End of week three! MAPS testing in English is today and the math MAPS will take place 9/16 - students who miss either test will be scheduled for a retake. In class we turned in our Music and Me essays on Wednesday. Today is the last day for 1/2 credit. Some students shared bits of their essay along with their chosen songs via the new icube that Mr. Riley and I purchased for our classrooms with booster grant money last year - adding that technology has been wonderful :)! (we also combined money and purchased a flip-video recorder so we can video presentations etc....also a great addition to our classrooms). We had our first quiz yesterday in Washington State History. Most of the quizes for WSH are pretty straight forward with the questions for the quiz coming directly from the assigned chapter questions - so students who complete their assignments and review their answers should do quite well on these assessments. Next week we will continue with Ch. 2 WSH, introduce the group map project (blocks 2 and 3 will need supplies for this - your student should know what they need by the end of next week) --- We will be finishing our choice books and they will begin a book project in class on Friday. Enjoy the weekend and what might possibly be our last breath of summer :( kw
PS - a few students have yet to turn in their video/field trip permission slips - please check to see if your student falls into that category :)

WELCOME TO 8TH GRADE!!!

Hello all :) Welcome to 8th grade and the blog - I will do my best to post weekly updates for the class that include due dates for large assignments and summaries of what we are covering that week. I hope this is a useful tool :) Happy first week of school! kw

Beatnik Day is scheduled for a week from Friday - 4/23 - all students will recite a poem from memory with passion, oomph and gusto in front of the class - we are covering a variety of poets this way and delivering poetry in one of the prefered ways it is intended to be delivered - out loud - with an audience :) kids are expected to wear black on that day - they can talk to me if this is an issue - also, there will be xtra credit for extra effort with the Beatnik look - goatees, berets, turtle necks, glasses, bongos.....(yes i know this is the stereotyped version - but we are doing a rather Hollywood version of the Beatniks - no government bashing or drugs allowed!) - kids are welcome to bring pillow, bean bags, etc... as they will be sitting on the floor. i will be providing hot h2o and cups - they need to bring their own hotchocolate, cider, or tea.

In the realm of Civics - we completed our Wa. St. govt. ?s last week and there will be a quiz covering those questions as well as the bill of rights. (blocks 2 and 3 will quiz on tuesday - block 1 on wed. ) - the cycle of power is our next quiz - we are using this with Animal Farm - they will get Russian Rev. notes with Mr. Thornton today when we swap classes. All students (blocks 2 and 3) should be through ch. 6 my tomorrow with 2 questions written for each chapter - and we will finish the book by Friday.

I will be out of the classroom on Thursday (all day) and Friday PM for track meets - Mr. Harms will be here to carry on with Dictatorships vs. Democracies - current events - etc....

welcome back! i would say happy spring, but since the weather was nicer in edmonton than it was in pullman i think i'll wait on that salutation. ok - so in the coming weeks look for conversations about the "cycle of power" - a visual graphic i use to compare democracy with dictatorships - look for discussions regarding the book, animal farm - and continued study on the constitution and the branches of government. we will also be selecting poems for beatnik day - the poems must be apx. 20 lines from a published poet - of a more classic nature - or at least not suess or silverstein :) - and memorized so the student can own the poem when they recite :) final date for beatnik day will be announced by next week. happy 4th quarter - look for 3rd quarter grades by tues. (essays will be next quarter's grade)

In a perfect world teachers would not get sick, teacher's kids would not get sick....apparently i do not live in a perfect world:( As of 8pm tonight (Sun.) my daughter's temp hit 101.6 and my own 99.9 --- i wouldn't normally burden you with the germy details of our life, but with night of the notables less that 24 hours away, this is not ideal!!! fear not though, i have Jerry Harms in to sub - he is the best - he has detailed instructions for the day and Michael Riley will be working with the kids as well (his kid is sick too, but he is blessed with nearby inlaws) --- i will be making every effort to attend the evening event and if i am able and if i am able to leave payton briefly, i will try to check in at school as well. if i can not attend, mike riley, rex thornton, and bill holman will be in charge of the evening and i trust all will go just fine - oh, and linda tippett too will be there to take charge of the refreshments! i truly hope i am able to attend and will try my best to be there. if not, i will watch the video with the kids and get the play by play when i return. please accept my apologies. my grades will also be udated as i recover - i apologize for this as well. i have been fighting this bug for quite some time and it finally won :( hope you are all a bit more germ free! happy spring?

PRESENTATIONS STARTED TODAY!!!! Most student were ready to present - although many did not have complete posters or any posters at all. PAPERS(essays) were collected yesterday with points given for on-time turn in and late papers were accepted today for full credit (minus the ontime turn in points) - tomorrow only 1/2 credit is available - after that.....zero :( THE EVENT is Monday 3/22!!!! Parents need to be there at 6:00 to hear a brief presentation about PHS from Mr. Thornton (PHS principal) --- Notables need to be in the multipurpose room in their costumes by 6:15 at the latest!!! EVENT STARTS at 6:30 and runs no later than 8:30!!! All family members are welcome for this fun event! HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!! GRADES should be updated by this Friday - the only grade that you will not see on this quarter grade is the essay final score due to time constraints.

aauuggghhhh!!! where does the time go? we have finish TKM --- long gone, too late for any late work :( students should be well into their Night of the Notables research!!! I checked off their "fill in the blank" sheet today and the Q and A sheet is due next Friday. We are studying Japanese American Internment in class - not much out of class work for this. There will be a sub tomorrow and Friday so I can attend a MSP writing conference in Seattle with Mr. Riley so I hope and trust that the students will behave beautifully in my absence. Hope you've been enjoying our early spring-like weather! kw P.S. a reminder that PHS track has started, so if you need to contact me, e-mail is the way to go or call during my 3rd per. prep.