Happy Tuesday!!
I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend and was able to spend sometime with family despite the rainy weather. While the drive to MN was not very fun, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my family this weekend. And on a completely different note, I CANNOT believe we're already in our 3rd week of school!
For my new parents, know that I will send out a blogpost each week (hopefully on Mondays) informing you about what your child did throughout the week, as well as important dates to put on the calendar. Please know that if you ever have any questions or comments about the blog, to contact me at my email (gbertram@fils.org).
With that being said...
Important Dates:
September 18th - Student Council meeting @ 7:05 a.m.
September 26th - School pictures!
September 28th - Mid-Quarter
October 15th - Book talks start~
Last Week:
6th Grade ~ Last week, the 6th graders received their first Monday Meditation (August 27th). For Monday Meditations, the students will receive the prompt (in their LA folder on Google Drive) and be given about 10-15 minutes to work on it in class. If the prompt is not finished during class, it will be due the following Monday. As a 6th grader, each student is required to write 2 paragraphs, each 3-5 sentences. Students will receive 5 points for each Monday Mediation (1 point for completion, 1 point for creativity, 1 point for 2 paragraphs, 1 point for 3-5 sentences per paragraph, and 1 point for spelling/grammar/mechanics). On Tuesday, the students completed a Seesaw post on Reading Strategies, and then the rest of the week we started our first official unit on practicing the reading strategies. In grammar, the students took their grammar pre-test.
7th Grade ~ Last week, the 7th graders received their first Monday Meditation (August 27th). For Monday Meditations, the students will receive the prompt (in their LA folder on Google Drive) and be given about 10-15 minutes to work on it in class. If the prompt is not finished during class, it will be due the following Monday. As a 7th grader, each student is required to write 2 paragraphs, each 5-7 sentences. Students will receive 5 points for each Monday Mediation (1 point for completion, 1 point for creativity, 1 point for 2 paragraphs, 1 point for 5-7 sentences per paragraph, and 1 point for spelling/grammar/mechanics). On Monday, the 7th graders also took a quiz on Reading Strategies and they all did SO well! What a great way to start off the school year. The rest of the week, I introduced our first official unit on Elements of a Story and the students did a few activities with those elements. They will be taking a quiz on those elements THIS Thursday. In grammar, the students took their grammar pre-test. This year, I will be teaching an advanced grammar class for those ready to move on past Shurley Grammar. As I explained it to the students, I want them to think about this advanced grammar class as how we do math classes here. No one is "stupid" or "dumb" for not making the advanced grammar class; we're all just at different levels. Those that made the advanced grammar class will be doing that this year, and those that are continuing with Shurley grammar will do that this year, and then join the others next year with advanced. This will ensure that all students have fully mastered the 8 parts of speech and are ready to go for high school grammar in 9th grade. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
8th Grade ~ Last week, the 8th graders received their first list for Latin/Greek roots. As 8th graders and in preparation for high school and standardized testing, the students study Latin/Greek roots. Each week, they will receive 3 roots and a list of 10 vocabulary words. Throughout the week, the students and I will practice these roots so as to prepare them for a short quiz that will occur on Fridays. After grading last week's quizzes, the 8th graders did SO well! I have confidence that they will succeed on our roots unit this year! The rest of the week, the students worked on their What's in a Name Essay research and well as participating in a short lesson on how to use transitions. I hope that all of the students completed their interviews with you (sorry about all the interviews last week! I had no idea there were other similar assignments going on!). This week, the students will start writing their essays in class and the rough draft will be due next Monday. In grammar, the students took their grammar pre-test. This year, I will be teaching an advanced grammar class for ALL of the students. I was SO impressed with the fact that all students proved that they were ready to move on, further preparing themselves for high school next year! If you have any questions about the new curriculum, please do not hesitate to ask!
ALL ~ Last week, the students signed up for book talks. Just a reminder that rubrics to book talks can be found in the students' Language Arts folder in Google Drive. I passed out a calendar that is an optional way to keep the students on track when it comes to reading and working on the presentation. Presentations will start on October 15th. Student presentation dates are listed below:
October 15th: Lily Everts, Elijah Wiley, Joe Twietmeyer, Sarah Prom, Katie Spencer, Jenny Spencer, Jasmin Kraus, Cia Hajdu, Jacob Helm, Shea Haggerty, & Mason Everts.
October 16th: Sam Eisenhauer, Evan Feiertag, Charlie Schmelzer, Ameilya Hackbarth-Weber, Zach Brown, Caroline Kellner, Amber Price, Zoe Mueller, Izzy Gitzlaff, Jeff Koepke,, & Caleb Kubiak.
October 17th: Christian Remm, Denny Oechsner, Addie Wenthold, Jae Fitting, Emily Stocks, Ruby Broehm, Natalie Newth, Carli Klenz, Phinehas Wiley, & Katelyn Michels.
October 18th: Jack Vravick, Josie Witte, Gabi Weyde, Kaitlyn Hauser, Casey Wills, Ben Valdez, Grady Cashin, Ellie Vravick, Lydia Rutkowski, Reagan Pahl, Alex Torres, & Madeline Fox.
October 19th: Trista Sheer, Sophia Steffen, Ayn Hajdu, Arielle Lamm, Mary Stroebel, Jack Poellot, Dawson Froemming, Cole Oechsner, Kassidy Goethel, Lauren Helm, Jace Kruegger, Parker Brockdorf, & Reid McGraw.
October 22nd: Gavin Grob, Sarah Helm, Aria Wessel, Jack Dykstra, Izzy Duckert, Elliot Wagner, Mark Schaefer, Ben Dobberfuhl, Matthew Fox, John Koepke, Mariah Reynolds, & Chloe Kelm.
October 23rd: Justin Dummann, Makayla Wallock, Nick Erickson, Abby Napoleon, Nina Mlodzik, Kenzie Noffke, Erika Grob, Jacob Ives, Pearse McCormick, Jayden Lamm, Jorja Halling, Andrew Groppe, & Addi Grob.
Phew! I promise most of the blogs wont be this long :)
Enjoy your week!
Grace
