Mrs. Collins

Last Week of Academics

For the week of May 14-18, we will complete the following:
On Monday, May 14, the students will present their "Stamp Out Prejudice" posters. We will also complete the story, "Raymond's Run". On Tuesday-Thursday, we will be reviewing for the language arts final exam. I have prepared a study packet that we will be completing for the review. Our language arts final is scheduled for Tuesday, May 22. On Friday, May 18, we will be having our field day and 8th grade picnic. Have a great weekend and remember that we only have 10 days left!!! HANG IN THERE!!!!!!

Next week's activities

I wanted to give an update of the due dates for upcoming projects and tests. On Tuesday, May 8, we will be having the final test on The Diary of Anne Frank play. Monday we will have the review for the test. On Wednesday, May 9, the questions for Act II will be turned in. The poster project, "Stamp Out Prejudice", will be due May 14. We will be presenting our posters in class. We are fortunate to be viewing the original movie, The Diary of Anne Frank , that was filmed in the late 1950's. It is interesting to see the actual footage of the annex as it once looked during WWII. We only have 15 days left, and I am encouraging all my students to try their best to stay on top of all their assignments and classwork. IT'S ALMOST OVER!!!!!!! :)

The Diary of Anne Frank

We are joining Mrs. Hartnett's first and second period classes each day to act out the play based on the diary. We have some real thespians in our mists!! The students have been given a list of comprehension questions that they complete daily as the play is read aloud. On Friday, April 27, a written response to the movie, Anne Frank Remembered, is due. The essay should be an 8-11 sentence paragraph. It can be typed or hand-written. Our major project, Stamp Out Prejudice poster, will be due May 14. The literature books can be checked out each day if your child wishes to reread sections of the play or if they are absent.

CRCT begins!

CRCT testing will be 9:15-11:30 each day for the week of April 16-20. Please make sure that your child has a good night's sleep and something for breakfast to "rev up their engines"! So often in our busy schedules, we tend to neglect to feed our bodies and brains correctly and then try to top it off with very little sleep. The popularity of late night television, the cell phone, the computer, and video games robs our students of sleep. I do not know how many times I have asked my students why they are so sleepy, and they will respond that one of these aforementioned items is the culprit! Enough with the lecture, but I wanted to impress the importance of their scores as this is a gateway year for our 8th graders. The reading section will be given on Monday; the language arts section will be given on Tuesday; math will be given on Wednesday; science will be on Thursday; and social studies will be given on Friday. Have a great weekend!!

CRCT Review Continues

We are continuing our CRCT review next week and will be covering capitalization and punctuation. Since there are so many rules that apply in this area, we will be spending the entire week reviewing. We are also continuing our novel study, The Chocolate Wars, and we will be concluding our novel next week before the break. After our novel study is completed, we will creating a literature scrapbook to conclude our analysis of The Chocolate Wars.

CRCT review and The Chocolate War

This week and next, we are completing exercises in our CRCT preparation workbook. These workbooks are exceptional in providing our students with needed grammar practice. Each day we will begin with Daily Oral Language. Next, we will read a chapter of our novel study, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Lastly, we will resume grammar practice with our workbooks. We will also have periodic assessments on our novel which I will announce in class and on my blog.

Gerunds

We have completed our unit on participles. The culmination of our unit ended with the creation of our participle poetry. The students' creativity never ceases to amaze me!! This week we have begun to study our second verbal, gerunds. The students will be able to identify the gerund and be able to determine its function in the sentence: subject, direct object, predicate noun, or object of the preposition. Gerunds can be difficult, so we will be completing many types of reinforcement in order to master this concept.

Participles, gerunds, and infinitives

We are continuing our study of participles, gerunds, and infinitives. This week we have covered participles. We will be completing an in class project on participles. Information on the project will be given on Monday, February 26th. Next, we will be reviewing gerunds. Verbals are the only grammar concept that is new to 8th graders, so it is important to keep all notes and handouts on verbals for future quizzes and tests.

Test on pronouns tomorrow!

We will be having our test on pronouns tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 16. Students will need to be able to classify pronouns by name, use, and number. Students should review their notes and hand outs in order to prepare for the test. The test will conclude our pronoun unit.

Subject and Object Pronouns

We will begin our study on pronouns beginning Feb. 6, 2007. Each day we will have a different grammar lesson on pronouns beginning with personal pronouns, defining antecedents, and ending the week with a quiz on subject and object pronouns. The quiz is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. Students will be using the Language Arts Today textbook. All work will be done in class as the students do not have a student copy of the textbook. Therefore, there will be no homework assigned for the week.

Information on upcoming attractions!

On Friday, Feb. 2, 2007, we will be completing a study guide on MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. My students have been completing an in-class writing project that is due Feb. 2, 2007. The students have their test on the speech Monday, Feb. 5, 2007. After the test, we will begin our unit on pronouns. I will be out Feb. 6-9 for surgery, and Becky Johnson will be my substitute for those days. I will be checking my email daily if you need to get in touch with me. I encourage my students to review the study guide over the weekend as the test will count 40% of their grade. Have a great weekend!

Lassiter Information

Our counselor, Mrs. Haag, wanted to make our parents and students aware of the following upcoming events:

February 5: Student Assembly with Lassiter

February 8 at 6:30 PM (Lassiter Gym): Open House and Curriculum Fair

February 13: Students to bring home registration materials

February 15 from 5:00-7:00 PM (Lassiter Media Center): Open Forum for parent questions

February 16: Registration materials due to Mabry Homeroom Teacher

Please email Mrs. Haag (sarah.haag@cobbk12.org) with questions.

I highly recommend attending the Open House and Curriculum Fair. Also, it is important to thoroughly read the registration materials carefully before making choices. Prompt return of materials is necessary to insure that your child is registered on time and receives the classes that he or she selects.

Upcoming Quiz on "Choice"

I just wanted to remind my students that they will be having a quiz on "Choice" on Wednesday, January 24. The students must be able to write the definitions of all 9 vocabulary words and be able to answer our two essential questions on our literature selection.

MLK and the Civil Rights Movement

From Jan. 15-Jan. 26, we will be studying the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. We be analyzing the speech's metaphoric language and use of vocabulary as well as the events of the era. Alice Walker's "Choice" will also be read orally and discussed. A vocabulary and essential questions quiz will be given on Wednesday. We will also be illustrating different passages with our own visual interpretations of King's use of metaphoric language. Our grammar unit on pronouns will begin January 29 in preparation for the CRCT.

Research completed!!

I am proud to announce that our research unit has come to a close. The students worked exceptionally hard learning how to gather, summarize, organize, and format a research paper, internal documentation, and a works cited page. Three weeks of instruction went into this unit, and I believe that much was learned. High school will require research papers in other academic areas, so learning the process step by step has been and will be beneficial. Also, I would like to extend thanks to my students and their parents for remembering me this holiday season with such wonderful rememberances. I am thankful to teach at such an outstanding school in a great and caring community. Have a safe and relaxing holiday. See you in the new year!!!