FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

ISTEP PREP: I will be fitting in some quick ISTEP practice exercises to help prepare the middle school for the ISTEPSs at the end of this month.

6th GRADE

Grammar

*We have finished Chapter 14 covering nouns and pronouns. Now, we are looking more closely at pronouns with Chapter 23. There will be workbook pages, quizzes, and an end quest for this unit.

Writing

*We will begin to write journals leading to a persuasive research essay. This piece will take a great deal of time, since we have to learn how to document sources and the form for a five paragraph essay with a thesis statement.

Diagramming

*With Catholic Schools Week and the snow days, we were unable to get to a diagramming week. Therefore, we will be learning how to diagram interrogative and imperative sentences this month. There will be a quest on this after a week of practice.

7th GRADE

Grammar

*We will be working on writing dialogue with proper quotation marks, comma use, and paragraphing.

*We will be having a quest over all areas of punctuation, including hyphens, semicolons, colons, brackets, dashes, etc.

Writing

*We are finishing up on our persuasive journals. We will then write a five paragraph essay with documented sources.

Diagramming

*We will be diagramming direct objects. There will be a quest after a week of practice.

8th GRADE

Grammar

*We are working through Chapter 27 covering capitalization. We took a diagnostic test before beginning this unit, therefore, some students have tested out of certain sections. There will be a quest over this unit that all of the students will take.

Writing
*We are beginning our research for the persuasive essay. We will be reviewing how to document research sources.

*The essay should be complete by the end of this month.

Diagramming

*We will be diagramming appositive phrases. We will practice them for a week and then have a quest at the end of the week.

JANUARY FAMILY PROBLEM

OPPOSITE DAY
I was so excited to receive my Oriental Trading calendar this year, because it is always full of interesting holidays. Did you know that Tuesday, January 25th is Opposite Day? How do you think this day could be celebrated? at home? at work? at school? with food? clothing? music? speech? etc. As a family, come up with at least five fun, silly, crazy, but safe ways you could honor Opposite Day. Your list should be in complete sentences. This activity is worth 4 bonus points or 4 Chance Tickets. You may earn an extra bonus point or Chance Ticket for adding pictures and decorations to your list. These are due by Friday, January 28, 2011.

January Newsletter

SORRY! I am so sorry for not posting a December newsletter. To welcome the new year, however, here is the January news.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

*There will be a Weekly Reminder Quest on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 over #1-20.

6th GRADE

Grammar

*We will be working on Chapter 14, covering nouns and pronouns. There will be workbook and practice pages, activities, quizzes, and a quest over this unit.

Writing

*We have started journaling about words that describe ourselves. We will choose one and develop it into a personal, descriptive paragraph by the end of the month.

Diagramming

*We will be learning to diagram interrogative and imperative sentences. These will be a bit of a challenge since the subjects are not always directly in the sentence or at the beginning of the sentence.

7th GRADE

Grammar

*We are still working on the punctuation unit. We will be working with apostrophes, hyphens, dashes, colons, and semicolons. There will be workbook and practice pages, as well as activities and a quest.

Diagramming

*We are going to learn how to diagram compound sentences.

Writing

*Since the Pentathlon contest essay is coming up, we will be writing a persuasive essay that will be submitted for the contest and as a grade for the class.

8th GRADE

Grammar

*We are reviewing gerunds, infinitives, and participles (verbals). We are working in small groups to teach the class ways to remember these tough English concepts. We will take another quest on them as well.

*We will then be working on capitalization. After the unit on verbals, we could use a more straightforward and hopefully easier unit.

Diagramming

*We will be diagramming direct objects.

Writing

*Just as the seventh graders, we will be writing a persuasive essay for the Pentathlon contest.

NOVEMBER FAMILY PROBLEM

November is a month to remember all those who have died. As a family problem, pick a person close to you and your family that has past. Each member of the family should then write a sentence describing what they miss most about this person, or one of their best memories of this person. Please include a picture. We can make a copy at school if necessary. This family problem is worth 4 bonus points/Chance Tickets or 5 points/tickets if it is decoratively presented. These are due no later than November 30th.

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

6th GRADE

Writing

-We did a quick compare and contrast essay so that I (Miss Perry) could get a feel for some of the 6th grade strengths and weaknesses. (6.5.2, 6.5.6, 6.5.7, 6.4.9, 6.4.2)

-We are working on writing prayers for the class prayer book. (6.4.2, 6.5.7)

Grammar

-We are working through Chapter 20 on clauses. (6.6.6)

-There will be quizzes and a quest along the way.

