Welcome to English 100

I hope you are looking forward to this year. Once again we will be covering a tremendous amount of information and material in a short period of time. It will be a year filled with reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar. We will begin by looking at Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. We will then read Beowulf, an epic poem written in the Early Middle Ages about a young warriors fight and determination to defeat the monster Grendel. We will finally read Crazy Horse Electric Game written by Chris Crutcher about a young man’s journey to find out who he is and where he belongs. We will continue this year with the silent reading component with a book(s) of your choosing. We will continue to use the vocabulary series Vocabulary Workshop, by Jerome Shostak. It is important to remember that increased vocabulary leads to better reading comprehension. Grammar will be targeted once again with Daily Oral Language instruction. We will continue to use Step Up To Writing to guide all writing assignments. We will once again be writing every day. Writing needs to be practiced, like anything else, in order to become better at it. We are going to write, write, write! The Read Naturally program and YPP are the two computerized programs we will again incorporate. Read Naturally has been successful in increasing reading comprehension and fluency and YPP helps to track your progress.

Expectations are high. I do expect you to be prompt and in your seat at the beginning of class. I expect you to come to class prepared. This includes bringing a writing utensil! I expect you to actively participate in each class. I expect that you treat everyone courteously and with respect. I expect to have a great year!