The supreme purpose of history is a better world.~ Herbert Hoover

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Sunday, March 3, 2013

March at a glance

Hello students and parents,

This month many of our eighth graders will be receiving their high school acceptance letters.  Congratulations to all of you as you get your acceptances.  Spaghetti Bingo is on Saturday, March 16th.  Parents have been working diligently to make this year's Spaghetti Bingo a memorable one.

Eighth graders will focus on how meeting challenges in domestic and foreign affairs, the US proved itself to be a strong, independent nation.  As the nation expands, students will begin to uncover the changes of our nation from an agrarian way of life to one that stressed individualism and a market economy.

This month sixth graders will be working on their Mesopotamia project in SS.  They will be learning about the land where one of the first civilizations arose between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Students will learn how irrigation led to the agricultural surplus that made it possible for some people to have jobs other than farming.  With the increase of specialized labor, students will find out how the wheel, the sailboat, and system of writing developed.


In English, sixth graders have just completed their focus on nouns. We will now be moving on to pronouns. Students should be using their understanding of nouns, pronouns, and verbs to effectively paraphrase information they come across through fiction and nonfiction reading.  Upon completing the Mesopotamia unit in SS, students will use their knowledge of Mesopotamia to write a persuasive essay, compare and contrast essay, and an friendly letter.  In the third trimester, students will be working on their historical fiction book reports.

In Literature, sixth graders will focus on the theme of “Meeting Challenges.” The first selection, “Thunder Butte,” a native American boy struggles with both the physical and challenges of climbing and the social challenges of living between societies.  “The Dog of Pompeii” is a short piece of historical fiction about a blind boy and his faithful dog struggling for their lives.  I will also be sending home information pertaining to our next book selection we will be reading in class. 


The seventh graders have been devoting their time to their West African Projects. Their mission has been to develop travel diaries focusing on one of the kingdoms of West Africa.  They have been using a variety of resources to create their travel diaries.  After the travel diaries, students will be focusing on Asian civilizations.  They will begin to learn about the Mongols, China, and Japan.