So grateful

 Hello, Grammarland!

Parents, thank you. You went all out when it was time for our Boosterthon and for our crazy Penny War. You have been amazing!

I'm having a wonderful time in English with your kiddos. The 6th graders are loving The Hobbit. the 7th grade is about to begin Number the Stars (a magical book), and the 8th graders are about to begin a study of Greek mythology by reading an adaptation of the Iliad.

The school day is long, and my middle schoolers are hungry before lunch. For the past couple of months, I've been bringing packs of crackers and granola bars for students who are hungry. I love doing this, but the  goodies run out quickly. If anyone would be willing to send a simple snack or two, it would be very helpful.

This week, LCS is collecting items for CARA, our local no-kill animal rescue. If you'd like to participate, please see the attached sheet and send items in by Friday.

7th and 8th grade: Narnia one pagers due this Friday

6th grade: Castle project will be announced this Friday.

Thank you for sharing your child with me! May God bless you.

Mrs. Desjarlais

 What a week this has been! 

We had an amazing week saying goodbye to dress code and hello to a different decade, a favorite team, a beloved character, our pajamas, and our Falcon pride. As well, classes have regularly sabotaged each other in the now-infamous Penny Wars. I can't wait to see which middle school class wins....though I am secretly pulling for my homeroom class, as we have been hit hard by 6th grade sabotage!

This week has seen the culmination of noun chapters in all three classes, and we will test on these next week.

 I love reading Christian literature with my classes. The 6th graders read of a kind, good character corrupted by sin within hours of attaining a magic ring. The 7th graders watched a character turn from a spoiled, rude boy into a dragon, and from a dragon into a restored, forgiven boy upon meeting Aslan, the lion who represents Christ in CS Lewis's works. The 8th graders watched Narnia fall; Narnia, the kingdom of Aslan. We know that just as Narnia fell, so one day our world will be destroyed and replaced by Jesus. It is amazing to think about all He has done, and all He is preparing for us.

Next week in middle school:

6th: Noun test Tuesday; vocab test Wednesday

7th: Noun test Monday, vocab test Wednesday, SAT quiz Friday

8th: Noun test Tuesday, vocab test Thursday, SAT quiz Friday

Sign up for the color run! Go to www.funrun.com, and get ready for our most fun fundraiser!

I love teaching middle school English, and I love my students. I am praying for them. If I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Blessings, 

Mrs. Desjarlais

Welcome back to school!

 Hey, wonderful middle school parents!

I have had an amazing week with your younguns! We are having so much fun in class, and I am enjoying every day I spend with your kiddos.

Join Remind! It's an easy way to receive text communications about your child and your child's class!

8th Grade Homeroom: Send a text to 81010, and text this message: @9bga48

6th Grade: Send a text to 81010, and text this message: @aa7dh43

7th Grade: Send a text to 81010, and text this message: @2dheg7

7th graders have 5 SAT words to learn each week, and 8th graders have 10 SAT words.

 Here's the list: https://www.majortests.com/word-lists/word-list-01.html

Next Friday Night! Come to Lee Christian for our annual Hoops for Hope event! It is a fundraiser to benefit those who are fighting cancer, and to honor those we have lost. There will be 3 basketball games, food, a silent auction, luminaries, survivor recognition, and so much more. Can't wait to see you there!

I am praying for you. Thank you for letting me be part of your child's middle school story.

Blessings, 

Mrs. Desjarlais

 Hi, Grammarland!

 See that pic? It looks like mayhem, but it's actually a whole bunch of cans and non-perishable food for the annual LCS food drive. This has been an exciting season of giving. 484 OCC Shoeboxes, an Angel Tree child, and many meals from this food drive....all this means that we are following the command of Jesus to be His hands and feet. Thank you so much, MS parents.

Next week....

M-W are normal school days. 

Secret St. Nicholas

7th and 8th grade

Due on Tuesday. Don't spend more than $15, If you need help with who you have drawn, please let me know tomorrow. DON'T forget your gift. Gift exchange is Wednesday morning.

Next Thursday

8th English Exam: 8:00am - 9:50

6th English Exam: 10:10 - Noon 

Early Dismissal  at 12:00 - no lunch

Next Friday

7th English Exam: 8:00-9:50

Early Dismissal at 12:00 - no lunch

I have loved teaching your precious children this semester. May God bless you this Christmas season.

Blessings, 

Mrs. Desjarlais

Hi there, Grammarland!

So sorry it's been a while since my last post. My mother is in the hospital, and has been since early October. We have been super busy in English class, though, and I'm having such a great time with your kiddos.

