Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

"Dust of Snow" by Robert Frost has changed my heart. This poem showed me that even if your having a bad day don’t take it out on other people. When people are trying to make you feel better, have a change of heart so that when they go through what you are going through, they won’t lash out on you either. I enjoyed reading and re-reading these three poems because it taught me about doing better. “Saying Yes” taught me to be proud of my heritage and what I look like because the only person I need to please is myself. “My Picture-Gallery” taught me that my mind is my most powerful resource. Lastly, “Dust of Snow” taught me that even if I’m having a bad day, I should try to have a change of heart and not try to take frustrations out on other people. Diana Chang, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost have inspired me.

-by Camille

Veteran’s Day

Hello everyone,
Here is a speech I saved from a former SJS student.

Everyone needs a hero to look up to. Whether it’s Spider Man webbing his way across town, Super Man flying in the skies above us, or an ordinary individual who is caring, bold, and brave, we depend on them in times of need.

Veterans have done a lot in order to be named our heroes. They served our country through the sacrifice of joining a branch of the armed forces, which can become rough, frightening, and in worse cases, life threatening. They are loyal to our country, through the good and bad times. Regardless of the situation, they have the strength in them to make it through, and carry on. We would not be here today, honoring our veterans with pride if they had just given up. They have done so much for us, especially here in America, where we once fought long and hard years for our freedom and independence. Must we still honor our veterans from so long ago? The answer is yes, because their sacrifice, hard work, and dedication will ultimately have a lasting affect on our society. Not all people are as courageous and humble as our veterans.

Because of veterans, we are proud to call our country’s name “Home of the Brave”. Veterans truly do have bravery, or else they would not have been known as our heroes. But being a hero has nothing to do with just flying across the skies or defeating a country. To find a hero, you must look deep into the heart of someone and find goodness. You must look deep into the heart of a veteran or current members of the armed forces, and find not only goodness, but love, care, courage, loyalty, perseverance, and friendship. Many things in our world display different figures that we look up to as our hero, We must always remember that when most of these displays are false, distorted, and just not right. To look for a true hero, we can turn and look to our veterans.

We must not always dwell on fantasy. When we need a true friend to be there, someone loyal to our land, and a hero that truly saves your day, we can certainly always look to the work of our veterans and to those who are currently serving our forces.

Hatchet plot ppt

Class of 2013 summer reading guidelines

Dear Parents and Students,

Congratulations on finishing the 2009-2010 school year! I’m excited about the opportunity to get to know you. I hope you have an enjoyable summer and come back in late August re-energized, alert and prepared for the challenges of 6^th grade. Part of the preparation for 6^th grade Language Arts is summer reading. Each summer I encourage the students to read what they enjoy, whether that may be the Classics, mysteries, nonfiction or comedy. The goal is that the student is reading. I ask that all students return in August with a list of the books they have read: including title, author, pages, date started and date finished. I ask that the parents sign off each book as the student finishes. There is also a suggested reading list posted on the school website using the Junior High link (www.stjeromewestchester.org). You may download a reading log template from the 6th grade page.

In addition to the books each student chooses to read on his/her own, I am requiring that every student read the novel Hatchet by Gary Paulson. The book will be used to develop student’s reading, writing, thinking, listening, and speaking skills through a variety of assessments that will include exercises, activities, quizzes/tests. Furthermore, students will be introduced to the writing process and will be writing assignments, each with the purpose of informing, persuading, or expressing personal opinions.

The Borders at the Howard Hughes Center and the Barnes and Noble in the Marina have books in stock. Both stores’ websites have easy ordering capabilities as well. You may also be able to purchase a used copy of the book through “amazon.com.”

To be completely prepared for the start of the school year, the students need to arrive at school with informal notes about the main character (Brian Robertson) and complete the plot outline that may be downloaded from the St. Jerome Website (6th grade page.) The students have been briefed on these requirements and understand how to complete the plot questions. The students will use their notes on the character to aid them in their writing assignment once they return to school.

Thank you for your time and support. The students will enjoy the novel and the analysis we do in class. The theme of the story is relevant and the novel is a great opportunity to prepare the students for the upcoming year.

Answers to vocabulary communication review handout

Hello 6th grade,
Below are the answers to the review handout for tomorrow's test.
PAGE 25
1. audible
2. refrain
3. advocate
4. invoke
5. verbalize
6. eloquence
7. revoked
8. audio
9. resound
10. inquired

11. I /12. C / 13. C/ 14. I/ 15. I / 16. C / 17. I / 18. I / 19. C / 20. C

PAGE 26
1. gathering
2. cause
3. enlarge
4. utter
5. answer
6. loudness
7. calling
8. graceful
9. wordy
10. convincing

Hatchet Questions

Hello 6th graders,
Here are the questions your were given in class today regarding Hatchet by Gary paulsen. Please make sure to answer them to the best of your ability. We will be going over the question in class tomorrow. For the new students, you will be using these questions as a guide for your comprehension of the story. For HW, Please make sure to answer the questions in the first slide. If you have time, You may begin answering the questions on the second slide.

