English Class Newsletter

About a month ago, I attended conferences for my young children at their daycare. Although

I have been conducting conferences as a teacher for 15 years, the experience was entirely dif-

ferent for me as a parent. During the conference for my oldest, who is now a kindergartener,

I learned so much about what was going on in her classroom, as well as the “sight words” she

should know by now. I had no idea there were weekly sight words! On top of that, my daugh-

ter did not know them all. At that moment, I realized how difficult it is to know everything

that is going on in your child’s life at school. It is even more difficult I am sure, when your

child is in middle school and sees 7-10 teachers throughout the day. With that in mind, I de-

cided to put together this newsletter, with the help of your children, to hopefully connect you

with English class on Team Eagles. Hopefully you enjoy it! Happy reading!

The titles of the units of study so far this year are below. Each page of the newsletter re-

flects information about that unit.

Unit 1: Building Community

Unit 2: Facing Challenges

Unit 3: Poetry

Unit 4: Stand Tall and The Adventures of Ulysses

Unit 5: The 8 parts of Speech

Unit 6: Edgar Allan Poe

Building Community—Unit I

The first unit of the school year was dedicated to building a classroom community. Students

were engaged in activities that helped them get to know one another. These activities includ-

ed the Action Name Game, writing letters of introduction, Me in a Bag presentations, and

writing zines on ‘How to Survive the First Days of Middle School’!

A sample zine is below.

Many of the zines kids wrote this year were selected to be a part of Bucks County’s traveling

Art Mobile!

Facing Challenges—Unit II

In our English classes, the first unit we learned was themed Facing Challenges. In this

unit we read a short story about Stacy Allison, who wanted to be the first woman to

reach the peak of Everest. We also read “All Summer in a Day,” by Ray Bradbury. In this

story, kids were going to school on Venus and facing the challenge of life with no sun!

For one activity, we walked around the school with iPads to take pictures and demon-

strate examples of one of the three points of view (the first person point of view( I,

Me), the second point of view (You), and third point of view (He, She, They). We also

took pictures of the types of literary conflict which are person vs person, person vs.

self, person vs. supernatural, person vs. nature, and person vs. society. We continue to

learn new things each day and every day is a new adventure in learning.

Written by Kennedy Kuechler

Poetry—Unit III

One important unit students learned so far this year was the poetry unit. The unit began with students reading many different poems. Then there was a poetry recital where students had to memorize a poem and recite in front of the class. Overall the recital was a great experience. Next, students were taught two different types of poems. The first was the Ode. Ode poems are written as a tribute to a particular person or object. Then students learned about Narrative po-ems. Narrative poems are used to tell a story using first person. Poems like that do not need to follow a rhythm. The students also wrote both of the poems using different poetic devices and figurative language, such as personification, alliteration, simile, different rhythm patterns, or any other learned in class. Then at the end of the unit, after becoming decent poem writers, came the test. The test included multiple choice, short answers, identifying what was in a poem, and matching. Written by Madison Parillo

Sample Ode written in class:

The Land of Bears

By: Madison Parrillo

The rocks go SNAP, CRACKLE, and

POP

like rice krispies

As we pull into the campground

My mom shifts the gears to park

We all jump out

After driving forever

CLICK

The trunk opens up

Our equipment jumps out

The wood ignites

We unfold our chairs

Pull on our coats

and roast marshmallows

And begin laughing and singing

The laughs are loud

The singing is so off key

But we don’t care

Out in the land of bears

Hot chocolate boils

Ready to be drank

We crank down the heat

Pour it in our mugs

And chug, chug, chug

After so many hours

We run out of power

The wood burns out

And that was just the beginning of

wonderful camping trip

Poetry Unit-Continued

Narrative Poem written in class:

“Almost late”

By Jon Goodwin

The hallways begin to empty

People disappear into classrooms

But not me

My locker was jammed

When I finally get my stuff,

I realize the hallways are vacant

Void of human life

I begin my mad sprint

Across the school

Dreading the moment

When the bell screams my name

Finally I see the room

I swing the door open

Just as the bell rings

Yes! I made it-

Oh, wait…

Wrong classroom.

