Weekly Update

Happy Veteran's Day to all our veterans!

One quarter ends and another begins--tomorrow you will see your child's first quarter report card. Hopefully, you've been keeping up with what they have been doing via Infinite Campus. I have been very impressed with the work they have done and look forward to even more growth in the second quarter. Please take time to look over their grades, the teachers' comments, and their papers. When you are done, please return the whole envelope with both the PAPERS and the REPORT CARD in it. I look forward to meeting with you next week at conferences to celebrate your child!

Yesterday, we had our reward for those students who had zero or one debit during the first quarter. The students had a lot of fun playing games (and listening to Christmas music). Congratulations to the students on their good behavior!

English
We finished up the first part of our communication unit that focused on punctuation today. The students took a test on the punctuation rules and did quite well. One point that I emphasized with them throughout the unit and in preparing for the test was that the various exercises and the test were not real-world applications. I kept pointing out all of the different situations in which these skills would be useful because oftentimes it is easy to get bogged down in all the rules. Additionally, I pointed out punctuation rules that I feel are non-negotiable--they really need to know them and use them consistently. On the other hand, there are some rules that are quite difficult for them to remember at this stage of their writing development. I told them that these rules are ones I want them to continue to work on even though they may not remember or use them 100% of the time. The rest of the year will focus quite heavily on writing, giving them the chance to apply what they have learned. As the year progresses, I will teach mini-lessons to reinforce the punctuation rules that we have just studied and add more and more rules to the non-negotiable list as I feel they have mastered them. For the writing project that is coming up, I will expect the students to use great transitions as well as dialogue that is punctuated correctly. More to come on that project!

Literature
The students are continuing to read The Westing Game. They are analyzing clues and motives, as well as determining the character traits that the people in the book possess. They are now going to take these concepts and apply them to developing and writing their own mystery stories. We will begin that project tomorrow!

Religion
Just as the quarter came to a close, so does our study of Saints Peter and Paul. The students have been able to both watch and read about the spread of Christianity. Hopefully, they have a greater appreciation of how much work went into spreading Christianity. As we wrap up the study, they students are beginning to work on their museum displays. Some of you may have seen some large display boards coming home. The students are each responsible for developing a display, including and "artifact" about an important person or place from the time of Sts. Peter and Paul. When they are done, we will set up the museum in Room 3. You are welcome to come and check it out when our curators are ready!