FEBRUARY FAMILY PROBLEM

PRESIDENTS' DAY
February 20th is a celebration of our nation's presidents. Pick a president and use his last name, first name, or both to write an acrostic representing him. The acrostic should include some interesting facts, as well as some of the important actions he performed as president. The lines need to be more than one word. They should be phrases or sentences. This activity is worth up to 4 Bonus or House points. You may earn an additional Bonus or House point by including a picture of the president you are writing about in the acrostic. These are due by Wednesday, February 29th.

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

FEBRUARY NEWS
WEEKLY REMINDER QUEST #2
The entire middle school will be taking a Weekly Reminder Quest over Weekly Reminders #1-25 on Friday, February 24, 2012. The quest has many sections including the following: Correct the Error, Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice, and Use Correctly. It would be a good idea to begin reviewing these reminders a little at a time.
6th
Grammar Crate
*All Grammar Crate activities will be due on Friday, February 24, 2012.
*These include one punctuation activity, one capitalization activity, one usage activity, one parts of speech activity, and one writing activity.
*Please note: If a student does poorly on an activity, he/she is always welcome to do another activity in that section. The better of the two grades will be taken.
Grammar
*We are finishing up on nouns (common, proper, masculine, feminine, neuter, indefinite, abstract, concrete, compound, and collective).
*There will be a quest over these the week of February 13th.
Writing
*The 6th grade is going to be working on a cross curricular piece. They are just beginning to work on their Travel Agency project for Miss Kendzicky. We will be writing a research essay for language arts covering the country they received in social studies. This will give them an opportunity to learn even more about their country. It will also be a way of learning how to write a research essay with MLA documentation.
Diagramming
*We are working on how to diagram questions and commands. This has been a bit of a challenge, however, there will be a quest over this on Friday, February 10th.
7th
Grammar
*We are wrapping up our work on Chapter 20 covering phrases. We will have a quest over prepositional, appositive, participial, and infinitive phrases within a week or two of the month beginning.
*We will then move on to Chapter 21 covering clauses.
Writing
*We will be working on a book report/persuasive essay. The students will choose a book that they think others should or should not read. They will then have to pose their thesis and prove it.
*This will give us an another opportunity to use the MLA documentation which we had difficulty using in December.
Diagramming
*We will be diagramming interjections.
8th
Grammar
*Earlier in the school year, we worked on the second half of Chapter 20 covering clauses. We will now be working on the first half covering phrases. This will be a challenging section as we will be learning participles, gerunds, and infinitives.
Writing
*We are writing a reader's response essay for the movie script we read in January (The Other Side of Life). These are due on Friday, February 17th.
*We are also working in small groups to add a scene to the movie. These will be written and performed in class.
Diagramming
*We will be diagramming participles and participial phrases.

JANUARY FAMILY PROBLEM

Did you know that January 5th is National Bird Day? Did you also know that there are over 10,000 species of different kinds of birds? With your family, choose a bird and research it. Where does it live? What does it look like? What foods does it eat? How does it live (habitat)? How long does it live? Etcetera.... Write a short paragraph summarizing the bird you chose. You may earn up to 4 points for the summary. Include a picture, and you will earn an additional bonus/House points. All family problems are due by January 31, 2012.

