Middle School: Grammar & Writing
Happy September! It's be wonderful getting to know the students this year. Middle schoolers are so fun!
In 8th grade we are beginning our Adjective Unit for Grammar and will probably go pretty quickly with it. For 8th grade Literature, we will finish short stories and begin our first novel, The Outsiders.
In 7th grade we will finish our Noun Unit and begin Adjectives. For Literature, we will finish short stories and begin the novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins. We will do some acting of scenes for this novel, which is super fun!
In 6th grade we just started nouns after a review over the parts of speech. For Literature, we are finishing short stories and also some informational text. We will begin the novel, Hatchet toward the middle of the month.
What should students be working on at home:
Q.1 Book Report book reading... project won't be due until the end of the quarter.
Studying Unit 1 Vocab Words... flash cards were made and a couple online resources posted to Google Classroom for reviewing. Test will be Monday, Sept 28.
Hello parents!
Summer sure flew by, but it was a joy meeting the newest middle school crew this week! I know many of you between school and parish connections, but let me introduce myself a little bit more! My name is Mrs. Mellinger and I will be teaching 6th-8th grade ELA this year. Last year was my first year back to teaching after taking a break to stay at home with my five children. Prior to staying home, I taught 6th-8th ELA from 2012-2018 here at Magdalen. It is a true blessing to be back to my one and only favorite school and I look forward to a wonderful year!
I will try to update my webpage monthly with any general info that may be helpful, however, an email is sent to parents each Sunday with a look at the next week.
Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I'm ready to tackle the next semester and I'm sure these 8th graders are excited to finish their time here at MCS! It's going to go by in a blink.
This week in Grammar for 8th grade...
- Unit 5: Participles
This week in Literature for 8th grade...
- Poetry continued
- We will be reading and analyzing poems in the Literature textbook all week and using their notes taken before break for some figurative language application.
This week for Culminating...
- Wichita Public Library card is due Wed, Jan 7th in person in the child's name. This is worth 5 points in the grade book.
- Books will hopefully be printed and given by end of the week.
- Library field trip forms will come home.
This week in Grammar for 7th grade...
- Unit 5: Verbals (participles and gerunds)
This week in Literature for 7th grade...
- Figurative Language & Poetry
- This week we will be taking notes and beginning a figurative language project.
- Q.3 Book Report Books are due in person for approval by: Friday, Jan. 16
Fastbridge testing will take place on Wednesday, January 7th for ELA and students MUST have their own headphones! The goal is to increase their score from when taken in the fall.
Happy 1st Sunday of Advent! Wishing you all a wonderful season of preparation. Be sure to check out the Advent Challenge coming home with students this week. In ELA classes, we will be doing most of our starters/reflections circled around the season. You might ask them about what they have been thinking and writing about this week to drive some Advent conversations!
A look at 7th grade this week in Grammar...
- Continuing with Unit 4: Verbs with our last half of the test on Thursday, Dec. 4
- We will hop back into diagramming sentences on Friday and will delve into it all throughout next week!
A look at 7th grade this week in Lit...
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Ch. 10-12 with continued literature circle discussions
- Ch. 6-10 Quiz will be Wednesday, Dec. 3-- sticky note check
A look at 8th grade this week in Grammar...
- Continuing with Unit 4: Verbs (we split it in half) so the rest of the unit will be finished this week.
- 4.8-4.11 Test will be Wednesday, Dec. 10
- Students did not do as well overall on the first section of the test, so we will do some reteaching & relearning over those lessons this week.
A look at 8th grade this week in Lit...
- The Giver Test: tomorrow, Dec. 1
- The Giver movie vs. book comparison
A look at this week for Culminating...
- Top 10 topics w/ parent permission slip due Tuesday, Dec. 2 (attached to this email in case it it lost)
- Order of topic picking will happen on Wednesday, Dec. 3. All of 8th grade ELA will gather to draw a number from a bucket to determine their order for Friday.
- Culminating Pick Party on Friday, Dec. 5.
This week in Grammar for 7th grade...
- We will begin Unit 4: Verbs
- It's a longer unit again so we will split it in half and test halfway through the unit.
