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.