We are starting the adolescent novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, and hopefully finish it by the end of the term. BOOK REPORTS COMPLETED BY DECEMBER 16 FOR "A" DAY AND DECEMBER 17 FOR "B" DAY! Students need to sign up for oral presentations to be completed by Jan.13. (See information below) You can sign up as soon as you the finish book. Some students are doing their oral presentations before the class book report deadline. SERVICE PROJECTS MUST BE COMPLETED BY JANUARY 12 "B" DAY AND JANUARY 13 "A" DAY. Extra credit 10 points if you turn in your service project between Dec. 17 to January 7 and fill out a very small reflection paper picked up in the office for school wide service project (this is in addition to your regular paper)! Homework: Students will take the rough draft of the essay about the main character Charlie in "Flowers for Algernon" and revise it (rewrite parts, take out other parts) and write a final draft in ink or typed. This is due for "A" Day December 2 and "B" Day December 3. 1. Students will choose a novel in their reading level range and get the book approved by Mrs. James. Book must be approved by December 6 and 7 for "B" and "A" Day for 15 pts. Use your Star Diagnostic Report to help you decide what books are on your reading level. 2 These book reports are worth 100 pts. each month. Student will make an appointment with Mrs. James for an oral book report or take an AR test in the library on the computer. If you book is not an "AR" book you will need to do an oral book report WITH THE BOOK to Mrs. James. This will be due December 16 and 17. (3)This month we will also be doing an oral presentation in front of the class. You may sign up for your oral presentation. We will be doing 6 presentations a class period as early as December 8 and 9. You are to choose a main character in the book and explain the following: (1) What is the character's name and how does the writer describe the character? (2) What does the character say about himself/herself? (3) What do other characters say about your character? (4) Choose an incident or happening in the book that helps us get to know or understand the character you have chosen by something they do. Retell the incident in your own words and explain how that helps us get to know the character better. This should take about 1-2 minutes to report. Please do not retell a part of the story that will ruin the book for someone else who wants to read it. Please do not tell us the end of a book. You still must take an AR test or oral book report with Mrs. James. This is worth 50 pts. besides the book report so make sure you read a book this month!!!! 4. Students will complete 2 hours of community service for the term and write a paper, consisting of at least 4 paragraphs in ink or typed. The first paragraph will introduce the need the student hopes to help with. The second paragraph will describe why the student chose this project. The third paragraph will describe in detail what the student did for service. The fourth paragraph will describe how the student felt about giving the service. If the student does "direct" service they will add a paragraph about how the person they helped responded to their service. If the student has access to video equipment and knows how to edit he/she may choose to do a video presentation. They may also choose to do a Power Point presentation. This will be completed near the last week of the term January "B" Day and Jan "A" Day. This will be worth 100 points. Please DO NOT HELP family members for this service project. That is something we should do anyway just because we are part of a family. Also doing projects for a church should be for Community Service rather than for religious purposes. The intent of this project is to become aware of service that needs to be done in the community. Good luck. 4. Please bring a notebook with paper,a planner,a novel to read if you complete work, and 2 pencils and a pen to class each day. 5. The first term we will be reviewing grammar with Daily Language Activities, learning how to write on the My Access Program, reviewing the 6 Traits Writing Process focusing on "Ideas" and "Organization." We will be reading informational text and summarizing the main ideas, and also learning narrative plot structure in short stories. 6. The second term we will be analyzing characterization in short stories. We will read the adolescent novel, The Outsiders and learn about text-to-self connections and write personal reflections on being an "outsider." We will review capitalization rules,common prefixes, common suffixes, and commas in a series. 7. Students will receive 30 points every month for DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) if they bring a book to class, fill out their reading log and read quietly without disturbing other students.