This Week

Good afternoon!

     This week is atypical in a few different ways. First, Mrs. Schoenfeld is out all week chaperoning the Fall Girls Pathfinders, so if you cannot reach her… that is why.

     Ms. Lund will be out on Tuesday chaperoning the Girls Engineering trip to UMaine in Orono — a few of our girls will spend all day on campus learning about engineering and the opportunities they can find.

     Wednesday will be a two-hour delay for students (staff have meetings and trainings), so expect busses at 8:30 if they usually come at 6:30; the official school day starts at 9:10 instead of the usual 7:10.

     On Thursday, Mr. DeMaris will be out chaperoning the Boys Engineering trip to UMaine in Orono — it's like the trip for girls, but for the boys! Thursday night is the first production of the drama club's play from 7:00 – 9:00 on the stage in Lowlands Gym. See you there!

     Finally, Friday during Advisory students will walk against bullying; if you have an orange shirt, bring it and wear it. Friday night is the second and last production of the drama club's play; same time and place as on Thursday.

     If you have any questions, email, call, or comment, and we will get back to you!

Regards,
Mr. DeMaris

Out Friday

Hello All,

     I apologize for my sudden onset of poor health, but after my increasingly difficult headache today and the continuous sore throat that has progressed, disgustingly, to my sinuses and clogged nose, I have called in sick for Friday. I don't want to infect anyone, and I will not be much good at managing any work if I can hardly breathe and barely talk properly. I hope this is short-lived.

     Keep working on your projects and remember to stick to the story in your summary; don't judge or add your own opinion! If you do, it will not be objective, and that means it will be wrong. I hope to be back on Monday, as loud as ever.

Uncomfortably,
Mr. DeMaris

Upcoming Absences and Assessments

Hello All,

     I will be out of the classroom tomorrow, Tuesday, May 3; rather than pay a garage hundreds of dollars to replace the exhaust system on my car, I am taking the day to do it myself. As a man who doesn't own a garage or a car port, or even a nice pop-up canopy, I need to take the only partly sunny day in this week of rain to accomplish that. I'm sorry I won't be around, but it has to be done.

     Next week, Thursday and Friday (May 12 – 13),* I will also be out of the classroom, attending a conference at King Middle School on classroom design, lesson design, and modern teaching practices. This is a great opportunity to learn more about my job and hopefully experience a few good things. Believe it or not, I do always want to be a better teacher, so I take these conferences seriously and get what I can from them. I hate to be out of the classroom, especially with the year winding down, but this should be worth it.

     Tomorrow (Tuesday) students take the Voice and Mood quiz; you all have the notes on Google Classroom. The quiz is entirely multiple-choice, and involves definitions and examples. Make sure you know the differences between active and passive voice, and ensure you can differentiate between indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive moods. Remember, subjunctive is NOT the same as conditional. Look it up.

     Thursday of next week students take the SRI (Standard Reading Inventory), the in-class assessment of reading level and ability they have taken twice already this year — once in October, and once in February. Please do your best on it, and take it seriously. I want to see growth on these, not dismal scores. Even if you aren't confident, you should at least do better than you have in the past. Remember, the goal is not always to outdo the other students, but to outdo yourself. Take the challenge, and succeed.

     As usual, if you have any questions, please email me. I won't necessarily be able to respond from under the car tomorrow, but I can certainly address any concerns before or after.

Sincerely,
Mr. DeMaris

* — That was an en dash inside those parentheses; see how it replaces "to" or "through" in the list?