Welcome to the official newsletter for all things Language Arts and Mr. Goldhammer. The purpose of this newsletter is simple: to allow parents and guardians a way to stay informed about their student's Language Arts experience and to promote involvement in his/her education. This newsletter is updated regularly and should be a great way to finally get an answer to that dreaded "what'd you learn at school today" question students so cleverly try to avoid. As "Hey Parents!" is a bit of an experiment, be sure to pass on any comments or suggestions that you may have. Enjoy.
September 17
Wed, Sep 17 2008 11:25
Welcome to Hey Parents! and the first, official newsletter of the year. My guess is that if you've found this part of the website, you've had a chance to poke around a bit and explore some of the tools that are available to help you better stay up-to-date with what's happening in the classroom with your student. Essentially, that's exactly why penguinsandtoast.com exists--there's daily updates, links to assignments, useful handouts, etc. that are all designed to make life a bit easier, organized, and manageable. I'm a firm believer that parent/guardian involvement is directly tied with student achievement. In short, the more you know about your student's Language Arts experience, the more accountable he/she will have to be. The website's designed to help everyone out with exactly that.
So, let's talk about parent/guardian involvement. The big news is that Open House is quickly approaching. In fact, it's next week...Tuesday to be exact. All the fun starts around 6pm (although the "official start" is at 7). I'm looking forward to it and sincerely hope I get to meet most of you. Be sure to swing by room 303 to say hello.
Now, let's get into the specifics of what your lovely little scholars have been working on. For those students in LA 10 Honors, life right now is all about WWI and Erich Maria Remarque's classic novel, All Quiet in the Western Front. It's beautiful, intense, and definitely one of the more sophisticated works that they've dealt with thus far. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it...it's an extremely moving work, told from the rare perspective of a German soldier. Poetic, gruesome, engaging...it's got it all.
In addition to reading the novel, these students are also focusing a lot of their time and effort on writing. The first few weeks of this course always deal with getting each of them exactly up to speed with the writing demands Honors 10. You've probably (hopefully) seen your student at home, hard at work on writing "chunks" and reworking the phrasing of their "concrete details" and "commentary." If this all seems a bit foreign, be sure to ask them about it. While you're at it, be sure to check in and see how they are doing with their literary terms...there's about 120 of 'em.
Students in Creative Writing are also hard at work. Currently, these folks are focusing most of their efforts on descriptive writing. Right now, expect to see your student dealing with the close details of things--writing about the small, unnoticed subtleties of the world around them. There's a number of big assignments coming their way including: The Place Assignment and The Fruit Journal (both of which will be assigned next week). Already, these students have been churning out some amazing stuff...there's definitely some talented voices that are eager to be heard. If you have yet to see any of the work he/she has done thus far, be sure to ask him/her if you can take a look. I promise you'll be wow'd.
Finally, let's talk about Freshmen. The first few weeks of LA 9 are all about getting students familiar with the requirements of high school and finding out exactly what we can draw on from years past. Currently, your LA 9er is about halfway through John Steinbeck's classic, Of Mice and Men, and is beginning to fine-tune his/her writing skills to meet the demands of the high school's writing program. Most of them are off to a fine start...there's definitely some work to be done getting everyone up to par, but the good news is that much of the first quarter is devoted to exactly that. Over the next few weeks, expect your student to be dilligently working on "Blowing Chunks" (ask them to explain), vocab, as well as some at-home reading. They'll definitely be busy.
So, there it is: the first update of the year. Be sure to check back often for updates (my plan is about once a month) as well as breaking news. If you ever have any questions or concerns, be sure to let me know. Thanks for staying involved!
'til next time,
Eric Goldhammer
Language Arts Teacher
Mount Si High School
Now, let's get into the specifics of what your lovely little scholars have been working on. For those students in LA 10 Honors, life right now is all about WWI and Erich Maria Remarque's classic novel, All Quiet in the Western Front. It's beautiful, intense, and definitely one of the more sophisticated works that they've dealt with thus far. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it...it's an extremely moving work, told from the rare perspective of a German soldier. Poetic, gruesome, engaging...it's got it all.
In addition to reading the novel, these students are also focusing a lot of their time and effort on writing. The first few weeks of this course always deal with getting each of them exactly up to speed with the writing demands Honors 10. You've probably (hopefully) seen your student at home, hard at work on writing "chunks" and reworking the phrasing of their "concrete details" and "commentary." If this all seems a bit foreign, be sure to ask them about it. While you're at it, be sure to check in and see how they are doing with their literary terms...there's about 120 of 'em.
Students in Creative Writing are also hard at work. Currently, these folks are focusing most of their efforts on descriptive writing. Right now, expect to see your student dealing with the close details of things--writing about the small, unnoticed subtleties of the world around them. There's a number of big assignments coming their way including: The Place Assignment and The Fruit Journal (both of which will be assigned next week). Already, these students have been churning out some amazing stuff...there's definitely some talented voices that are eager to be heard. If you have yet to see any of the work he/she has done thus far, be sure to ask him/her if you can take a look. I promise you'll be wow'd.
Finally, let's talk about Freshmen. The first few weeks of LA 9 are all about getting students familiar with the requirements of high school and finding out exactly what we can draw on from years past. Currently, your LA 9er is about halfway through John Steinbeck's classic, Of Mice and Men, and is beginning to fine-tune his/her writing skills to meet the demands of the high school's writing program. Most of them are off to a fine start...there's definitely some work to be done getting everyone up to par, but the good news is that much of the first quarter is devoted to exactly that. Over the next few weeks, expect your student to be dilligently working on "Blowing Chunks" (ask them to explain), vocab, as well as some at-home reading. They'll definitely be busy.So, there it is: the first update of the year. Be sure to check back often for updates (my plan is about once a month) as well as breaking news. If you ever have any questions or concerns, be sure to let me know. Thanks for staying involved!
'til next time,
Eric Goldhammer
Language Arts Teacher
Mount Si High School