11/10/17- I am so excited to work with your child this semester.  Shakespeare 101 is one of my favorite classes to teach!  This week we learned a little about Shakespeare's life. There is not a lot of documentation for most of Shakespeare's life.  Researchers have pieced together his life through the few documents they could find.  The students read and completed a timeline of his life.  We also started to learn about the Globe theater which was home to many of Shakespeare's plays. 

11/17/17- This week we had a little fun with puns.  Shakespeare was a master at using puns.  I shared some puns with the students and then they wrote their own pun.  Shakespeare also used tone and emphasis in his works.  Did you know that the word "O" can mean many different things?  Ask your child about the word "O".

12/1/17- The students learned about sonnets this week.  A sonnet is a type of poetry with 14 lines.  Each line has 10 syllables and the poem follows a rhyme scheme-ABABCDCDEFEFGG.  We learned that Shakespeare wrote 154!  The students then wrote their own sonnet.  It was a challenge but it helps us appreciate what Shakespeare did. 

12/19/17- Last week we read books that retold Shakespeare's famous works: The Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet.  We also spent some time learning about Shakespeare's use of inverted sentence structure.  Yoda also used inverted sentence structure.  The students tried to rewrite some famous Yoda quotes into conventional English. 

1/25/18-This week we learned more about the language that Shakespeare used.  We had a little fun playing with Shakespearean Insults and Flattery.  The kids have fun coming up with insults such as: thou art a sour, onion-eyed, Hedgepig.  They also came up with flattery such as: Thou art a brave, time-pleasing, welsch-cheese.

2/6/18-We started reading A Midsummer Night's Dream.  The students are enjoying the play so far.  They are excited to read!

2/15/18-This week we took a little break to do a Shakespeare Scavenger Hunt.  We will continuing reading A Midsummer Night's Dream next week.


2/23/18-  We finished reading A Midsummer Night's Dream.  The students' enjoyed the play.  They then picked a character from the play to create a bio poem.  They did a great job describing the character in the poem.


3/9/18-  The students are now working on a research project.  The students picked a topic from Elizabethan England.  They are researching the topic now and then they will be creating a PowerPoint. This is a big project.  They need to have at least 6 slides in their PowerPoint and the speech must be between 3-5 minutes.  The students will be allowed an index card with only 25 words.  This means they must know the information they are sharing.  Its good practice for them to give a speech without relying on their notes. 

4/5/18-  The students are working on their presentations.  They did a great job researching and I can't wait to see their presentations.  Most groups have started their PowerPoint and they are looking good!

4/19/18- We are finishing up our work on the PowerPoints.  The students are now preparing their scripts for their presentation.  We will finish up scripts next week and we hope to present the first week in May.  I'm so impressed with the work the students have done so far!

5/2/18- The students are putting the final touches on their presentations.  We will practice presenting this week.  Next week, they will give their final presentations in a 5th grade classroom. 

5/15/18- We finished presentations this week.  The students did a great job presenting what they learned.  It's not easy to present without a script!  They worked hard this semester.