"There Will Come Soft Rains"

Hello All,

     Kam C. did a fantastic job reading the entire second half of a story in Language Arts; he read with passion and feeling and great enthusiasm!  Today, he was an excellent and inspiring student who earned extra credit for his work. I look forward to having him read again.

     Well done, Kam! Watch the video below if you want to see him in action.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Prepositions and Conjunctions

Hello All,

     For your convenience, here is every single preposition out there:

about above according to across after against along along with among apart from around as as for at because of before behind below beneath beside between beyond but* by by means of

concerning despite down during except except for excepting for from in in addition to in back of in case of in front of in place of inside in spite of instead of into like near next of off on

onto on top of out out of outside over past regarding round since through throughout till to toward under underneath unlike until up upon up to with within without

     * "But" is usually used as a coordinating conjunction; it is only used as a preposition when used in the place of "except." For example, consider these sentences:

I ate everything but the Doritos.
Everyone is wrong but me.

In this case, you are speaking about all times but once, or all locations or items but one. I just used "but" as a preposition twice in that sentence, too.


     Now, concerning conjunctions, there are three categories:  coordinating, correlative, and subordinating. Here is the breakdown by category.

Coordinating Conjunctions:  For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
     You can use the acronym FANBOYS to remember all seven of them.

Correlative Conjunctions:  both, and; not only, but also; either, or; neither, nor; whether, or; as, as; such, that; scarcely, when; as many, as; no sooner, than; rather, than.
     Correlative conjunctions work in pairs to connect related ideas. There are many combinations.

Subordinating Conjunctions:

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

after although as because before even if even though how if in order that

no matter once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless

until what when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why

Subordinating conjunctions start dependent clauses, and they answer the questions when, why, and if, or they show opposition.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

Quiz Tomorrow!

Dear Students and Parents,

     Tomorrow, February 4, we have a quiz on Parts of Speech. These are all the different categories of words. You need to differentiate between each type to communicate clearly about more complex ideas than just simple sentences and basic thoughts. If you don't already have the notes, the terms are listed below with definitions.

1. Article - tells you which noun (thing) you are talking about
2. Noun - person, place, object, or idea (thing)
3. Pronoun - general word that replaces a noun
4. Adjective - describes a noun or pronoun (may be color, shape, size, age, origin, etc.)
5. Verb - action
6. Adverb - describes a verb; usually ends in -ly
7. Conjunction - connecting word
1. Coordinating Conjunction - connects equal ideas or clauses; FANBOYS
2. Correlative Conjunction - connects related ideas; works in pairs
3. Subordinating Conjunction - starts dependent clause; answers why, when, if, or opposition
8. Preposition - identifies time or location relative to another noun (thing)
9. Interjection - a word or phrase used to exclaim, protest, or command

     The first half of the quiz involves picking the proper definition out of multiple choices for each part of speech. The second half of the quiz involves reading a paragraph and correctly identifying at least one example of each part of speech from it. Today in class the students practiced this with one paragraph; we will use another for the quiz. Students will not be allowed to use notes for the quiz.

     For your convenience, I have included a list of examples for each category below.

Sincerely,

Mr. DeMaris

1. Article - a, an, the
2. Noun - Mr. DeMaris, chairs, table, thought, dream, cat, dinner, steak
3. Pronoun - he, it, they, we, she, them, us, her
4. Adjective - red, blue, green, fuzzy, cold, ancient, new, frozen, American
5. Verb - run, jump, think, fall, cry, repair, stand
6. Adverb - quickly, clumsily, carefully, foolishly, noisily, successfully, abruptly
7. Conjunction
1. Coordinating Conjunction - for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
2. Correlative Conjunction - either, or; neither, nor; if, then; but, so
3. Subordinating Conjunction - because, after, when, if, rather than, though
8. Preposition - before, during, after, on, in, beside, for, from, to
9. Interjection - Breakfast time! Stop! No! Wait! Sit down! Well, Um,

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