The pics below are of some of my 6th graders with their castles, the middle school OCC packing party, and the 6th graders packing up 484 OCC shoeboxes right before we got out for Thanksgiving. It was a truly amazing time!!

We have so much coming up.

8th graders: Angel Tree gifts are due next Wednesday, December 8. If you're sending money, please send by December 7 so we have time to shop.

7th and 8th graders: Secret St. Nicholas on December 15. Each student drew a classmate's name. Please don't spend much more than $15 on each gift. Please be sure you bring your gift, as we would not anyone to be left out.

LCS FOOD DRIVE: December 3-10. Please send canned goods and unperishable foods so that we can help feed the homeless this Christmas season.

December 10: Tacky Christmas Sweater Day! Tacky it up!

FINALS:

December 16: 8th grade: Final on Black Ships before Troy, adjectives, and adverbs.

                                6th grade: Final on Best Christmas Pageant Ever, adjectives, adverbs, and preposition

December 17: 7th grade: Final  on A Christmas Carol, adjectives, and adverbs          

Early dismissal on both days.

May God bless each of you! I have so enjoyed teaching your children this semester,

Blessings, 

Mrs. Desjarlais

 

Fun Times in ELA!

 Hey. hey, Grammarland!

What a week! 8th graders said goodbye to Narnia and hello to Edgar Allan Poe. Today we listened to James Earl Jones, Mr. Darth Vader himself, read "The Raven". So creepy. On Monday we presented our body biographies for The Last Battle. Here are Elayna and Veah showing off their excellent work.

My sweet 6th graders are reading The Jungle Book and finding that it is way better than any of the movies. Here they are with Kaa, the 30 foot long rock python. This one was created by my former student Evan Harrison when he was in the 6th grade. My students realized they were holding a precious relic!

Today the 7th graders discovered that similes and metaphors are easy to find when you look for them in Disney songs, and I showed them that they're in worship music, too. Sweet Thursday.

Wednesday we kicked off Operation Christmas Child! I talked about it a little bit in chapel, and Jackie and Elayna allowed me to volun-tell them to demonstrate how to pack a shoebox. I'll have shoeboxes for kids to take home soon. I'm so excited! Our Lee Christian goal is 600 boxes this year, and I cannot wait to see what God will do through us. 

The FABULOUS Fall Festival is coming soon! Come back to school on Friday, November 5th for all kinds of fun! There will be food, inflatables, touch-a-truck, and more. The basket auctions are always amazing. Thank you to Chayton and to Liam for bringing gift cards for our basket! Also....if you make righteous chili, please enter our chili cookoff! Email Mrs. Madison Flood at m.flood@leechristian.org to enter the contest!

Sixth graders: Our field trip is next Thursday. Please wear closed toe shoes, bring your water bottle, and bring your lunch. It shall be amazing! 

Sixth Graders: Your castles are due NEXT FRIDAY!!!

Soil and Water Speech Contestants!! We had a great meeting! Lets meet next Wednesday after school to discuss your speeches and how far you've gotten on your research. I can't wait!!

Always blessings to you....

Mrs. Desjarlais

---

It has been quite a week this week!

On Wednesday, my seventh graders presented one-pager reports to culminate our journey through Number the Stars  I was very proud of their composure while they presented, and their projects are beautiful. 

Next Monday, my 8th graders will present body biographies of their favorite character from The Last Battle. They’ve sketched these out in class, and all they need to do now is make finishing touches.

It’s Fall Festival time! On Friday, November 5, come enjoy food, games, inflatables, touch-a-truck, basket auctions, and more! Our fall festival proceeds will go towards acquiring new vans for sports, field trips, and mission trips  

HOMEROOM STUDENTS: Our fall festival basket is a gift card basket. Please send a gift card with the amount indicated by November 3. Parents, if any of you are good at arranging things into baskets and making them all pretty, please let me know. I’ll need someone to come to school and arrange the basket so it can be auctioned off at the event. Thank you all in advance!!

Sixth Graders: Your field trip permission slip, money, and waiver are due Wednesday, October 20. Please check your email, print the waiver, and send your $15 by Wednesday, October 20.

7th and 8th graders: SOIL AND WATER SPEECH CONTEST INTEREST MEETING: Wednesday, October 20, at 2:50. We will have a great time! Come on, middle schoolers! Let’s get started!

I’m praying for you all  may God bless you  

KD 

Pink cupcakes

 Happy Friday!

