Monday - Period 5

Picture Book Study - Zoo by Anthony Browne

In our initial reading and deconstruction of this picture book, we have identified the visual techniques used and interpreted Browne's message to us about the theme of man's relationship with animals.  In today's lesson you will complete a worksheet to demonstrate your understanding of the techniques used and the effect they achieve.

We will then spend the remainder of the term composing our own class picture book based on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.  You will each be given ONE of the rights that will be the subject of an opening.

Thinking homework:  use the document below and find the 'right' you will be representing visually.  Make sure you understand its meaning (eg. ask your parents, look up unfamiliar words, research on the internet, ...) then give some thought to the type of images you could use for your opening.Universal Declaration - Plain

Thursday - Period 2

As our first introduction to the study of picture books, we will visit the library to look at a range of picture book texts.  It is important to realise that picture books are not simply for young children, that they can explore serious and thought provoking subject matter, and use images to create meaning just as any other composer would.

You will choose one or two picture books to peruse and in your book, answer the following questions:

1. Title?
2. Author? Illustrator?
3. Synopsis (outline of story)
4. Theme/s
5. What do you learn from the images that is not found in the written text?

Wednesday - Period 3

Identification of Visual Techniques:
Glossary terms (SST) continued.  Using your glossary to support you, annotate the film poster below.  This annotation will be returned to you at the end of this unit and completed again to demonstrate the extent of your learning in this unit about visual texts, visual techniques and the effect they achieve.

Monday - Period 5

Visual Texts - as an introduction to our study of visual texts we will look at a number of images and respond to the following questions for each.  The aim is to recognise that meaning can be communicated without the need for written text and identify how this is achieved.

Key Questions:

What does this image mean?

How do we receive this message?

Subject Specific Terminology:  Introduction/revision of glossary terms for this unit.Stage 4 & 5 Visual Texts

Weeks 4-6

During these lessons we have studied:

• 'Grandfather' by Susan Hyrnkow - in this poem the voice is an adult woman who reflects back to her childhood memories of her grandfather.  By looking at both this poem and 'Grandpa' we can see the effective use of voice in a text.  We can also see the use of a motif, in this case flowers, to make associations from a recurring image.

Using a graphic organiser, we have compared these two poems in preparation for a comparative essay (see scaffold below).

Monday - Period 5

Today we will look at a poem, 'Grandpa' by W.M. Ransom.

This is written in free verse and contains the voice of a child who is reflecting on the life of his grandpa.

We will look at the poem together, deconstruct it using the 'How to look at a poem' scaffold (below), and complete comprehension questions.

Monday - Period 3 & Wednesday - Period 2

Monday - away due to HSIE/Geography excursions.

Wednesday - you will complete two activities:
1) A poetry composition modelled on Pat Mora's poem, Teenagers.  Instructions can be found in the 'Classwork Folder' on the school network.
2) Post a Wallwisher response to the Steven Herrick incursion.  Click on the wall below to complete.



If you are interested in listening to an podcast interview where Steven Herrick talks about his poetry and verse novels, take a listen below.

Thursday - Period 2

Today we will continue our first look at analysing a poem using 'Teenagers' by Pat Mora.

You will be given a checklist of what to look for when studying a poem, and I will take you through it as a model of how to approach the poems we will look at in future lessons.

You will also brainstorm 5 thoughts or feelings from the perspective of the teenager in the poem in preparation for your own poetry composition based on 'Teenagers'.

We have looked at the report criteria for this poetry unit, so make sure you are referring to it as we both evaluate and compose our poems.

Wednesday - Period 3

Today you will attend a performance by poet and author, Steven Herrick.  You can explore his writing further at www.stevenherrick.com.au or watch the video below of him reading one of his poems.  Be prepared to discuss the ideas and thoughts that arise from this incursion in our next lesson.

Tuesday - Period 4

Welcome back from holidays.  Only a term to go and you are in Year 8!

