For the weeks of Nov. 17-21 and 24-26

Remember....half days this week due to conferences. Students will be released at 11am on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Social Studies

Last week students completed several in-class activities and a larger project about climate zones. The project was due on Friday; please check gateway to see if your student turned it in.

This week we'll be defining the word "culture" which is a very important concept as we get ready to move beyond basic geography skills and begin studies of cultures around the world for the rest of year. Our first stop, after Thanksgiving, will be Africa.

We did spend two days last week going over the requirements of current events and students practiced all elements of the assignment with the class. Unlike in previous years (if you had an older student in my class), current events will no longer be a weekly assignment. The assignment now requires a little more depth of thought and a bit more writing. Therefore, they will only have to do 4-5 per quarter. I will post all of the due dates for the quarter soon. In the meantime, please have your student show you the assignment directions that should be in their notebook.

Language Arts

Students finished their most recent writing assignment: short stories based on the artwork from "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick." The final drafts have been compiled and I'm working on printing and binding an anthology of these creative stories for each student.

From here until winter break, we will be focusing on persuasive writing. This is the second mode of writing that they will have to demonstrate on the WASL. (The first was expository, which we've been working on up to this point.) Right now we're working on some preparatory activities. We'll begin really digging in after the long weekend.

We'll be going to the library this week so students can check out an AR book to read over the break.

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