Dear Students and
Parents,
The seventh and
eighth grades have started the second quarter running!
In the seventh
grade, we have recently completed mystery stories for Halloween and are now
starting an independent writing project using their writer’s notebooks. This will allow the students to write on
their own about whatever moves them, while still practicing the five main
aspects of the writing process.
We are also
finishing up reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The class has enjoyed a variety of activities
which reinforced the elemtns of literature.
They created life sized characters complete with clothing and character
traits. They also created setting
postcards, writing letters from one character in the book to another. This quarter we will be continuing the
exploration of elements of literature and presentation skills.
In the eighth
grade, we have finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper
Lee. We watched parts of the movie along
with reading the book and have discussed the differences and why these might be
made. This book also provided an
opportunity for the students to learn the different aspects of literature
circles which we will use throughout the rest of the year. We start our next round of literature circles
with a collection of books by Avi, a well known young adult author.
The eighth graders
are currently practicing their letter writing skills by learning how to write
thank you letters. These will be sent
both to people the students know and to people they do not know but still wish
to thank. After the Thanksgiving break,
we will start work on short story writing.
Along with the
seventh grade students, I enjoyed a wonderful field trip to
I look forward to
the rest of the school year with high hopes for each student.
Sincerely,
Ms. Schervish
Feel free to email me at kschervish@piusx.com.