Tuesday, January 31

Social Studies- Tomorrow, Wednesday, the kids will be completing their vocabulary and Roaring 20’s test. I am quite confident that they will do very well. These guys have really taken pride in their knowledge of this topic. They will also be printing their 1920s magazine this week which are looking great. I can’t wait to see the final product! 

Reading- We are getting deeper into The Outsiders and the kids sure are digging it. The conversations we have had while reading over the last couple of weeks have been amazing. I am looking forward to their reactions to the next couple of shocking chapters! We will also annotate Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” which was actually a poem Ponyboy recites in The Outsiders.

8th Reading- This week the class watched and read a Flocabulary Week in Rap and continues to make way through two more chapters of To Kill A Mockingbird. I absolutely love the class discussions this group has.  They are taking an in depth look into the setting and characters of this novel and have done an excellent job analyzing the book.  

Writing- This week we are working together on a writing prompt similar to one that the kids will get during their state testing. We are specifically looking into narrative techniques and how to use given passages to improve our own writing. Today the prompt was about a diamond robbery, and boy did these kids have some great discussions about the how and why. It sounded like we were in our very own courtroom. 

Tuesday, January 24th

Congratulations to all of our 100% attendance, A & B honor roll students, along with our Bighorn and Most Improved recipients. I am so proud of each and every one you super stars.

Reminders-

We have our class auctions tomorrow (Wednesday the 25th). Just a heads up, if you have not brought something in to auction off, you will not be participating.

Report cards went home last week, please do not hesitate in contacting me if you any questions or concerns.  

The Valentine Dance is coming soon, Friday, February 10th. Mrs. O'Flaherty will be emailing out information soon. Please be sure that your student and their guest has a new permission slip signed.

Social Studies- We are roaring through the “Roaring ‘20s!” This week we will be focusing on the  KKK, Red Scare, and art and culture of the Harlem Renaissance. Thursday will be the last day to complete their magazine pages, then presenting and completing our vocabulary test and mini-unit assessment on Monday.

7th Grade Reading- This week we are moving through our Outsiders novel. The kids are loving the characters and story so far. I love hearing the connections and comments they have.

Writing- This week we will finish our My Favorite Mistake. The class has been working hard on this narrative, checking their writing techniques and working with peers to edit their work as they move into the final draft.  

8th Grade Reading - We’ve continued to make our way through To Kill a Mockingbird. The class worked on annotating a selection from chapter two today. I was impressed with their thoughts, ideas, comments, and questions.

Tuesday, January 17

Into the new semester we go! I have a couple class announcements for everyone:

*Report cards should be printed and sent out tomorrow (Wednesday). There was a little glitch that enabled middle school grades to be released. Sorry about that!

*We have Music for specials this quarter and Mrs. Barten has requested that each student brings in a small flashlight as a prop for one of the songs they will be working on. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy and should be able to be left as school.

*Auctions! The class agreed that we would do our class auctions next Wednesday, January 24th. If you could please remind your kiddo to bring something in by then, that would be great!    

Projects- We are moving away from Science and will be working on Social Studies for the remainder of the year. The first topic we are covering is the roaring ‘20s. The kids have enjoyed learning about all the new innovations and ways of life during this time period. We broke into groups today and will begin working on their project which includes creating a magazine. Each group member will become an expert in his/her respective topics, then write an article covering what they learned.

7th Grade Reading- Finally, The Outsiders! I have been excited for this book ever since I decided to move up to seventh grade. I love when the 8th graders and freshmen come in and see that we are reading The Outsiders, and recall how much they loved it. This week we are mainly focusing on getting to know the characters, setting, and social aspects of the story. The class is working in partners to create posters, summarizing physical and personality traits of everyone from Sodapop to Two-Bit Matthews.

7th Grade Writing- We are continuing with narratives for our first paper of the second semester. The kids have really been honing in on their expressive and reflective skills.  We began our Class Twitter page and this group came up with some really great six-word memoirs. They are hanging on our bulletin board along with their awesome “Day in the Life” narratives. Be sure to check them out as you come in. For the next week or so we will continue with “My Favorite Mistake” were they will use narrative techniques to write about a mistake they made in life and learned from.

8th Grade Reading- This week our 8th grade class is beginning Harper Lee’s novel,  To Kill a Mockingbird. We plan to use narrative elements and background knowledge as we make our way through this classic coming-of-age story. There are some intense topics and conversations that have already made their way into our class discussions.