Happy Black Friday!

My Edward Cullen :)

Belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all and a Happy Black Friday! Don't drop when you shop guys!

Yesterday was fun for me. It was pretty quiet...I went with my girlfriends for a Thanksgiving Breakfast (since we each have our own dinner plans as well) and went to see the matinee of New Moon! I watched with a few of my students last Wednesday but I had to see it again! I couldn't get over the realization that the movie was better than the book! For real and my apology Stephenie...the director this time did an awesome job.

The additional touches he made on the movie made it more convincing and real for me... I like the touch of "Misery" effect he did when Bella was very heartbroken... I could not help imagine how the actor from "Misery"( I cannot recall his name..) was typing his story and the season changes from the bay window as he typed...it was cool that the same effect had been added to New Moon. I must say that the undelivered e-mails of Bella to Alice also did wonders to the movie because it sealed the friendship between the two girls. The actions added during the Volturi scene along with the "Matrix" effects gave life to the discreet existence of vampires. Lastly, I must say that each of the characters had really meshed with the characters from the book. I could see Edward coming to life with all his machismo and charisma. Bella was becoming the funny Bella from the book who was also enchanting and mesmerizing. And Jacob...dear Jacob, buffed to fill in the role which he did so great... All of the characters specially, Jessica, trascends from the screen like the characters coming to life. With all these, I can't wait for the next installement next Thanksgiving..."Eclipse".... I wonder who will direct it this time.... Cameron? Spielberg? Jackson? or Lucas? Not to mention..."Breaking Dawn" which should be the most unforgettable of all the series! Please don't omit the honeymoon scence :)

Anyway, we came home very happy with our chick flick Thanksgiving date.

A few reminders though:

• 
  
  Non-Fiction Pair Magazine Project is due on Monday, November 30.


• 
  
  Your Book Report #5 is also due this week.


• 
  
  The 2nd Marking Period ends on Friday, December 4.


• 
  
  Cards will be distributed before we go for Christmas Break!


• 
  
  New Book Report Format will be communicated and displayed on Dec. 7


• 
  
  Christmas Raffle will be on Dec. 23rd with the following requirements:

*NO ABSENCE FROM DECEMBER 7 -22ND

*NO LATE

*ALL ELA WORKS ARE UP TO DATE!

• 
  
  RAFFLE STICKS WILL BE GIVEN ON DEC. 22 DURING ELA TIME IF YOU MEET THE REQUIRMENTS. THERE ARE 12 STICKS IN TOTAL FOR ATTENDANCE, 3 EXTRA STICKS FOR EACH REQUIREMENT SUBMITTED ON TIME AND BONUS STICKS FOR EXTRA WORK THAT WILL BE ANNNOUNCED IN CLASS.

Toodles,

Ms. Acedo

NON-FICTION PAIR PROJECT MAGAZINE

I guess is still a busy day for me. This is the third time I went to blog about my class must-do and me must have!!! IT'S CALLED ELA GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS....

This will be my final blog for today though. I want to make sure that it is here for information and compliance purposes.

My 801 scholars (except for 2 who are doing this Magazine Project on their own) were paired for shared reading which will culminate into a non-fiction project - CREATING THEIR OWN MAGAZINE. Deadline for this is on November 30, Monday which also marks the ending of the 2nd marking period for the current school year. Wheww!!! how time flies so fast!!

The following pictures show the instruction for creating their magazine project. This was introduced last Friday, Nov. 6 and was discussed again today with the changes in the submission date from Nov. 25 to Nov. 30 instead.

• The pair must come up with an original cover design which must include the features found inside their magazine.


• Required parts of the magazine are :


• Table of Contents


• 2 Autobiographies of the magazine creator


• 1 or 2 Biographies from their independent reading (one(1) if both read the same book and two (2) if the pair is reading 2 different biographies)

They are to choose two (2) other features for their magazine from the menu of list provided in class.

Above are pictures related to the instructions for the Non-Fiction Pair Magazine Project.

Toodles,

Ms. Maria Acedo

ELA 801 for Ms. Acedo’s class November 11, 2009

ELA Requirements for those who have failed to submit on time are the following:

• Expository Essay from National Geographic is due on November 13, 2009. It should be typewritten. Font: 12 and Spacing: 1.5. This paper was started on November 5.
  
• ORAL BOOK TALK for presentation on Thursday. Follow our mini-lesson format.
  
  • Personal Information
    
  • Issues/Challenges/Problems your person faced and how they were resolved. Use details from your book. Write 3 challenges!
    
