In first period language arts, we are continuing to work on narrative essays. Students filled out story maps which included characters, setting and plot. We discussed and practiced how to write a "attention getting" introduction to their story. Through out the rest of the week we will be working in class on the rough and final drafts. After the holiday break, we will focus on parts of speech, specifically adjectives. Learning and reviewing adjectives will help improve our creative writing.

In reading third period, we are working from a new series called "Inside." This series incorporates and focuses on specific reading skills and genres in each story. We started the series with natural disasters. Last week we read about Hurricane Katrina, this week we reading about earthquakes. After the holiday break we will take the first week to read and discuss volcanoes. After we finish the last story, we will take a quiz on the vocabulary covered in the unit and comprehension of the stories.

In 8th period math, we are staring our second week on fractions. We have worked on equivalent fractions, ordering and finding the greatest common factors. This week we are reducing fraction to lowest terms. After the holiday break, the class will add and subtract fractions with common denominators.