- I'm hoping to do something a little more hands-on and fun with this unit. The workbook pages can get a little tedious and dare I say, boring?
This week in Literature for 7th grade...
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Ch. 2-4 with an emphasis on our Literature circles and sticky note annotations. Last week, we took it very slow to be sure expectations and routine of this unit was established. This week, we will hit the ground running! Students will almost ALWAYS have pages to read with sticky notes to write each night this week.
This week in Grammar for 8th grade...
- We will begin Unit 4: Adjectives
- It's a longer unit again so we will split it in half and test halfway through the unit.
- I'm hoping to do something a little more hands-on and fun with this unit. The workbook pages can get a little tedious and dare I say, boring?
This week in Literature for 8th grade...
- The Giver Ch. 11-14 with an emphasis on new vocabulary
We will also be using the ELA class to prep for our visit to the OKC Bombing Memorial. Students will watch an overview video for background on the attack, do a virtual investigation, and then research one of the victims. We will work on this a couple times this week and once more before the trip.
Future Crusader Day is at KMC on Thursday, Nov 6. Parents should drop off AT KMC by 8am and pick up by 11am. I'll be going and I'm excited!
I cannot believe October is here and the end of the quarter is in sight!
Here's a quick glance at this week for 8th grade...
Grammar
- Review of Diagramming Sentences
- Beginning Unit 3: Pronouns
Literature
- We will finish The Outsiders and take a test on Thursday!
- Article of the Week: We will annotate an informational text as a class.
Reminder:
- Students must have headphones to keep at school. Please confirm with them that they have some.
- Book Report work days are Oct 8-9. Books should be read by then and a project choice decided on. All requirements can be found on the Book Report slide of Google classroom. The final project is due: Monday, Oct 13.
Here's a quick glance at this week for 7th grade...
Grammar
- Perseverance peer edit writing activity
- Continue Unit 3: Pronouns
Literature
- Island of the Blue Dolphins continued. Ch. 1-13 Quiz is on Wednesday!
Reminder:
- Students must have headphones to keep at school. Please confirm with them that they have some.
- Book Report work days are Oct 8-9. Books should be read by then and a project choice decided on. All requirements can be found on the Book Report slide of Google classroom. The final project is due: Monday, Oct 13.
Here's a quick glance at next week for 8th:
Grammar
- Unit 2 Types of Adjectives continued- Test on Thursday!
- We will be reviewing a few commonly missed concepts from Unit 1 each day this week with a few of those added to Unit 2's test.
- We will begin writing an essay over this quarter's learning disposition: perseverance
Literature
- The Outsiders continued with lots of discussion about character development, conflict, and foreshadowing elements.
- We will do a lot of fun activities with the novel this week like acting out scenes and Greaser vs. Socs posters.
Here's a quick glance at next week for 7th:
Grammar
- Unit 2 Types of Adjectives finished & reviewed- Test on Wednesday!
- We will be reviewing a few commonly missed concepts from Unit 1 each day this week with a few of those added to Unit 2's test.
- We will begin a simple writing activity over this quarter's learning disposition: perseverance
Literature
- Island of the Blue Dolphins continued with lots of discussion over character conflict.
- We will do our first AOW (Article of the Week), which are informational articles. For these, we practice active reading skills and annotate as a class. We will do these periodically throughout the year.
Note: Since our 7th grade girls will be on retreat this Thursday and Friday, they will not have anything to make up those days. What the boys do this week, the girls will do next week. Please pray for our girls to have a fruitful retreat experience!
One important reminder...
- Students should have wired headphones here at school at all times. We do use them frequently in the various classes and recently needed them for a portion of our new FastBridge testing program. If your child does not have some for here at school, please have them by NEXT Monday.
Here's a quick glance at next week for 7th grade:
We will really hit the ground running this week, and I'm excited for a full week! We will be taking a benchmark test called FastBridge (a new program we are using) on Friday. Students will take it periodically throughout the year and we will utilize it for state assessment prep as well. No need to stress it- they should try their best and plan for increased learning over the year!
Grammar
- Review Noun Unit- tests will be returned and we will go over most commonly missed sections.
