DECEMBER FAMILY CHALLENGE

Did you know that Walt Disney's birthday is on Wednesday, December 5th. Although Walt Disney passed away many years ago, his legacy lives on in the parks, movies, and merchandise. Does your family have a favorite Disney memory? What is it? Did it happen on a vacation? Write a short story describing your Disney memory (good or bad) in order to earn up to 5 Bonus/House points. Include a picture and earn an extra point making this family problem worth a total of 6 points. This challenge is due no later than Monday, January 7, 2013.
My memory: When I was around six years old, my family took a trip to Disney World. Although my siblings had already visited Disney before, it was my first time. I was so excited to meet all the characters, most especially the princesses. We had already enjoyed some of the main attractions, such as "It's a Small World" and the "Dumbo Ride." My oldest brother Chris wanted to go on the "Teacups." As we approached the blue teacup, I was excited yet apprehensive. Chris can tend to be a bit wild, and I was afraid he might spin the cup too fast. Just as I expected, he did. Feeling way dizzy and disoriented, I begged him to stop, but he spun the wheel faster. Even though he was having a jolly time, I was beginning to feel nauseous to the point of vomiting; which I did. Needless to say, my brother learned a very valuable lesson about me when it comes to spinning rides.

DECEMBER NEWS

GRAMMAR CRATE
This is a reminder that all of the students are working on completing 5 activities in class before Friday, February 15, 2013. They have 12-15 minutes every Monday to work on these, but they are also welcome to stay after school at Study Tables to work on them as well.

6th GRADE
Grammar- CHAPTER 19-BASIC SENTENCE PARTS
-We are reviewing subjects and predicates.
-We are also learning predicate nouns and adjectives.
-We will be working with direct and indirect objects.
-There will be workbook pages, quizzes, quests, and a test at the end of the unit.
-We are aiming to finish this unit and have a test by Thursday, December 20th.

Diagramming
-We will learn how to diagram direct objects.
-This will take place the week of December 10th.
-The quest will be on Friday, December 14th.

Writing
-We are working on putting together a class prayer book. Our goal date for the final prayer is Tuesday, December 11th.
-We will also be writing a paragraph that focuses on organization, putting a topic of choice into a chronological paragraph. This will take place in class on Thursday, December 20th.

7th GRADE
Grammar- CHAPTERS 15 and 22- USING VERBS
-We are working on a very challenging chapter about verbs.
-This chapter involves conjugating various verbs into multiple verb tenses.
-There will be workbook pages, a project, quizzes, quests, and a test.
-Please encourage your child to study for the test coming up at the beginning of the week of December 10th.

Diagramming
-We will be learning how to diagram interjections.
-The quest will be on Thursday, December 20th.

Writing
-We are working on writing a dialogue with an imaginary or famous person.
-We will practice proper format for writing dialogue.
-The dialogue will be due on Thursday, December 20th.
-It will need to be typed, double spaced, and with a proper heading.
-We just completed a paragraph focusing on word choice. The challenge was to use as many Purple Words (Warehouse Words) in a description of an everyday item.

8TH GRADE
Grammar- CHAPTER 20- PHRASES AND CLAUSES and CHAPTER 26- PUNCTUATION
-We have just finished Chapter 20 covering sentence types.
-We will be working on Chapter 26 reviewing and building on punctuation skills. Our focus will be on commas, semicolons, quotation marks, hyphens, and apostrophes.
-There will be workbook pages, a project, quizzes, a quest, and a test.
-We may not complete this unit before Christmas break.
Diagramming
-We are reviewing how to diagram prepositional phrases.
-This quest is scheduled for Friday, December 7th.

Writing/Speaking
-We just completed a technical document piece that we are giving speeches on this week (12/3-12/10)
-We will also be writing a paragraph that focuses on organization, putting a topic of choice into a chronological paragraph. This will take place on Friday, December 14th.

8TH GRADE LITERATURE
-We are working on completing a literature response to The Other Side of Life. These are due on Tuesday, December 4th.
-The students will then complete the final project over The Other Side of Life. They will work in groups to write and perform an added scene to the movie.These will be complete before Christmas break.
-The 8th grade will also be responsible for the Christmas Shadow Nativity this year. This will take place on Friday, December 21st. You can look for details in the Cougar Express.

OCTOBER FAMILY PROBLEM

NATIONAL DESSERT DAY

This activity is worth 4 House/bonus points.

October 14th is National Dessert Day. What is your family's favorite dessert? Describe the way this dessert looks, tastes, smells, and makes you feel. Your description should be at least 5 sentences and be so descriptive I can imagine the deliciousness you describe. You will earn an additional bonus/House point if you include a picture of the dessert. These are due no later than Friday, November 2nd.

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

6TH, 7TH, AND 8TH GRADE= All students should be working on completing their 5 Grammar Crate activities which are due by the first week of November. These are done in class on Mondays. Unfortunately, they may not be completed at home.

