Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thursday, August 30th--

Today (if you finished your homework from last night) you were involved in two editing sessions. This means you received feedback from two of your peers on your letter.

And again, thank you all for being so great during all of this hot weather. Hopefully it will be a little better next week.


Homework:
This weekend,
the only thing you have to do with your Friendly letter is have mom or dad or a grandparent or someone in your family read and edit your letter.

Your final draft will be due next Wednesday. I will post the rubric next Tuesday.

Have a terrific holiday weekend!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

WEDNESDAY (boy was it a hot one today!)

Thank you for concetrating your best in class today; it sure was a hot one!

Today we discussed the 5 parts of a Friendly Letter. In addition to discussing the parts, I shared a friendly letter that I wrote you! I hope it gave you an opportunity to know me better.

Here is a copy of the letter:

*******************************************************************************
29125 Evergreen
Southfield, MI 48076
August 28, 2007


Dear 7th Grade Writing Students,
My name is Jennifer Lynn Ehle and I am excited to begin my fourth year teaching at Shrine Catholic Academy. It seems as thought I have been in school forever. I hold a bachelor’s degree from the University of Detroit Mercy. After my four years at the University of Detroit Mercy, I traveled to County Clare, Ireland for a summer to study photography. When I returned, I decided to attend the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) to earn my masters in education. After living in White Lake, Detroit, Hamtramck, Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, and Washington state, I now take residence in Southfield, Michigan.
My family is very important in my life. My father and stepmother live in Commerce Township, Michigan, and have for the past 15 or so years. My mother passed away three years ago, but her spirit is always with me. My brother, Jason, lives in Clarkston as well as my stepsister, Nichole. Nichole also has four children, which means I am Aunt Jenny to three nephews and one adorable niece. I recently married a wonderful man, Aaron. We now live together with our two cats, Bailey and Murphy. I am sure you will hear me talk about my family throughout the year! Everyone in my family likes to joke and all have very good senses of humor. My brother Jason and I usually hit the theatre when a new comedy comes out. Some of our favorites include “Blades of Glory” with Will Farrell and “What About Bob?” with Bill Murray. I guess you could say that my family is somewhat competitive too. We enjoy good rounds of tennis and frisbee golf. We also own quite a few board games. Aaron and I have been playing a lot of Battleship and Clue lately.
I have many interests and hopefully many will be apparent as I teach this year. I have a great love for photography and visual arts. I enjoy film, theatrical performances, live music, and the like. I like to read mostly contemporary fiction, and write, mostly poetry and short stories. I also enjoy traveling. This past summer Aaron and I went on a cruise to the Mediterranean, porting in Spain, Sicily, three cities in Italy, and France. I came back with 15 rolls of film! It was one of the most amazing vacations I have ever been on. In my free time you can find me riding my bike, viewing a movie on the big screen, shopping at the GAP or Target, capturing a few photos with my Pentex, working out at the Farmington YMCA, or gearing up lesson ideas for you!
As for English, I love teaching writing and literature. I think I was very fortunate to have excellent writing teachers throughout school and college. I remember many of the interesting and creative ideas they brought to me, and I hope this year to share them with you. My goal for this year is to make writing something you actually like to do, instead of it being a chore. In order to accomplish my goal, I will try my very best to present the information in a creative, yet challenging manner. Also, I will need each and every one of you to participate by listening attentively and by asking questions when you have them.
I hope this letter provided some information about me to help you get to know me better. I look forward to a terrific year and reading your letters as well.

Most Sincerely,

Mrs. Ehle
*********************************************************************

Now it is your turn! You are going to write me a letter! Here are your directions:

Writing a Friendly Letter

In this assignment you will be writing a friendly letter to me. Each letter must include a heading, salutation, body, closing, and signature. This letter must be typed and double spaced with a point size of 10-12 (no lower or higher please). Please use Times New Roman or Tahoma as your font. Here are the subject matters for each paragraph:
  • The 1st paragraph will contain an introduction (name, age, previous school, where you were born, where you currently live, or anything else that you would consider introductory information).
  • The 2nd paragraph will contain information about your family life (# of members, pets, what you like to do as a family, vacations you have been on, or, again, anything you would like to tell me about your family).
  • The 3rd paragraph will contain information about your hobbies and interests (favorites, abilities/gifts/talents, what you do in free time, favorite subject in school, etc.)
  • The 4th paragraph will contain information specifically about writing/english. Tell me what your goals are for this class. Why do you like English? Or why don’t you like English?
  • The 5th paragraph Give a small summary/closing to your letter. In addition, you may chose to add two “P.S. questions” and pose them to me.

HOMEWORK:

Today in class you began your rough draft of your friendly letter to me. You need to finish your rough draft tonight at home. Make sure you have included all 5 parts and that it is double spaced either on notebook paper or typed. Realize that eventually you will have to type it all for your final anyway, so typing your rough draft may not be a bad idea. But I will except either handwritten or typed for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will have very important editing sessions. If your rough draft is not complete tomorrow you will not only miss the points for the homework, but also the points for the editing session during class. You will not be invited to the editing session if you have nothing to edit!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Tuesday!

Today you all did an excellent job making displays for your poems.

No HOMEWORK...unless you were unable to finish it during the hour. If you could not finish it, you need to make sure it is in my mailbox before the 8:00 bell tomorrow morning.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Monday, AUGUST 27th Class

Today I think I got everyone's names down...(at least I hope...quiz me tomorrow :)

Next we discussed your homework and many of you shared great examples of vivid lines for your 5 sense poem about the first day of school.

Afterward you chose one sentence of the two you created for each sense and began a "trial fina copy" including appropriate line breaks/indentations.

HOMEWORK:
Finish this "trial" final copy and make sure you have it in class. You also need to bring in any art supplies you need to create your display for your FINAL COPY tomorrow in class. You may bring markers, construction paper, scissors, glue, magazines to cut...whatever you need to make it the most creative piece you can!

Friday, August 24, 2007

Friday Aug. 24th

Today I we discussed the rest of the syllabus. You must take it home this weekend and have it signed by mom or dad. Please make sure that they read it!

Next we discussed your 5 senses and poetry. Remember, the more specific you are with your descriptions, the more vivid the scene will be to the reader.

Homework:
For Monday
--bring in a brainstorm of your First Day of School poem. Your brainstorm should include all 5 senses and 2 vivid descriptions for each sense.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Welcome to 7th Grade English!

Hello! I hope you had a great day at Shrine Academy! Tomorrow we will continue with the syllabus and make sure that you understand all of the requirements and my expectations for you in class.

HOMEWORK:
Come tomorrow with your syllabus, your notebook, and a pen...and as always your agenda.