Posts

Showing posts from January, 2014

House Shirts! Friday, January 24

Students are allowed to wear their House Shirts with uniform bottoms on Friday!

Movies?

Image
7th and 8th grade families, My students and I were talking about this today. We want to watch the movies based on the books we're reading in class once we finish our reading. Does anyone happen to own either The Outsiders or To Kill a Mockingbird on DVD or VHS? I don't! Please let me know if you do. Also, check out some of the "blackout poetry" that the students made. We are starting to read our novels and will be working on them throughout the rest of January and February! Also, we've tallied our pages for quarter 2. Every class is shooting for 50,000 pages because then we can have a party. We've read over 130,000 pages in the middle school this semester. Keep it up! Have a nice long weekend. :) -- Miss R.

Science update!

Hello 7th and 8th grade parents!! As the students wrap up another shorter week, I find myself stopping to reflect on how lucky and blessed we are to be in such a great school with great staff, students and families! 7th graders are wrapping up their introduction to cells this week. Next week, we will begin talk about movement in and out of cells. Diffusion, osmosis and active transport are all terms that they will begin to hear a lot about! The 8th graders are finishing up naming binary compounds. While I do think this topic was challenging for the 8th graders, I was so excited to see how hard they were working to ensure they grasped this concept. This will only help them in the future as we continue to build on these skills. Next week they will be introduced to balancing chemical equations. Again, I know they will do GREAT!! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me! Have a great extended weekend! Mrs. Summers
8th Grade Social Studies Update Welcome to second semester! We will be moving along in our units this quarter a little different than we did first semester.  We will be taking the Kansas State Assessments beginning in early March.  I would like to briefly cover some information prior to assessments so we will be doing a lot more group work in class and more of the regular class work outside of class.  Students will be required to do more of the reading outside of class as we will be working in small groups during class.  During class time we will be reviewing and discussing what they read as well as completing group work.  Currently students are working on focus questions in small groups.  These focus questions cover a broad range of American History.  When all the questions have been completed students will join other small groups to discuss, compare and contrast the answers they have written down.  Large group discussions over these questions will also take place in class.  When w

Geometry time!

7th Grade is starting a unit over geometry.  We will concentrate on classifying triangles and quadrilaterals, solving for the missing angles in polygons and intersecting lines, and constructing shapes of our own. 8th grade continues their Geometry unit by concentrating on the Pythagorean Theorem- they will learn their first proof!  Soon we will see how the distance formula and Pythagorean Theorem relate.  We'll be working on lines cut by transversals and the relationships between those angles. In the next couple weeks. Students are noticing more and more how the topics learned in the past continue to spiral through our curriculum- it's important to stay sharp in our skills!

Upcoming Scholastic Order

Image
Dear Families, We'll be placing our order for January on Jan. 24th. Please check out the catalog or the reading brochures your students brought home to find books that interest them!  To Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub One-Time Class Activation Code: L7ZJ6 Due by 1/24 With Scholastic Reading Club: - Every book you buy earns FREE Books for our classroom library - You can choose from handpicked, grade- and reading-level-specific books for your child - You'll find the best values on a variety of formats, including eBooks Each month, your child will bring home Reading Club flyers. Together you can choose from books hand-selected by teachers and experts, and then order online or by returning your order form and payment to me. I 'm excited to get our class reading! Thank you for your support, Miss R. If This Is Your First Time Ordering Online: - REGISTER at scholastic.com/readingclub - ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code  L7ZJ6 - CHOOSE from th

Upcoming Dates

We'd love for you to join us for School Tours on January 23rd, at 5:30 p.m. Though many of you are very familiar with our school, if you know of any family members or parishoners who would like to see what's going at Sacred Heart, please feel free to bring them! The kindergarten information night will start at 6:30 p.m. with day care provided.  There is also a mandatory enrollment meeting for parents on Feb. 5th at 6:30 p.m. 

Books for ELA

Parents, Heads up that students are bringing $7 by next Monday to get their copy of The Outsiders for 7th and To Kill a Mockingbird for 8th. We're all using the same version, but if you have a copy of the book your child needs at home and you're OK with them writing in it, that's OK too! Please talk to me if money is an issue.  Students will be allowed to write in their books and keep them after we finish the unit, which will take us into March. We're excited to get started with both novels. Next week we will be doing some pre-reading activities and looking at the different time periods that the books are set in. 7th graders will be looking at the 1960s, and 8th graders will be looking at the 1930s. Both are wonderful books. In years past, students have really enjoyed both novels. The Outsiders brings up good discussion, but does include some gang and teenage violence. To Kill a Mockingbird  focuses on racial issues, and we will be talking about some of the langua

Grading Update

*This was sent home with your child's report card. JMJ Dear Middle School Parents, We want to inform you of a small change in the grade cards for 2nd semester ELA (English Language Arts). Our ELA curriculum includes Reading, Writing, and Language. First semester grade cards reflected these three subdivisions with a percent grade in each category. Beginning 3rd quarter, there will only be two grades for ELA: Reading and Writing. Language will continue to be taught, but all language grades will be reflected in the writing grade. Honor roll for the second semester in ELA will be figured with two grades. (Religion, Math, Social Studies, and Science grades are also figured into honor roll. Technology, Art, PE, Music, and Health are not figured into honor roll.) As most of our students will be attending St. James Academy, they are in agreement with this new ELA grading system. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. In Christ, Maureen En