9th Grade English Syllabus Mrs. Cordry-­‐Room 307 2013-­‐2014 “Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” Fitzhugh Dodson Welcome to ninth grade English. The purpose and objective of ninth grade English is to challenge you into working hard to set, maintain, and achieve high goals in grammar, vocabulary, spelling, writing, and literature in order or prepare you for what lies beyond your high school years. In order to help all students stay on track, we will incorporate an
online tool called MOODLE and an online site for our literature and grammar books. Materials needed for class: Paper Blue and Red pen Highlighters: 4 different colors Notecards (3 X 5) 3 ring binder 6 dividers for the binder, labeled: Reading/Literature/Poetry, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar, Projects, Homework First Nine Weeks: L-­‐J Vocabulary Pre-­‐test L-­‐J Vocabulary work throughout nine weeks Literature terms, including project for terms Traits of Effective Writing Unit-­‐Informative writing Traits of Effective Communication Essay: Informative speaking Base words, prefixes, and suffixes Grammar: Parts of Speech: Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Adjectives, Pronouns Punctuation: Periods, Question Marks, Exclamation Points, and Commas Mechanics of Writing: Capitalization, singular and plural words Novel: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and project Freedom Writers movie with written responses Blogging Second Nine Weeks: L-­‐J Vocabulary work throughout nine weeks Poetry Unit, including a project Literature book Essay: Informative Grammar: Pronoun, Preposition, Conjunction, and Interjection Mechanics: Sentence Structures, Acronyms, Numbers, and Abbreviations Punctuation: Semicolon, Colon, and Quotations Marks Blogging Base words, prefixes, and suffixes Random Act of Kindness project Semester Exam-­‐COMPREHENSIVE OVER THE SEMESTER WORK Third Nine Weeks: Moby Dick by Herman Melville: Movie, symbolism work L-­‐J Vocabulary throughout the nine weeks Writing: Informative Essay Grammar: Phrases and Clauses Review Grammar Review Punctuation Persuasive Writing and Speech Blogging Base words, prefixes, and suffixes Gentlehands by M. E. Kerr with project Fourth Nine Weeks: Essay: Informative with citations L-­‐J Vocabulary work throughout nine weeks Review Grammar, Mechanics, and Punctuation Blogging Shakespeare Play: Romeo and Juliet Base words, prefixes, and suffixes Semester Exam-­‐Comprehensive over entire year including L-­‐J vocabulary Makeup work must be complete within two days of return to school. It is up to the student to come to me to get makeup work. If it is not made up, it will result in work detentions until the work is made up for a maximum of 50% of the possible grade. If a student knows he/she will be out prior to the absence, he/she must get work before the absence and turn it in before the absence. ****Each quarter, I will offer independent work of a research paper to include citations, notecards, and quotations. I will grade according to mechanics and depth of essay written. This is not mandatory, and it can help or hurt a grade, but it will prepare students for the upper high school grades in high school.**** ***Any student caught cheating, including plagiarizing, will receive a 0 and a detention. *** Because I firmly believe that to learn the material, homework must be completed, a work detention will be given to any student not completing homework. I am looking forward to a fun and rewarding year. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school at (402) 645-­‐3326, at my home (402)806-­‐6876, or via email at scordry@southernschools.org. I encourage and appreciate all parental involvement. Sincerely, Mrs. Cordry _______________________________________________________________________
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