Block days this week were spent doing some grammar and vocabulary work. Instead of a warm up, the class got into pairs and read a de-punctuated version of a passage from the book. Working together, you corrected the passage by inserting the correct punctuation. We also had a brief discussion about how punctuation can affect meaning, and located a few sentences in the text that had multiple correct punctuation options. Then, I gave you the correct version of the passage, and you tallied your correct and incorrect answers. Following this activity, we also did a little work with the vocabulary words from the last Guided Reading assingment (you were also allowed to work in pairs for this). The sheets I gave you had several little graphic organizers called Word Castles (corny name I know, and they don't even look like castles!). You filled out each organizer with your vocab words and came up with synonyms, antonyms, pictures, connections, and sentences for your words. Once you complete them, I will score them and then we will be using these for future activities in the coming weeks. The rest of the period was spent viewing some brief footage from from a news piece on the Vietnam War. What connections can you make between the experiences of the characters in the book and the soldiers being interviewed on the film? What common themes do you see? What can you gather about gender roles and war when watching the interview with the nurse? And lastly, how does the news expose portray the war? Is it trying to garner positive support from the public, or is it trying to be comprehensive in its portrayal of the positives and negatives? By Friday, you need to have read through page 66 in the book (there will be a quiz next week, so get caught up!). Over the weekend, you will need to have read the article "When Boys Will be Jarheads" and be ready to discuss it. For a head start, download the article below.
"When Boys Will Be Jarheads"
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