ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hi families, here's a brief look at October:
No school Friday, October 9 (statewide in-service day)
Late open Wednesday, October 14
Conferences all day Wednesday and Thursday, October 21 and 22 (no school for students)
No school Friday, October 23
End of Quarter 1 Thursday, October 29
Teacher plan day (no school for students) Friday, October 30
CONFERENCES - INFO
Here is the Conferences Schedule link!
A few tips about 8th grade conferences:
~ Appointments are made through Core teachers only.
~ Conferences are held in the cafeteria NOT in classrooms.
~ Math, science, PE, and music will be available on a drop-in basis, also in the cafeteria.
~ For ELL and Spanish, check with those teachers about availability (they are half-time at Beaumont)
~ For other electives taught by Core teachers, no conference time is specifically available, but you can drop-in if there is a gap in our appointment schedules!
~ First conferences start at 8:45 am, and last ones end at 8:30 pm, so plan your drop-in conferences accordingly.
~ Be aware that teachers have scheduled breaks, so plan your drop-ins before or after your scheduled appointment to avoid teacher break-times:
10:15-10:30 am
12:00-1:00 pm (lunch)
2:30-2:45 pm
4:45-6:00 pm (dinner)
7:15-7:30 pm
CLASSROOM UPDATE
Language Arts
We started the historic fiction novel Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. The novel takes place during 1776 and is told from the point of view of Isabel, a slave. Students are taking notes in their Core notebooks, and I am reading the book aloud in-class (we do not have enough copies of the book for every student to check out their own). Written responses to deep-thinking questions will be expected along the way, with the questions packet due by the time we finish reading the novel (should be second week of November).
Weekly homework:
Greek/Latin root word packets with definitions quizzes (white packets), alternating with Spelling Homework (blue handouts) - which is also a grammar exercise - with spelling quizzes. Expect one of these each week that is 4 or more school days.
U.S. History
Students created Time Books and completed the first of 10 timelines that will take us through the entire year of U.S. history. We are focusing on the impact of the Transatlantic slave trade, and how it impacted the early British colonies and later United States. The next Time Book entry will be about the early colonies, and students will learn more about the Revolutionary War by the end of Quarter 1.
Homework:
Students may need to study some history notes for upcoming tests about the Early Colonies and the Revolutionary War. Check Synergy ParentVUE for exact dates.
For the next Time Book timeline, students will need to get some work done outside of class. Going forward, there will be two class periods of in-class work time offered, but most kiddos will need a little more time to do the thinking/writing portion, or possibly the visual/artistic/creative portion.
