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.

Monday, December 19th

Happy Monday, Families! 

We’re nearly there, to the end of the semester and to a Happy New Year!

Don’t forget, we will be stuffing stockings and watching Elf on Thursday, along with educational reading and writing activities of course! Therefore, if your 7th grader would like to bring in a pillow or blanket to wrap up in during our movie and reading , that would be awesome. Also, if you choose to, please have your kiddo bring in something fun and inexpensive to share with their classmates. As a reminder, Oasis students are allowed to wear anything "HOLIDAY."  Think ugly sweaters, Christmas shirts, red, green, gold, anything that makes you think HOLIDAY FUN!  No pajamas and dress code shoes please. 

If your student would like to bring in a treat on Thursday, we will also have time set aside to eat and celebrate. I have plates, cups, drinks, and chips, but I am open to anything else the kids feel like bringing in. Thank you in advance! 

This week in projects, the class is working in partners to finish up their survival of the fittest comics. They have researched an animal of their choice and are creating a comic strip to show how its adaptations have suited it for survival. 

During our reading block we are bringing The Great War/WW1 to a close with a pyramid project that depicts many of the components that we have studies over the last several weeks. Including propaganda, militarism, nationalism, or imperialism (definition and how it applied to one or more of the countries involved in WW1), a major alliance, and a major event. I am very proud of what the class has taken away from this time in our world’s history and I can’t wait to see their finished products. 

We have many fun writing activities planned for this week that they class will be able to show off their narrative writing skills. This is a super creative class that thrives on each other’s writing and ideas. I’m excited to see what they come up with! 

8th grade reading is working hard on finishing up their King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table novel. They are also completing a final project where they have selected one chapter from the book that they will use to create a 3D diorama that focuses on the theme, protagonists/antagonists, setting, and plot. 

Monday, November 28

I hope that everyone is recovering from their Thanksgiving feasts and celebrations. It's wild to think that we are making our way into December this week!

During projects we have come to the end of our heredity and genetics studies with a focus on asexual reproduction and epigenetics. On Thursday we will take the final exam.

7th Grade Reading has been busy reading about the periods after the Civil War with the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The class has had excellent discussions about the tycoons; Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan, and how much control they had over the country. Making their fortunes on the backs of the working class.

Writing- This week we started sentence diagramming. It was a bit of a struggle at first, but once the class saw these diagrams like a picture of a sentence and treated them more like puzzles, they actually started having fun with it. We have also been studying the eight parts of speech, which will be tested on Thursday. Narrative writing in the works as well. The topic is “A Day in the Life of _____”. So far their brainstorming ideas have been hilarious and I can't wait to see the stories they come up with.  

8th Grade Reading block has continued to make its way through the Middle Ages. This week we have been focused on reading and studying the Black Plague, effects of the Crusades, as well as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the novel, King Arthur’s and his Knights of the Round Table.

Monday, November 7th

This week in projects we are continuing to make our way through the world of DNA, chromosomes, genes, and Punnett squares. The class has shown a ton of interest and curiosity about this subject. It is so neat to see those “aha” moments when they realize how and why we are they way we are.

In reading we worked on Flocabulary today, getting up to date with our current events and yes, counting down to election day. I was impressed with how correct our group was with their predictions on this week’s topics. We are also planning on finishing up our Two Miserable Presidents this week as we read the last chapter, “A Bloody Road to Richmond.” The class will receive a study guide for their final test so that they can study over the weekend if they choose.

We are honing in on our arguing skills this week. The class is working on including background knowledge, a claim, reasons, evidence, and a counterclaim to create a good argumentative essay. I am loving the research these kids are using to support their claims.

8th Grade Reading- This week the class will learn about the Middle Ages and various aspects of it by reading and discussing one of the greatest legends of all time in the novel, King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. Wednesday we will work on poetry,  reading a poem and annotating it to apply critical thinking strategies and gain deeper meaning.

Monday, October 31

Happy Halloween!

I made it back to the states after a wild adventure with polar bears, and to no surprise my 7th graders were awesome while I was gone. Today was so fun telling the class about the arctic ecosystem and showing them my photos of the polar bears and other denizens of the north.  

Just a quick reminder, there is no reading or math homework tonight. Enjoy the time out with your kiddos and be safe out there! I also wanted to thank everyone that supplied treats for both the middle school dance and our party this afternoon. You guys rock.

I’m happy to see that so many of you have already signed up for our parent/teacher conferences on Friday. If you haven’t had a chance to sign up, there are still quite a few open slots. Also, if you have any questions or need a different time/date, please do not hesitate to contact me.

This week….

We are starting a new project this week focusing on heredity. This week the class will be studying dominant and recessive genes as well as Mendel's theory of inheritance.

This week in reading we are continuing to move our way through the novel, Two Miserable Presidents and dive even deeper into a few of the 10,000 battles of the Civil War. I love how well the class has done with tracking the parallels between Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln during this time of war.  

During writing, the class is honing in on their argumentative writing skills. So if you find that you kiddos is backing up their arguments with reasons and evidence, give them a high-five for me!

8th grade reading is taking off on Middle Ages. We will be beginning our King Arthur novel soon. I am excited to see what the class already knows about this exciting time in history.

October 10th

Welcome to the last week of the quarter! I’ve got a couple announcements for you.

*Thank you so much to those of you that have already signed up to bring treats to our Middle School Halloween Dance. You guys are seriously such an awesome group of parents, I don’t know what we would do without you.

*We’ve got auctions on Wednesday. Please have your kiddo bring in something that they would like to make available to the class to bid on with their class cash/dojo points.

*It’s Fall Break next week! No school October 17-21

*Mrs. Byrd- In Canada the week after fall break photographing polar bears. We have Mrs. Swan as our amazing sub that I have no doubt will take excellent care of your kiddos while I am out.

*Middle School Dance - October 28th Oasis 6:00-10:00
Costumes $5 / No Costume $7

Projects- We are continuing with our research of endangered species. The groups are really becoming experts on their animals and coming up with great plans on how to get them closer to getting off the endangered list. They will have the Monday we return from Fall break to practice and rehearse their presentations, then the real deal will be on Tuesday the 22nd.

7th Grade Reading- We are continuing with our Two Miserable Presidents novel, this week the focus has been on why both the Northern president Lincoln and the Southern president Davis were indeed so miserable.  

7th Grade Writing- The class is finishing up their three causes of the Civil War cause and effect essays. At the end of the week we will research an animal and compare and contrast it to a family member, example: My Grandmother is a Sea Turtle.

8th Grade Reading- The 8th grade class is finishing up the quarter with reading and researching world religions, Students will work in teams to create presentations that identify and describe the five key world religions: Christianity, Hindu, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism.

Monday, October 3rd

Hello October! We have a busy week ahead of us as we make our way into the end of the first quarter.

Projects- We are moving deeper into ecosystems and researching endangered species as teams. Each group will work as research scientists to educate themselves about an endangered species and determine what has caused to be on the endangered species list. Next they will take what they have researched to develop a plan of recovery to present to “Congress.”

7th Grade Reading- This week the class will move further into our Two Miserable Presidents novel, focusing on a few of the key leaders for the Confederate and Union armies.

7th Grade Writing- Students will use the book Two Miserable Presidents to cite evidence for writing about three causes of the Civil War. Through using their cause and effect reading and writing strategies, students will compile their informative essays.

8th Grade Reading- Our 8th graders continue to respond to critical thinking questions and class discussions about the Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. At the end of the week, they will have a checkpoint to assess their knowledge of ancient civilizations and their societal, religious, political and technological influences on modern society.