HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
The Iliad---Building on what they
learned last year in their Social Studies class, seventh graders will learn
about the Trojan horse and “the face that launched a thousand ships” by reading
my read-aloud-play version of The Iliad from my book Read Aloud
Plays: The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid by Scholastic. Many high school
reading lists include Homer’s famous ancient epics, The Iliad & The
Odyssey, and my classes will better prepare them for those studies.
Shakespeare Studies---Exploring the world of
Elizabethan England will help seventh graders in their social studies this
year, which covers the Renaissance. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Hamlet,
your child will learn the stories and be able to distinguish between and among
comedies, histories, and tragedies. I have had great success inspiring kids
with stories from Shakespeare. In fact, by the time they finish my classes they
will not be afraid of the rather difficult language, and in high school they
can focus on enjoying the meaning of the language. They also tell me they ace
all the tests!
Creative Writing and Poetry
Month in
April---Each child will learn the beauties of poetry by browsing my personal
poetry library, will learn techniques to use in their own writing, and will be
able to explicate a poem for testing purposes.
Classic Authors Studies---A group project we do
that is just as popular with the parents as with the kids is our studies of
classic authors. Revisit your favorite tales by Jack London, Rudyard Kipling,
John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens….
Film Club---A great reward after a
year of hard work, the spring Film Club teaches your child how to recognize
film techniques and analyze how they contribute to the art of film-making. Tied
directly to the standards and their writing class, Film Club features black
& white films of stories students learn about in the fall with the Classic
Authors Research Project, like Pride & Prejudice, Swiss Family
Robinson, and Oliver Twist. The kids love it, and I developed and
taught the same class at San Francisco’s “SummerGATE” gifted & talented
summer program for many years.
Essay Writing---You can expect that your child will be prepared to write to any question
put to him or
her. Students have already learned to structure an essay with me and will work
the entire year on writing
assignments. I aim to inspire a love of writing with fun pieces and I do
everything I can to encourage creative thinking.
HOMEWORK:
READING LOGS ARE DUE EVERY MONDAY.
SPELLING LESSONS ARE DUE EVERY FRIDAY.
SPELLING TESTS ARE EVERY FRIDAY.
HOMEWORK:
READING LOGS ARE DUE EVERY MONDAY.
SPELLING LESSONS ARE DUE EVERY FRIDAY.
SPELLING TESTS ARE EVERY FRIDAY.
