MAY FAMILY PROBLEM

DREAM SUMMER VACATION!

This month, as a family, plan a dream summer. In 5 to 6 sentences share what you will do as a family, including any trips you would take, any projects you would undertake, and how you would spend most of your days. Imagine money is not an object and the whole family has the summer off from work and school. This is the final family problem due by Friday, May 31, 2013. It is worth up to 4 Bonus/House points depending on how detailed and well-written the description may be. Earn a 5th point for including a picture of a place or activity you would do together.

May Newsletter

6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Information

*All Grammar Crates are due by Friday, May 17, 2013. Late Grammar Crates will only be accepted until Friday, May 24, 2013. Beyond that, they will be zeros.

*There will be a Weekly Reminder Test covering Weekly Reminders 1-36 on Friday, May 24, 2013. You may want to encourage your children to make note cards for the Words of the Week. We will review in class over the course of the week of May 20, 2013.

6th GRADE
GRAMMAR
*We are plowing through Chapter 14 and 23. We should be ready for a test over pronouns the week of the 20th.
*We are making a flip chart as a project and a study guide.
*Also, expect various workbook pages and worksheets for homework practice.
*With the remaining time in the school year, we will work on Chapter 21 which focuses on writing more effective sentences.
DIAGRAMMING
*We are working towards our final diagramming test on Friday, May 10, 2013. This test will cover all forms of compounds, including subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and sentences.
WRITING
*There will be a 6+1 Writing piece in class on Thursday, May 16, 2013. It will be a story that builds over the course of the plot (example: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie). I will read several different versions of these "building" type stories to help your son/daughter gather ideas for his/her own story.

7thGRADE
GRAMMAR
*We are wrapping up the chapter on phrases and clauses. There will be a test the week of May 13, 2013.
*We will spend the remainder of the year working through Chapter 21 focusing on avoiding sentence problems. We will do workbook pages and have quizzes to go along with this final unit.
DIAGRAMMING
*Our final diagramming quest will be on Thursday, May 16, 2013. It will cover diagramming questions and commands.
*We will work a little bit of Chapter 19 into this week as well.
WRITING
*We are wrapping up the research essay which is due Wednesday, May 15th. This essay needs to have at least 2 different sources cited within and at the end of the paper in a Works Cited.
*We will also be doing a 6+1 trait writing piece in class on Thursday, May 23, 2013. This will be an alphabet story where the students will pick a topic and have 26 words related and explained for this topic. I will read them various examples of these types of stories days before the writing to give them ideas for their own A-Z story.

8th GRADE
GRAMMAR
*We are continuing work on Chapter 22 covering verbs. There will be various workbook pages and a quest to accompany this chapter.
WRITING
*We are writing our final 6+1 piece this Friday, May 10th. It is an autobiographical story about an experience they have had in their lives. This will be done in class.

*We have been reading from a book entitled Guys Read. These autobiographical accounts by various authors have been a springboard for various class discussions and gathering inspiration for their own accounts.

DIAGRAMMING

*We may have time for a diagramming final exam that will cover all the skills learned over the course of this year. We would practice these skills the week of May 27th and have the test on Thursday, May 30th.

8th GRADE

LITERATURE

*We are continuing to work through Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. We have been working by acts and having tests for each act of the comedy.

*We have also been watching the BBC version of the play in order to help with comprehension.

*There are various activities and vocabulary work for each act as well.
*We continue to practice practical comprehension skills with CQ (Comprehension Quickies) twice a week.

April Family Problem

NATIONAL SCRABBLE DAY

April 13^th celebrates the beloved and classic board game of Scrabble. Alfred Mosher Butts, an architect in the 1930’s, created the game, and it continues to be a standard game for all children and adults to play. My family challenge to you this month is to take the word “Scrabble” and see how many three or more letter words you can create using any combination of these letters. 0-10 words will earn 2 Bonus/House points, 11-20 words will earn 3 Bonus/House points, 21-30 will earn 4 House/Bonus points, and any number over 30 will earn 5 Bonus/House points. Good luck and I can’t wait to see the words you come up with as a family. Seeing as how it is National Scrabble Day this month, you may want to actually play Scrabble as a family as well.     

