Good Earth

Today we finished The Good Earth. This weekend they will be writing their summary paper. Students were allowed to choose one of the following questions to write on:

1.  What does Wang Lung’s family’s gradual disconnection from the land say about their moral position and their hopes for future success? Explain what you think happens to Wang Lung’s family after the close of the novel.

2.  How are Wang Lung and his oldest son alike? Given the similarities in their characters, why do they come into conflict?

3. Why does Wang Lung decide to move into the Hwang family’s house in town? What does such a move signify for him?

If they forget their book, here is a link to find it online http://www.gobookee.org/good-earth-by-pearl-s-buck/

Their essay should be long enough to fully develop the topic. This will be at least 5 paragraphs. I'm looking for deeper thought and citations from the book. In order to get a 3, they must cite the book a minimum of 5 times. I encourage families to talk through possible ideas and help students articulate their ideas. I discourage families from writing the paper for them!

If you have any questions, please let me know/

November Field Trips

We have not one, not two, but THREE field trips this month.

Our first trip of the month is on November 6th, 2013. We will be going to the Oregon Primate Research Center to learn about the scientific process. The bus will leave school after math at 10:00. We will be back by 1:30. Please let me know if you can join us!

The following week, November 12tth,  we will be joining the Classroom Law Office founders downtown for a courtroom tour. We will learn all about the local justice system and get to sit in on several cases. Because we will be in the justice building, we will have to go through security. Parents that would like to chaperone should dress for easy security checks! We will leave at 8:15 and return just after lunch.

Our last trip of the month will be on field trip Friday, November 22nd. It will be an all day trip. The morning will be spent touring Clackamas Middle College and the afternoon will be spent at a local university. More details for this one will come later in the month.

If you can join  us for any of these three trips, please let me know as soon as possible.

Fundraisers

We have two amazing opportunities to raise funds for graduation and our end of the year trip!

First is the annual fall sock hop on November 7th.  8th grade is in charge of making it happen, and we get the proceeds to use for our end of the year activities. That's a pretty great trade off. We started today by promoting it in all of the classrooms. We'll be making signs on Monday to put up around school. Here's what we need to help make this as successful as possible:

1. All 8th graders should plan to attend and help work the Sock Hop. Students will need to be here until 5:30.
2. Parents to help facilitate clean up.
3. Healthy snacks to sell. I would REALLY like to NOT do popcorn. It turns into a huge mess. If you have great ideas, I'm open to suggestions.

Second is a Christmas Tree Sale. A Cascade family has recently purchased a house with property that contains a Christmas Tree farm. They did not intent to have a tree lot but decided that if 8th grade would come and help work it for the weekend, they would open it for one weekend and give us 50% of the proceeds. We will work the stand the weekend of December 7th and 8th. I intend to have groups of 4 work 4 hour shifts. Each group will help people find a tree, help them tie it on (if they're tall enough), and work the bake sale table. We get 100% of any proceeds from the bake sale table. Please let me know if you have certain times that would work better for your student. We'll have flyers soon so families can ask family and friends to get their tree from us!

Buoyancy Lab

Today we completed our 9th science lab of the year. Students discovered how mass , surface area, and buoyancy are related. They also learned to use balance scales and graph their data. Students are more comfortable writing up science labs and using correct terminology for their topics.

Government Study Guide

This is the study guide for the Government test on Tuesday. Students are more than welcome to take notes in their history notebook on anything they are not sure of!

1. Name 5 different forms of government and explain each one. (ex. Democracy...)
2. What documents were essential to the forming of the United States?
3. Who was Thomas Pain, what did he write, and why was it important?
4. Who were the framers and what did they do?
5. Explain how the Constitution came to be and what it covers.
6. Name the parts of the Constitution.
8. How is the US government set up?
9. Name the three branches and tell what each does. What are the responsibilities of each branch?
10. Name the head of each branch.
11. Map how an idea becomes a law.
12. Identify the departments in the presidential cabinet and what they are in charge of.
13. How many levels of federal courts are there? What does each do?
14. How are Senators and Representatives chosen? How many of each are there?

Conferences

Date	Available Slot
10/30/2013 (Wed. 4:00PM - 4:30PM)	Wednesday   Kayla
10/30/2013 (Wed. 4:30PM - 5:00PM)	Wednesday   Tianna
10/31/2013 (Thu. 4:00PM - 4:30PM)	Thursday   Kevin
10/31/2013 (Thu. 4:30PM - 5:00PM)	Thursday   Gretel
11/1/2013 (Fri. 8:30AM - 9:00AM)	Friday   Mary Catherine Albanese
11/1/2013 (Fri. 9:00AM - 9:30AM)	Friday   Colleen
11/1/2013 (Fri. 9:30AM - 10:00AM)	Friday   Kash
11/1/2013 (Fri. 10:00AM - 10:30AM)	Friday   Avery
11/1/2013 (Fri. 10:30AM - 11:00AM)	Friday   Joell Hamersly
11/1/2013 (Fri. 11:00AM - 11:30AM)	Friday   Megan Dodson
11/1/2013 (Fri. 11:30AM - 12:00PM)	Friday   Scott
11/1/2013 (Fri. 1:00PM - 1:30PM)	Friday   Shak
11/1/2013 (Fri. 1:30PM - 2:00PM)	Friday     OPEN
11/1/2013 (Fri. 2:00PM - 2:30PM)	Friday   Evan
11/1/2013 (Fri. 2:30PM - 3:00PM)	Friday   OPEN
11/1/2013 (Fri. 3:00PM - 3:30PM)	Friday   Tanya Elkins
11/1/2013 (Fri. 3:30PM - 4:00PM)	Friday   John
11/1/2013 (Fri. 4:00PM - 4:30PM)	Friday   Jessica
11/1/2013 (Fri. 4:30PM - 5:00PM)	Friday   Kasha White

Out of Office

This weekend I will be in Tulsa, OK with my daughter, who will be playing in the USARS Derby National Championships. While I'm gone, business will carry on as usual at school.

Thursday and Monday Mrs. Ellis will be subbing for me. I have left her detailed plans which include lots of reading and time for court cases. There will still be math homework, Riggs, and a vocab test on Monday. I'm confident that my 8th graders will be model students and will take care of what needs to be done.

Chances are excellent that I won't be checking email very often. Feel free to text in case of emergency and I'll get back to you as I can.