Today we begin a unit on poetry.  We already have ideas about what poetry is and have experienced different types of poetry in the past.  Today's lesson is to be clear on why poetry is a powerful and effective literary text.  Poetry is ... "a tight group of words that allows expression of feelings, creation of images, and exploration of ideas and issues."  It is the efficient use of language that gives poetry its power and by carefully selecting language poetry can cleverly and beautifully communicate ideas.

So today we will:

• Revise the SST - simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoiea, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, stanza
• Look at the poem 'Teenagers' by Pat Mora in both poetry and prose forms.
• Begin deconstruction this poem by examining the subject matter, voice, point of view, poet's message and themes.  

Tomorrow - Wednesday 13/10/10 you will be attending a performance by poet and author, Steven Herrick, in the MPA during Period 3.

Monday - Period 3

Magazines - Today we will spend some time designing magazine covers online.  First you are to examine samples of magazine covers and I will explain their purpose, design features and layouts.  Then you will spend time designing your own using the magazine cover designer at Big Huge Labs.  These will be printed and glued in your English book.

Wednesday - Period 2 & Friday - Period 4

In these lessons you will undertake internet research on a topic/issue/person that will be the subject of a feature article you will write.  You need to gather facts, anecdotes, statistics, images that will assist you.  As you locate the information you require, put each one into your Livebinder.

Monday - Period 3

Feature Articles:

• Study of facts, quotes and anecdotes
• Comprehension task
• Feature Article 'Recipe' examined.

Thursday - Period 2

Feature Articles:  definition and elements of a feature article examined.

In this lesson you will select a feature article from your newspaper and summarise the details of it using the headings provided in class.  This activity is to demonstrate your understanding of the difference between a news report and a feature article, as well as identification of its parts.

Monday - Period 3 & Wednesday - Period 2

News Reports:
In these lessons you will compose a news report using the inverted pyramid structure.  Using the plane crash incident in your wider reading novel, 'Hatchet', you will begin by planning and organising the information that your article will contain using the planning diagram below.  You will also need to give attention to your:

• lead paragraphs
• byline
• headline

Once your draft is written, you need to proofread and edit it before publishing a final copy using Microsoft Word.  Mrs Lans will model using columns and tables to assist you in your setting out.

News Report Planning Landscape

Thursday - Period 2

Deconstruction of a news report - using the article hyperlinked below, we will today look at the inverted pyramid structure, lead paragraphs, and jargon.

In examining headlines we will look at puns (a play on words) and revise alliteration and assonance.  You will compose a new headline for the Daily Telegraph article.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw-act/boys-13-crash-stolen-van-into-hotel/story-e6freuzi-1225901410639

Monday - Period 5 & Tuesday - Period 4

Activities:

• Sequencing activity: sorting details of an incident from most important to least important
• Inverted pyramid structure video (below) and diagram studied.
• Identification of parts of the inverted pyramid in a news report of your choosing.
• Identification of the lead paragraphs - who, what, when, where, why, how

Friday - Period 4

Wider Reading Borrowing:  'Hatchet' by Gary Paulsen.  This is a novel you will read outside of class in Term 3.  At various intervals in the term you will complete small activities to indicate your reading progress.  This book is to be completed by the end of Term 3.

Newspaper captions:  record your caption compositions from Wednesday's lesson on the Voicethread below.

Monday - Period 3 & Wednesday - Period 2

Tabloid & Broadsheet Newspapers:

• comparison of size, subject matter, news focus, language and vocabulary
• conclusions drawn

Newspaper photographs:

• captions - language and composition (think of a suitable caption for the image to the right)

Thursday - Period 2

Newspapers:

• Brainstorming of sections of newspapers (see word cloud below)
• Subject Specific Terminology - masthead, headline, news report, feature article, lead paragraph, caption, tabloid, broadsheet

Homework:  Bring a newspaper of your choice to Monday's lesson (26/07/10).