-Continue Unit 2- Adjectives
Literature
- Short Story Unit Quiz- this was moved to Tuesday, so that we could spend a little more time on different story elements. Students will be shown exactly what the quiz will have on it and notes we have taken have been uploaded to their Google classroom.
- We will begin reading Island of the Blue Dolphins as a class, but students should expect to read some at home.
Here's a quick glance at next week for 8th grade:
Grammar
- Review Noun Unit- tests will be returned and we will go over most commonly missed sections.
-Begin Unit 2- Adjectives
Literature
- Short Story Unit Quiz- this was moved to Tuesday, so that we could spend a little more time on different story elements. Students will be shown exactly what the quiz will have on it and notes we have taken have been uploaded to their Google classroom.
- We will begin reading The Outsiders as a class, but students should expect to read some at home.
I hope everyone had a restful holiday weekend.
Here's a quick glance at next week for 8th grade:
Grandparents will be with us on Thursday and Friday this week! I love this tradition. Between visiting with grandparents and also being helpers these days, 8th graders won't have a lot of class time. I'm sure they will be bummed : )
Grammar
- Unit 1 Test is Wednesday, Sept 3- students did a review in class and are able to use their book on the test.
- We will likely not start any new grammar lessons this week.
Literature
- Finish Short Story Unit and Notes
- Quiz will be next Monday, September 8
IXL
- I will begin assigning IXL this week through Google Classroom. Students will be given a week or more to complete them and should aim for an 80%. As stated in my syllabus, I don't want students spending forever on IXL questions. I highly suggest they work on it a little each day to get their score in the 80%, especially if it's a standard they are struggling with. If they continue to get them wrong, have them take a break and ask for help!
Next week we will start our first novel: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Here's a quick glance at next week for 7th grade:
Grammar
- Unit 1 Test is Wednesday, Sept 3- students did a review in class and are able to use their book on the test.
- Begin Unit 2.1: Descriptive Adjectives
Literature
- Finish Short Story Unit and Notes -- notes are currently posted on Google classroom and any additional that we take will be posted by end of the week. This is helpful for if a student was absent or doesn't have the most legible handwriting!
- Quiz will be next Monday, September 8
IXL
- I will begin assigning IXL this week through Google Classroom. Students will be given a week or more to complete them and should aim for an 80%. As stated in my syllabus, I don't want students spending forever on IXL questions. I highly suggest they work on it a little each day to get their score in the 80%, especially if it's a standard they are struggling with. If they continue to get them wrong, have them take a break and ask for help!
Next week, we will start our first novel: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Here's a quick glance at next week for 8th grade:
Tuesday, August 26 is our class Mass. The following have parts for Mass and should practice at home a few times prior to Tuesday:
Aubree Moore, Lila Mulkey, Grace Koster, & Olivia Siegrist
Picture Day is also Tuesday, August 26. Dress guidelines can be found on page 14 of the handbook on the website: https://www.
Grammar
- Continue Noun Unit- we will have a lesson with HW each day this week. Unit 1 Test is Wednesday, Sept 3.
Literature
- Continue Short Story Unit
- Q.1 Book Report Book is due in hand by Friday, August 29th. I will take a look and approve their book. I REALLY want them to choose a book they will enjoy and am not so concerned with an "on level" book, so I've been encouraging them to research and look into options, rather than just grabbing a random book. I'm happy to help with suggestions, too!
**Audiobooks are totally fine for busy nights, but they do need a hard copy of the book to have for in class reading.
Here's a quick glance at next week for 7th grade:
Picture Day is Tuesday, August 26. Dress guidelines can be found on page 14 of the handbook on the website: https://www.
Grammar
- Continue Noun Unit- we will have a lesson with HW each day this week. Unit 1 Test is Wednesday, Sept 3.
Literature
- Continue Short Story Unit
- Q.1 Book Report Book is due in hand by Friday, August 29th. I will take a look and approve their book. I REALLY want them to choose a book they will enjoy and am not so concerned with an "on level" book, so I've been encouraging them to research and look into options, rather than just grabbing a random book. I'm happy to help with suggestions, too!
**Audiobooks are totally fine for busy nights, but they do need a hard copy of the book to have for in class reading.
Here's to week 2!
