Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to extend a heartfelt Happy Thanksgiving to all of my students and their families. As I count my blessings this holiday season, I count being able to teach my students as one of them.

Holiday Cards for Heroes

As a way to give back to the troops who support us, students will be creating holiday cards for our service men and women stationed overseas and those recovering back at home. Please go to http://www.redcross.org/ and watch a video that describes the project.

Students of the Week

Congratulations to the following young people who were named Student of the Week for the week of November 17th to November 21st:

Period One - Mr. Zulanovic

Period Four - Miss Mooney

Period Five - Mr. Begovic

Period Six - Mr. Corbic

Personification

Take a look at examples of personification that can be found in popular music.

Reviewing Hyperboles

As we have learned in class, a hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration. View the rap created by a group of students to see how hyperboles might be used to enhance writing.

Students of the Week

Congratulations to the first four students of the week for the second marking period:

Period One - Mr. Musa
Period Four - Miss Davis
Period Five - Mr. D. McDonald
Period Six - Miss Aitnajim

Figurative Language Practice

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Why do we need similes?

Take a look at this video. It shows just why we need to know how to create similes.

Another Figurative Language Mini-Lesson

There are several great resources for exploring figurative language at www.youtube.com. If you type in figurative language or examples of figurative language (simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, or symbolism) you can find a wide-variety of interesting clips. Here is another one.

Similes and Metaphors

A simile is a comparison between two unlike things that uses like or as. For example, "the girl was beautiful like a flower." A metaphor is similar to a simile, but it does not use like or as. For example, "my father is a bear in the morning." Take a look at the video which shows that similes and metaphors can be found in more than just poetry or written descriptions, but in popular music and movies.

Studying Figurative Language

Beginning this week, our class will be studying figurative language as we work towards beginning our poetry unit. Below is a short video that introduces the concepts of figurative language as well as a video that has a clever song to help you remember the types of figurative language. Take a peek and see what you think.

A New President

After this week's historic election, take a look at President-elect Obama's victory speech.

Fiction Quiz on Friday

Just a reminder that our class will be having a quiz on literary fiction on Friday, 11/7. The quiz will cover elements of literary fiction:
- plot
- point of view
- characters
- setting
- theme
It will also cover vocabulary from "The Tell-Tale Heart":
- vex
- cautious
- cease
- resolve
- audacity
- mockery
- precisely
- cunningly
The quiz will also ocver the major events from the text of "The Tell-Tale Heart." We will be reviewing as a class on Wednesday since Thursday is a half day of school due to parent-teacher conferences. Begin studying now!