I'm baaaaack!

Miss me? Today was my first day back after my wedding/vacation. Thank you for all of your well wishes before I left and since I've come back. We had a lovely little wedding :-)

My dad walked me down the aisle (left) and my younger sister was my maid of honor (right).

I wish I had enough of the cake to bring you all leftovers... but it was too delicious! (Right, Tony and I cutting our wedding cake... to smash in each other's faces!)


Reminder: All 7th grade book reports are due tomorrow! THURS. 9/30

8th graders, I hope you have been working on your Restaurant Reviews! They are due next Tuesday, October 5 for peer editing.

Also, mark your calendars: Next Thursday, October 7, is the 40th day of school. As many of you know, full attendance is very important that day! Please be at school. Attendance will be counted on the 40th day to determine La Paloma Lakeside's eligibility for academic funds... in other words... money for our school!

This week's news

I will be out of the classroom from Thursday 9/23 until Tuesday 9/28 (I'm getting married!) Please treat the substitute teacher with the same respect that I expect to be treated with. Students can expect the classroom environment to be "busisness as usual" while I am gone. The substitute has detailed plans to keep you moving through the quarter's lessons. Students will be held accountable for the content being taught during my four day absence. This should not be considered a week to slack off.

Students in 8th grade Writing class have been going through a descriptive writing boot camp of sorts in preparation for their newest essay assignment: A restaurant review. Students will act as reporters for the fictional "Sparks Star Newspaper." For the assignment, students can visit any restaurant in town. Report requirements:

Include a topic sentence telling me what you will be writing about, a descriptive body detailing the food, setting, service and cost and a concluding sentence that tells your opinion of the restaurant (did you like it? Would you recommend it to someone else?). Please dine in at the restaurant you choose, so that you can write about the atmosphere of that restaurant. Use sensory details to describe the place. Your report should be presented in a professional way. Give it a catchy title, use blue or black ink only if hand written and use 12 point Times New Roman font if typed. Double space in either case. Don't forget to include the reporter's name, date to be publisehd (due date) and the period number. A well-writeten, detailed report should be about 200 words in length (nearly a page long if typed)? Exceptional restaurant reviews might have the opportunity to be published in the junior high student newspaper, I want to see your best work! Reports are due October 5th (Tuesday, 2 weeks from today). This should give you plenty of  time to visit and review a restaurant. You will have your paper reviewed by one of your peers on Tuesday 10/5. It is not my intention if this assignment is a burden on your family, please come and talk to me if a restaurant visit in the next two weeks is not feasable, we can work something out. Email me with questions.

8th graders, remember your spelling test is Friday, you will be taking it with the substitute. The words are:

Acceptable

Calendar

Delicious

Savory

Atmosphere

Experience

Recommend

Sample

Restaurant

Choice

7th grade students: I have altered your book report due date from Tuesday 9/28 to Thursday 9/30. I will be out of the classroom from Thursday 9/23 until Tuesday 9/28, so please do not bring your report to turn in while I am gone to ensure that I do receieve it. 7th graders will be reading the screenplay of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," an original Twilight Zone episode. Students will be tested on the text and the vocabulary words on Tuesday 9/28 with the substitute. The vocabulary words are:
Antagonism
Contorted
Defiant
Flustered
Incriminate
Intense
Legitimate
Optimistic
Persistent

Enjoy the play, have fun with it!

Making Progress!

A reminder to students and parents that progress reports will go home this Friday! These are not your first quarter grades, but a report on your performance during the first several weeks of school. As I said in my newsletter that went out the first day of school, I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE ASSIGNMENTS. Missed work from the past few weeks will be counted as a "ZERO" and will impact your progress report grade, especially if more than one assignment is missing. You have the next 5 weeks to bring your grade up by staying on top of your work... it can be done! If you do not already keep a student planner or a special place to write down your homework assignments, I highly encourage that you start now. Implementing good study habits now will reflect on your grades in all of your junior high classes, I promise you that!

This week's homework:

8th Grade Writing-

• List 5 songs that have similes and/or metaphors in the lyrics and write an example of the simile or metaphor for each song. Due Thursday.
• Study spelling words for test this Friday!

Spelling Words:
1. believe
2. different
3. especially
4. disappointment
5. since
6. science
7. actually
8. positive
9. nervous
10. excited
(This spelling list is a compilation of the frequently misspelled words found in students' personal essays that were turned in last week. Grades for those essays will be returned on Monday, 9/13).

• If Simile and Metaphor Illustrations were not completed in class, they are to be done at home and turned in Thursday.

7th Grade Literature-

• Read 15 pages from your book report novel by Thursday
• List 10 of your favorite songs and identifying those songs that contain narrative elements (characters, setting, plot, conflict, theme, first or third person point of view). Due Thursday.

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!


Here is the list of recommendations for 7th grade book reports, enjoy!


Middle School Reading List

Catwoman or WILDCATwoman?

Decisions, decisions. Tomorrow, Friday September 3, is dress like a super hero day! If you like, wear the costume of your favorite super hero to school... Or, you have the option to wear your Arizona Wildcat gear tomorrow since it is our first game. Mr. L and Mr. Dye (as well as myself) are U of A grads, and have decided to let the La Paloma Patriots show our support for our Wildcats! All Fridays this semester will be U of A dress down days or LPA dress down days. We are playing at Toledo this Friday and will CRUSH those Rockets! Go Cats! Click here for the 2010-11 football schedule!

Personal Narratives are due tomorrow for 8th graders; 7th graders be ready to discuss a book report assignment.

Up and Running!

My apologies to those students and parents who have been looking for my blog. Finally, I am up and running! Thanks for your patience.

7th Grade Literature Students: I hope you enjoyed reading, "Boy," the excerpt from Roald Dahl's autobiography, this week. I had fun hearing about your experiences relating to Dahl's childhood memories. If you did not finish your short essay about a time you felt like a hero, please turn it in Thursday. Tell me about a time that you felt heroic and compare your experience to Dahl's heroic feeling when he dropped the mouse into the mean Mrs. Pratchett's Gobbstopper jar. Next week we will continue our exploration of narrative writing as we read narrative poetry. I will pass back your vocabulary quizzes by Friday. Please be sure you are turning in your best work and stay on top of your assignments. Progress reports go out next Friday! 

8th Grade Writing Students: Don't forget, your personal narratives are due this Friday in class. If you choose to type your final draft, please use 12pt, Times New Roman font and double space your page by selecting "Page Layout," then click, "Paragraph" and change "Line Spacing" from "single" to "double" (if you are using Microsoft Word). For handwritten final drafts, please use blue or black ink pen and double space by skipping every other line (this makes it easier for me to read and grade!) As I started on Tuesday, I will finish meeting with students individually on Thursday for any last minute questions or concerns about your personal narratives.

Remember, a personal narrative:

Focuses on one event

• Shows the purpose clearly; the importance of the event is made clear to the reader
• Expresses the writers thoughts and feelings throughout the story; uses sensory details (what you      see, smell, touch, taste)
• Written in the first person point of view
• End with why the event is/was important to you and how it affected your life

Your Personal Narrative should include the following:

• A beginning that grabs the reader’s interest, gives some background information and hints at the importance of the event.
• A middle that describes the event, setting and the people involved and expresses the thoughts and feelings of the writer.
• An ending explaining the outcome of the event and the meaning of the experience; what did you learn from this event?

I am very excited to read your final drafts and I hope you have enjoyed the writing process. Please be sure you are turning in your best work and stay on top of your assignments. Progress reports go out next Friday!

P.S. I thought my origami students might enjoy this. The artist is definitely in "advanced" origami :-)