Dear Parents-

Today we had our first Middle Level Student Security Search. The searches are confidentially scheduled through our Security Office, under the direction of Tom Ristoff.

Students and/or families are not notified ahead of time when searches will occur. When students are at the high school or a middle level grade only school, searches happen monthly. There will be other searches throughout the spring of 2010 for our students and we will notify you after they occur.

This is one of the procedures we need to introduce our students to as middle level students. If you have any questions, please direct them to Tom Ristoff @ 435-4527.

Thank you.


Daryl Hall
Lisa Garofalo
Jason Armstrong

Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue!

In class this week we will combine our learning by utilizing our new information on dialogue construction, characterization, point of view, and bias by writing a creative writing piece based on a fun prompt from a specific point of view. This piece will be due Wednesday, January 27th.

PROPAGANDA!

In early January, ELA classes will be examining point of view and propaganda. We will learn about how this influences emotions and actions. We will also examine the connection to bias in writing. The purpose of the unit is to teach students how to examine how an author's perspective can influence his or her work.

Welcome Back!

As a heads up, girls modified basketball tryouts for 7th and 8th graders will be taking place this week on Wednesday, January 6th and Thursday, January 7th.

See you after the break! Make sure to get some reading done!

This (short) week in ELA...

Tomorrow morning, the entire middle level grades are going to be treated to a production of William Shakespeare. We have a group of performers coming to the building around 9:30 to act out scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Wednesday will be a special Holiday edition of Silent Sustained Reading!

Don't forget, Romeo and Juliet Projects are due Wednesday!!!

Shakespearen Piece!

Over the last few weeks, we have been reading and discussing the Shakespearean classic, Romeo and Juliet. We have spent many minutes of class using reading guides to discuss the connection between the themes and actions of the play and their relationship to our modern life. Now, we’ll take it a step farther.

I am confident that you have heard of or use the following social interaction websites:

Ø MySpace

Ø Facebook

Ø Twitter

Your assignment will be to use one of these sites as a guide to create a project for one of the characters in Romeo and Juliet. For example, you might use construction paper to make up a Myspace page for Romeo, where you list his friends, some of the conversations he has with other characters, and some pictures. Or, you might tell the entire play’s plot through the Twitter posts of Juliet!

The point is, I want you to use a modern style to tell a classic story. This assignment will be due in class Wednesday, December 23^rd. The grade breakdown is as follows:

Grade Points

Shakespearean Content/References 60 points

Structure/Design/Execution 40 points