Welcome to the 3 weeks between breaks....lots to do, lots of energy, and waning desire to "do school"...please help your student keep up with this hectic season by gently reminding them to stay organized (use their agenda!), get enough sleep and avoid procrastination etc.... In English this week we will be starting To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -we will watch a video on the Scottsboro Boys (the case on which the book is based) and then you should be seeing the book and a packet with questions on a regular basis. This book will likely take us into January so there will be a few chapters assigned for Winter Break just to keep connected with the book. In History we are forging ahead into the Western Frontier and statehood. Ch. 6 questions are due on Thursday. Today we started a fun activity on Chinook Jargon - the kids like this - ask them to share a bit with you just for fun :) Final "blurbs" are due tomorrow. Hope the weather cooperates this week, but the beautiful clear sky and calm air at bus duty screamed of, "calm before the storm"! INTERIMS are turned in on WEDNESDAY...please help your student check their grade before then - if it's later on Tuesday - a quick email with any questions would be helpful :)

In class this week we will be continuing our look at Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest (and a few others in other locations) ---Today we discussed the history of government schools and reservations and moved on to more recent efforts to improve education and cultural pride. I show a few videos to address these issues - and we will culminate with Smoke Signals on Wed. and Th. --- in addition - to piggy back on the theme of passing on family tradition and culture - we will be writing a short essay on this idea. Students need to brainstorm 5 ideas for a paper that address a tradition, a ceremony, or a routine that started with a previous generation of their family. Some students will choose religious or cultural events while others may choose to focus on something their family does routinely or annually - like a trip to a family cabin etc.... We will work on the outline in class - and the rough draft - but the final should be typed up at home and turned in on Friday.

Cause and effect paragraphs on significant events in Native American history and the 10 event timeline will be finished in class on Friday --- I hope many students also took the time on Thursday to look at some of the Veteran's Day topics on www.va.gov/opa/vetsday --- our assembly on Wednesday was so moving and I'm sure many students would love to have conversations about their family history with the military - please engage them in those converstaions if you have the opportunity to do so. We will start To Kill a Mockingbird on Monday - this is a challenging and rewarding book for most of the students - more details on this to follow! Enjoy your weekend! kw

This week has flown by! We had a good time with Poe last week - I collected their Raven worksheet on Tuesday -- they should all be very ready for further in-depth at the high school next year :) On Monday of this week, Jerry Harms covered the balance of power in the House and the Senate - discussed some of the close races - etc... they also had time in class to finish up their WSH ch. 4 questions --- On Tuesday - we reviewed the answers to the questions - added details --- the students keep their questions until the quiz on Friday so they can study! We have done a bit more coverage on Lewis and Clark (and York, Sacajawea, and others too!) and today we started a group activity where they are mapping, giving instructions, describing, and then summarizing. Each student has individual as well as group responsibilities - this activity should wrap up tomorrow and they will need to finish a bit of drawing and/or writing over the weekend.