No Spelling Oct. 26-30

No Spelling Next Week (Wk 9 Oct. 26-30th) due to No Time in Class to do it.

1. On Monday we will be taking the Math MAPS test from 1:00 to 2:55. Last Monday the students were not given enough time to take the reading test and needed to finish the next day. I want to make sure that all students have enough time to finish their MATH MAPS test on OCT. 26th.
2. Tuesday, Oct. 27th is Skate Night from 6-8.
3. Thursday and Friday we are reciting poems that were supposed to be memorized this month.
4. We may read our finished "Lincoln In the Dark" Stories, too.
5. Saturday: Halloween.

At Lincoln In the Dark

LA Wk 7-8"Lincoln In the Dark"

This is a creative narrative first person account of being alone in the dark at Lincoln School.

We have been having a lot of fun this week planning our Language Arts for the following two weeks. We have discovered new locations in our school that were not seen before or seen the way they will be thought of in their stories. With Clipboards in hand, we walked through the bathrooms, hallways, Auditorium, Cinderella Stairway, Cafeteria, Kitchen, Boiler Room, Staff Lounge, and the Custodian's closet on the third floor that leads to the roof.

Their job is to write themselves into a story of "At Lincoln School in the Dark".

For those worried that this is a Halloween Story on demand. This is not a Halloween Story. It can be Fantasy, Western Style, Science Fiction, Fairy Tale come to our school, or Realistic Fiction, but it must be a narrative with the author in first person. I have asked that all students use their imaginations. Please help them keep it PG.

Use of other students' names: If you have permission from the student, you may use their name. Be kind and respectful to your classmates. Make them your friends not enemies in the story. No one can kill off another person or harm them even if they say it is OK.

The story must move through at least 5 different locations in our school. Each time you go to another room you must use a new paragraph. Make sure that there are transitional phrases and sentences that tell how you are getting down the hall or stairs. (I burst through the double doors onto the dark and dreary stairway and stumbled down the flight of stairs with just the green glow of the EXIT sign for a light. My heart was pounding in my ears as I neared yet another door that was locked...)

If you are with someone else moving through the dark and you speak, make sure that you write in dialogue and each new person speaking is in a new paragraph.

Make sure that the story line is your original. Do not take a cartoon or kids show and make it into your story line. It is steeling.

This has been one of my favorite Language Arts assignments and hope to be entertained by what the students write. This assignment is to encourage and excite creative writers.

Nine of the Twenty-eight Were in Class Today

Hi. We miss you if you are not one of the nine at school today. We went to Reading, Math, Library, and Music today. We had a great game of basketball in the fitness time with 5 girls (I was one) against 5 boys. The nets on the playground are so bent I was surprised at the made shots. Girls won. In a class where usually the boys outnumber the girls, 19 to 9. It was a proud moment that will not soon be relived. The last twenty minutes of our school day, we caught up on Spelling and Cursive review on our individual practice sheets that met the needs shown on the beginning of the year quiz. Your sheet is waiting you on your desk.

Parents if you are wanting work for your invalid, the 11 of us that ended the day on Monday put together all the homework for the week and placed it on the missing student's desks. It is now moved to their mailbox at the front of the room. Feel free to stop in and pick it up as needed. Three of the missing 19 students had parents that wanted work. I understand if the illness has gripped your household and you just can't think of homework at this time. When you can, we can discuss what was missed and hopefully fill the holes in learning created by this wide spread illness.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Hope to see you at school again soon.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gracie Johnston

October 5th, 2009 13 students were missing today

Yes! When we started today at 9AM our class was missing 13 of the 28 students. (Meaning 15 students were in homeroom.) By lunch we were down to 13 students in Homeroom two more went home feeling ill. We were down to 11 students at 2:30pm. This was the way it was throughout the school Mr. G started the day with 14 of his 28 missing.

My math class normally has 16 students we had 7 today.

This afternoon the students and I helped each other by sorting all the papers that were handed out in homeroom and paper clipping them together. We left their work on their desks. I had a 4 pm appointment. I hoped that if parents needed the work they would ask to be let into the classroom.

Homework this week includes:

• RAH
• Fluency From SFA
• Spelling 10words
• Soc. St.
• Sci
• LA "Feelings About Auditions and Interviews: Final Draft.
• Pick a poem that is at least 8 lines to memorize and say in front of class on Wed., Oct. 28th.

Log onto Homework BLOG to see the list of spelling words if you were not at school and you are able to do homework. If you are too ill, we will catch you up later.

Best wishes for healthy students and families.