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Guiding Principles
In Ms. Castillo's class, student will be taught and will be expected to follow these GUIDING PRINCIPLES.
"I Am" Poem
This is the template for an "I Am" poem.
1. Use the template to tell me more about yourself.
2. Later in the school year, you will be able to use this as a character analysis assignment for novels that you read.
Annotating the Text
Attached are symbols for how to annotate the text. If your have a paper copy of the book, use a post it note to mark up the book with these symbols. If you have an electronic copy of the book that allows you to annotate, use these symbols. If your eBook does not allow you to annotate, use these symbols as you write notes about the book, and use the notes during class discussions.
Article/Informational Text Features
Attached is a labeled article to teach you what the text features are of an article.
Study this. Use the information for the Newsela quiz due March 18.
Use this as a model (the format) for your Native American article which will be due on Monday, March 23, at 9 p.m.
Works Cited page
Use this page and follow the format when you are writing the Works Cited or Sources page for any research assignment.
Follow the format at all times!
5 Paragraph Essay Sample
Analyze what makes this essay an "A" by looking at your notes and finding the elements that the student included.
Look at how direct quotes are used and imbedded in the paragraphs.
Look at how citations are done.
Pay attention to how the student wrote the into and the conclusion.
Personal Narrative Sample
This is an annotated example of a personal narrative for your reference. Look at what is being pointed out on the side that the story does. Be sure that your narratives do these too.
Professional/Published Personal Narrative Example
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Ciscneros.
Sample MEAEAEAL paragraph
Character Analysis
The antagonist in the short story called "Korean Cinderella" is Omoni, Pear Blossom's step-mother. The first reason why she's the antagonist is because she teased Pear Blossom about going to the festival by saying, "Pear Blossom may go after she weeds the rice paddies." This is a tease because the rice paddies are so large that it would have been impossible to weed it, so this shows how Omoni is mean to Pear Blossom. Another evidence from the text that shows that Omoni is an antagonist is that the text says, "When Omoni and Peony saw how beautiful Pear Blossom was, they were jealous of her. Omoni made her work day and night and constantly found fault with her." This quote proves that Omoni is an antagonist because jealousy and treating a person badly are characteristics of an antagonist. The final reason that shows how Omoni is an antagonist is seen when Pear Blossom arrived at the festival, and Omoni called her a liar and scared Pear Blossom by saying that the girl will be arrested. This act is an act of an antagonist because Omoni had no reason to scare Pear Blossom since the girl did not do anything wrong. There are several incidents in the text that proves how mean Omoni was to Pear Blossom making Omoni the antagonist in the story.
A note about the importance of learning cursive writing
Please click on the article and read about why learning cursive is important.
Students are expected to learn how to read and write in cursive by the second semester which starts in January.