Quiz Tomorrow!

Hello Students,

     As we have explained since last week, we have a quiz tomorrow on the following terms. You may bring one single-sided page of notes with you. The quiz will be entirely multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank. On the latter half, spelling will count. As you will be allowed notes, that should not be a problem for you.

     Here are the terms on which you will be quizzed.

Places (8)	People (20)	Creatures (9)	Things (2)
Asgard	Aesir	Authumla	Draughts
Bifrost	Vanir	Bygul and Trjegul	Mjolnir
Midgard	Baldur	Fenrir
Muspell	Buri	Jormungand
Niflheim	Frey	Managarm
Urth’s Well	Freyja	Nidhogg
Valhalla	Frigg	Ratatosk
Vanaheim	Heimdall	Sleipnir
	Hel	Teeth Gnasher and Teeth Grinder
	Idun
	Loki
	Mimir
	Nari
	Njorth
	Odin
	Sol
	Surt
	Thor
	Tyr
	Ymir

This looks like a long list, but you have had three days with the words on the board and knowledge that you may take a page of notes on them to the quiz. Quiz questions will be arranged as follows. For the multiple choice questions, it will ask something like:

Odin is
a) Loki's wolf son.
b) the first giant.
c) king of the gods.
d) a gossiping squirrel.

For the fill-in-the-blank questions, it will ask something like:

What is the name of the moon wolf who chases the sun and the moon across the sky?
_________________________

All your answers can be found in the packets you worked on for the last four days in class. You may find PDFs of them at the following links.

Packet One - The Creation of the World

Packet Two - The First War and the Norse Gods

Study well, and do well.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

This Week in Preview

Dear Students,

     This week, I will be able to stay after school tentatively on Wednesday; I have meetings on Tuesday and I work in the Learning Lab on Thursday. I will let you know if any of this changes.

     Our work this week will involve discussing the district writing contest, free writing to develop our grammar and spelling skills, and building a greater understanding of Norse Mythology through a combination of reading and listening assignments.

     On Monday, you will discuss the details of the school writing contest; any student may submit a writing assignment that is up to two, single-spaced, size twelve Times New Roman pages. The writing assignments are due by January 30; I will explain the submission process later in the week. Then, you will read silently and write when you are done.

     On Tuesday, you will review the terms for the Norse Mythology quiz taking place on Wednesday. Then, you will free write a minimum of one single-spaced, twelve-point font page, or one handwritten page. This will be graded on the minimum length, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

     On Wednesday, you will take the Norse Mythology basics quiz. This quiz is based on the terms written on the board on Friday. You will be allowed one hand-written page (one side) of notes for the quiz, as spelling is required for credit on each answer. After the quiz, you will work on MobyMax.

     On Thursday, you will learn more about Norse mythology, including the story "The Three Gifts, or How Loki Learned to Shut his Mouth." Read quietly and answer the questions that follow. You will be graded on your accuracy, spelling, and grammar.

     On Friday, you will have a Review and Improve day to catch up on missing or low-skill work. Next Friday is the last day of the quarter, so you should take full advantage of this time to fix assignments or hand in back work. If you are currently failing or in danger of failing this quarter, this time is critical to your success.

     Finally, some students will be retaking their NWEA tests this week during their Allied Arts and Tutorial times. If you did not reach the benchmark in Reading or Math in the fall, you will work on that this week. Stay focused, do well, and avoid distracting others.

     Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Commas before Conjunctions!

Hello All,

     I have a new slogan for the coming week:  "Commas before Conjunctions!" When you are writing a compound, complex, or compound-complex sentence, you should always place the comma before the standard conjunction that separates your clauses. For example, consider the following sentence:

Students struggle every day with the pressures of adolescence, and homework only adds to the stress.

Teaches feel stress, too, and they must balance personal lives with professional responsibilities.

     Note how the conjunction "and" separates the two independent clauses. Note, too, how the comma goes before the conjunction. If you placed it after the conjunction, you would be adding the "and" to the first clause; it makes no sense to end a sentence (or clause of any kind) with "and."

The ability to read is useful because our society is based on long-distance communication.

The ability to read is useful, because our society is based on long-distance communication.

     Just remember that you do not need a comma before a subordinate conjunction like "because," "since," or "while."

     As you start a new week, remember:  "Commas before Conjunctions!"

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

This Week in Preview

Dear Students,

     This week, I will be able to stay after school to help students on Tuesday and Wednesday. If this changes, I will let you know. On Monday I have a staff meeting to attend, on Thursday I have personal plans, and on Friday there is no late bus.

     Our work this week will involve writing a persuasive essay based on your assignment 04-10, having classroom and then clan spelling bees, and transitioning into Norse Mythology.

     On Monday you will spend class writing an essay based on assignment 04-10; this will be the final part of your persuasive unit. This will be due at the end of school on Tuesday, so you can finish writing it during Tutorial on Tuesday.

     On Tuesday you will have a spelling bee, wherein we will pick the top three students from each class.

     On Wednesday you will begin Norse Mythology with an overview of the grisly Creation of the World and the formation of human beings.

     On Thursday you will learn about the major gods and all the Nine Realms on the World Tree. You will have the clan spelling bee during Tutorial on Thursday as well.

     On Friday, you will have a Review and Improve day to catch up on missing or low-skill work. If you do not have work to do, you are wrong.

     Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Vote on Yearbook Covers

Hello Students,

     It's time to vote on yearbook covers!  Click on this link to go to the page so you can vote; you must be logged in with your Bonny Eagle email address.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo

Hello All,

     The clever Sam L. found this treasure and shared it earlier today.  I give you perhaps the most ridiculous grammatically correct sentence you have ever seen.  Enjoy!

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
  
     You read that correctly; your eyes are not deceiving you.  That sentence is grammatically correct in every way, shape, and form.  Allow me to explain.

A buffalo is a bison, that large and shaggy plains animal that has been hunted to near extinction and now largely lives in small, privately controlled herds.

Buffalo is a city in New York.

To buffalo means to push or bully into something, as in, "He buffaloed me into doing my homework, even though I thought it was a terrible idea."

     Now, break the sentence into its individual parts.  The first two words, "Buffalo buffalo," mean buffalo from Buffalo, or bison from the city.  The second two words are the same.  The fifth word is the verb.  So, the first half of the sentence says, "City bison that city bison bully."

     Congratulations, we just wrote the subject of the sentence.

     Moving on to the predicate, we have three words:  buffalo, Buffalo, and buffalo.  The first word is the verb.  Those city bison that have been bullied by other city bison are starting to perpetuate the hatred and insecurity.  What do they do?  They buffalo!  Finally, we need to figure out the identities of their victims.  They are more Buffalo buffalo!  The vicious cycle is complete.  City bison that other city bison bully bully yet other city bison.

     Those poor, sad Buffalo buffalo.

     Thanks Sam!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Writing

Hello Everyone,

     Some days, I feel like this is how students treat the writing process.

That's awesome, so long as that "write" writing happens after all this.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

P.S. - That was a pun!  Punny, right?