Speaking

-We read a short play of the movie Chronicles of Narnia the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We then discussed how different situations can change tone and meaning. (6.7.2, 6.7.7 6.7.10)
Diagramming
-We just finished diagramming compound subjects and verbs. Next, we will be working on compound sentences. (7.6.4)

7TH GRADE

Writing

-We are working on learning and writing various narrative summaries of different genres. We will then turn this into a book cover, both front and back. (7.3.1, 7.4.1, 7.5.5, 7.5.7)

-There will be a test on genres as well as various activities to practice identifying them.

Grammar

-Chapter 26 is our focus right now. This chapter teaches all aspects of punctuation. This chapter is quite lengthy, therefore it will be broken down into sections and will take some time to complete. (7.6.8)

Diagramming

-We just finished learning how to diagram compound adjectives and adverbs. We will be working on diagramming prepositional phrases next. (7.6.4)

8TH GRADE

Writing

-We are finishing up on a project where small groups have created a personality and life for an IStep judge. We will save these and post them during ISteps to remind the students that real people are grading their writing not a machine. Hopefully, this will help to improve our scores. (8.4.6, 8.4.8, 8.5.1, 8.5.6, 8.5.7)

-We will be working on writing a persuasive essay. This will require journaling, research, and proper essay formation. (8.5.4)

-We also have an ongoing 6+1 Trait song analysis project we will be working on throughout the quarter. These presentations will be staggered from now until January.

Grammar

-We are working through Chapter 20 on phrases. Since many of the concepts are new, this chapter will take quite a bit of time. I will break it down with practice exercises, quizzes, and quests along the way. (8.6.8)

Diagramming

-Our last diagramming test worked with direct objects and indirect objects.

-We will be diagramming predicate nouns and adjectives. (7.6.4)

OCTOBER FAMILY PROBLEM

MULE DAY!

Did you know that October 26th is Mule Day? I never realized that animals get their own day.

What animal would you want to honor by giving it its own recognized day in the year?

With your family create that day and include the following in COMPLETE SENTENCES:

-The animal and a picture of it

-What date it will be honored each year

-How it will be honored on that day

-Where it originates and lives

-What it eats

-What you call the baby, the adult, the male and female, as well as a group of that animal

-Your reason for honoring it

-Any additional information you would like to include

This activity is due by November 1st and is worth 4 bonus points or chance tickets. 5 bonus points or chance tickets can be earned for decorative pieces.

October News!

Middle School Language Arts News

*The whole middle school will be taking a quest on the Weekly Reminders. This test will cover the first 9 reminders. Each quarter is cumulative, therefore the list grows bigger with each test.

*I have subscribed to a Scholastic News magazine called Storyworks. We will be using these throughout the year to practice reading aloud, grammar, and writing skills. Mr. Feece may also use them in his class for vocabulary and literature.

6th Grade
Writing

*We have finished our Coat of Arms. (6.5.7, 6.5.3, 6.5.6, 6.4.9, 6.4.8, 6.4.7)

*We will be writing prayers next.
Grammar

*We have finished prepositional phrases. Although it was a difficult unit, we have learned to identify the preposition and phrase. Labeling them, however, is still a bit of a challenge. Since this is the first year for this skill, it will not be the last time we work with prepositions. (6.6.6)

*We are moving on to clauses and sentence types. This will finish Chapter 20. (6.6.1)
Diagramming

*We just finished diagramming prepositional phrases.

*We will learn how to diagram compound subjects and verbs next.

7th Grade

Writing

*We have finished the picture books. They turned out beautifully. We will be sharing them with the lower grades. (7.7.8, 7.7.5, 7.5.6, 7.5.7)

*We will be working on genres next. We will be writing a back cover for our own original books. (7.5.4, 7.3.1, 7.3)

Grammar

*We finished adjectives and adverbs. (7.6.4)

*We will be working on hyphens, dashes, semicolons, and other punctuation next. (7.6.6)

Diagramming

*We just finished diagramming adjectives and adverbs.

*We will learn prepositional phrases next.

8th Grade

Writing

*We finished our letter to ourselves.

*We worked together to describe a collage in words and pictures.

*We will be writing an essay in response to the script, The Other Side of Life. (8.5.2)

Grammar

*We finished with direct and indirect objects.

*We will be learning phrases next. (8.6.8)

Diagramming

*We recently had a quest on diagramming direct and indirect objects.

*We will add prepositions next.

Speaking and Writing

*We finished the script The Other Side of Life. We will be taking a test on it. (8.7.5 and 8.7.10)

*We will also be either adding a scene or making a coming attraction for the movie. The groups will have to write and present a script. (8.5.7, 8.5.4, 8.7.10)