9/28...Not to be missed

8th Grade

Grade 8 worked in pairs or small groups to write prayers of 

supplication, contrition, thanksgiving, and adoration. 

They picked their best of the four to perform for the class...

and you!

Here are Z, M, E, and J with their prayer of adoration. 

Here is C, V, and S's prayer of thanksgiving for their classmates. 

Part of the process is important here: 

To capture an authentic piece of the beauty of each of their classmates, 

 S, C, and V filmed while lavishing throngs 

of sincere, heartfelt, and uplifting compliments on each individual. 

What you see in the above video is the reactions to such compliments. 

The three of young ladies did the voice over afterwards. 

Here is an animation with voice over for M and A's prayer of thanksgiving.

Here is C and T with their prayer of supplication. 

Here are J and A with their prayer of supplication.

The Process Matters.

Sometimes brainstorming involves a football...

sometimes you need to teach a friend a few cords, 

so he can help you practice the other part...

and sometimes you just need to write it all down.

We have finished Of Mice and Men,
and their hearts are heavy
as we analyze what it all means.

7th Grade

The seventh grade is busy reading and analyzing The Outsiders. 

For those reading along, we are on chapter six. 

This Thursday C and J were installed as our Student Ambassadors, 

and L, W, and E were installed as our Student Council Representatives.  

Students are working hard on identifying, creating, and revising 

powerful figures of speech and imagery 

in preparation for their descriptive piece.  

Their enthusiasm for figures of speech and imagery
is bursting out of them like fireworks
breaking across the starry, summer night sky. 

8th and 7th Grades-9/20

8th Grade

The 8th Grade has started Of Mice and Men  by John Steinbeck. 

We are starting chapter 4 on Friday. 

Feel free to read along. 

We welcome the conversation. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The 8th grade also started a religion project this week. 

             

They are working in pairs and small groups to compose original prayers of contrition, adoration, supplication, and thanksgiving.

Groups will then choose their best prayer to perform for the class in an original and dazzling way.








Stay tuned to next week's blog where we will show case their performances! 

Students also took practice tests for the high school entrance exams. 

They have been working on test taking skills and practice exercises since last spring.

The high schools aren't going to know what hit them!

7th Grade

The 7th grade used Quizlet Live to prepare for their nouns test. The ending is worth your 52 seconds.
We promise. 

                                                                                              

  They also worked with a partner at different stations focusing on individual noun roles.
 Genius!

The 7th graders started reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

 

We should be at chapter 3 by the end of the week. 

Feel free to read along. 

No killing butterflies though!

7th grade has also started test preparation for high school entrance and placement tests. This week we worked on strategies for tackling analogies. 

9/14 Great Start!

. 

Families

The seventh graders were given their first opportunity to step up as leaders of the school last week, and they nailed it.












They are each the head of a school family. Families will meet to build a sense of belonging, do service, and generally care for each other throughout the school year.

At this first meeting, they met their family members, did some getting-to-know-you activities, and created a family shield. 

From the very start, it was clear that they are going to thrive in this leadership role. Their younger family members are so lucky to have them. 

And they are lucky to have the younger kids too.

We reviewed unit one vocabulary words with short skits.

Here are C. and W. diffusing their positive energy throughout the room

 Here is L. trying not to relinquish her grip on A.

Here are L., R. and J. muddling the classroom.

Here is J. admonishing K. 

Here is T. and E. doing their best with the cumbersome chair.

 Summer Reading Presentations

Students took turns presenting summer assignments to the class. They practiced giving and receiving constructive criticism. Here is J. with his W.O.W. project for My Side of the Mountain. 

LA

We are working on a nouns unit in grammar class. We found that prepositional phrases kept getting in our way, so we have been working to get this little ditty stuck in our heads. We won't forget prepositions anymore.