Writing Contest

Hello Students,

     Well, the snow day has messed with our schedule yet again, but this is a great time to remember that the Writing Contest comes to a close very soon. Some of you have submitted a piece or two for me to review; I am spending part of my weekend going over those again, so you can submit more or further edits if you want. If you are at all interested in submitting a piece to this year's writing contest, join the Eighth Grade Contest Google Classroom by going to classroom.google.com and entering this code:

ksc<zero>sof

For some reason, the zero was not differentiating clearly from a letter O, so simply enter a zero where the bracketed label is indicated above. Make sure you are logged in with your Bonny Eagle email address, or we won't be able to see your entry properly.

     Entries are due by Wednesday, February 4, 2015. This means you have all weekend to type, edit, and retype as you desire. I will check my email periodically to offer help and suggestions if needed, and of course you can ask questions during school next week. All the directions for submission are on the Google Classroom, but I can offer help if needed for that, too.

     Finally, remember that this is NOT REQUIRED. I encourage all students with a genuine interest in writing and submitting a piece to do so, but you will not lose any points or any respect for not entering the contest. However, I will gladly use your entry as a sample writing piece and add it to your Quarter Three gradebook as a great piece of writing if you like. It can only help your grade.

     Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Puns!

Hello All,

     I just found an excellent new pun. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

This Week in Preview

Dear Students,

     This week, I will be attending the two home games on Monday and Tuesday, and I will also attend a meeting on Monday afternoon. However, since this is the start of the quarter, you won't need to stay after for any work, so I will be going home right after school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On a personal note, on Wednesday I get to see a friend I haven't seen since New Year's last year; he is coming north again for a couple days, so we are going to dinner in Portland that afternoon. It should be fun!

     This is the first week of Quarter Three, which means you all start with perfect grades! I expect all of you to try your hardest to keep them just that perfect. I will help with that as best as I can.

     On Monday, we will go over classroom rules and layout, including how I will structure the grading for this quarter. This will cover MobyMax, classwork, graded assignments, quizzes, projects, and bonus points. After that, we will talk about the District Writing Competition, and how to submit your entries. Then, we will dive into parts of speech.

     On Tuesday, we will continue covering parts of speech, including the best ways to organize them and which ones are most appropriate in context. If something is allowed, that doesn't mean you should do it. Think of parts of speech like things you can say (they are things you can say, come to think of it); just because you can say something doesn't mean you should.

     On Wednesday, we will review parts of speech, and we will discuss sentence structure. We went over this previously in the year, but it didn't stick. So, we will try again! I will remind you all that you will take a quiz on Friday. Wednesday's homework will involve writing a page about a topic we discuss in class. This formative assessment will be graded on your grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling (L.8.1 and L.8.2).

     On Thursday, we will discuss ways to improve our own writing. We will identify the parts of speech in passages from our own work, and determine if we used them correctly. Then, we will read a short passage from a story and identify parts of speech in it as well. Thursday's homework will be to study for the quiz on Friday.

     On Friday, you will take a quiz on parts of speech; you must identify the definition and use of each part of speech, and then you must identify parts of speech within a sample paragraph. This is your summative assessment on parts of speech. Once you finish the quiz, you will begin reading a short story. Provided class goes well, you will have no homework over the weekend.

     Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week! Start Quarter Three out right!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

The Quarter Ends on Friday

Hello All,

     This Friday, January 23, is the last day of the quarter. This means that Friday is also the last day I will accept student work for the quarter. Just so you are aware,

FRIDAY AT 2:08 PM

is the last minute I will accept any student work for the quarter. If you walk in at 2:09 PM, I will not accept the work. If you email me at 2:09 PM, I will not accept your work. You have had months to work on many of the assignments, weeks for most, and days for a few. You need to make sure you get the work in on time.

     I will be in the Learning Lab on Thursday afternoon from 2:20 PM until 4:00 PM if anyone still needs extra help on an assignment. Sign up in the morning and come in for the afternoon; I will happily help you with any missing assignments or confusing aspects I can. This has been a busy quarter, and you have accomplished many things. It ends on Friday at 2:08 PM.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Quiz Tomorrow!

Hello Students,

     As we have explained since last week, we have a quiz tomorrow on the following terms. You may bring one single-sided page of notes with you. The quiz will be entirely multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank. On the latter half, spelling will count. As you will be allowed notes, that should not be a problem for you.

     Here are the terms on which you will be quizzed.

