Welcome back! We now have 15 days of school before Winter Break which means we will be working very hard to wrap up our literature circles and finish the video Frontier House as well as a couple more chapters in Washington State History. There will be a quiz on ch. 5 WSH this Friday (questions due on Thursday). Everyone looks pretty tired today though. I'm assuming that late nights and too much turkey and pie is to blame. Hopefully an earlier bedtime tonight will get everyone a bit more energized by tomorrow (of course the quiet wasn't such a bad thing). kw

Happy Thanksgiving Break!!! While i did not give a large amount of work for the break - i did ask that the kids (those who had not finished) to catch up and finish the second section of their literature circle book and the assigned portion of the packet. This should not take more than an hour for the average reader. Hopefully they are enjoying the book so it won't seem like such a chore! Hope you all enjoy the week and that the students come back rested and ready to work for 3 weeks up to our next vacation!

first blog while it's snowing :) or :( depending on how long it lasts --- ok - just a heads up in case you have a student that wonders why they have a zero for their ch. 4 quiz --- for some reason, a few kids did not turn their quizzes in to the person who alphabetized them and gave them to me. therefore, they have no score --- they need to give me their quiz on monday and we'll chat about the confusion. also, i decided to lower the value of the quiz to 28 from 30 - after looking more carefully at our book and one of the questions, i decided the book didn't cover York in enough depth to fairly hold students accountable for the question about how he was treated by the Mandans. We'll talk about it next week. Also, next week will be filled with sharing the completed diaries which are due on Monday - they have had nearly a month to work on these so i am looking forward to seeing quality projects. we will also continue lit circles - these are in class so don't expect to see books at home unless your student needs to catch up. we will also be watching smokesignals or starting the video series frontier house - which should be fun going into thanksgiving vacation. happy 1st snow :) kw

a couple of due dates - Block 1 should be through ch. 3 in Al Capone Does My Shirts by tomorrow 11/6 ---- Blocks 2 and 3 should have ch. 4 in the WSH book read and the questions at the end of the chapter done by Thursday. ---- Also, blocks 2 and 3 should spend 10 minutes or so tonight looking at www.pbs.org/weta/thewest they then need to search under "people" and read about Chief Joseph and the Whitmans. If you don't have access at home they may use the 2 computers in my room or in the library in the AM.

11/2 - 11/6

we're back at if full days after conferences last week - i was out with a sick child on monday, but the classes went well with mr. trendall --- i will also be subbing for mr. grow next week, so the classes will enjoy jerry harms for a day as well. in class we are continuing our study of native americans in the pacific northwest and how their lives changed as settlers from the east came into the west. the kids have a diary/journal assignment that they should be working on outside of class - it is due on november 16th. i will be asking for evidence of preliminary research this friday. also in class we are beginning our disabilities literature circle. they are doing a read-around where they sample a few pages of each book. i give a "blurb" on each as well and explain the lexile for each book - they will be making their selections in class today - some will get their 1st choice, but others will get their 2nd - a few sometimes have to settle for choice #3, but i try to avoid that. most of the reading will be done in class, but occasionally they will need to bring a book home in order to keep up with their group. if your student selects the book, "the curious incident of the dog in the night time" i will need you to write a brief note giving them permission to read this book. it is a very good book with a narrator who is autistic and trying to solve a murder mystery involving his neighbor's dog - there is however some profanity sprinkled throughout the book and i think it's only fair that you have the opportunity to say yes or no to this book. enjoy the beautiful fall weather :) kw