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.

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

6TH, 7TH, 8TH GRADE NEWS
WEEKLY REMINDER TEST
It is the end of the trimester on February 22nd. We will be having a Weekly Reminder Test on that day. This will cover all 24 Weekly Reminders thus far. Please talk to your child about these. Encourage him/her to make note cards, give him/her a pretend quiz, etc. to prepare for this cumulative exam.

GRAMMAR CRATES
Grammar Crate activities are due for all students on Thursday, February 14th. Please ask your child if he/she has completed them. They will then begin to work on Trimester 3's activities. These will be due on Friday, May 17, 2013. Your child completes these in class. I give them 10-15 minutes every Monday to work on them. They are also welcome to stay after school at study tables to work on them.

6TH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS
GRAMMAR
*We just finished up on Chapter 19 covering subjects, predicates, direct objects, indirect objects, predicate nouns, and predicate adjectives. It was a rough chapter, and the students will continue to practice these concepts through diagramming.
*We are now moving on to Chapter 14 and Chapter 23 focusing on pronouns. There will be workbook pages, activities, quizzes, etc. to learn the material. These chapters will extend into the month of March.

WRITING
*We are just now beginning to work on our fairy tale books. Each student will be given a book to write their own fairy tale. Hopefully, this project will wrap up by the end of the month.
*We just completed a persuasive writing piece on Friday, February 8th proving that a topic was the best or worst.

DIAGRAMMING
*We will be learning how to diagram predicate nouns and predicate adjectives. This quest will be on Friday, March 8th.

7TH GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS
GRAMMAR
*We just completed the unit on capitalization. We took a test and created a Capitalization Town which you may have seen at the Open House.
*We will now be working on Chapter 24 focusing on making words agree in a sentence. This is a very practical chapter that will aid in improving your child's writing. We will work on this through the rest of this month and some of March. There will be workbook pages, activities, quizzes, etc. to help the students learn the concepts of this chapter.

WRITING
*We will be making mock book jackets. These will include a cover page, the book spine, and the back cover summary of their very own book. Hopefully, these will be complete by Friday, February 22nd.
*We will be writing a persuasive writing piece in class on Thursday, February 14th. This will focus on proving a topic of the student's choice to be the best or worst. They will be given the topics to choose from a couple of days in advance, in order for them to think about it before class on Thursday.

DIAGRAMMING
*We just took a diagramming quest on Friday, February 8th covering predicate nouns and adjectives. The next concept we will be learning is how to diagram direct and indirect objects. This quest will be on Friday, March 15th.

8TH GRADE
GRAMMAR
*We are finishing up the chapter on punctuation and will  have the test on Wednesday (2/13) or Thursday (2/14).
*We will then begin Chapter 20 learning about phrases and clauses. This is a very difficult chapter learning prepositions, participles, gerunds, and infinitives. It will take us through March. There will be many workbook pages, quizzes, etc. in order to help learn these terms.

WRITING
*We are beginning to work on a persuasive research essay. This will need to be a five paragraph essay with a thesis, MLA documentation, and at least 3 support paragraphs. We will be working on this in pieces over the course of February and March. Look for this to be due by the middle of March.
*We will also be doing an in class writing piece focusing on organization and voice. It will be a review of a movie: a scene, the setting, a character, the plot, or the point of view. 
DIAGRAMMING
*We will be learning how to diagram appositive phrases. This will take place on Friday, March 1st..

LITERATURE
*The students are still working on To Kill a Mockingbird. They are about half way through the novel and are working in depth on a critical analysis of it. Miss Brant is teaching this novel.
*I am working with the students on a poetry project. They will have to memorize a poem by the week of March 4th. They will also be writing an essay researching the author and analyzing the poem. These will be due the day they perform their poem in class some time beginning the week of March 4th. Only a few students will perform at a time, therefore, it will take three weeks of literature classes to complete this activity (literature only meets 3 days a week). Students also have the opportunity to earn 10 House or bonus points for performing their poem at the Drama Club's Barnes and Noble Day on Saturday, March 2nd. Encourage your child to take advantage of this.
*I will also continue to do ISTEP preparation activities each week with the class.