JANUARY 2012 NEWSLETTER

Happy New Year! Hopefully 2012 will bring you many blessings and few disappointments.
A note about projects: All projects are counted double on Power School. You may notice that your child received a 180 out of 200, but you know the project was only worth 100. I wanted to weigh the projects more heavily, so I decided to double the score. If you have any questions, let me know.
6th GRADE
Grammar Crate*By the end of the trimester each student is responsible for completing one activity in each of the five categories (punctuation, usage, capitalization, parts of speech, and writing). All of these activities except for the writing activity must be completed in class. Since work time is limited in school, students may work on the writing piece at home if they wish.
Grammar*We are covering Chapter 14 on nouns and pronouns. 7.6.4 and 6.6.2
*There will be notes and workbook pages.
*We will also be making a flip chart to help as a study guide when it comes to test time.
Writing
*Since many students struggled with the fairy tale dialogues, we are practicing dialogue writing by writing a dialogue with someone of their choice. These are due on Friday, January 6, 2012. 6.5.1
*We will also be creating a Coat of Arms. There are several questions that we will answer with small paragraphs, and then we will illustrate out answers on the Coat of Arms. Hopefully, you will be able to see these at the Catholic Schools Week Open House. 6.5.2
7th GRADE
Grammar*We are working through Chapter 20 covering phrases and clauses. This will be a challenging unit as many of the concepts are new to the students. 7.6.2
*We will have notes, workbook pages, quizzes, and a quest at the end of the chapter.
Writing*We are exploring all different book genres.7.3.1 and 6.3.1
*We will have a test over the genres.
*We will also create our own book jacket with the cover and summary of the original book. 7.5.5
8th GRADE
Grammar*We are covering Chapter 19 distinguishing among all of the different types of complements. 7.6.4
*We will have workbook pages and a quest at the end of the unit.
Writing*We will be working on a personality piece. This will be a more creative piece of writing compared to the technical documents from December.
Speaking*We are reading a movie script aloud in class. 8.7.10, 8.7.2, and 8.7.5
*We will take summary notes over the script as we go, so that we can take a test at the end of the script.
*We will also be writing a character reflection essay after completing the script.
*There will be a few other assignments related to the script along the way as well.

December Family Problem

Since I failed to post the December newsletter earlier, I will accept the family problem until Friday, January 6, 2012.
FAMILY TRADITIONS
What is on your list for Santa? Why? You may make this list as a family and write at least 3 items your family would like for Christmas and why. They do not need to be store bought items. They could be concepts like "no fighting with siblings." You may also choose to have each member of the family put one item on the list and why he/she wants that item. This activity is worth 4 House or Bonus points. Decorative lists will receive up to 5 House or Bonus points. Complete sentences are expected.

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER

I am so sorry for not updating sooner. Actually, though, the items on November are carrying over into December. Here is a quick update!
6th Grade
Grammar
-We finally finished prepositional phrases.
Writing - 6.2.4, 6.5.8, 6.5.7, 6.4.1, 6.4.5, 6.5.1, 6.4.2, 6.5.6, 6.4.8, 6.4.9, 6.4.10
-We are writing our own fairy tales. Each student received a book to write and illustrate. These are due on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

7th Grade
Grammar
-We have begun Chapter 20 covering phrases and clauses. Before Christmas break, we will only have time to do prepositional phrases and appositives.
Writing - 7.4.2, 8.4.5, 8.4.2, 8.4.3, 7.4.4, 7.4.6, 7.4.7, 7.5.1, 7.5.6, 7.5.7
-We are writing a biography essay. These will be due on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.
-The biographies will have at least 2 different sources cited in a Works Cited and in the paper.

8th Grade
Grammar
-We have finished Adjectives and adverbs.
-We are doing a little review with verb tense agreement and misplaced modifiers.
Writing - 8.5.5, 8.4.9, 8.4.6, 8.4.10, 8.4.7, 8.4.8, 8.5.7, 8.5.6
-We are writing technical documents. These are similar to an instruction manual that would come with an electronic device, appliance, toy, etc.
-The technical documents are due on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

NOVEMBER FAMILY PROBLEM

NOVEMBER FAMILY PROBLEM
November is a month to give thanks.
Who do you want to thank? First and foremost, we should give thanks to God for all that we are blessed with each and every day. As a family, make a list of at least 6 things everyone is thankful God has given him/her. Each line should be a complete sentence. You can compose the list as a family, or each member can write their own piece of thanks for the list. Thank you lists are due by Wednesday, November 30, 2011, for 4 House Points, 4 nus Points, or 4 Christmas Raffle Tickets. An extra point or ticket will be given for lists that are neatly and creatively presented.