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.

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

6th, 7th, and 8th GRADE WEEKLY REMINDER QUEST
*The middle school will take a Weekly Reminder Quest on Friday, November 11th over 11 reminders and 12 Words of the Week. These cover frequent errors in writing and spelling.
6TH GRADE
Grammar (6.6.6, 6.6.2)
*Prepositions are proving to be very difficult. Many students do not have a solid grasp on prepositions, therefore, we are struggling with phrases and modifiers.
*We will be wrapping up prepositions this month and having a quest on them.
*We will move into Chapter 14 covering pronouns.
Writing (6.5.1,6.5.6,6.5.7)
*We are finishing up on our prayers for the class prayer book.
*We will then be writing fairy tales.
Diagramming (7.6.4)
*We will diagram adverb prepositional phrases this month.

7th GRADE
Grammar (7.6.6,7.6.7,7.6.2)
*We will be finally finishing up on Chapter 26 on punctuation. This chapter was super long and covered every punctuation mark from period to hyphen.
*We will then move on to Chapter 20 covering clauses.
Writing (7.5.5,7.5.7,7.2.2,)
*We have finished our study of advertising and wrote a toy ad.
*We will be working on biographies in November.
Diagramming (7.6.4)
*We will diagram prepositional phrases.

8th GRADE
Grammar (7.6.4)
*We are finishing up our study of adjectives and adverbs. There will be a quest over them this month.
Writing/Speaking (8.7.15,8.7.4,8.5.5,8.5.7,8.5.6)
*We will be writing a technical paragraph describing the steps to performing some action with an object. Some examples include turning on the TV with a remote control, using the blender, and selecting a song on an iPod. We will also present these in class.
Diagramming (7.6.4)
*We will be diagramming predicate nouns and adjectives.

OCTOBER FAMILY PROBLEM

The month of October is best known for its celebration of Halloween. Take a picture of a person in a Halloween costume (these can be real family photographs, pictures from a catalog, or online). Describe the costume from head to toe, being extremely descriptive. Add similes, metaphors, and Warehouse words.
Avoid the generic descriptions: He has a red nose, colorful hair, and big shoes.
Instead: His nose was as red as a ripe red delicious apple. His colorful hair was like a rainbow on his head, and his shoes were enormous. These are due by Friday, October 28th. You must have a picture and a description. Up to 4 bonus points or House points will be rewarded for this activity.

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

6TH GRADE
GRAMMAR
*At the beginning of the month, each student had to memorize at least 40 prepositions.
*Memorizing the 40 prepositions will be extremely helpful as we are working on Chapter 20 which focuses on prepositional phrases.
*There will be workbook pages, practice worksheets, quizzes, and a quest at the end of the chapter.
WRITING
*We are finishing up on our South Bend person paragraph. These will be attached to our Art boxes that we made for Hacienda night.
*We will be writing prayers for our class prayer book.
DIAGRAMMING
*We have already learned subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and compound subjects and verbs.
*We will be learning how to diagram prepositional phrases.
7th GRADE
GRAMMAR
*We are still working through Chapter 26 focusing on punctuation.
*We are doing workbook pages, practice activities, quizzes, and will have another quest over the second half of this chapter.
WRITING
*In line with the study of punctuation, we are writing group dialogues. These will be presented in class.
*We are continuing are study of advertising techniques. We will then use that knowledge to write an ad for a new toy.
DIAGRAMMING
*We just finished diagramming compound subjects and verbs.
*We will be diagramming compound adjectives and adverbs.
8TH GRADE
GRAMMAR
*We are working on Chapter 16 studying adjectives and adverbs.
*We have been doing workbook pages, practice activities, quizzes, and a quest will occur at the end of the unit.
WRITING
*We are working on letters to ourselves that will be mailed out in four years.
DIAGRAMMING
*We are working on diagramming direct and indirect objects.

SEPTEMBER FAMILY PROBLEM

With this activity, you may earn up to 4 bonus points for language arts or 4 House points. Since it is a family problem, only one needs to be submitted per family and not separately for each child.
The Problem: Although summer vacation may be over, it's always time to think about future summer vacations. Imagine you are able to plan any summer vacation you want regardless of money, what would be the ideal vacation for each member of your family? You may write a dream vacation for the entire family to share, or write what each member of the family believes would be the best summer vacation. Complete sentences are expected. You may include a picture or pictures for an additional bonus/House point. This family problem is due by Friday, September 30th.

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

WEEKLY AND DAILY REGULAR ACTIVITIES FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR

1. DOG (Daily Oral Grammar): This activity practices the skill of editing writing with proper proofreading marks. It meets many of the state standards for the sixth standard covering language conventions.
2. GRAMMAR MINUTE: This activity practices the parts of speech, as well as capitalization and punctuation.

3. DIAGRAMMING: This activity practices breaking down sentences into their individual parts of speech. After a week of practice, there is a quest covering the skill learned that week. (standard 7.6.4)
4. DQ (Daily Questions): Each day the students answer brief questions covering grammar, writing, sentence writing, and handwriting.
5. 6+1 EVALUATION: This activity involves the students evaluating a piece of writing for the 6+1 Traits. They also work to improve many pieces as well. (standard 4 covering evaluation and revision)
6. JOURNALS: In order to prepare for larger pieces of writing, we write three minute journals to brainstorm ideas for a future rough draft and final draft. (standard 4 covering organization and focus of writing)
7. WEEKLY REMINDERS: Each week the students take a note about a frequent error in writing. These are gathered and at the end of the trimester there will be a quest. (covering standard 4 on evaluation and revision as well as standard 6 on language conventions)

6th GRADE
GRAMMAR:
*This month we'll cover Chapter 27 on capitalization. There will be many workbook pages, worksheets, quizzes, and a test at the end of the chapter. (standard 6.6.4)
WRITING:
*We will partnering with art to write a research paragraph about a person in Indiana history. By doing this paragraph, we will be learning how to cite sources in a works cited. (standard 6.5.3)
*We will also be creating a Coat of Arms and composing a paragraph for one section of the Coat examining the section answer more closely. (standard 6.5.2)

7th GRADE
GRAMMAR:
*This month we'll cover Chapter 26 on punctuation. There will be many workbook pages, worksheets, quizzes, and a test at the end of the chapter. (standard 7.6.6 and 7.6.7)
WRITING:
*We will be working on a persuasive paragraph advertising for a new technologically advanced toy. (standard 7.5.4)

8th GRADE
GRAMMAR:
*This month we will be working on Chapter 20 covering simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentence types. Depending on how easily this material is understood, we may move onto phrases which is another section of the same chapter. (standard 8.6.1 and 8.6.3)
WRITING:
*We will be writing a letter to our future selves. We will address the envelopes, and then in four years, I will mail them out to the students so they can reflect on what their thoughts for their futures were from 2011. (standard 8.5.1 and 8.5.7)

FEBRUARY FAMILY PROBLEM

WRITE A FAIRY TALE DAY!

February 26 is Write a Fairy Tale Day. Fairy tales are happy, fantasy stories with a villain, a magical setting, and most importantly, a happy ending. Using your family members as characters, create a fairy tale. Who will be the hero? Who will be the villain? Where will it take place? How will the ending be happy? Be creative, and you may use a preexisting fairy tale as a base for your story if you like. This family problem is worth five Chance Tickets or bonus points. You may receive an extra point or ticket for illustrations. This family problem is due by Friday, February 25th.

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.