Hello!

Congratulations on the successful completion of first quarter!

The short story project is complete, and your quiz on the story that you presented, and on the additonal story that you chose to read were on Wednesday, 11/4. Your posters are fun, and your presentations were good. Group work can be challenging, but most of you found a successful path to the completion of your projects. I am looking for you to continue to dig deeply and to analyze literature seriously this year.  "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" will provide opportunites for you to do just that.

I am so pleased to report that several of our submissions have been posted on the Weekly Reader website. Congratulations to Jack Gagan, Ryan Walsh, Andy Fritz, Samantha Heppermann, and Michael Owens, whose work was chosen by the READ magazine staff from those which we have sent in so far. "Write to the Future" authors, and 8th grade poets, your work has been mailed in to the back cover competition. I look forward to seeing more of your work posted online for all the world to read!

Congratulations to the 92% of you who made your first quarter A.R. goals. New A.R. due dates have now been posted on the board and goals have been written in students' assignment notebooks, following individual A.R. conferences. Second quarter A.R. is due at 3 P.M. on 1/13, and the early incentive date is 1/6. (8th grade due dates hit a few days before the end of the quarter due to the need to prepare report cards for high schools.) The A.R. program is set up for each of you individually with points and reading ranges that suit your specific reading abilitiies and schedules. That is an awesome idea. Continue to strive for success in this area of your reading development and grade.

I look forward to meeting with each of my homeroom students' parents during conferences next week.

Read, read, read!

Mrs. Gillian