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First period started a three-part mini-lesson series on various sentence structures we can use to provide variety in our writing. We covered the first two of six before continuing our writing.

Fourth period began a day-and-a-half look at the most famous scene in all dramatic history: act two, scene two of Romeo and Juliet. The balcony scene. So many famous passages in that scene:

• But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
  It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
  Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
  Who is already sick and pale with grief,
  That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
  Be not her maid, since she is envious;
  Her vestal livery is but sick and green
  And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
  It is my lady, O, it is my love!
  O, that she knew she were!
• O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
• ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
  Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
  What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
  Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
  Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
  What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
  By any other name would smell as sweet;
  So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
  Retain that dear perfection which he owes
  Without that title.
• Good night, good night! parting is such
  sweet sorrow,
  That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

We read through the scene in class, the divided into groups to block the scene for a brief repeated performance tomorrow.

Second and sixth periods began reading Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl. I handed out the “Effective Readers’ Skills” sheet and did a Think-Aloud with the first entry in Anne’s diary. We continued the Think-Aloud as a class, then as pairs.

Homework

• First period: continue with weekly writing.
• Second and sixth periods: none.
• Fourth period:
  • practice blocking passage;
  • read 3.1.