Scholastic Book Clubs orders online!

Dear Parent,

I have exciting news. You can now place your Scholastic Book Clubs orders online!

Browse all the great monthly Book Club selections at low prices and order online. Plus, our class earns a FREE Book every time a parent orders online.

Here's how it works:

1. Use the information below to access the Scholastic Book Clubs Web site.
2. Browse the titles with your child and place your order with your credit card.
3. Your order will come to me, and your credit card payment will go directly to Scholastic's secure server. There's no need to send money to school.
4. After I submit the entire class order to Scholastic, your order will be delivered to our classroom for your child to take home.

To get started, go to the Web address below and enter our class’s personalized user name and password in the sign-in fields on the right side of the page. Note: You do not need to create your own user name and password.

scholastic book clubs


User Name: homeroom6

Password: sjs123

Ordering online is the most convenient way to use Scholastic Book Clubs. You can order anytime, right up until the online order due date. You'll also get instant access to over 500 additional titles plus online-only specials and discounts.

And don't forget: Every time a parent places an order online, we earn a FREE book for our classroom library!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ortega

The Pearl Collaborative Review

Hello 6^th graders,

As a way to collaborate and review for The Pearl, each group has been assigned one of the following topics: light and dark images, symbols, roles of men and women, good vs. evil, songs, and animal imagery. Students within the group will each take one chapter of The Pearl and find all the references to their group's topic in that chapter. (If your group has less than six people, have one student work on chapters 4+5). You will need to jot down your findings. When everyone is done with the research, you will need to collaborate using the wiki to discuss your findings. Based on your research, you will need to draw some conclusions about the topic. When you present your findings, Each student will give his/her findings, and one group member will give the group's conclusions.

Below are the assigned topics for each group. You will need to sign in with your user name and password in order to begin collaborating.

You can click here or under 6th lit/Eng links to get to the wiki.

1. Light and Dark Images

2. Symbols

3. Roles of Men and Women

4. Good v.s. Evil

5. Songs

6. Animal Imagery

The Pearl chapter 3

The Pearl study guide question ch1+2

Thunder Butte

Persuasive vocabulary words

Directions: Define the 10 persuasive vocabulary words. Once you have defined the terms, write a sentence for each key term.

Vocabulary
Persuasion: To accept a point of view by means of argument and/or reasoning.
Evidence: A thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment.
Audience: The spectators or listeners assembled at a performance.
Convey: To communicate or make known.
Detail: An isolated fact that is considered separately from the whole.
Reason: A justification (To demonstrate or prove to be just, right, or valid) for something existing or happening.
Argument: A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood.
Example: One that is representative of a group as a whole
Convince: To bring by the use of argument or evidence to firm belief or a course of action.
Fact: A piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred.
Opinion: A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated (To support with proof or evidence) by positive knowledge or proof.

St. Jerome students celebrated the Inauguration of the United States' 44th President today by wearing red, white and blue colors and watching the festivities live on television. Junior High students reflected on the proceedings in written form.

Later in the day,the entire student body joined together for Mass praying for a successful and unifying Presidential term. The Mass was highlighted by a summary of the 3rd graders "advice" for the nation's new President, Mr. Barack Obama.

Click on this link to reflect on President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday, as prepared for delivery and released by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Agricultural calendar seasons- The Circuit Due 1-13-09

-submit a calendar
-with a cover page
-legend(key) is provided to represent the various CA regions. You may want to include a map!
-regions are displayed and clearly labeled
-crops (at least one per month [not the same crop per month])
-have at least 12 crops
-description of the growing season
-additional information about the crop is given
-layout
-effort
-pictures that relate to the crop
-calendar is colored

example:
crops grown - season - region - comments

6th Subject and Predicate

Hello 6th grade students and parents,
Below are a few links that can aide in your understanding of subject and predicate.

Subject and Predicate Song

Complete Subject and Predicate

Simple Subject and Predicate

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright

This month’s Gateway to Art focused on students drawing facial features of a tiger in “close up,” inspired by Michael David Ward, by blending watercolors. Below are a few pictures from the 6^th grade Gateway to Art class.

Descriptive writing assignment

Imagine you are in the wilderness and you run across this animal. Your "meeting" may be humorous, scary, or even a blessing.

Next fill out the Imagery Chart and the Figurative Language Chart. In Lesson 9 you will use the information from the charts to help you write a descriptive passage.

1- choose an animal and print out the information about your animal. Bring the print out to class tomorrow.

2- Choose a meeting ground. (will it be scary, humorous, or a blessing encounter)

3- Create 2 charts

a. Imagery

b. Figurative chart

Descriptive Paragraph

"Imagine you have just stepped into the wilderness for the first time. You look around. Describe what you feel, see, hear, smell, etc. What are you doing? Do you try to walk around? Do you simply stand still and watch?"