Tuesday - Period 4

Voicethread activity in last lesson of Term 2 was postponed due the school network being unavailable.

In today's lesson you will visit the post below (dated 01/07/10) and record your Whale Rider movie trailer voice over.

Thursday - Period 2

Today you will record your Whale Rider movie trailer voice-over.  Remember that your voice over should give an outline (synopsis) of the plot without revealing the ending and encourage/persuade us to see the film.  Remember to try and use the techniques we identified in the original voice-over (repetition, alliteration, ellipsis, author/actor information, strong emotive words).

Use the link below to access the Voicethread that we will use for your audio recordings.

Click on the 'register button' and follow the prompts to allow you access to record.

Monday - Period 5

Activities 28/06/10:

1. Camera Shots & Angles analysis
2. Themes - destiny, tradition, leadership, community
3. Composition - movie trailer voiceover

Friday - Period 4

Activities 25/06/10:

1. Camera Shots & Angles quiz
2. Characterisation - Koro

Monday - Period 3 & Wednesday - Period 2

Whale Rider activities:

• Thursday's work checked.
• Trailer activity outlined.
• Plot recorded in point form and narrative elements labelled.
• Characterisation - Paikea, Koro and Nanny Flowers

Homework:  finish storyboard activity by Monday, 28/06/10.  Begin planning ideas for your trailer voiceover.

Monday - Period 3 & Wednesday - Period 2

 Viewing - 'Whale Rider'.

As you watch the first part of the film, take note of the following:

• protagonist
• antagonist
• setting
• conflict

During Wednesday's viewing you will backchannel in response to various prompts.

Thursday - Period 2

Film techniques (continued) - storyboards, lighting, editing.

Next week we will begin our viewing of the film, 'Whale Rider'.  For homework you are required to view the trailer below and answer the following questions in your English book.

1. Where is the film set?
2. Who normally becomes the leader of the tribe?
3. This film is based upon a book of the same name by which author?
4. The movie trailer includes captions.  Complete the following sentence based on the captions:  Comes a film that will _________________, _____________________, and _____________________.

Tuesday - Period 4

Film techniques continued:

• Camera movement and point of view shot
• Cinematographer/director decisions - rain, platoon of soldiers, crying woman, waterfall

Monday - Period 5

New Unit:  Film Study

You will today begin your study of film - narrative, film techniques, characters, themes, etc.

To begin we will watch an episode of 'Inside Out' that introduces how a film is put together and allows us to get to know the narrative and characters.

You will receive a list of subject specific terms to record in your book.

Then we will begin to look at camera shots and angles used by filmmakers and the effect they achieve by using them.

Monday - Period 3, Wednesday - Period 2 & Friday - Period 4

Activities: Today you need to work on the activities you have yet to complete from the following list.

1. Draft writing - personal anecdote about an animal (one A4 page in length)
2. Writing checklist - check your anecdote writing against the checklist before typing.
3. Chapter Summaries worksheet.
4. Peer editing of anecdotes.

Thursday - Period 2

Activities:

1.  Figurative language PowerPoint slides (continued).
2.  Writing:  draft version of animal anecdote.
3.  Visual representation due:  book cover, collage or movie poster.

Monday - Period 5

Activities:

Red Dog figurative language (continued)

Friday - Period 4

Activities:

1.  1st person narration - rewriting Nancy Grey's experience with Red Dog from her point of view.
2.  Figurative language (if time)

Monday - Period 3

Activities:

Red Dog - editing task
Nancy & Red Dog - first person point of view writing

Remember that the NAPLAN testing will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday of this week during Periods 1 & 2.  Look over the practise tasks completed during Term 1 to revise the style and type of questions you will attempt.

Thursday - Period 2

Activities:

Return of NAPLAN practise writing task.  Feedback and revision of writing elements.

Remember:  NAPLAN testing will occur in Week 4 (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday - Periods 1 & 2).  Look over the practise tasks completed during Term 1 to revise the style and type of questions you will attempt.

