Weekly Update 10/30/17

Hello Middle School Families!

It was great to see some of you at the Fall Festival!  And I'll see even more of you this week at Parent/Teacher conferences.  Just a reminder that there is no school on Tuesday and Wednesday this week due to conferences.  Also, conferences for middle school students are NOT mandatory.  You only need a conference if you have concerns that you'd like to discuss.

This week in...

Social Studies (A and B Days)
We've begun our European Exploration unit with the Geography piece.  We're learning about Indonesia (then called the Spice Islands), the West Indies (Carribean Islands), and Africa, and how these different places played a role in European Exploration.  We'll have a Geography test next week:  A Day on Tuesday, Nov 7th, and B Day on Monday, Nov 6th.  The kids will have study guides that they'll bring home over the weekend.

ELA (A and B Days)
We're continuing our work on narrative writing.  This week we'll look at the difference between telling versus showing what is happening.

ELA Homework Reminder

• B Day students received their vocabulary homework 10/23, and it is due on Monday, Nov 6th.  They'll have an assessment on the words that day as well.  
• A Day students received their vocabulary homework on 10/24.  It is due on Tuesday, Nov 7th, and they'll have an assessment that day.

Wishing you a blessed week!

This week...10/23/17

Hello Middle School Families!

This week in...

Social Studies (Both A and B Days)
We're wrapping up our Ancient Civilizations unit by writing an essay that tells about the masks that we made.  The masks have symbols on them that represent the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.  We had a lot of fun researching and creating them!  Check it out!

The next unit we'll be working on is European Exploration.  We'll mainly focus on the early explorers from Spain and Portugal, the places and peoples they discovered, and the navigation tools that allowed them to sail further from shore than they'd ever imagined.  We'll begin with a short geography unit that will allow us to get familiar with the areas we'll be learning about:  the Spice Islands, West Indies, and ports in Africa.  There will be a test on this part of the unit on November 3rd (A Day) and November 6th (B Day).  A study guide will come home next week.

ELA (Both A and B Days)
We've been getting familiar with the ELA Amplify curriculum, and are currently working on the first unit, Dahl and Narrative.  The first half of the unit is spent working on narrative writing, and we've been working on focusing our writing in on one particular moment.  This week, we'll sharpen our focus on chosing one moment to write about, and adding lots of details.

This week I'll begin assigning homework for vocabulary.  Students will have about 2 weeks to complete the homework.

• B Day students will receive their homework today (10/23), and it will be due on Monday, Nov 6th.  They'll have an assessment on the words that day as well.  
• A Day students will receive their homework tomorrow (10/24).  It will be due on Tuesday, Nov 7th, and they'll have an assessment that day.
• I'll send out Remind messages about the due dates and assessment dates.  Students will also write them in their planners.

I hope you have a great week!