Up and Running!

I know that RenWeb is keeping you up to date on assignments, but here is another snippet of what is happening in my classes...

7th Grade English: We are working on grammar.  We have mostly been reviewing grammar but have learned a few new concepts.  We shall see how well the work has sunken in after this Tuesday's assessment.  We just finished a novel and have already written two papers: a personal essay and a literary critique of sorts, both in the five paragraph essay format to reinforce supporting a three-point-thesis with specific evidences.  Our next literature unit (starting Monday) is on myths, legends, and folktales.   We have finished two vocabulary units and will continue working on vocab as well during this quarter.

7th Grade Bible: We finished the first unit, an overview of the Old Testament. Now we are on to Unit Two: The Nine Jewish Feasts.  Please see the handout and information given regarding the project that coincides with this unit.  It is so awesome to see how Christ is the fulfillment of each festival and feast!

8th Grade English: We finished our first literary work, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  We had so much fun with this drama; I think the students have fallen in love with Shakespeare.  They really understood the beautiful, and often silly, Shakespearean language.  We have an essay AND the first two vocabulary units under our belts, and we will complete another paper and two more vocab units before the quarter ends.  Our next literature unit  (starting Monday) is on Corrie TenBoom's The Hiding Place, The Diary of Anne Frank, and poetry from the Holocaust.  This will lead us into our Washington DC Trip where we will be visiting the Holocaust museum.  Additionally, the students will be writing research papers on one aspect of the Holocaust.  Of course we will also have continual grammar lessons throughout our literature units.  See RenWeb for assignments and tests/quiz dates.

8th Grade Bible:  We finished the first unit, The Early Church in the New Testament.  The class test average was a 91%, which is very high!  I joked that I would try to make the next assessment much more difficult.  We are currently working on the second unit in our curriculum: Themes of the New Testament.  As we look at the persecuted church, our hearts are filled with gratitude that we can openly talk about our Savior who loves us so much!  We have been having wonderfully deep conversations about theology and more complicated themes presented in Scripture.  Pray for our class through these topics as my only desire is to point them to Jesus and to a hunger for the Word of God.

I must confess...I took them out for recess...