  • Write two (2) achievements of this person. Use details from the book and explain why these are important.
    
• Book Report #4 is due on Thursday as well.
  
• BOOKS YOU HAVE BORROWED FROM OUR CLASSROOM LIBRARY MUST BE RETURNED INCLUDING MY NATIONAL GEOPGRAPHIC BOOKLETS. *Reggie owes me two (Anthill and Genes)
  
• Progress Reports for the 2^nd Marking Period will also be distributed for ELA on Thursday. Your parents/guardians will also have copies of these reports for Parent Night on Monday, Nov. 16 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. and November 17 from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m.
  

Report Cards for the First Marking Period have been distributed last November 3^rd. Parents, we need to work together for the future of your children.

801 ELA HOMEWORK FOR 11/13/09 PRESENTATION

Sample Pages from her diary,Kitty.
A closer look at this amazing girl growing!

ORAL BOOK TALK

ANNE FRANK – THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL By Maria Acedo

She was born on June 14, 1929 to a well off Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany.

By the time she was 4 years old, her father, Otto Frank, migrated his family to Holland in 1933 when he was appointed Managing Director of Travis N.V., a sister company of Kolen & Company which he was a part owner. Anne has an older sister of three years named Margot.

Life for her family became difficult in 1938, when some members of her family moved to the US to escape the German Nazis. Her grandmother who she was very closed to lived with them until her death in January 1942. When Germany invaded Holland in 1940, life for them became more difficult because of the many anti-Jew laws that were enforced by Hitler who was one of the perpetrators of WW11.
Anne attended a prestigious school, Montessori Kindergarten in 1934 until she finished 6^th grade. She later joined her sister, Margot, and attended the Jewish Secondary School.

There were a lot of challenges for Anne as early on in the novel that by the way was made from her diary entries.

First, Anne felt alone. Don't get her wrong, but she had a wonderful family, relatives and friends. However, at a very young age of 13, she felt she had no REAL friend who would be patient and honest enough to share her innermost thoughts, no matter how absurd or ridiculous they might be. Her circle of friends were only for fun and she could not find anyone in it who met her mind-serious and deep for the majority of the time. So, she created an ideal friend, patient and ever waiting, a diary she named "Kitty". It was on the pages of this cardboard covered notebook that she wrote of her thoughts far beyond her age mostly deep, melancholic, critical, funny and witty.

Second, Anne had trouble keeping her mouth shut in school. So one day, her Math teacher gave her a writing assignment entitled " The Chatterbox". She was very upset with this but she was clever enough to defend her side stating, "it is inherent for women to talk as part of their nature and that should not be eradicated. However, women must also be able to keep their mouths under control."

Third, Anne had to make the absolute sacrifice of surrendering her freedom by going with her family into hiding, if it were the only way to guarantee their survival. This was not an easy task for a teen-ager to do and she relieved herself of the situation by looking at it as a family vacation. She understood the purpose of the plan and was content with it for as long as it took.

Anne made a lot of accomplishments and one of them is being critical of her. When she acted like a brat, she reflected on her actions and talk to herself to be better. She never made any excuses for her misbehavior but treated the situation as a learning point to improve. For example, she was very open about upsetting Mr. Van Daan for the most part of the day but after every episode of the argument she would try her best to keep her opinion to herself to avoid confrontations. For a teen, to pull away from any adult to avoid confrontation is an accomplishment.

Another accomplishment I would share with you is that, Anne did not use
the situation to stop learning. She continued to educate herself by reading different books and studying new crafts. For example, she would request for new books to be delivered to her secretly through Miep or Elie, her fathers friends who know about the family secret. They both serve them as the family's link to the outside world. She also learned French and shorthand (a different form of writing used by secretaries to capture every word their bosses tell them when they write a letter of memorandum to the rest of their staff)

I would pause for now as I have not finished reading the diary-novel of this remarkable and magnificent girl. Until my next report.

P.S.

Remember the parts of your Book Talk:

• Basic Personal Information about your subject
• Issues/Concerns your subject faced and how they were resolved. You need to have three(3) with supporting details from the text and;
• Achievements this person made (atleast 2) include supporting details from text and an explanation for each achievement in relation to its importance.

Take a closer look at my Anne Frank Sample Oral Book Talk and just follow the pattern. Be ready for your presentation on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2009. You have two (2) minutes for your presentation.

Toodles,

Ms. Maria Acedo