Some CAS blogs to check out.

PS-Orig_11343,
originally uploaded by christian fessel :media.

Good morning IB students,

Here are a few blogs for you to check out (and perhaps model your own after) on the subject of CAS.

http://www.isdweblogs.org/wasi/cas

http://www.geocities.com/tunasmudacas/blogs.html (All student blogs are on blogspot, thus not visible from school.)

http://www.bloggingcas.blogspot.com

I hope these give you some ideas.

Week of 9/24

Freckled with rain,
originally uploaded by redmeg8.

Good afternoon, everyone.

EE class -- you have a due date of 10/17 to have ten good sources, a mentor, and a specific research question.

IB English 11 -- We are about halfway through the Wind Up Bird Chronicle. We should be finished with it by October 15th, when we'll have our final quiz. That same week, we will do our 5-minute practice IOPs. Please be planning that well in advance.

10th grade English -- We are beginning the Tupac unit. Please have a binder that you can devote to this class by Friday.

11th grade English -- We are finishing the "Bring a Text" unit today. After that, we will start a new unit, but I want to keep it a secret until we've begun.

A few other notes for everyone -- Picture day is Wednesday for periods 2, 4 and 5, and Thursday for period 6. Miss. Noma will be visiting all the classes over the next few weeks to talk about college entrance requirements. And finally, grades are BACK on the web. You can go directly there by clicking this link: http://www.geocities.com/karasynhorst@sbcglobal.net/classes

Or you can go to www.geocities.com/karasynhorst@sbcglobal.net and use the link on the left.

Enter your student ID number and your grades should come up. 5th period is above 4th period for some reason, so make sure you use the correct box to enter your ID number.

Take care, all.
--Ms. Synhorst

September 20

Green apple wet from rain,
originally uploaded by marysloft.

Hello all! Just to let you know, the grades are NOT up online. I had a problem with Geocities, and need to buy some more storage space. I'm planning to do so, but there will be a little delay until that happens. In the meantime, I'll give you grade printouts on Friday 9/21.

1st period: Don't forget our trip to CSUS on Saturday morning. Please don't be late. It begins at 9, and you should be IN the library, IN the room at that time.

2nd period: You should be at page 255 in The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Tuesday, when we'll have our next quiz. It is probably too early to begin thinking seriously about your world lit papers, but as you read, keep in mind themes, symbols, relationships, etc. that intrigue you.

4th and 5th period: This week we are writing a 2 page minimum autobiography. Next week we are changing focus quite a bit, so please make sure you are caught up. For instructions, see pages 56-62 in your Holt book.

6th period: You are rocking the "Bring a Text to Class" unit. I don't know about you, but I have been especially enjoying the excerpt from "Bamboo Among the Oaks" that Shoua brought in. I tihnk that we will probably wrap up this unit tomorrow and begin the next on Monday.

Grades now available on the web

Rainbow Web,
originally uploaded by todaysaddiction.

As of this moment, they are available for 2nd period IB English only, but as I catch up on grading*, I will make all classes available.

Here is the web site. You must have your Student ID number to get your grade.

http://www.geocities.com/synhorst@sbcglobal.net

*Give me a break -- I just got a working computer Monday!

Community service opportunity!

Welcome to the first week of school. I'll post more about our assigments later, but I have an important announcement:

The Sacramento Valley AIDS Run/Walk needs student volunteers to stand in groups along the route of the run/walk and encourage the participants. More or less, all you have to do is stand there and go "Whoo! You're doing great!" You'll get community service for the hours that you're there (normally from 7:30 to 11 or so).

The walk begins at the State Capitol at 11th and J. It is easily accessible by light rail. You should be there on Sunday morning, September 9th, at 7:30 am so that you can get into position before the run begins.

If you would like to receive a certificate, t-shirt, and letter for your efforts, sign up ahead of time at http://www.sacvalleyaidsrunwalk.org and click on the big green "Volunteer" button on the left side of the page. You do not HAVE to sign up in advance, though -- you can just show up that day.

I'm volunteering there myself, so if you see me, say hi!

IB class of '09, this is the IB book list

I've gotten SO many requests for the IB book list that I'm posting it again.

The Things They Carried -- Tim O'Brien
The Handmaid's Tale -- Margaret Atwood
Woman Warrior -- Maxine Hong Kingston
The Name of the Rose -- Umberto Eco

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle -- Haruki Murakami
Like Water for Chocolate -- Laura Esquivel
Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto

There is a chance (I need to talk to Mr. Coey and Mr. Taylor, but it's a strong chance) that I may switch the order of the semesters, and the second group of books will be the ones we study in the fall. I'll update you as soon as I know for sure.

Dead Words

Rest in peace, overused and abused words
(Try to avoid these in your writing)

amazing destroy hide popular
guy difference hurry predicament
tell do hurt pretty
a lot dull idea put
also dumb important quiet
anger eager interesting rad
angry end keep really
answer enjoy kid right
ask explain kill run
awesome fair kind of sad
awful fall lazy said
bad famous like say/tell
beautiful fast little scared
begin fat look sent
big fear lots show
brave fly loud slow
break fun love so
bright funny mad stop
but get make story
calm go mark strange
come good mischievous stupid
cool got moody take
crooked get move then
cry great neat think
cut gross new told
dangerous guy nice trouble
dark had ok ugly
decline happy old unhappy
definite hate part use
delicious have place very
describe have to plan walk
help went.
wrong