Freshman English 212Name:

ASSIGNMENT: Every weekend throughout the year—except during designated Homework-Free weekends and vacations—students will be expected to

(a)read at least twenty-five minutes in an independent reading book and

(b)also provide page details of their reading.

Three things to do after reading:

(1)choose and discuss a quotation from the reading section that relates to personal or other significance;

(2)write a sentence related to a recent grammar lesson and to your reading (if possible); and

(3)write one or two sentences that use recently-studied vocabulary words and are related (creatively perhaps) to your reading.

A full-credit homework grade is given if the assignment shows full effort—that is, all components, regardless of their correctness, are earnestly completed.

Feel free to read your 25 minutes during the school week also. Feel free to read for more than 25 minutes, too; I hope you will.

  1. Read 25 minutes(at least) of weekend independent reading
  1. Heading that gives details of your reading.
  2. Your Name
  3. Date entry is turned in
  4. Book title
  5. Page numbers readsince the last entry(during the week or weekend), with total number of pages in parentheses
  1. Quotation Sandwich—Discussion. Write two or three sentencesin which you integrate a meaningful quotation—or a small section from the quotation, or just a phrase—from your reading with a comment about either its significance to your reading or your personal response to it.
  1. Grammar/Style Practice. Write one sentence that uses an example of any of the grammar emphasized during recent study period.
  1. Vocabulary Application. Write two sentences with two vocabulary words that are related to your reading. Any loose connection is fine; the goal is make meaningful use of the recently-learned vocabulary words. (You can connect your sentences to recently-studied history content, if helpful.)

WEEKEND INDEPENDENT READING SCHEDULE

Term 1

  1. T 9/8—nothing due
  1. T 9/15 (Rosh Hashanah—M 9/14)—have an independent reading book chosen by the end of the week
  1. Due M 9/21 (W 9/23—Yom Kippur)
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence (or more than one)correctly usingTHERE, THEY’RE, and THEIR. [Challenge: Include IT’S and ITS in the sentence also.]
  3. Vocab: MOTTLED, IMPERIOUS
  1. Due M 9/28
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence (or more than one)that correctly uses THEN and THAN and correctly spells and usesRECEIVE. [Challenge: Include THEN and THAN in the sentence also.]
  3. Vocab: MOROSE, PUGNACIOUS
  1. Due M 10/5—Short Stories
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that correctly capitalizes someone’s name, the school they go to, the town they live in, and the name of their favorite TV show. [Challenge: Refer to English as a subject or language and correctly capitalize it in the sentence.]
  3. Vocab: DEROGATORY, MOROSE
  1. T 10/13 (Mon—Columbus Day)—The Odyssey—NOTHING DUE—HW-Free Weekend
  1. Due M 10/19—Short Stories
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that correctly uses the possessive form (example: the student’s pen is on the desk) and a contraction (example the student’s studying now). [Challenge: Include the title of a song or poem that requires quotation marks.]
  3. Vocab: COMPLACENT, HOOSEGOW
  1. Due M 10/26—Short Stories
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that uses commas in a series of three or more items. [Challenge: Include at least one example of a correctly-used apostrophe.]
  3. Vocab: ALOOF, SULLEN
  1. Due M 11/2—Of Mice and Men
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that correctly uses IT’S and ITS. [Challenge: Make sure that the sentence has at least two correctly-used commas.]
  3. Vocab: BELLIGERENT, IMPERIOUS
  1. Due M 11/9 (Veterans Day—Th 11/11)—Optional Special Weekend Reading—“The Things They Carried”
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that needs a comma after an introductory phrase or clause. [Challenge: Use THEN and THAN and WHETHER in the same sentence.]
  3. Vocab: ABUNDANT, MALICIOUS

