What a great graduation party Friday night. Thanks to Ms. Ramondo, Ms. Bosch, Ms. Fitch, Ms. Arrowsmith and Ms. Konvanlinka and all our great parents. (Ahem.)



Now onto the real thing, graduation, on Wednesday. It's all gravy from here. (Look up the reference.)

Congratulations to all those who tried out for speeches and those who made it to the big event.
Practice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Have a great weekend. Rest up for your last week of middle school.

Almost there. One work day left!

And is it really work? Last essay completed. Most everyone turned in books. Speeches very nearly completed. Collected finished work and took home to show our proud parents.

Settle any grade sheet disputes Thursday. Bring food to share and celebrate a great year in 8th grade English. Go Bears. Go Panthers.

Congratulations. Almost.

Handed back grade sheets. Check over and settle disputes/discrepancies with me by Thursday.

Began work on in-class essay about yourself. Finish in class on Weds. Not homework.

PLEASE RETURN ALL BOOKS: SPELLING, LITERATURE, WRITE SOURCE.

Hope you all had a great, three-day weekend and are so ready to graduate!

Please turn in (bring to class) all your textbooks ASAP.

The Write Source, literature textbook, and spelling book.

Thank you.

Wednesday speeches:
2nd period -- Luke, Becca, Kyra, Marlen, Jordan, Khiana, Travis, Angela, Cassidy, John
4th period -- Miles, Sam L, Devyn, Tristan, Kyndall, Chris M, Ryan, Rene
5th period -- Kirsha, Stephen, Parker, Shannin, Bruce, Kelly Dylan

HW: Thursday, BOP: Last novel response

Graduation Speeches began today, and they were great! Thanks to the brave ones who were first.

If you were scheduled for Monday and were absent, expect to go on Tuesday. Otherwise, be ready on your scheduled day.

Tuesday speeches:
2nd period -- Sarah, Tanner, Ricky, Nia, Natalie, Kyra, Mariana, Luke, Becca, John
4th period -- Jacob, Heather, Caitie, Sarah, Sam F., Sean, Yesenia
5th period -- Joe, Colette, Ry, Will, Kaya, Amanda, Avi, Eric, Stefan, Jonah, Vicki, Kirsha

Wednesday speeches:
2nd period -- Marlen, Jordan, Khiana, Travis, Angela, Cassidy
4th period -- Miles, Sam L, Devyn, Tristan, Kyndall, Chris M, Ryan, Rene
5th period -- Stephen, Parker, Shannin, Bruce, Kelly Dylan

HW: Thursday, BOP: Last novel response

Speech presentation begins Monday.

Please read over comments from your peers and me. Be prepared. Two to four minutes. Delivered, not read. Notecards okay. Your choice how many you use. Remember your audience.

Second partner/peer edit of graduation speech. Different form.

Read and commented on, in writing. Then, each of us performed speech for the other, and graded each other, using the same rubric that will be used next week.

Handed in drafts to me. I will return on Friday, with some comments to help.

Speeches start Monday. See board for schedule.

Speech work, continued.

We traded rough drafts and did very thorough peer edits on each other's work on the graduation speech.

Final drafts are due BOP on Thursday. Please be ready with your final draft so that you can participate as both writer and editor.

We will draw names to see who gives their speech on which days, beginning Monday, May 18.

Word-of-the-Day: commencement (n) a beginning; a start; a ceremony at which degrees are awarded. Gaby's 8th grace commencement speech was so inspired that a book editor offered her a contract to write about high school life.

Five minutes, write about Great America. Checked writer's notebooks. Last check. Good for up to 15 points.

Worked on rough draft of graduation speech. Due Tuesday, BOP. Ready to peer edit, in class.

Final draft due Thursday. For one more peer edit.

We finished all the STAR tests! Yeah.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we worked on speeches, stressing the unique, focusing on the details, examples, and events that will make ours standout.

Filled out personal experiences handout. Traded with a partner. Have them select the most interesting detail. Then, return it to you. Write a paragraph!

Completed Part 1 of Math STAR test. Weds. is Math Part 2.
No 2nd or 5th period on Tuesday.

4th period English same as Monday.

Completed Part 2 of Language Arts STAR test. On Tuesday, Part 1 of Math.

2nd and 5th periods only:
Finished "Spellbound." Wrote for 10 minutes, taking point of view of one of the competitors.

Graduation speeches. The work begins. Today we brainstormed ideas. Guidelines handed out.
Speech topics due Weds. Rough draft of speech due Tues., May 12. Final draft due Thurs., May 14.

No 4th period on Monday.

Everyone completed Part 1 of the Language Arts STAR Test on Thursday. Part 2 is on Monday. Rest. Power up with orange juice and a good breakfast.


We watched Spellbound, a documentary that follows the lives of eight young Americans who share one goal: to win the national spelling bee. Spellbound is also a movie about competition, about families, about first-generation Americans, about kids with learning disabilities, about tolerance, and about cultural and economic diversity.

On Monday, we will write about the movie.

We will also begin work on 8th grade graduation speeches, which everyone has to do in front of their class. You can then tryout before a panel of your peers and teachers to present your speech at graduation.