Week of May 12, 2014

Math MCAS - May 13-14

Biology MCAS - June 2-3

Sophomore Honors will finish Elie Wiesel's Night.

Sophomore C-1 groups will continue work on "Raisin in the Sun."

Freshmen C-1 will continue work on Great Expectations.

Week of May 5, 2014

Hi,

This week, Sophomore C-1 groups will be starting Lorraine Hansberry's classic American play "Raisin in the Sun" on Tuesday.

Sophomore Honors will continue with Elie Wiesel's Night, with a quiz on Tuesday and chapter four discussion Wednesday.

Freshman C-1 are taking their quiz on Book One of Great Expectations today (Monday) and wil continue reading Book Two for tomorrow's class discussion.

Thanks,

Mr. Hacker

Week of April 28, 2014

Hello,

Sophomore C-1 classes are finishing their Haiku poetry projects this week, with a test on Friday.

Sophomore Honors class is continuing their work with Elie Wiesel's autobiography Night.

Freshmen C-1 class began work on Charles Dickens' Great Expectations before the break and will be continuing this week.

Regards,

Mr. Hacker

Week of March 31, 2014

Hello,

Sophomore C-1 students have finished their poetry units and will be starting a Haiku poetry unit this week.

Sophomore Honors students have started their Holocaust unit and will be presenting their Identity Box projects this week, in preparation to read Elie Wiesel's autobiography Night.

Freshman C-1 students are finishing Of Mice and Men and will be writing their department composition at the end of the week.

Third quarter closes this Friday, April 4.  Edline reports were sent home two weeks ago.  Any questions, please email johnhacker@k12.waltham.ma.us

Thanks,

John Hacker

Week of March 3, 2014

Hello,

Sophomore C-1 classes have been working on poetry and will have a quiz on lyric poetry this week.

Sophomore Honors has finished Macbeth and will be taking their final test this week.  There is a project due next week called "Macbeth Mix" in which students create a musical mix of songs which represent the play Macbeth.  It is due on March 11.

Freshmen have started work on John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men.

Also, MCAS dates are as follows:

March 18 - Long Composition
March 19 - ELA Session 1
March 21 - ELA Session 2

I have encouraged students to bring their own snacks and water to the testing sessions to keep themselves refreshed.  Please note, there are no electronic devices allowed while testing.

Week of January 21, 2014

Happy New Year!

Freshmen finished up with The Hobbit before the Christmas break and turned in their projects after the vacation.  They are now working on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

C-1 Sophomores are in the midst of Shakespeare's Macbeth.  We have a quiz on Act IV this week.

Honors Sophomores finished The Alchemist and are now beginning Shakepeare's Macbeth.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year to you and your families!

When we return, Honors Sophomores will continue work on The Alchemist.

C-1 Sophomores will continue their work on Macbeth.

Freshmen will begin work on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Have a restful vacation!

Mr. Hacker

Week of December 2, 2013

Hello and welcome back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Upon our return, Sophomore C-1 groups will be starting Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth.

Honors Sophomores will be starting Paulo Coehlo's wonderful novel The Alchemist.

Freshmen will continue their work on The Hobbit.

Progress reports will be issued through Edline next Friday.

-Mr. Hacker

Week of November 25, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!

Beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving, the Sophomore Honors class will begin work on Paulo Coehlo's recent literary classic The Alchemist.

The C-1 Sophomore classes will be starting Macbeth.  Hopefully we will have enough books to go around.

Freshmen are in the middle of The Hobbit.

Have a great holiday,

Mr. Hacker

Week of November 18, 2013

Hello Everyone,

This week, the sophomores will be presenting their Kamishibai projects in class.  The final Beowulf test will be either this Friday or next Monday, depending on how many presentations we get through.

Freshmen started The Hobbit last Friday and will continue reading through chapter 5 by the end of the week. We will have a quiz on chapters 1-5 on Friday.

Thanks,

Mr. Hacker

Week of November 11, 2013

Happy Veterans' Day to all our military men and women who are serving or have served our country bravely.

Sophomores are working on group Kamishibai projects for Beowulf.  Please see the link to the right for a description of the project.  The groups will be presenting starting next Tuesday, November 19.

The Freshmen are working on their essays for the Odyssey, which will be due this Friday, November 15.

Thanks,

Mr. Hacker

Week of November 4, 2013

Hello,

Sorry about the late post.  A reminder that grades close November 8.

Sophomores will complete Beowulf with a quiz on Thursday/Friday.  Next week, we will begin a "Kamishibai" project on Beowulf (see link to the right).

Freshmen are planning their comparison essays on Odysseus and Luke Skywalker which will be due next week.

Mr. Hacker

Week of October 28, 2013

Hello,

This week, sophomores will be completing the English Dept. writing assignment and then continuing on with the last third of Beowulf.

Freshmen will be finishing The Empire Strikes Back and moving on to Return of the Jedi.  Freshmen will have a quiz on Wednesday on the first two Star Wars films.

Thanks and as always, please email johnhacker@k12.waltham.ma.us with any questions or concerns.

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Week of October 21, 2013

Hello Everyone,

Sophomores will continue working on the third part of Beowulf this week.  At the end of the week we will conduct our district writing assessment for sophomores, which will continue next week.

Freshmen are completing their district writing assessment this week and then continuing on with Star Wars and the Hero's Journey.

As always, please email with any questions or concerns.

GO RED SOX!!!

Mr. Hacker

Week of October 7, 2013

Sophomores will continue work on Beowulf.

Freshmen will be working on their group projects for the Odyssey.

Week of September 30, 2013

Freshmen will finish reading The Odyssey. Sophomores will write their essays on why Beowulf is the only person qualified to kill Grendel and pass them in Friday, October 4.

Week of September 23, 2013

This week, Freshmen C-1 students are continuing their work with the Odyssey. All sophomores, C-1 and Honors levels, are working on Beowulf.

Welcome Back

Welcome back everyone! Each week, I will post the activities of my classes on this blog. Hopefully you will find it useful. This week, the Freshmen class is beginning "The Odyssey." Sophomore classes are working on their Appeals, based on Logic, Emotion, and Ethics. Any questions, please email me at johnhacker@k12.waltham.ma.us

Happy Summer!

Have a safe, joyous summer and celebrate all your hard work this year!

See you in the fall!

Mr. Hacker