Here are my 7th graders enjoying a pink frosted cupcake from Sandra's Bakery. We just finished Number the Stars, and we left behind a sweet character who loved pink cupcakes, but could not have them because the Nazis took all of the flour, sugar, and butter from the residents of Denmark. So we had cupcakes in honor of Kirsti.

My 6th graders are about to embark on their castle project! Parents, please check your email for the info sheets on this project. Castle day is October 29, and it will be amazing! Students need a copy of The Jungle Books (Barnes and Noble Edition) by Monday. This can be purchased on Amazon.

My 7th graders have a Number the Stars one pager assignment which is due October 13. Students were given a template and requirement sheet earlier this week. Students need a copy (digital or physical) of Hatchet starting Monday.

My 8th graders have a body biography project due October 15. They were given a copy of a template and requirements earlier this week.

Next Tuesday is picture day! All students must wear a polo shirt that day.

Please check Renweb for missing assignments from your students. Next Wednesday is the last day work may be turned in.

Thank you for sharing your children with me! I love the time I spend with them.

It's fall, y'all!

 

It's finally fall! Hooray for cooler weather, hockey, changing leaves, and cozy hot drinks. Isn't it just like God to make the season in which leaves and grass die one of the most spectacular and beautiful times of the year!

Literature is amazing. This week I've seen:

6th graders enthralled at the comparisons between Jesus's crucifixion, death, and resurrection and the death and rebirth of Aslan, and the salvation story that results from this.

7th graders moved to tears at the close of Number the Stars. This beautiful novel is a story of a little country who refused to allow the Nazis to terrorize their Jewish citizens, so they quietly smuggled them to safety across the sea. Right under the Nazis' noses, and at exceedingly great peril. 

8th graders who watch a king, his unicorn, and a handful of others stand up to Aslan's enemies and fight to the death, because to die fighting for Aslan is better than living with the mocking cruelty of his enemies.

English Tests: I'll be done grading them by Tuesday, if not earlier.

Every Friday: 8th grade SAT quiz

7th Grade: Number the Stars test Wednesday

6th grade: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe test Friday

October 29: 6th grade castles

October 13: 7th grade one pagers

October 15: 8th grade body biographies

I love spending my days with your kiddos. Have a beautiful weekend! I am praying for you all.

-Mrs. Desjarlais

It was the best of times....

 Well, it has been another excellent week in English class! 

My students are killing it in verb class. I'm so proud of them!

In literature, things are getting tense in here. The sixth graders are spending far too much time with the White Witch these days, but her power is dwindling. Too soon I'll have to put away my scary White Witch voice (my students are terrified). The eighth graders are reading about the last days of Narnia, which have unsettling similarities to our current times. The seventh graders are in Denmark, watching ordinary people do extraordinarily brave things to save their Jewish neighbors. I love books, but I love even more watching what books do to and for my students.

My 8th graders set up chapel this week. They did a great job! It was interesting to watch them work together. They played to their strengths; Elayna and Chayton put their height to good use, and Jackie calmly and adeptly helped everyone else stay organized. 

I love that we all have iPads. We are using them for studying, for assignments, for assessments, and for review games. My favorite thing about the iPads is the way my students help each other. If one student is not terribly techy, another student helps. Without being asked. Reasons I love teaching in a Christian school....

 

 Here are some of my students learning about remembering 9/11 on the website Actively Learn.

Next week:

ALL CLASSES: 

EVERY WEDNESDAY: Prayer group for middle school girls, lunchtime, Mrs. Desjarlais's room!

Vocabulary test Tuesday - Study on Quizlet

Grammar test Wednesday - Study guide in grammar book

May God bless each of you!

Mrs. Desjarlais

hello, September!

Hello, Grammarland!

Middle School ELA is amazing! I’ve been so proud of my students this week. They’re doing so well with verbs, and the novels we read in each class lead to amazing discussions. Since all of our novels have characters who make godly choices, our conversations in English class are often about God. It’s beautiful  

Next week:

Chapel and MS girl prayer group: Wednesday 

8th grade SAT quiz: every Friday

All classes: next vocabulary test: September 21

All vocabulary lists are in the Mrs. Desjarlais class on Quizlet. 

We are loving the iPads and Vibe boards! This week my classes all joined Microsoft Teams and submitted an assignment. I love saying “now, let’s get out our iPads” and seeing my students’ excitement. 

Here are my 7th graders learning about 9/11 on Actively Learn today.

In the coming weeks, we will continue verb studies and novel studies. We will also begin a concentrated effort to become good writers. I’m so excited to get started. 

May God bless each of you. You’re in my prayers. 

Blessings, 

Mrs. Desjarlais