Class Update

Dear 8th Grade Families,

We have had a graduate student, Nour Almutawa, observing in our class since the start of the year. As her classes progresses, she will be teaching two or three mini lessons to the class.  In addition, she has an assignment where she needs to collect students' ideas on specific lessons and would like to interview two or three students.  She may ask your child if she/he is interested in helping her.  Please know that if a student expresses interest in helping, no names will be used in her descriptions and no pressure will be placed on any student who does not care to participate.  The questions she will ask will be follow up questions on assignments or work the students have already completed.  Sample questions may include, 'How did you think the book project facilitated your appreciation and/or understanding of the book? or Do you feel you participate as much as you want to?   or Are there things that you think hold you back from participating?'

We had an exciting morning with many of the local independent schools visiting our 7th and 8th graders.  the 50 minute meeting was set up like a school fair and students circulated and gathered information from various schools of interest.  They will likely come home with lots of brochures and contacts.  The next school visits are scheduled for October 17 (Grauer) and October 29 (Cathedral High).

Last week the 7th and 8th grades watched a film that focused on early exploration for 8th grade and on cultures for 7th grade.  The PBS film is called In the Footsteps of Marco Polo.  The film retraces Polo's footsteps and focuses on the difficulty of this early exploration and all the countries and cultures that he met along the way.  Tuesday, October 15th, we are fortunate enough to have the star of the film, Dennis, visit the class and help us further understand exploration, cultures and dilemmas that people who explore, travel may face.

The 8th graders are preparing their next fundraiser events as we speak and our room parent will be in touch with these details shortly.

Best, David