Happy February :) This is month we start the Night of the Notables project...please ask your student to show you their packet by the end of the week - this will give you an idea of the expectations for research, writing, costumes, etc.... The event itself, as advertised in the LMS newsletter, will be the Monday or Tuesday - the week before Spring Break --- please encourage your student during this week of Notable exploration to seriously consider the positive contributions to society a person has made vs. how famous they are. Additionally, students turned in their Family Vacation project for WSH today (remember we are still doing a few WSH items since we covered some Civics topics throughout 1st sem.) --- we had a few glitches in the turn in....many students neglected to use their assignment sheet as a check list and forgot a few items....the use of agendas, check lists, etc... is truly lacking and many students need some serious encouragement from home to use these resources for success!!! Please help your student be successful by holding them accountable for due dates, project expectations etc..being self reliant will be critical for high school success!!! :) Good news though...full credit still available tomorrow (even though they lost "on 15 time turn in" points - or a portion of these points) --- 1/2 credit available through Wednesday (unless of course a student has been absent etc...) ---- Next up...ch. 9 WSH/the Bill of Rights and Japanese American internment.

As some of you may have heard, I was out of the classroom for most of last week. My youngest daughter tore her meniscus in her knee and we spent a lot of time in the ER, at the dr's office, and getting used to a brace and crutches. Hopefully this week will be less eventful although we are still awaiting word on surgery. Your students were fortunately at a spot in the curriculum that didn't need me a whole lot (although I'd like to believe I'm needed). We finished up TKM with Mr. Thornton and Mr. Gwynn on Wednesday - they took the final test with them as well and then spent Thursday and Friday watching the video and attending the Martin Luther King assembly with Mr. McCain. Today and Thursday they are all in the computer lab for MAPS testing. (reading today and math thursday) - For the rest of the week, we will be finishing up Frontier House video series - selecting a topic for a small research project for Washington State History -- and beginning to peruse ideas for Night of the Notables in the library as they finish their MAPS. Thank you for your patience with grades - I should have them completely updated on Thursday.

I started the week by announcing that it was now 2011....the year they all start high school! :) And that being said....they need to maintain their momentum (or build it if that is the case) so they feel they are prepared come Fall. I'm not sure, based on the number of tired faces I saw, that they are quite as enthusiastic as I am about this journey, but I trust most of them will come along for the ride anyways :)! Your student should have finished through ch. 24 in To Kill a Mockingbird over the break and as of tomorrow be through ch. 26. We have been taking some time to read in class and today we started a "TKM plot-tree" project. The book will be finished by Monday, and we will take the final test and begin the movie on Tuesday. All should do well as long as they have actually done the reading and answered the questions. In Washington State History, we are continuing to work throught he Frontier House video series while we discuss how fast change occured in the West after the turn of the century. We will be covering ch. 8 and 9 in the WSH book over the next couple of weeks, doing individual reports on a current event/person/issue and then doubling back to cover Japanese American Internment as part of Civics. You will see some overlap in the WSH and Civics curriculum since we spent a fair amount of time on the elections earlier in the semester. Oh, and just thought you'd find it entertaining to know what a student told me yesterday, after he got in trouble for running in the hall - he said, "Mrs. Walker....you're like a ninja...you blend in, we don't see you, and then we do stupid stuff right in front of you!".