot. Read Chapters 1-7 and answer the corresponding questions in the study guide. There are lots more questions per chapter in this study guide. If you can’t answer them all, look over all of them and be ready with any questions you may have. We will go over all of the chapters and study guide questions before we take the quiz. If you don’t have your book yet, you can start reading the book online or choose to listen to the audio version. It’s free since it is a classic and in the public domain. Let me know if you have any questions or need to borrow one of my copies of the book.

Don’t forget to bring your Literary Terms notebook to class for the next few weeks so that we can go over the terms that you have done. Note the author’s use of “Flashback” in the chapters you read this week.

PSAT/SAT/ACT TEST PREP

The students received another copy with answers to our last math test to keep in their notebooks for review. The PSAT test was now completed, and each student received a scaled score for both halves of the test and a final overall score for the total test. We went over last year’s national scores so that they would know how their score compares. Then we began practicing for the English section of the ACT test. We have done practice exercises of sample tests, so they will know what to expect on the actual test. We did another review and then took a quiz to practice some of the grammar errors that are always tested on the ACT. We also took a quiz that was specifically on the 12 Classic Grammar Errors on the ACT. I will pass those quizzes back next week so that they will not miss the same things again. Next week, we will take the timed (45 min.) English ACT Test. Study particularly pages 40 and 41 in your notebooks to review those errors. Remember that if you master these errors that always appear, you will have a much improved score!

American History

We reviewed Chapter 7 and then took a short quiz on many important points decided by the founding fathers in the Constitutional Convention. We also discussed Chapter 8, and the students were given the terms and people to know in that chapter.

For next week, read Chapter 9 and answer the four section review questions in your notebooks. No quiz next week. We will review Chapter 9 and begin the review for our next test over Chapters 7-9. Chapter 9 covers the years of Thomas Jefferson, so we’re now in the terms of our third national President.

U.S. Government

Great job today sharing your thoughts on the proposals that are on our ballots and sharing specific information about the races you researched! I can’t wait to read all the information you found! Hopefully, you will be able to answer any questions your parents may have. 🙂

Our next assignment involves your participation and work on Election Night. If you do not have access to a TV, you can always find the results of elections online. Check RealClearPolitics or FoxNews Politics if you’re not sure where to look. If you have other commitments tomorrow night, you cans watch news shows the next day or check online.

You were given two sets of worksheets to record election results. One was for the Senate, and one was for the House of Representatives. Since there is a blank page on the back of the second page of the House sheets, use that page to record the following Governor’s races: Michigan, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Wisconsin, Nevada, Florida, and Kansas. There are 36 gubernatorial races up for a vote in 2022. 28 states currently have Republican governors; 22 states currently have Democratic ones.

Keep track of the 34 Senators up for reelection and what the final majority count is for the Senate. Since all of the 435 Representatives are up for reelection (and many of them have multiple races), you just need to keep track of those that change from Democrat to Republican or vice versa. Don’t forget to then record which party is in the majority.

Make it a family night (if you are at home) and watch the returns together. Your parents or siblings can help you with this assignment if needed. Enjoy snacks together as you watch the returns. When we return to class next Monday, all the ballots should be counted, and you should have a majority for each house of Congress. That is why this election is so important. We have proposals on the ballot that would change our state constitution, and the balance of power in Congress is always up for grabs in midterm elections. You also received today an updated Electoral map, based on the 2020 Census. This will be needed for the 2024 Presidential election but also changes Representatives for each state this year. Seven states lost a Representative due to a population shift. Six states gained a Representative while Texas gained two.

Let me know if you have any questions at all and enjoy your time as a family.

Adventures in American Literature

The students received their literature tests back from last week. Then we began our discussion of the first six chapters of The Scarlet Letter. After going over all of the study guide questions, we then took our first quiz on the book. For next week, read Chapters 7-12 and answer study guide questions 15-29. The plot develops further for the four main characters that you have already met. Pearl continues to grow older and pays a visit with her mother to Governor Bellingham’s home. Come ready with any questions you may have, and we will go over all of the reading before the quiz.