April Newsletter

6th, 7th, and 8th GRADE GRAMMAR CRATE
The students are given 10-15 minutes every Monday to work on these. Please check Power School to see your child's progress this trimester with these 5 activities. They are due no later than May 17, 2013. Students are allowed to stay after school from 3-4 on Tuesdays through Fridays to work on these if necessary.

6th GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS
GRAMMAR
*We are continuing to work on nouns and pronouns.
*Chapter 14 and 23 should be complete by the beginning of May.
*We will be making a flip chart of the various pronouns and a wheel for the nouns as a way of reviewing and studying for the unit test.
*There will be various workbook pages and worksheets to aid in learning the various skills for these concepts.
WRITING/SPEAKING
*April is National Poetry Month. We will be memorizing and presenting poems as partners. The poems are all about bugs and are poems for 2 voices. This will be a challenge, but the performances are sure to be very interesting.
*We will be writing a research paragraph about a bug. This will accompany the poems we will be presenting. Even though the poems are presented with a partner, the writing is individual. The students will share the information they learn before their performances.
*For the 6+1 Trait writing this month, we will be writing a response to literature. During the week of April 15th, the students will be exposed to various short stories, and they will then write a compare and contrast literature response, in class on Friday, April 19th.
DIAGRAMMING
*We will learn to diagram predicate adjectives and distinguish between predicate nouns/adjectives and direct objects. This concept will be practiced the week of April 8th, and the test will be on Friday, April 12th.

7th GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS
GRAMMAR
*We just completed and had a quest on Chapter 24 which focused on subject and verb agreement.
*We are beginning to work on Chapter 20 covering phrases and clauses. There will be many workbook pages and worksheets to help learn this difficult chapter.
*We will also have quizzes and quests along the way. This chapter will hopefully wrap up at the beginning of May.
WRITING/SPEAKING
*We have been journaling on various researchable topics. The students will then write a research essay about the topic they choose.
*Look for these essays to be due by the end of April.
*We will also be presenting the information in a presentation. Students are encouraged to make Power Points, displays, graphs, etc. to enhance their presentations.
*We will also be doing an in-class 6+1 Trait writing piece the week of April 22nd. During the week, the students will be exposed to various poems and on Friday, April 26th, in class, they will write a thorough analysis of one of the poems.
DIAGRAMMING
*We will learn how to diagram appositives and appositive phrases the week of April 15th.
*There will be a quest on Friday, April 19th.

8th GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS
GRAMMAR
*We are continuing to work on Chapter 20 covering phrases and clauses. We are working quite slowly in order to master these concepts through workbook pages, worksheets, and activities.
*We should wrap this chapter up by the end of the week of April 22nd. There will be a test over this unit.
*We will then be working with verbs in Chapter 22. This chapter will practice some very practical writing skills that should help the students in all areas of their future writing.
WRITING
*The students are currently working on a persuasive essay. This is a research based essay that requires MLA documentation within and at the end of the essay. These are due by Friday, April 26th.
*There will be a rough draft due date for in-class peer editing. This due date is Tuesday, April 23rd.
*We will also be writing an analysis of a short story. The students will be exposed to various short stories throughout the week of April 8th and then write a summary and an analysis of one of the characters. We will write this response in class on Friday, April 12th.
DIAGRAMMING
*We will learn to diagram infinitives the week of April 29th. We will practice all week and have a quest on Friday, May 3rd.

8th GRADE LITERATURE
*We are reading Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream. We will be reading this in class as it is the first time we have read Shakespeare, and it can prove to be pretty confusing.
*There will be quizzes, activities, and a test for this classical piece of literature.
*We will continue to do activities to prepare for the May ISTEP exams as well.