6TH GRADE
GRAMMAR
-We will be finishing Chapter 20 on prepositions.
-We will be finding examples of prepositions in daily reading.
-We will complete several worksheets.
-We will have a test probably during the week of October 15th.
-We will then begin Chapter 19 covering basic sentence parts.
WRITING
-We will be finishing the Coat of Arms. This is a series of 6 short paragraphs and a collage detailing stories and goals for each student. These will be due the 19th.
-We will then be writing prayers in order to compose a class prayer book.
DIAGRAMMING
-We will learn to diagram prepositional phrases. This will be learned and tested during the week of October 22nd.

7TH GRADE
GRAMMAR
-We are finishing Chapter 16 covering adjectives and adverbs.
-There is a test on Tuesday, October 9th.
-We will then be working on verbs in Chapter 15 and 22.
WRITING
-We have completed our product advertisement. We will be presenting them in class as well. Presentations will be at the end of the week of October 8th as well as through the week of October 15th.
-We will then be writing a dialogue. Before writing dialogue, we will have to learn the proper format.
DIAGRAMMING
-We will learn how to diagram prepositional phrases, including compound phrases. This will be learned and tested during the week of October 29th.

8TH GRADE
GRAMMAR
-We are finishing up on Chapter 21. We have done much practice with run-ons, fragments, misplaced modifiers, and compound sentences. We will have a quest the week of October 8th.
-We will then be working on Chapter 20 covering clauses. There will be worksheets, small projects, and a quest.
WRITING
-We have completed our letter to our future selves. The students have also placed a copy in an envelope to be mailed to them four years from now.
-We have begun journalling on our next writing piece, a technical document. We should have these finished by the end of October. We will be presenting these in a speech as well.
DIAGRAMMING
-We will be diagramming compound subjects, verbs, and sentences. This will be learned and tested during the week of October 15th.

8TH GRADE LITERATURE
-We will be reading a script by Daryn Perry entitled The Other Side of Life. This is a fantastic piece about a teenager who is given a second chance at life. We will also be reading a portion of a fantasy novel by the same author.
-There will be quizzes, a test, and a couple of projects to go with this script.

September Family Problem

FAMILY PROBLEM: SEPTEMBER 28TH IS NATIONAL GOOD NEIGHBOR DAY
-Who do you wish would move in next door? Why?  As a family decide who you wish would move in next door to be the perfect neighbor. You may agree as a family on one person to move in, or each family member can have a different choice. Either way, you must write a short paragraph explaining who the person is, why he/she is moving in next door to you, the relationship you plan on having with this person, and how he/she will make a good neighbor. These are worth 4 House or bonus points. You may earn an additional bonus point for including a picture of the person you wish to be your new neighbor. Only one family problem needs to be submitted if you have multiple children in the middle school. Family Problems are due by Monday, October 1st.

September Newsletter

6th, 7th, and 8th GRADE

We do many similar language arts activities. Each week the classes engage in a practice activity. They alternate from week to week. The following is a summary of these activities.
DOG- Write sentences with errors and correct them using proper proofreading, editing marks.
Diagramming- Diagram sentences breaking them down into their parts of speech. The week that we do diagramming, there is a quest on that Friday covering the skill learned.
Grammar Minute- These are small activities that practice the skill we are currently learning in the grammar book.
6+1 Traits- We analyze a picture book on the 6+1 Writing Traits. We do many small activities to boost writing skills as well.
Weekly Reminders and Words of the Week- Each week we learn a new definition and a reminder about a frequent error in writing. At the end of the trimester, there will be a test covering both.

6th GRADE
GRAMMAR- We are working on Chapter 17 and 20 covering prepositions. There will be workbook pages, quizzes, a project, and a test. All students are expected to memorize 30 prepositions.
WRITING- We are working on a short response paper that coincides with a Coat of Arms. This is a personal writing piece and is worth 200 points. We are currently working toward a due date of Friday, September 28th.
DIAGRAMMING- We learned how to diagram subjects, verbs, adjectives, and compound adjectives. Our next diagramming will expand to adverbs.

7TH GRADE
GRAMMAR- We are working on Chapter 16 covering adjectives and adverbs. The students must memorize the definition and function of each. There will be workbook pages, quizzes, a project, and a test.
WRITING-Since we are studying adjectives and adverbs, we will be doing a descriptive writing piece. We will be creating a catalog advertisement. We are working toward a due date of Friday, September 28th.
DIAGRAMMING- We reviewed how to diagram subjects, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

8th GRADE
GRAMMAR- We are working on Chapter 21 covering sentence types and how to write more effective sentences. There will be workbook pages, a project, and a test.
WRITING- We are working on a personal letter to ourselves. These letters are being written to our future self four years from now. It is a reflection of what we want to be when we are older; what we want to do when we are older; what we want to have when we are older; and some advice we want to give future selves. These are currently due by Friday, September 22nd.
DIAGRAMMING- We will review how to diagram subjects, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, as well as compound adjective and adverbs.

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.