Term 2

  1. Due M 11/16—Of Mice and Men
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that correctly capitalizes the title of your independent reading book and properly uses italics (or underlining). [Challenge: Include a series of at least three items, which will require at least two commas.]
  • Vocab: INSOLENT, BOISTEROUS
  1. Due M 11/23 (Thanksgiving)—Of Mice and Men
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a run-on/comma splice sentence—and then write the same sentence again correctly punctuated. [Challenge: Include in your sentence THROUGH and THREW and WHICH and WITCH.]
  3. Vocab: GLOAT, DEROGATORY
  1. M 11/30—Of Mice and Men—NOTHING DUE—HW-Free Weekend
  1. Due M 12/7—Of Mice and Men
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a compound sentence with correct punctuation (of course). [Challenge: Use three or more independent clauses and be sure to punctuate properly.]
  3. Vocab: COMPLACENT, SULLEN
  1. Due M 12/14—Of Mice and Men
  2. Grammar/Style: Use affect and effect and number of in the same sentence (on any topic). [Challenge: Include bad and badly in the same sentence—and write about your independent reading book, if you can.]
  3. Vocab: INSOLENT, MALICIOUS
  1. M 12/21—W 12/23—Of Mice and Men
  2. Grammar/Style: Usage/Confusing Word Pairs— Use eager and anxious and further in the same sentence (on any topic). [Challenge: Keep the topic on your independent reading book and include the book’s title, correctly underlined and capitalized.]
  3. Vocab: KINSMAN, TRUDGE

[12/24-31—DECEMBER RECESS]

  1. M 1/4—Poetry—NOTHING DUE
  1. Due M 1/11—Poetry
  2. Grammar/Style: Usage/Confusing Word Pairs— Use fewer and less and as though in the same sentence (on any topic). [Challenge: Include good and well in the sentence also.]
  3. Vocab: DOTE, DEXTERITY
  1. Due T 1/19 (MLK Day)—Special Weekend Reading—MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail
  2. Grammar/Style: Usage/Confusing Word Pairs—Use real and really and than in the same sentence (on any topic). [Challenge: Write two versions: (1) an incorrect run-on sentence and (2) a corrected version.]
  3. Vocab: LAMENT, WOO, JOCUND

Term 3

  1. Due M 1/25—Poetry
  2. Grammar/Style: Usage/Confusing Word Pairs—Use good and well correctly in one sentence. [Challenge: Use among correctly in the sentence, too.]
  3. Vocab: CIRCUMVENT, MISER
  1. Due M 2/1—The Odyssey
  2. Grammar/Style: Usage/Confusing Word Pairs—Use bad and badly correctly in one sentence. [Challenge: Include it’s and its in a sentence that also has a series.]
  3. Vocab: NEOPHYTE, GLOAT
  4. Due M 2/8—The Odyssey
  5. Grammar/Style: Personal Pronouns—subject and object pronouns—Use we and us in a compound sentence. [Challenge: Also include they and them in the same sentence.]
  6. Vocab: BOISTEROUS, ALOOF

[2/15-19—WINTER VACATION (HW-Free)]

  1. M 2/22—The Odyssey—NOTHING DUE—HW-Free Vacation
  1. Due M 2/29—The Odyssey
  2. Grammar/Style: Indefinite Pronouns—Use everyone and somebody correctly in a complex sentence. [Challenge: Use each correctly in the same sentence.]
  3. Vocab: MISANTHROPE, DECISIVE
  1. Due M 3/7—The Odyssey
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that correctly uses ACCEPT and EXCEPT together in a compound sentence. [Challenge: Write an incorrect run-on version of the same sentence.]
  3. Vocab: COMPORTMENT,CIRCUMVENT
  1. Due M 3/14—The Odyssey
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence that includes your independent book title, the author’s name, and the main character’s name. [Challenge: Use then and than correctly in the same sentence.]
  3. Vocab: MISER, GLOAT
  1. Due M 3/21 (MCAS ELA testing; Good Friday) —The Odyssey
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a simple sentence with two apostrophes—one that uses a possessive apostrophe (the doctor’s stethoscope) and a contraction (the doctor’s using a stethoscope). [Challenge: Make it a complex sentence.]
  3. Vocab: HYPERBOLE, PANOPLY
  1. Due M 3/28—Romeo and Juliet
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a simple sentence a series of three or more items. [Challenge: Make it a compound-complex sentence.]
  3. Vocab: IMPENDING, DOTE
  1. Due M 4/4—Romeo and Juliet
  2. Grammar/Style: Properly punctuate a compound sentence. [Challenge: Include affect and effect in the same sentence.]
  3. Vocab: JOCUND, LAMENT

