Happy Birthday Ian! .....Off to the Congress Tournament!...Done with First Quarter!

Thursday and Friday were both hectic and busy in the suite as we began new units, finished up review for math, and began to delve more into science and history.

The Math Counts Team and the Novel Team are up and running and so far all the participants seem to be holding their own, getting work covered that they miss, and seem excited about their ventures into math and writing. We will continue to have the Math Team work with Coach Hassell on Thursdays from 1:00 to 2:00 and on Friday from 10:00 to 11:00 and will soon be adding extra math problem times with Mrs. Hartman and Mrs. Goers. Coach is currently working on speed drills, Mrs. Hartman and Mrs. Goers will work on problem strategies. After the Thanksgiving break we may add one day after school if we feel we need it.

The Novel Team is working on their beginning lessons, learning about voice, point of view, and what a novel actually does to transport a reader to another place and time. They will be working in their text books and workbooks primarily for the first 39 lessons, and then they move into writing their chapters. They will be working together every morning except Friday from 8:00 - 8:30. It is their responsibility to complete the missing work from vocabulary and Latin. So far they have accomplished that well.  If a scholar misses a lesson due to illness, or some other scheduling problem, he or she can come in at lunch recess and watch the DVD then.

Friday had a group of sixth graders working on their congress bills after school, and then heading out to Maeser Prep in Lindon for a Congress Tournament. It was a great experience as the two houses of Congress that we observed, Zeus and Hades, quite ironically ran their houses according to their names. Zeus was well run with mind provoking bills and excellent parliamentary procedures. On the other hand, Hades was poorly run, had students promoting bills that were ridiculous and non-essential, and the chair could not keep parliamentary procedure at all. The judges had to speak to the house and basically tell them how to run it. It was a very poor example, and good for our scholars to observe.

We stopped on our way home at the DQ in Centerville and compared our notes, talked about all of the bills we saw, and the huge discrepancies between the two houses. Over the weekend the scholars will put their notes together and hand them in on Monday in order to gain points for attending the tournament. THANK YOU to our parent drivers. Without your help we could not participate in these extra events!

Our Tournament will be upon us before we know it. I will be in need of at least 6 judges for our events that evening of the 15th. I will be training judges prior to the event. If you know of someone that is interested in Forensics, or has judged Forensics before, please pass on our information and have them contact me. I will be gathering a judge's list soon.
That evening we will also need at least 3 crockpot type meals for the judges and those of us running the tournament. I will be needing some parents to spend the evening with us to monitor the cafeteria holding room, and to sell concessions if we have other schools join us. I am hoping to have at least three other schools compete. I will update when I know more.

Report Cards will be started this weekend, but not handed out until I see you for conference. The new quarter will start on Monday. If you have not signed up for your conference please do so.

Many are asking about our first quarter field trip. It was cancelled due to communication that I needed from Weber State. Therefore I am trying to plan a trip this following week. If I can put it together I will need drivers. Please stay tuned! :)

Ian being "chaired" for his birthday! :)