Students read and analyzed the following

poems in class this year:

“Dreams” and “Dream Deferred” by Lang-

ston Hughes

“Flint” by Christina Rosetti

“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe

“Guest House” by Rumi

“The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by

Tupac Shakur

“One Inch Tall” by Shel Silverstein

“Taste III Leopard” by Diana Ackerman

“Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanca

“Restless” by Dorothy Bettencourt Elf-

strom

“You Can't Write a Poem about McDon-

ald's” by Ronald Wallace

“The Little Stuff ” by John Bressler

“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Various limericks by Edward Lear

“Hands” by Daniel Beatty

“Knock Knock” by Sarah Kay

“Equestrian Fiasco”

“The Lie” by Donald Graves

“Papa’s Fishing Hole” by Elisabeth D. Babin

The Adventures of Ulysses—Unit IV (Honors English)

One of my favorite topics we have done so far was when we read The Adventures of Ulysses. When we start-

ed this in November, I wasn’t too interested because I knew a lot about Greek and Roman Myths. When we

finished, I really liked it! First of all, we used Google Classroom. We got assigned a packet, and we had to fill it

out. It had its ups and downs, but it worked out. Eventually. Each day, we had a question we had to answer.

For example: “If you could see your future, would you or would you not? Why?” We would then discuss it,

and we all had a different point of view. We also had to read (Duh. It’s a book!) Mrs. Donmoyer let us read

with a partner sometimes. Once we were about halfway through the book, we took an oral exam. An oral ex-

am is where you are asked a question, and instead of writing the answer, you say it. I think it was practice for

a job interview, but that’s none of my business. At the end, we took a test. We had to write an essay saying

one character trait that Ulysses had, and say why. Some people said Heroic, or Determined, but if you don’t

know the story, you wouldn’t get it. So I hope you enjoy…

Daniel’s really quick guide to…

THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES!

So, after the Trojan War, Ulysses and his crew went home. On the way home, they meet Polyphemus, a cy-

clops. Ulysses outsmarts him, but then gets cursed by Polyphemus’ dad Poseidon, god of water and fish and

stuff. So… adventure! He gets to the island of Circe, where his crew gets turned into pigs. Ulysses stops her.

Ulysses: 1 Curse: 0. He gets to this strait of water, where there is a giant squid that eats boats and this squid

bird thing and each are on either sides of the water. He wins again. He meets Calypso, he almost died, 15

times. So he eventually makes it back to his home, and he gets to see his wife again. THE END.

Daniel’s book reviews- ***** “A great book. I loved it!”

Written by, Daniel Shiloh

(Who did you think?)

Stand Tall by Joan Bauer—Academic English

In November we read the book Stand Tall. This book is about the life

struggle of a boy named Tree. You might think that “Tree” is an odd

name for a person, but he got the name because he is very tall ( 6ft 4in).

He later finds out that his parents are splitting up. In the end, he figures

out how to deal with it.

Later in the unit, we had an oral exam. Mrs. Donmoyer took us one by

one and asked us three questions to test our understanding of the book.

After that, we had a written test that was about thirty questions. We also

wrote an essay. The unit took about three weeks.

In my opinion, this book was a 4 out of 5 star book!

Written by Cailey Hiscox

Parts of Speech—Unit V

In December students learned the eight parts of speech. This

was a very difficult unit that involved a lot of work! Students

learned nouns, adjectives, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections,

verbs, adverbs, and prepositions.

In The Spotlight

2016 Grammar Gurus!

These students earned this year’s Grammar Guru

awards for their exceptional achievements during the

Parts of Speech unit!

The Eight Parts of Speech—continued

Now that all 8 parts of speech have been learned, students are able to identify the

Parts of Speech in a sentence. Each poster below has all 8 parts of speech in it.

Test your knowledge. What is the part of speech of the underlined word?

1. The boy ran toward the house.

A. verb B. noun C. adjective D. pronoun

2. Love is something we celebrate on Valentine’s Day.

A. verb B. adverb C. preposition D. noun

3. Soon it is time to get ready for spring!

A. verb B. adverb C. adjective E. conjunction

4. The furry rabbit was on the boat.

A. preposition B. verb C. noun D. adverb

Which is correct, I or me?

5. The teacher gave the gift to Bobby and ( I , me ).

6. Can Tori and ( I, me) go to the library after school?

For answers see last page.

Edgar Allan Poe—Unit VI

Currently we are reading stories and poems written by famed author Edgar Allan Poe. These

tales are cryptic, dark, and sometimes even horrifying! Students have studied the language

used by Poe in his tales through vocabulary exercises, and students will further discuss Poe’s

brilliance and madness in essays. Grammar study continues in this unit, with particular atten-

tion being paid to the various sentence types. Students will also be reworking and identifying

run-ons and fragments, as well as identifying subjects and predicates.

Riley Schaffer had the opportunity to visit the famous Poe house in Baltimore! See be-

low.

This newsletter is only able to highlight some of the great work com-

pleted by students so far this year in English class. There is much more

in their writing folders and binders to share! Please look through the

writing folders to see the great work. Also, please encourage your child

to hang on to his or her Parts of Speech packet for eighth grade Eng-

lish. It will come in handy all year long!

Parts of Speech answers:

1. B

2. D

3. B

4. A

5. me

6. I