Happy March, Middle School Families!
The last day of the second trimester is this Wednesday, March 6th! After that day, all teachers will be updating and finalizing grades for report cards the following week. They will come home on Friday, March 15th.
5th & 6th Language Arts
Students are finishing up their expository essays in writing lab. Most of this is done in class, but your child may have to finish editing and submit at home later in the week if they don’t finish in class. 6th grade will begin our Hatchet unit on Monday! This unit theme is Courage Requires Fortitude, and we will be studying the novel as a heroic journey. I am aware that several students have read this novel in the past, but please encourage them to still keep up with the reading. You always find out more the second time you read something! 5th grade will begin this unit next Tuesday. The 5th grade View from Saturday test is this Friday.
7th & 8th Language Arts
Students have begun the next novel study on Elie Wiesel’s powerful Holocaust memoir, Night. To begin the unit, students are conducting a short group research biography on a teenage Holocaust survivor, and are also in the middle of a 4-Corners debate. Both activities will be finished up by the end of this week. To preview the novel, please be aware that it is incredibly emotional and at times graphic. The diocese-recommended Character Based Literacy Program that I use describes it as a novel that “is sometimes hard to read, but presents an important picture of what happened in Nazi Germany.” During the novel study, students will have a chance to explore The Architects of Peace project on the Santa Clara University website. You can take a look at it here: https://legacy.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/ . For homework, students will have nightly reading, annotating, and vocabulary just like the last novel study. This time, the vocab will be given to them as a bookmark and they will not need Google Classroom for it.
Recycling Art Project
This Thursday is the LAST DAY students will have to complete the project at school. Projects are due no later than Monday, March 11th. Representatives will be at the school picking up the projects for the competition the following morning.
8th Grade Portfolios & May Crowning
Our deep dive into portfolio work will begin this Friday! We have just over 2.5 months to go. Save the date for Friday, May 24th for presentations. We’ll have specific time slots about a month before the presentations. Be sure to keep uploading photos to the website provided by Mr. Adriano! While this is the last major component of the project, it does take some time to gather photos. They can be from anywhere and any time in your child’s life. May Crowning information will be coming your way soon. Mrs. Montijo will be doing the majority of May Crowning preparation with the 8th graders this year. I am aware that some of our girls have already started looking for dresses, and that’s great! Keep in mind the dress requirements: must be long, spring colors, modest neck line, and shoulders must be covered. We no longer require girls to wear the white satin jackets that were worn in the past. Instead, girls may find their own shawl or cardigan if the dress does not cover their shoulders.
Looking Ahead
Wednesday, March 6: Ash Wednesday
Wednesday, March 6: End of Trimester 2
Saturday, March 9: Change your clocks to spring forward tonight!
Sunday, March 10: 3rd Grade Mass (5:30pm)
Wednesday, March 13: Early Dismissal
Thursday, March 14: Team Day (jeans!)
Friday, March 15: Report cards go home
March 19-21 WASC/WCEA visit
Thursday, March 21: Early Dismissal
Friday, March 29: No School