Monday - Period 5 & Tuesday - Period 4

Two lessons lost due to Year 7 camp.

Friday - Period 4

Lesson lost to History/Geography excursion.

Wednesday - Period 2

Monday's lesson lost due to public holiday.

Activities:

1.  Reading strategies
2.  Plot revision:  episodic, chronological
3.  'Red Dog' - Chapter summaries

Homework:  Start working on the task due in Week 5.  You are to design either a book cover, movie poster OR a collage based on the novel 'Red Dog'.  Remember you need to demonstrate your knowledge of the book by the design you create.  If you want to try an online collage maker visit one of these:

http://www.photovisi.com/
http://www.shapecollage.com/
http://www.stainedglasscollage.com/

Thursday - Period 2

Activities:

1.  'Red Dog' - Glossary work continued (introduction to slang, colloquial language, idioms)
2.  'Red Dog' - Short dialogue composition using 'Australianisms' in the novel glossary
3.  Choose your best sentence from the dialogue you composed and post it on this blog using the 'Comments' hyperlink below.

Tuesday - Period 4

Activities:

1.  Journalling - 'We all need animals in our life.'
2.  'Red Dog' - examination of the structure of the novel on our narrative mind map.
3.  'Red Dog' - examination of the book cover (design, blurb)
4.  'Red Dog' - initial examination of book's glossary

Monday - Period 5

NAPLAN practise writing task in preparation for NAPLAN testing in Week 4.

Monday - Period 3

Activities:

Short story, 'The Old Dog' continued - character, setting, plot and theme.

Homework:  Continue to read our Term 2 novel, 'Red Dog'.  You should have read up to page number 36 by now.  If you haven't you need to start.  This book must be finished before you return to school in Term 2.

Tuesday - Period 4

Assessment Task:  Diary Entry as a character in the narrative, 'The Old Dog'.  In class task.

Homework:  Read the following chapters of our class novel, 'Red Dog' - The Stinker and Red Dog goes to Dampier.

Monday - Period 5

Today's activities:

• Short story - 'Dreams' by Gina Dillon.  Listening Task.
• In anticipation of our novel unit in Term 2, we will also visit the library today to borrow our text, 'Red Dog' by Louise de Bernieres. 

You need to begin your reading of this text now and complete it BY WEEK 1 OF TERM 2.  Start this as regular reading homework or for 'DEAR' in Homeroom.

A few points of interest:

• This book is based on a real dog whose adventures have been chronicled by Louis de Bernieres after many interviews with Western Australians who knew Red Dog.
• It is an episodic novel, which means that each chapter is an episode in the larger story of Red Dog's life.
• You will note a small drawing on the corner of each page.  This is a flick book animation - flick through it and watch Red Dog move.
• This novel can be counted as one of your 'Personal Choice' books for the Premier's Reading Challenge.

Wednesday - Period 2

Activities:

Short Story Introduction:  Rules ...short stories should

1. Be read in one sitting
2. Start quickly with a very short orientation
3. Hook the reader immediately in the opening paragraphs
4. Develop only 1 or 2 characters
5. Develop only 1 main theme
6. Use words efficiently
7. End quickly after the climax

Subject specific terms for narratives examined within all narrative terms. (Mind map and definitions).

Homework:  Make sure you have read and are familiar with 'The Old Dog' short story in preparation for your in-class assessment task on Tuesday, 23/3/10 (diary entry writing).

Thursday - Period 2

Activities:

To finalise our study of autobiographies, you will compose a summary paragraph that explains what you have learned about Lance Armstrong through your study of his autobiography extract and short film (viewed earlier).  You are also asked to show your understanding of the subject specific terms we have focused on by including them in your paragraph where appropriate.

Homework:  NAPLAN practise questions.  Due Wednesday - 17/3/10.  Also remember to read the short story, 'The Old Dog' in anticiption of your assessment task in Week 9.  Choose the character that you will write as, and highlight the possible parts of the story you will address in your diary entry.

