Students wrapped up their digital storytelling project with an evening showcase. Thanks to all the parents and students who came to celebrate the beautiful work, and thank you to Sealaska for the grant that made this project possible. You can see some examples of the videos by clicking here, here, here, and here.

Students are currently working on essays that define what it means to be a hero. We've read and analyzed a variety of poems, stories, and articles on the topic. This week, students will outline their essays, type rough drafts, and start to revise and edit their work in critique groups.

A reminder of some upcoming dates...

The mid-quarter progress report date is on November 4th.

Conferences are on November 9th and 10th. 

An Opportunity for Student Reporters!

The application window is open for students between the ages of ten and fourteen to join the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps! The applications are due by September 23, 2016. Click here for more information and applications.

Welcome to a New School Year!

Welcome to a new school year. I am so excited to meet all of you! You can check in here to find out what activities, projects, and assignments are happening in my language arts classes.

In the first week of school, we'll begin with some introductions. It's important that we start getting to know one another since we'll be learning together all year long. Students will write "Opening Day Letters" to help with this process. We'll also think about goals for the upcoming school year, thinking and writing about our definitions of success. We'll read Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "What Is Success" for inspiration and ideas.

The first unit of study this year will focus on narratives--reading, writing, and analyzing. We'll use the following questions to guide our work:
What is a story?
What is a hero?
Why do we write/tell stories?
Where do stories come from?
Over the course of the unit, we'll draw from a variety of sources, including our district-adopted Springboard books, local stories, and more. We'll even be attending a play at Perseverance Theatre: Peter and the Starcatcher. (Half of the eighth grade will attend the play on September 8th, and the other half of the eighth grade will attend on September 14th.) Folks from Perseverance will be visiting language arts classrooms to prepare students for this exciting opportunity.

In addition to learning about narrative structure, literary elements, and the Hero's Journey archetype, we'll be reviewing some of the essentials of grammar and syntax: parts of speech and sentence structure. Again, we'll draw from a variety of sources, and we'll focus on how our understanding of these elements can help us strengthen our skills as writers and editors.

I'm looking forward to a great year of learning with all of you!

Here is a link to the complete text of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Upcoming Units, Assignments, And Important Dates

It's hard to believe it's already almost May! The year has gone so quickly. But there's still a month more of learning to come!

In language arts, students will be reading and analyzing William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. We'll be discussing the themes, characters, plots, and language in the play.

In history, we're studying the Civil War. We've gotten an overview of some of the key events through a variety of texts, and we've analyzed the data to draw conclusions about the outcome of the war. In addition, students will be reading and discussing a work of historical fiction: Soldier's Heart.

A few important upcoming End-of-Year dates to put on your calendar:
MAP Testing will take place this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (the 26th through the 28th)
All library books need to be turned in to the library, and all work due is for classes on May 20th.
The eighth grade dance--sponsored by the parent group--is on Saturday, May 21st.
The GOLD RUSH field trip is on Wednesday, May 25th.
The 8th grade picnic is on Thursday, May 26th.
8th grade promotion is on Friday, May 27th.

Upcoming Units and Assignments

Welcome back! It's hard to believe it's the fourth quarter already!

In language arts, students will be researching, outlining, writing, and revising an argumentative essay over the next few weeks.

In history, students will be writing narratives based on facts about westward expansion. We've been learning about the various westward journeys Americans took during the 1800s. Here's a link to the assignment overview.

Here are some links to additional resources for the project:
The Oregon Trail
The Mormon Trail
The Santa Fe Trail

After students write their historical fiction stories, we'll be getting into a unit studying slavery and the approach of the Civil War, drawing from a variety of sources in addition to the eighth grade textbook.

Upcoming Units and Assignments

In language arts, we'll be launching into our unit on persuasion. We'll examine various strategies of rhetoric (ethos, logos, pathos), discuss and debate a variety of issues, and read some example of persuasive writing. Students will compose argumentative essays. Here's a link to the packet that will guide students through this Argumentative Essay.

On Wednesday March 9th through Friday, March 11th, students will have an opportunity to visit the Alaska State Legislature. I'm so excited for this opportunity for students; it's a great way to cap off our recent in-depth study of the United States Constitution. Different advisories will visit the capitol building each day; my advisory will visit on Friday, March 11th. In addition, we'll be taking a trip to the skating rink on Wednesday, March 9th. Look for permission slips to come home this weekend!

In history, we'll be moving into an examination of how industrialization and westward expansion affected various groups of people. We'll read a chapter in Adventure Tales of America and answer these questions. We'll study the Trail of Tears and begin the work for this project.