Term 4

  1. Due M 4/11—Romeo and Juliet
  2. Grammar/Style: Write two sentences—(1) a run-on comma splice and (2) its correct version—about your independent reading book. [Challenge: Include your book’s title in the sentence and the author’s name.]
  3. Vocab: BENEVOLENT, MONOTONOUS

[4/18-22—SPRING VACATION]

  1. M 4/25—Romeo and Juliet—NOTHING DUE
  1. Due M 5/2 (AP testing—no bells)—Romeo and Juliet
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a complex sentence that also has a series that needs proper punctuation. [Challenge: Include their, there, they’re all together in the sentence.]
  3. Vocab: VIVACIOUS, TRUDGE
  1. Due M 5/9 (AP testing—no bells)—Romeo and Juliet
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a complex sentence about Romeo and Juliet. [Challenge: Make the sentence also with a series.]
  3. Vocab: RECONCILE, CORPULENT
  1. Due M 5/16—Romeo and Juliet—creative performances preparation
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a compound sentence correctly using farther and further and eager. [Challenge: Write about your freshman year, looking back at a highlight or two.]
  3. Vocab: PROVOCATIVE, PANOPLY
  1. Due M 5/23—Romeo and Juliet—creative performances preparation [HW-Free Weekend]
  2. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence with her, we, and they. [Challenge: Include us and them also.]
  3. Vocab: DECREPIT, MALICIOUS, VALIANT
  1. Due T 5/31 (Memorial Day)—odds and ends wrap-up—NOTHING DUE
  • Friday, 6/3—Eat-a-Book Feast
  1. M 6/6—Final week of regular classes for underclassmen—NOTHING DUE
  1. M 6/13— Review Week for underclassmen; Finals—NOTHING DUE
  1. M 6/20—Finals for underclassmen
  1. M 6/27—Snow-Days extension week

WEEKLY INDEPENDENT READING WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT (EXAMPLE)

Name: Alan Reinstein

Due Date: 9/10/12

Book Title: The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore

Pages Read: 85-107 (22 pages)

  1. Quotation Sandwich. (CONTEXT—BACKGROUND INFO) The day after Wes returns to the military school after trying to run away, he notices the nineteen-year-old Cadet Captain Ty Hill and appreciates the respect that his men give to him. (QUOTATION) He writes, “I had never seen a man, a peer, demand that much respect from his people” (96). (ANALYSIS / SIGNIFICANCE—WHY IT’S IMPORTANT) This is when Wes seems to decide that this is the kind of person he wants to be and is important in that it shows the importance of a person having a role model in one’s life.
  1. Grammar/Style: (WRITE THE ASSIGNMENT) Write a sentence (or more than one) correctly using THERE, THEY’RE, and THEIR.

SENTENCE(S): There were George’s parents, looking proudly at their brand new car. “They’re very fond of their new Ferrari,” George thought.

  1. Vocabulary: MOTTLED, IMPERIOUS
  2. I imagine Wes in his military uniform, with the mottled grey, green, and brown colors to make it camouflaged.
  3. Wes’s captain imperiously yelled at him for staying in bed while the otherstudents were awake and ready to begin the day.

WEEKLY INDEPENDENT READING WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT (EXAMPLE)

Alan Reinstein

9/10/12

The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore

Pages Read—85-107 (22 pages)

  1. Quotation Sandwich. The day after Wes returns to the military school after trying to run away, he notices the nineteen-year-old Cadet Captain Ty Hill and appreciates the respect that his men give to him. He writes, “I had never seen a man, a peer, demand that much respect from his people” (96). This is when Wes seems to decide that this is the kind of person he wants to be and is important in that it shows the importance of a person having a role model in one’s life.
  1. Grammar/Style: Write a sentence (or more than one) correctly using THERE, THEY’RE, and THEIR.

There were George’s parents, looking proudly at their brand new car. “They’re very fond of their new Ferari,” George thought.

  1. Vocabulary: MOTTLED, IMPERIOUS.
  2. Wes’s family was poor and had an old car that was painted a mottled-looking green and brown.
  3. Wes’s captain imperiously yelled at him for staying in bed while the other students were awake and ready to begin the day.