March Family Problem

March 18th is Supreme Sacrifice Day

Who do you think has made the ultimate sacrifice for you? for someone else? Many people would say Jesus; others would say firemen and policemen; still others, would say those serving our country in the military. Maybe, it isn't a group at all. Maybe someone close to you and your family has made a supreme sacrifice. Who is it? Why is he/she so special? What did/does this person do that is so exceptional? For this month's Family Problem answer the 5 W's for this person.

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
This Family Problem is worth 4 Bonus/House points. For an additional House/Bonus point you can add a picture of the person/people you think has/have made a supreme sacrifice.

March Newsletter

Grammar Crates
The students are working to complete their last set of 5 Grammar Crate activities for the school year. We work on these on Mondays for about 10-15 minutes. The 5 activities are due by May 17, 2013.

6th Grade Language Arts
Grammar
*We are continuing to work on Chapters 14 and 23 focusing on nouns and pronouns. We will hopefully finish this chapter by spring break. There will be workbook pages, quizzes, and a test.
*As a way of learning the different pronouns, we will be making a flip chart of all of them. This project will be a great study aid for the final test.
Writing
* We are continuing to work on the fairy tale. The rough draft is due Thursday, March 14th. The final draft will be due Friday, March 22, 2013.
*We will also be doing an in-class writing piece on Friday, March 15, 2013. This will be a critique of a game, a toy, or an amusement park.
Diagramming
*We just finished learning to diagram predicate nouns.
*We will learn how to diagram predicate adjectives the week we return from spring break. There will be a quest over a mix of predicate nouns and adjectives on Friday, April 12, 2013.

7th Grade Language Arts
Grammar
* We are working on Chapter 24 which focuses on subject/verb agreement. We should be finished with this chapter and have a quest over it the week of March 18th.
*We will then work on Chapter 20 covering phrases and clauses. This is a very difficult chapter, and we will continue to work on it through the month of April.
Writing
*The genre, mock book jackets are due on Friday, March 8th.
*We will then begin working on a biography essay. This will be a research based essay with MLA documentation. This will take most of April to complete.
*We will also be doing an in class writing piece on Friday, March 22, 2013. This will be a critique of a sport, a clothing line, or an actor/actress.
Diagramming
*We will be learning to diagram direct and indirect objects. We will practice these types of sentences the week of March 11th.
*There will be a quest on Friday, March 15, 2013.

8th Grade Language Arts
Grammar
*We are working on Chapter 20 learning phrases and clauses. This is a very difficult chapter, however, we are looking to test on it by Thursday, March 28, 2013.
Writing
*We are doing an in class writing critique on Friday, March 8, 2013. This will be over a movie, TV show, or song/album.
*We are also working on a persuasive essay. Since we are learning about MLA documentation, this essay is taking some extra time to complete. Hopefully, we can make enough progress to complete the essay before spring break.
Diagramming
*We will be learning to diagram questions and commands. We will practice this skill the week of the 25th.
*We will have a quest on Friday, March 28th. 

8th Grade Literature
*We are continuing to present our memorized poems. This will take us up to Thursday,  March 22, 2013.  Each poetry recitation also has an essay to accompany it. The essay is due the day of the poetry recitation.
*Miss Brant is also finishing To Kill a Mockingbird. There will be a test at the end of the book.
*We will then be reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. There will be at-home reading, quizzes, and mini-projects to accompany the reading.
*We will also continue to do ISTEP preparation activities in class a couple of times a week.

FEBRUARY FAMILY PROBLEM

MARCH 1ST CELEBRATES READING FROM COAST TO COAST
On March 1st, Corpus Christi will participate in Accelerated Reader's Reading from Coast to Coast Challenge. Last year 3,581,992 quizzes were taken by students in the US in one day. Corpus Christi will help to beat that number this year. So, in honor of this day, I thought it would be interesting to see what is your family's favorite book. Is it one from your childhood? Is it a classic? Is it more current? Whatever it is, write about it. You could include the following: a short summary, your favorite characters, your favorite scene, a favorite quote, your favorite picture, etc. Tell me why you love that book. Why is it special to your family? This challenge is due by Friday, March 1st for four bonus/House points. You may earn an extra point for including a picture of the book on your explanation.