The Academy of Business and Leadership Education

Novel Study

Due to preparing for the FCAT, students were unable to read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Therefore, we will read  The House on Mango Street this unit. In addition, we will read The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. When absent, students will be responsible for checking out a novel and reading the chapters they missed.

Video Connection

Students will view various student made clips that come from the novel The House on Mango Street. Students will also an old episode from the series The Twilight Zone to accompany themes presented in The Uglies.

Independent Reading

Students should have read at least four novels at this point in the school year. For this unit there will be a project students will complete to get credit for their independent reading. Students will choose their project in order to give their best effort for the assignment. The independent reading project is due on 4/15 for groups 3, 5, 1 and 4/16 for groups 4, 6, 2. There is a classroom library with different reading levels of books students can utilize. After each book read, students will complete an assignment that will count as a test grade. Students who read at least four books by the end of May will attend an extracurricular field trip in June. *Students do not have to read four books by May, this is only if they wish to attend the extracurricular field trip in June.* Students will have to read independently for homework. Please encourage students to bring their books everyday so they can read them in class if they finish their work early. Ongoing homework for Language Arts is reading. This unit, late Independent Reading projects WILL NOT be accepted. Therefore, please manage your time well so that it will be turned in on time.

Writing Activities

Because The House on Mango Street mixes prose writing and poetry, students will get to finish taking part in creating and analyzing poetry. Also, to prepare for the last writing assessment, students will continue to practice expository and persuasive essay writing.

Grammar Exercises
Grammar exercises will be dispersed throughout the unit to assist in increasing students’ writing capability. Warm ups and the textbook Writers INC published by Houghton Mifflin will be used to assist with this task. Students will occasionally have grammar homework to reinforce and review what they learned in class.

Vocabulary
The series Vocabu-Lit Building Vocabulary Through Literature by Perfection Learning and the book Prefixes and Suffixes by Learning Works will be used to improve students’ vocabulary. Since increased vocabulary is proven to greatly influence reading comprehension, students will receive new vocabulary words weekly. Students will have vocabulary homework daily, unless otherwise announced. Students will be quizzed after every ten words. There will be a review after every three lessons or thirty words.