Places (8)	People (20)	Creatures (9)	Things (2)
Asgard	Aesir	Authumla	Draughts
Bifrost	Vanir	Bygul and Trjegul	Mjolnir
Midgard	Baldur	Fenrir
Muspell	Buri	Jormungand
Niflheim	Frey	Managarm
Urth’s Well	Freyja	Nidhogg
Valhalla	Frigg	Ratatosk
Vanaheim	Heimdall	Sleipnir
	Hel	Teeth Gnasher and Teeth Grinder
	Idun
	Loki
	Mimir
	Nari
	Njorth
	Odin
	Sol
	Surt
	Thor
	Tyr
	Ymir

This looks like a long list, but you have had three days with the words on the board and knowledge that you may take a page of notes on them to the quiz. Quiz questions will be arranged as follows. For the multiple choice questions, it will ask something like:

Odin is
a) Loki's wolf son.
b) the first giant.
c) king of the gods.
d) a gossiping squirrel.

For the fill-in-the-blank questions, it will ask something like:

What is the name of the moon wolf who chases the sun and the moon across the sky?
_________________________

All your answers can be found in the packets you worked on for the last four days in class. You may find PDFs of them at the following links.

Packet One - The Creation of the World

Packet Two - The First War and the Norse Gods

Study well, and do well.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

This Week in Preview

Dear Students,

     This week, I will be able to stay after school tentatively on Wednesday; I have meetings on Tuesday and I work in the Learning Lab on Thursday. I will let you know if any of this changes.

     Our work this week will involve discussing the district writing contest, free writing to develop our grammar and spelling skills, and building a greater understanding of Norse Mythology through a combination of reading and listening assignments.

     On Monday, you will discuss the details of the school writing contest; any student may submit a writing assignment that is up to two, single-spaced, size twelve Times New Roman pages. The writing assignments are due by January 30; I will explain the submission process later in the week. Then, you will read silently and write when you are done.

     On Tuesday, you will review the terms for the Norse Mythology quiz taking place on Wednesday. Then, you will free write a minimum of one single-spaced, twelve-point font page, or one handwritten page. This will be graded on the minimum length, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

     On Wednesday, you will take the Norse Mythology basics quiz. This quiz is based on the terms written on the board on Friday. You will be allowed one hand-written page (one side) of notes for the quiz, as spelling is required for credit on each answer. After the quiz, you will work on MobyMax.

     On Thursday, you will learn more about Norse mythology, including the story "The Three Gifts, or How Loki Learned to Shut his Mouth." Read quietly and answer the questions that follow. You will be graded on your accuracy, spelling, and grammar.

     On Friday, you will have a Review and Improve day to catch up on missing or low-skill work. Next Friday is the last day of the quarter, so you should take full advantage of this time to fix assignments or hand in back work. If you are currently failing or in danger of failing this quarter, this time is critical to your success.

     Finally, some students will be retaking their NWEA tests this week during their Allied Arts and Tutorial times. If you did not reach the benchmark in Reading or Math in the fall, you will work on that this week. Stay focused, do well, and avoid distracting others.

     Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Commas before Conjunctions!

Hello All,

     I have a new slogan for the coming week:  "Commas before Conjunctions!" When you are writing a compound, complex, or compound-complex sentence, you should always place the comma before the standard conjunction that separates your clauses. For example, consider the following sentence:

Students struggle every day with the pressures of adolescence, and homework only adds to the stress.

Teaches feel stress, too, and they must balance personal lives with professional responsibilities.

     Note how the conjunction "and" separates the two independent clauses. Note, too, how the comma goes before the conjunction. If you placed it after the conjunction, you would be adding the "and" to the first clause; it makes no sense to end a sentence (or clause of any kind) with "and."

The ability to read is useful because our society is based on long-distance communication.

The ability to read is useful, because our society is based on long-distance communication.

     Just remember that you do not need a comma before a subordinate conjunction like "because," "since," or "while."

     As you start a new week, remember:  "Commas before Conjunctions!"

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

This Week in Preview

Dear Students,

     This week, I will be able to stay after school to help students on Tuesday and Wednesday. If this changes, I will let you know. On Monday I have a staff meeting to attend, on Thursday I have personal plans, and on Friday there is no late bus.

     Our work this week will involve writing a persuasive essay based on your assignment 04-10, having classroom and then clan spelling bees, and transitioning into Norse Mythology.

     On Monday you will spend class writing an essay based on assignment 04-10; this will be the final part of your persuasive unit. This will be due at the end of school on Tuesday, so you can finish writing it during Tutorial on Tuesday.

     On Tuesday you will have a spelling bee, wherein we will pick the top three students from each class.

     On Wednesday you will begin Norse Mythology with an overview of the grisly Creation of the World and the formation of human beings.

     On Thursday you will learn about the major gods and all the Nine Realms on the World Tree. You will have the clan spelling bee during Tutorial on Thursday as well.

     On Friday, you will have a Review and Improve day to catch up on missing or low-skill work. If you do not have work to do, you are wrong.

     Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris