Welcome to the page for Language Arts 9 with Ms. Fairfull!

This year we're going to hit on the six strands of ELA as much as possible - reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and representing. Our course will include a variety of assessments, and much of the learning will be directed through different projects. For detailed information, including assignments, agendas, and announcements, please see the Google Classroom linked below.

September

This month students will be beginning their first novel study of the year, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. The Sherlock Holmes novel has a rich setting and a spooky mystery perfect for fall. Students will be using this novel to study the structure of an essay, learning how to write thesis statements, introductions, conclusions, and body paragraphs, which will also improve their abilities to make evidence-based arguments and critical thinking skills.

October

This month students will be beginning their first novel study of the year, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. This classic novel by the Queen of Mystery has a rich setting, complex characters, and a spooky mystery perfect for fall. Students will be using this novel to study the structure of an essay, learning how to write thesis statements, introductions, conclusions, and body paragraphs, which will also improve their abilities to make evidence-based arguments and critical thinking skills.

November

This month, we’ll spend a couple weeks wrapping up our novel and essay unit. We’ll have a mini film study to help us look at the mystery genre in different mediums. Afterwards, we’ll have a quick unit on reading comprehension.

December

In December, we will complete a persuasive writing unit before moving onto poetry, studying classical poetry and modern poetry in the form of popular music. 

January

Firstly, we have a film study for the film Thor: Ragnarok. Then students will being their major novel study, Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves, which is rich in many of the most important topics in ELA 8, including character and characterization, conflict, allegory, and more. While this novel contains some mature themes, but it will always be safeguarded, framed, and analyzed with guidance.

February

We’ll begin this month by wrapping up our major novel study and then have a second round of practice with functional writing. 

March

This month, we’ll be tackling my favourite unit: Shakespeare! We’ll study the completely bonkers play Much Ado About Nothing, reading the text and watching a version of the staring Catherine Tate and David Tennant. 

April

After wrapping up Shakespeare, we’ll have a handful of smaller units to complete, including a review of functional writing and a creative writing unit.