SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019

HAPPY FEBRUARY! We have a BUSY month ahead of us, so buckle up for the ride! This is the time of year when many people struggle to stay on top of things.  My advice to you:  PUSH. STRETCH. KEEP MOVING.  YOU'VE GOT THIS!

🐾 TO BE UP-TO-DATE SO FAR THIS QUARTER, THE FOLLOWING ASSIGNMENTS SHOULD BE COMPLETED

• Your speech
• Your notebook entries--CLICK HERE for entries so far
• Your NHD Draft 1
• Your "controversial topic" project (See directions below) 

 🐾 NHD WORK NIGHTS FOR FEBRUARY

Monday, Feb. 4 -- 2:45-5:30pm
Thursday, Feb. 7 -- 2:45-7pm
Tuesday, Feb. 12 -- 3:30-7pm
Tuesday, Feb. 19 -- 3:30-7pm
Wednesday, Feb. 20 -- 2:45-7pm
Thursday, Feb. 21 -- 2:45-7pm
Friday, Feb. 22 -- 2:45-7pm
Monday, Feb. 25 -- 2:45-7pm
Tuesday, Feb. 26 -- 3:30-7pm

 🐾 "CT" PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30, 2019

It looks like we have yet ANOTHER COLD DAY tomorrow, so I will see all of you in FEBRUARY! (That's this Friday, by the way.)

 

On Friday, we will finish up our controversial topic projects, and next week, we will return to our NHD projects-- revising drafts and eventually putting our projects together.

I've been trying to finish up all the NHD feedback. It takes me a very long time, so thank you for being patient!  (Period 6 and 8, I am still finishing some of your feedback. Periods 1 and 2, I am done with yours.) 

If you do not have a Draft 1 turned in yet, I emailed you a reminder to get it done.  Final NHD projects will be due on Monday, Feb. 25.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I hope you are staying warm!

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Hello Students and Families! Here’s to the second half of the school year! I just wanted to touch base and update everyone on English Language Arts happenings.

Click HERE to vote for one of the top four "I have a dream" found poems.

Second Quarter Grades
First of all, I have to have all second quarter grades into Skyward by Wednesday. The current grade in Reading and Writing are accurate, so please have your 8th grader look over their grade.  Because I accept late work and revisions, there is still a chance for eighth graders to raise their grades by improving work or turning in missing work.  For example, I graded writer’s notebooks just recently, and I noticed that over half of my students did not leave their notebook for me to grade.  This can be handed to me on Tuesday, or students can electronically do the work.  Click here for the link to my blog page with all of the information they need for this.

Optimism Speeches
Secondly, most of the students have delivered their optimism speech.  I am so impressed with the talent of this year’s 8th graders!  I have seen their peers moved to tears and laughter.  A special congrats goes to Kylah, Maddey L., and Adrian, who have chosen to represent us in the Optimist Oratorical Contest Wednesday.

A few students are scheduled to go on Tuesday, and some still have not even written a draft one of it.  Please talk to your eighth grader and make sure they are prepared. Have them show you their speech (even if they say they already did it.) 

National History Day (NHD)
Once speeches are complete, we are going to get back into NHD drafting and project completion.  Students who have actually turned in their first draft will be getting feedback soon.  (This is a tedious, time-consuming process. I’m going as fast as I can!)  Our school contest is Wednesday, February 28.  If you have some history expertise, I would love to have you join our judging team. However, for obvious reasons, you will not judge the same category in which your eighth grader competes.

I am working on scheduling more NHD work nights. Once I determine a list of dates I will be available after school, I will post another message to everyone.  Please stay tuned for that within the next couple days.

Questions or Concerns?
Please contact me. I’m usually pretty quick to return my email messages.