It's May!  We are entering the final days of the year, and I know the next 2 weeks will fly as we wrap up our final units.

All of the classes will finish their novels/books prior to AR points being due.  This is one of the most asked questions these days!  AR points are due on May 17.

We will finish the year in Grammar with writing, finishing both our descriptive paragraphs and our final revision of the paper written at the beginning of the year.

This Friday marks our final vocabulary test of the year due to the schedule of the next two Fridays (field trip and Culminating). We will, however, continue to work in our books until the final week.

Looking forward to a great week and a half!

It is a BIG week for our 8th graders as they finalize their Culminating paper.  Two copies of their final paper are due on Friday, April 27th.  I am looking forward to this big step for them.  I know they've worked very hard.

We will MAP test this week in all 3 classes in both Reading and Language Arts.  MAP test dates are Monday and Wednesday.  I am sure students feel like they've been testing a lot the past few weeks.  We need them to continue to give their best efforts!  The MAP scores are important for our school and for them as individuals.  For our 8th graders, KMC does look at their MAP scores for next year.

All classes will work on the Cumulative Review in Vocabulary this week.

In addition, we will continue to read our novels and discuss.

Lastly, each class will begin a descriptive writing unit in Grammar.  We will take some some "field trips" here in the building to write about our beautiful statues and Church.

Looking forward to a great week!

It's a short week, but we'll manage to work hard and accomplish plenty!  We will return to a normal routine this week due to a break in action from State Assessments.

All classes will complete their punctuation units with a quiz on Thursday.

We will be working on various writing units in Grammar this quarter; therefore, we will NOT have any 4th quarter book reports.

Literature units this week:

The 6th graders will complete their study on The Outsiders, and they will begin "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".

The 7th graders will complete their study of "Anne Frank", and they will begin preparation activities for The Lord of the Flies.

The 8th graders will continue their study of Edith Hamilton's Mythology with readings about The Trojan War.

Looking forward to a great week!

I hope everyone is having a blessed Holy Week.  We will be completing a study of Matthew's Passion on Thursday as part of our Holy Week studies.  It is an amazing story of courage and great love on the part of Jesus, of mob anger and violence, and a lack of courage of Pilate.  We will read it together and feel the fear of the disciples, the calmness and commitment of Jesus, the anger of the crowd, and Pilate's wavering over what to do with Jesus.

Our Grammar lessons after Easter will focus a lot on different types of writing.  Therefore, we will NOT have a book report this quarter.

8th graders will continue to work on mythology, while 7th graders will begin Lord of the Flies and 6th will begin The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.

Have a wonderful Easter!

One more week until Spring Break!  We are excited about having completed the Kansas Reading Assessment last week!  I know the students really worked hard and stayed focused for me.

This week, we will return to "normal" in the Honors classroom.  We'll be back into our regular routine of Vocabulary workbook lessons and our literature and grammar units.

Literature units include:

6th grade:  The Outsiders

7th grade:  The Diary of Anne Frank

8th grade:  Edith Hamilton's Mythology

For Grammar, all classes will work through a punctuation review.

REMINDER:  BOOK REPORTS FOR 6TH AND 7TH GRADERS ARE DUE ON MONDAY!

It's the Kansas Reading Assessment week for our 7th and 8th graders!  After months of preparation, the week is here, and I am excited and confident that our student's hard work and focus will help them be successful.  Both groups will test on March 6 - 8 in the morning.  Please be sure to reschedule any appointments made during those times.  Also, please encourage your student to eat a healthy breakfast and get a good night's sleep each evening.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Congratulations to our 6th graders who finished their Reading Assessments on March 1st.  Wow!  They were so focused and worked really hard to do their best!

6th and 7th graders will have their book reports due on Monday, March 12.  We will begin presentations on that day and continue until everyone has presented.  Names will be randomly drawn for presentation order, so students must be prepared to present on Monday or risk a late grade.  Each student has been given a scoring guide for the report.

Coming up after Assessments:  The Literature units will be:

6th grade:  The Outsiders

7th grade:  The Diary of Anne Frank (drama)

8th grade:  Edith Hamilton's Mythology

Looking forward to a great week!

It's State Reading Assessment week for the 6th graders!  The 6th grade class has been working very hard to be ready for the Assessment.  We are looking forward to a great Assessment week, and I know the students will do their very best to be successful.  Thanks in advance for sending your student to school with a good breakfast and night's sleep!

The 7th and 8th graders will finish their Assessment review this week, in anticipation of their tests on March 6, 7, 8.  They are also working very hard to be ready, and I truly appreciate their focus and efforts.

2nd drafts of their beginning of the year essay are due on Monday.  They will work through one more revision process in May before submitting their final copy.  It has been a great learning experience for them, and one student commented this past week, "I can't believe how much better my paper is with these changes!"  I love that comment!

Vocabulary workbook practice will resume on March 12.

6th and 7th book reports are also due March 12.

Looking forward to a great week!

Happy Valentine's Week!

We will continue to work toward our State Assessments in late February and early March.  The Assessment Schedule for MS reading is as follows:

6th grade:  February 28, 29, March 1

7th and 8th grade: March 6, 7, 8

Our preparation work includes CETE testing (practice tests created by the State of Kansas), pop quizzes to continue to master our roots, prefixes, and suffixes, and Study Islands to review and practice tested standards.

We will wrap up Diagramming this week in all classes, but we will continue to diagram occasionally throughout the rest of the year.  Our next unit in Grammar will be Test Taking Strategies, before we move on later to punctuation and troublesome words.

Looking forward to a great week!

Happy Monday morning to all!  Looking forward to a great week!

The Vocabulary Roots test will be Monday for 6th and 8th grades and Tuesday for 7th graders.  After we finish with the Roots quiz, we will have periodic "pop" quizzes over all prefixes, suffixes, and roots until we take the State Assessments.  We will resume in our Vocabulary book in late February, when we get back to our "normal" schedule.

All classes will continue to study poetry.  We will be focusing on Figurative Language examples, including similes, metaphors, imagery, etc.

We are about one month away from the book report due date for 6th and 7th graders.  Students should have selected their books by now and be well on their way in finishing them.

February!?!  What happened to January?  We've been working so hard, and time flies when you are having fun.  Right?  I am very proud of the students' efforts this first month of 3rd quarter.

We continue to study Figurative Language as we prepare for the State Assessment.  In addition, we will study common roots this week, with a quiz next Monday.

All classes will continue to diagram sentences this week, as we learn to diagram more difficult sentence parts, such as clauses and phrases.  For 6th graders, this is completely new information.  We will go slow and practice A LOT.

For Culminating, just a reminder that all 8th graders should work AT LEAST 1 1/2 hours each week outside of school time on their research.  They will receive a small grade each week for having their stamp filled out and signed in their agenda books.  On Wednesday of this week, students will begin to work on the outline of their papers.  Finally, students should begin to get their interviews scheduled.  They need to be completed during February, and some people will be hard to "book".  Starting the process now will help relieve the stress of busy schedules for all!

Looking forward to a great week!