Hi Parents,
This was a short week, but despite that the kids still got a lot done. They used their interview facts this afternoon to start writing a portion of their Legacy Project biography. Writing about each part of their relative’s life while it’s fresh in their mind is helpful. They can always go back and add to a particular part of the story as they discover more.
One of the things I asked the students to do was to think about one of the hardships their relative went through. They should think about what was happening in the world, nationally, or locally that led to that hardship and then explain the historical context. Once done with that, they can tell how their relative overcame the hardship and how they were changed by it. This is just an example of how they can elaborate and tell the complete story. Context is so very important to any story.
By now, the kids should have their family tree completed and checked off along with their interview questions and interview completion sheet. By next Friday they will need to have a completed family crest (they can design their own, if there isn’t an official one), and bring the notes they’ve taken so far to show what progress they’ve made. This is not a project that can be completed last minute, so please be sure they are putting time in at home on this.
Fr. Moore finished his lessons on morality and began his unit on the sacraments this week. He introduced the different types of sacraments (initiation, healing, and vocation) and let the kids ask preliminary questions about them. These questions were a great way to satisfy their initial curiosity. Fr. Moore will spend the remainder of the year covering the sacraments in depth.
In U.S. history, we learned about the War of 1812. We will have a discussion next week about whether the war was beneficial or harmful to us. This may lead to a more generalized discussion about wars and whether, in the end, they are helpful or harmful.
In language arts class we finished our adverbs unit and will test next Tuesday. We also began another Latin lesson. We should be on track to finish the Latin book by the end of the year – at least, that is my goal.
In literature we finished reading act 2 of “Romeo and Juliet” and discussed what was going on and how Romeo felt when he fell madly in love with Juliet “at first sight”. We ran out of time, but it would be interesting to see how many eighth graders believe in love at first sight. (The right answer is: they shouldn’t know anything about love yet because they are WAY too young!)
There is a possibility that we will walk to Bellingham High School next Thursday to see a preview of their musical “The Sound of Music”. I haven’t heard back from their director yet, but please note that I may be sending a walking field trip permission slip home on Monday with a quick turnaround time.
Have a great weekend!
Chris