Week at a glance April 9 - 13, 2011

Curriculum focus: identifies, interprets, and analyzes figurative language including: idiom, imagery, and symbolism (11.1.2.K4), uses information from the text to make inferences and draw conclusions (11.1.4.K5), compares/contrasts textual aspects: character traits, themes, character motives, and author's purpose (11.1.4.K7), analyzes and evaluates how the author's style (word choice and sentence structure) and use of literary devices work together to achieve his/her purpose by using tone, mood, and imagery (11.1.4.K11d, e, and h), and analyzes contextual aspects of setting and their influence on characters and events in the story including the contexts of history, society, and culture (11.2.1.K2a-c).

Root words for this week (root - definition - examples):

1. endo - internal - endocrine, endorse
2. exo - external - exoskeleton, exonym
3. tact/tang - touch - contact, intangible
4. veloc - quick - velocity, velociraptor
5. vers/vert - turn - invert, conversion

This week we will do our last set of root words before our 50-point exam, coming up next week.  We'll also begin our last unit of the school year over F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American classic, The Great Gatsby. We'll set the stage for the novel by focusing on the historical, cultural, and social context of Fitzgerald's work as we have an overview of the Roaring 20's, Prohibition, and the Jazz Age--a name for the era given by Fitzgerald himself.  We'll wrap up the week doing a root words quiz, reading for our Independent Reading Project, and previewing The Great Gatsby's opening scenes.

• Mon: No school - snow day :)
• Tues: New root words; quiz on Friday. The Great Gatsby background -Roaring 20s video, 10 facts due by the end of the hour.
• Wed: The Great Gatsby background - lecture and notes
• Thurs: The Great Gatsby background - lecture and notes, turn in notes sheet.
• Fri: Root words quiz.  Independent Reading Project, 20 minutes of in-class reading. Preview The Great Gatsby opening scenes.