Hello, and happiest of Fridays, Grammarland!!!


My middle schoolers are the BEST. I'm so proud of them. My 7th and 8th graders are punctuating their little  hearts out. My goal for them? Excellence on their standardized testing, yes, but that is certainly not everything . Life skills? Absolutely. They don't realize how perilously close they are to college applications, job applications, and humble pleas for scholarship money by way of essay. I want my students' written work to land firmly in the "keep" pile, and to prevent errors in grammar from dampening their chances at good stuff.

Next Wednesday is THE DAY. Seven of my 7th and 8th graders will face off against area schools in the Lee County Soil and Water Public Speaking Contest!! Please pray for us. On that day, we will battle nerves and fast talking. I'm so proud of my students! This contest is not mandatory, so they've done all of this extra work on top of their regular school load.

The Color Run is almost here! This is an awesome fundraiser wherein kids pay $30 to participate in the run, and the proceeds go towards a new school bus. The color run is Friday, February 14, which is a half day of school. Look for more info from your child's homeroom teacher. And on that day.....pack a towel to put on your child's seat in the car for the ride home. Trust me!!

6th grade: Test on pronouns next Wednesday.
7th grade: Spelling difficult words chapter begins Monday; Number the Stars writing assignment due Wednesday.
8th grade: Spelling difficult words chapter begins; SAT quiz Friday.
8th grade field trip March 20- I'm waiting for confirmation from Chick -fil-a in Durham. Once I have it, I will send home permission slips.

Have a wonderful weekend! May God bless your families.

Hello, Grammarland!!!

The eight grade has had an interesting week!We welcomed Hannah, a sweet new student who has become a sweet new friend. We listened to a Holocaust survivor tell her harrowing story of survival during World War II. And today we just took a quiz on our 80th SAT word. And we are learning this:

The seventh grade is learning all there is to know about punctuation. They are Team Oxford Comma; they now know the correct usage of semicolons and colons, and they know that putting quotation marks around something does not, in fact, emphasize the word. So if you are out for breakfast, and a sign outside says "hot coffee"....might want to rethink that. 

My sixth graders are in the throes of pronoun usage. "Me and my mom went to the movies" doesn't work any more. "My friend and myself ran around the soccer field" is out, too. 

It's Hoops for Hope Day! Come help us honor cancer survivors at our annual fundraiser. Basketball games, food, silent auctions, luminaries, and so much more!

Please talk with your child about chapel. It has truly become a wonderful time of praise and worship. I'm so encouraged by our students!

Please keep our school in your prayers. It is truly a wonderful place to be.

Have a beautiful weekend!!

KD

Hello, Grammarland!

We are very busy in middle school grammar!

My 8th graders learned how to cite research papers in MLA format this week. I am so proud of them. As an added bonus, you can ask them why puppies bite and how to fix it, and they can tell you. They're experts now!

My 7th graders are learning a beautiful love poem by a Harvard-educated poet who was also a soldier. Some of the comments about it from my students have been interesting; they've described the poem as both crazily unpunctuated and pure.  Here's a copy of it:

We are focusing on developing our writing, and one of the ways we make sure we've written correctly is to take a calm look at it while strolling about the room. Try it some time! It works!

My sixth graders are learning the ins and outs of pronouns, and we are winding our way  through Middle Earth. They're learning a funny little poem about the importance of apologies, too.

Please make plans to come to Hoops for Hope next Friday! If' you'd like to purchase luminaries to honor or remember loved ones, they are $2 each, and you can find forms in the office. You may also purchase luminaries at the game.

The drama department needs your help! Mrs. McCusker needs many items to make "The Wizard of Oz" come to life. There's a list of needed items, as well as more information about Hoops for Hope, in my blog from last week.

8th grade! Field trip to Duke Gardens on March 20. Mark your calendars, and be on the lookout for  permission slips and more info in the weeks to come.

Please pray for my 7th and 8th graders! Kinley Scott, Kavan Lee, Grayson Waters, Nathan Jones, Triton Gaster, Meredith McGuire, and Levi Ricabal will be competing in the Lee County Soil and Water Conservation District Public Speaking Contest in early February. They're working hard on perfecting and practicing their speeches.

Have an exceptional weekend! See you all on Tuesday.

Blessings,
KD

Welcome back to school! I hope you all had a lovely, restful time with family and friends, and that your Christmas break was a blessing.

We're off to a brand new start!

My 7th graders are beginning Number the Stars, which is a beautiful book about what happens when people take care of each other. They also start learning a new poem this week, by a poet who threw away all of the rules about poetry.

My 8th graders will continue Secret Garden, and they will recite If  by next Wednesday. Then we will read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. I'm so proud of them. I'm teaching them how to write papers in MLA format, and they're doing great!

My 6th graders met a bunch of goblins this week, and things just went downhill  (quite literally) after that. But that's what happens when one reads The Hobbit! "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is due next week. I hope that we soon get a snowy evening to go with our poem! (Robert Frost wrote this poem after a sleepless summer night....which is quite an unexpected fact!)

Coming soon:


No school Monday. January 20, in honor of Reverend Martin Luther King.

Hoops for Hope! Friday, January 24. Come on out and enjoy basketball games, luminaries, t-shirts, silent auction, and more at our annual event to honor those whose lives have been affected by cancer. Make plans to spend your Friday night in the LCS gym! If you have anything you'd like to donate for the silent auction, please contact Deborah Smith in the school office.

LCS COLOR RUN! This annual fundraiser is so much fun, and we just can't wait. It takes place Friday, February 14, which is an early dismissal day as well. Info coming soon.

The drama department needs your help for their production of The Wizard of Oz! Here are some items they need to make their production truly amazing. If you would be willing to donate anything from this list, please send it to school with your child.

PVC piping (tall, short THIN)

Anything green

Flowers: big/small/medium for costumes

headbands: thick, with combs, if possible

ribbon: thin or thick, solid color

velcro :any color

heavy duty velcro (black)

camouflage fabric (trees)

green paint

two types of yellow paint

poly mesh ribbon :all SOLID colors, silver, gold, brown, green, yellow, orange, red, black, light pink

Raffia: brown/natural

Red sponge balls (24)

Yellow fluffy/furry balls (represent little  chicks) 10

May God bless you. Have a wonderful weekend!
KD








 The Lee Christian Color Run! February 14