Good Monday, everyone! As a new week begins, there are some dates of which you need to be aware:

Wednesday, February 6: Progress Reports will go out. Please make sure you see them. It may seem early, since we just received report cards last week, but we are already three weeks into the new nine weeks' grading period, and we want you to be totally informed about your child's progress in each class.

Thursday, February 7: IB Information Night from 6 - 8 p.m. Come find out about this new program that will begin next year for our students.

Tuesday, February 12: The Florida Writes! test will be given. Please make sure your child has a good night's sleep and breakfast that morning. We want them to be awake, alert, and aware for the test. Just to remind you, your child needs to make a "4" on the test to be considered "passing."

I continue to offer tutoring for my students from 8 - 9 a.m. on Mondays, Fridays, and the first and third Wednesdays of the month. If you feel your child needs a little push, please make sure you let me know that they will be attending. Transportation is not provided.

Thanks for all the help you give us as we work together to make sure our students are successful.

Mrs. Short

Good Monday, everyone: This week we continue our unit about the Holocaust. The simulation we did Thursday before planning day was a great way to help our students get a handle on how those persecuted by the Nazis felt. Anyway, it certainly raised lots of comment!

This week we will be taking our first Quotations Quiz from Scenes I and II of Act I of the play. A Quotations Quiz is one of the ways high school teachers determine whether students are getting the themes of a piece of writing, and we are practicing for our future! We will also be working with more vocabulary related to our unit. Finally, we will be focusing on ironing out any writing issues students feel they need help with in preparation for FCAT Writes! which we will take in February. We have a lot to do this week!

Please be aware that report cards come out on Wednesday. Parents, if you have questions about the grades your child receives, please call us for answers. The school number is 381-7440.

Students, please be working to meet your new reading goal for this nine weeks' grading period - 19 books. We are half way through the year, and I want everyone to meet their 25 Book goal for the year.

Parents: Have you thought about talking with your child about what you have been reading? We should develop a "dinner table" type conversation with our kids about what each of us is reading. If you show that you value reading by talking with your child about what you are reading, then he or she will catch the importance of being a reader, and learn the skills needed to talk about what is being read intelligently. Thanks for your interest in your child's progress in reading!

Mrs. Short

Hello, everyone. We are beginning a new unit with our eighth graders on the Holocaust. An interesting fact we have learned is that the word "holocaust" actually means "total burning." I've heard it said that during World War II, Europe was on fire, and I know that it was meant figuratively, but it was literal as well. As part of his plan to control people, Hitler burned books that spoke out against his ideas. When people censor writers, they are preventing readers from making their own decisions about ideas presented in books. Every reader deserves to read what he or she wants to read, and form opinions about that information. If we allow censorship to continue, we face total control from an elite group that may not represent our own ideas. Read a banned book in protest for censorship!

Remember to work on your homework reading and getting those book logs turned in on Mondays with parent signatures.

Mrs. Short

Happy New Year!

Welcome back, everyone! Some things to remember:

• The end of the nine weeks' grading period is next week. All work will need to be turned in by this Friday, January 11.
• Our focus for the third nine weeks' period will be the Holocaust. We will continue to see how intolerance and racism affected people before and during World War II.
• Open House for parents interested in learning more about the Middle School International Baccalaureate program for next year at our school will be on February 7th. Please plan to come find out about the program.

Please talk with your child this week about what goals he or she has for the next nine weeks' grading period. We are at the half-way mark, and it is now time to look toward the end of the year. Students should be half-way toward meeting the 25 Book Goal. They should be focusing on their reading and writing skills that will help them to do well on the FCAT. And they should be deciding whether or not (with your help) they want to apply to one of the magnet programs at the high schools in town. The deadline for those applications is the end of February, so if your child is interested, please help them to get the forms filled out and returned. If you have questions about any of the programs, you can call the school that houses that program.

Have a good week.

Mrs. Short