Happy 2 Hour Delay Day!

Whew! It's Friday and we have survived our first week back! We spent most of this week working through some pre-reading activities for To Kill A Mockingbird, which we will begin reading next week. The students have been very engaged through this process and are beginning to have a better understanding of the social and political setting of the South in the 1930's.

Due to our shortened class time today we were not able to create our Outside/Inside projects, so we will start with this first thing Monday. Students were asked to bring approximately 20 photographs that described themselves in ways that people were aware of/familiar with and in ways that may surprise people/are more 'hidden'.
We will use this activity to discuss the ways in which people grow and change and how stereotypes are formed.

The last blog post mentioned that the research quest project would be assigned today (Friday 1/8). We didn't quite get to it, due to the 35 minute class period, so we will look at that project assignment next week.

Next week is SAT week #6 and students are responsible for the following words:
contend
endorse
implement
obstinate
alleviate
contentious
enhance
impudence
ominous
aloof
contract (v)
enigma

As always, vocabulary work is due on Monday, we will review in class on Wednesday and our test will be on Thursday. Your child has a list of all weekly vocabulary words through week 10. These lists will also be posted on Homework Hero and here on the blog.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll see the kiddos back on Monday!

ENM

Week of January 4-8

We have so much going on this week! We have certainly hit the ground running!

Monday: SAT Week 5 Work due, Pearl Presentations
Tuesday: Continuation of Pearl Presentations
Wednesday: SAT review game, TKM pre-test for background knowledge and discussions of prejudice, assignment of Inside-Outside mini project
Thursday: SAT Test 5, discussion of TKM pre-test, TKM sentence starters (these are ALWYAS interesting!)
Friday: Opinionaire completion, Inside-Outside mini project assembly, Research Quest assignment given

I was glad to see the students return on Monday and I hope everyone is 'getting back into the swing of school' both here and at home. As we enter the next unit of challenges and conflicts and we begin reading and discussing To Kill a Mockingbird, I encourage families to discuss the reading and the topics of equality, justice, freedom and prejudice at home. I have found in the past that this book is one of the books that people actually remember from their days in English class! Share with your children what you remember from reading this book- it is a classic!

Also, as we head toward the end of the 9 weeks, encourage your children to use their agendas and keep their binders as organized as possible. We're starting to notice more and more things being forgotten, left behind at home, and lost. A few minutes spent organizing their binder and updating their agenda can save LOTS of time and worry later :)

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Have a wonderful Wednesday!