Monday, April 11: Quarter 4 begins
Monday, April 18 at 5 pm: Band Soup & Salad Event
Wednesday, April 20: Late Open
Thursday, April 21 5 - 7 pm: Mask Project Art Gallery Evening in Ms. Turner's classroom
Monday, May 9: whole-grade field trip for Science to Mt. St. Helens
Week of May 9 - 13: spray-paint week for 8th Grade Art Project. Volunteers needed!
THE MASK GALLERY
The "Mask Night" event was a success! Many families and students stopped by to see the mask project and poetry in real life. If you were not able to make it, here is a panoramic view:
And here are several photos (moving from left to right along my classroom wall) of the work your kiddos created:
IN-CLASS
Language Arts
State testing for English Language Arts is done for most students, and we are about to start the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. I will read aloud the entire novel during class time, which helps with listening/attention skills as well as providing meaningful whole-class lessons and discussions. For all 31 chapters of the novel, students are expected to add information to their Core notebooks: vocabulary before reading, notes/quotes during reading, and a 2-sentence summary after reading each chapter. Core notebook checks will be part of their Quarter 4 grade in Language Arts, in addition to weekly Spelling/Vocabulary assignments. There will be two assignments due after we finish reading the novel and watching the 1962 film: a creative/visual project, as well as an on-demand writing sample. Hopefully I can also carve out time for a Poetry Scrapbook assignment, too!
Some students are still putting finishing touches on their personal identity mask projects, inspired by analyzing the characters in the novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, April 21 from 5 - 7 pm to come to my classroom to see the Mask Project Art Gallery! I will be in my classroom, and students may drop in with an adult to show off their artistic talent.
U.S. History
We have paused history for a brief time to focus on sessions with guest artist Sharyn Smith. Through generous donations from the Beaumont PTA as well as a GoFundMe page (yes, we still need contributions), all 8th grade students will benefit from this spray-paint art project. Our class is the first one to go through the artistic process with Sharyn, and I can already tell that the final pieces will be amazing. Stay tuned for information about a whole-grade art gallery evening in late May, once all the students have completed their pieces.
Once we are back in the routine of history, students will learn more about Oregon's history of discrimination and exclusion. I call the unit "Beyond the Oregon Trail", since students are already familiar with the typical textbook information about covered wagons and westward migration. Our class conversations will focus on how discriminatory decisions from 150 years ago still impact communities today. The class will watch excerpts from a film series titled "Race: The Power of an Illusion", and I will also show parts of documentary films about Portland's civil rights movement.
That brings us to early May, when we will visit the textbook again to get basic information about the Civil War. Students will then dig deeper into other resources for more complete information and personal stories. The school year will end with students learning about the Reconstruction Era and the beginning of industrialization. Phew!
Time Lines in student Time Books will be the main assignments for Quarter 4 in U.S. History, and please encourage your kiddo to get these completed and turned in on time.
OTHER THOUGHTS...
I am looking forward to this last quarter together with your kiddos - we have had a wonderful year so far, and we still have some memories to make!
