Mrs. Pankratz's Blog

Short Stories!

2011-01-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

We are working towards completing a short story of our own. As we learn about the parts of the short story and how to create them we are reading several classic stories including "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe, "To Build A Fire" by Jack London, and "Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes. Our Writing Journals are filled with entries that will be the building blocks for our stories.

1940's: A Decade of Change

2011-01-16T13:48:00.001-08:00

We have finished our work on the 1940's and have learned about the many changes that were a part of this important decade. We welcomed a wonderful speaker, Mr. Peter Etter, who had many experiences that he shared with us. He grew up in Germany in the 40's and moved to Wisconsin after the war.
The last project for our 1940's unit has been a community project. Students have worked towards being a part of change in their communities. Students have volunteered, created environmental projects, and brought about an awareness of issues they feel should be changed in their school. Great work!

1940's: A Decade of Change...The Interviews

2010-10-18T14:41:00.001-07:00

Today we started discussing the interviews we'll be doing. Students will be interviewing someone who remembers the 1940's. Everyone will be preparing questions for their interviews, writing a report of the interview, and presenting a favorite story that was shared in the interview. Interview questions are due on 10/27. Reports on the interview are due on 11/15. We will start the presentations on 11/16.

1940's: A Decade of Change

2010-10-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

We have started our 1940's unit. It is called: The 1940's: A Decade of Change. Students are reading either The Diary of Anne Frank or The Book Thief. We will be considering an area of interest in our own community of Oregon and ways we can effect change here. We will be interviewing a person who experienced the 1940's. If you know someone who could enrich our learning community through their experience, please let us know!

All the World's a Stage...

2010-09-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

We had a great week, enjoying the wonders of American Players Theatre and descriptive writing. On Tuesday we went to Spring Green to see the play, As You Like It. Several of us got sunburned since we were in the sunny section watching the play. The play was funny... especially David Daniels as Touchstone. On Thursday this week we had a visitor, Paul, from APT who led a workshop for us. We performed "tableaus" in which groups performed a "frozen scene that tells a story" for several characters from the play. Everyone has written a paragraph about the figurative language in As You Like It. "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players..." We are continuing our work on descriptive writing and figurative language with our "Descriptor Wars" today.

Welcome Back to School!

2010-09-03T06:55:00.001-07:00

We've started out the school year with a great first week. In our Enriched English classes we are starting the year with Shakespeare. We will be performing parts of the play As You Like It in class for our classmates. We are also looking at descriptive writing. On Sept. 14 we will be heading to APT for a field trip to see the play.

Welcome

2010-09-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Mock Newbery Voicethread

2010-01-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

We have finished our Mock Newbery. Students read many books that were written for young adults in 2009. On January 18, the Newbery winner was announced. The winner was... When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Three students picked this book as the winner! Nice work!! Students read many of the books that won honors as well. The Voicethread we created was a way for students to come together digitally and discuss the books. Listen to the Voicethread discussion at http://voicethread.com/#u482622.b666119.i3522819

Classics

2009-11-09T12:40:00.001-08:00

We have finished reading a Classic novel and here is the Voicethread we created on the Classics. Each person commented on his or her own classic and them responded to comments from another novel. We are reading potential Newbery books now and plan to start another Voicethread on these books. We'll be discussing them with two other school districts. Great work, everyone!

Mock Newbery

2009-10-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

We will be starting the Mock Newbery. We looked at the list of potential books that may win the Newbery Award in January. Everyone will choose three books to read, and then we'll use Voicethread to discuss the books. We are partnering with two other school districts on this project. In December, we plan to Skype with them. We're looking forward to reading!

Grammar is a way of thinking about language!!

2009-10-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

We've begun our study of grammar. We are learning that grammar is away of thinking about language. We've looked at the four levels of grammar: (1) Parts of Speech (2) Sentences (3) Phrases (4) Clauses.

We are also starting our Classics. Everyone is choosing a book to read that's been labeled a "Classic." We'll be writing a five paragraph essay in which we share whether we agree with that label for our book.

2009-09-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

This week we have finished reading Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and started performances of various scenes. We even had a narrator who was a dog... you'd have to see it to believe it. Everyone is putting the finishing touches on his or her Renaissance project diary or resume. We'll try and post a few to the blog so people out there in Bloggerland have the opportunity to see the talent in the Enriched English classes of Oregon Middle School!

A great start to the year!

2009-09-10T05:54:00.001-07:00

Everyone is getting settled in wonderfully this year. We have begun reading Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors in our Enriched English class. We've looked at the differences between comedy and tragedy in Shakespeare's plays. Students have begun researching the Renaissance and will create a character from that time period. They will then write that character's resume or a diary entry. There have been quite a few creative twists on this assignment!

In two weeks we will be visiting American Player's Theater in Spring Green to see the play. Everyone is looking forward to the field trip.

We're off to a great start this year!

2009-09-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

School has begun and we're off to a great start! In our Enriched English class we've begun to research the Renaissance and we are reading the play A Comedy of Errors. We'll visit APT on 9/23 to see the play.

First Post

2009-08-20T09:19:00.001-07:00

This is my first post to the blog. The school year starts in just a week!