Tuesday - Period 4

Activities:

1.  Journalling
2.  Lance Armstrong activities (completed).
3.  Premier's Reading Challenge passwords issued.

Visit the Premier's Reading Challenge website, test your userid and password.  Register the books you have read online.

Monday - Period 5

Activities:

1.  Editing
2.  Diary Entry - examination of an 'A' diary entry.

Friday - Period 4

Activities:

1.  Spelling
2.  Lance Armstrong (completion of unfinished work)
3.  Submission of homework:  digital/handwritten diary entry

Wednesday - Period 2

Activities:

1.  Listening task
2.  Lance Armstrong language and comprehension activities.
Homework:  NAPLAN Reading Task due Monday, 8/3/10.

Monday - Period 2

Activities:

1.  Paired reading
2.  Lance Armstrong (continued)

Homework:  To prepare for your upcoming assessment task in Week 9, you are to compose a diary entry that reflects on your first day at high school.  Remember to include events, thoughts and feelings about this experience.  This should be 1 A4 page in length and typed if possible.  This will make proofreading and editing easier than a handwritten piece.  DUE - Friday 5/3/10 Period 4

Thursday - Period 2

Activities:

1.  Editing
2.  Lance Armstrong autobiography - continued

Homework:  NAPLAN practise questions (spelling, grammar & punctuation).  Due Monday, 1/3/10, Period 3.

Monday - Period 7 & Tuesday - Period 4

Monday: 
1.  Assessment Task issued and explained (in class Week 9 Term 1)
2.  'My Place' completed.

Tuesday
1.  Journalling
2.  Lance Armstrong - viewing and autobiography extract

Homework:  Begin thinking about your approach to the assessment task in Week 9.  Read the stimulus and decide on which character you will write as.  Consider what information they would include in a diary entry.

Wednesday - Period 2 & Friday - Period 4

Wednesday's lesson lost due to Ash Wednesday Liturgy.

Friday:

1.  Comprehension
2. 'My Place' extract continued

Monday - Period 3

As we lost Thursday's lesson to your Peer Support program, today's lesson will be the same as for Thursday (below).  Please make sure you watch the Lance Armstrong video before Friday's lesson.

Thursday - Period 2

Homework due:  2 paragraphs describing yourself and your family.

Today's class activities:
1.  Spelling
2.  Autobiography extract - 'My Place' by Sally Morgan.  Features of an autobiography studied and comprehension questions.

Homework:  In anticipation of our lesson on Monday Period 3 (15/2/10) please view the following video as an introduction to the life of Lance Armstrong.

Tuesday - Period 4

1.  'It's My Life' activities (continued)
2.  Writing About Myself - brainstorming.
3.  Report Criteria for Semester 1 issued and explained.

HOMEWORK: As for yesterday's post.  Compose two paragraphs - one that describes you and another that describes your family. Remember that autobiographical writing addresses interesting highlights, not unnecessary or uninteresting detail. Due Thursday Period 2 (11/02/10).

Monday - Period 5

Activities:
1.  'My Name' task
2.  'It's My Life' song lyric and questions

HOMEWORK: Compose two paragraphs - one that describes you and another that describes your family. Remember that autobiographical writing addresses interesting highlights, not unnecessary or uninteresting detail. Due Thursday Period 2 (11/02/10).

Friday - Period 4

Wednesday's lesson (Period 2) lost to student ID photos.

Our lesson today will include:

1. Sentence/Paragraph Revision
2. Introduction to autobiography/biography
3. Cloze activity.

Monday - Period 3

Each of your lessons will be outlined or detailed in this blog. If you are absent or do not complete your work it will assist you to complete class tasks for homework. Today's lesson includes:

1. Introduction to English study
2. Quick comprehension quiz
3. Spelling
4. Bookwork Requirements