March Family Problem

The Family Problem is due on Friday, March 30th.
March 22nd is National Goof Off Day. Imagine you could actually enjoy this day with your family. What would you do all day?
*Create a schedule of the events of the day.
*Break the day into sections of time.
*Include descriptions of the events.
*Write in complete sentences.
*The activity is worth 4
House or Bonus Points.
*An additional House or Bonus Point will be awarded for those Family Problems that include a picture(s) to represent the days' events.
For example:
9:00-10:00- We will eat breakfast at IHOP. Each of use will enjoy a large stack of warm syrup covered pancakes.

March Newsletter

6th Grade
Grammar Crate
*All Grammar Crate activities will be due on Friday, May 25, 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 working through pronouns which is covering both Chapters 14 and 23.
*Hopefully, we will finish before spring break and have a test over these.
Writing
*We are working on a research essay covering the country we are studying for Social Studies. This essay is due on Friday, March 30th. The rough draft will be due on Wednesday, March 28th. The essay will need to be typed, double spaced, with a cover page. Each student has a grade sheet with the criteria for the essay.
Diagramming
*We will be learning how to diagram appositives.
*There will be a quest over this on Friday, March 30th.

7th GradeGrammar
*We are working on Chapter 21 covering clauses.
*We will also do some work with writing more effective sentences.
*There will be a test over this before the end of the month.
Writing
*We are writing a book review essay. This piece is a 5 paragraph essay. It needs to summarize the book, the author, and 3 reasons to read of not to read a particular book.
*The rough draft is due on Wednesday, March 28th.
*The final draft is due on Friday, March 30th.
*Each student was given a grade sheet with the criteria for the essay.
Diagramming
*We are learning how to diagram interjections and commands.
*There is a quest on Friday, March 16th.

8th GradeGrammar
*We are continuing to work on Chapter 20 covering prepositional phrases, participles, gerunds, and infinitives.
*We hope to finish this chapter before spring break.
Writing
*We are currently presenting an added scene to a script we read last month entitled The Other Side of Life.
*We will then be writing a research essay about a career.
*Hopefully the students will have a chance to research a career that has interested them and isn't necessarily one of the usual careers they already know.
Diagramming
*We just finished diagramming participles and participial phrases on March 9th.

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.