Academic Team Notes and Other News Items

Congratulations to our Academic Team on their win last week!! I'm so proud of them and their hard work.
Our Team has two away matches to finish out the season; this week against Adairville and on Tuesday, December 15th against Olmstead. Thanks for continuing to support our team.
Santa's Workshop begins this week, make plans to attend and see possible "goodies" availble.
Good Luck to our Basketball Teams as they head into their Thursday games.
Our last day of school before Winter Break is Friday, December 18th.
Enjoy the time off and come back ready to go in January!

The Flu has not been kind to us in the Pryor household these past two weeks! First my son and then I came down with it too. If you have had misfortune to catch the flu then you know what I mean. One good outcome has been to think and reflect on how our year is going. We are having a very good year but still need to keep our focus on content and make sure all assignments are completed!
6th Grade has created some fantastic "Found" poems and I invite all to stroll on down our hall to view them. As of today, I only have 6A posted but by Friday Afternoon, I hope to have 6B posted too.
7th Grade continues to analyze short stories and write their own. I'm looking forward to reading the ones written in my absence.
Special thanks to Mr. Swatzell for taking over my classes- a long way from science but I'm sure had no trouble! lol

Upcoming events:

Our first Academic Match is next Tuesday, Nov. 10 at Chandler's. We play Lewisburg and it should be exciting to start the new season!! Mrs. Paula tells me our buzzer system is up and running (thanks a million!!) and so we should be ready to go.

Rachel's Challenge is coming up on November 17th, please don't miss this special opportunity to hear this message. I look forward to seeing you there.

Again, thanks for all the well wishes during my absence.

Well, we have made it to the final week before Fall Break begins!! Students have been working hard and it is so enjoyable to see kids writing and wanting to share their writing in our classes.



Monday is purple and white day- to support our Volleyball Team in tournament so make sure you come dressed in those colors on Monday.



GO BEARS!!!!!



Wednesday is the date for the Academic Tryouts - remember from 3 to 4pm in my room and please have your "pick up arrangements" made to be picked up timely at 4pm. Study those questions and turn in your questionnaire if you haven't already done so. Good Luck to each of you.

September 24th is Picture day- don't wear green- just smile for the camera:)



I want to give a special thanks to 6A for a great day on Friday. We were together a long time while 8th graders took their EXPLORE test and you behaved wonderfully for the duration.



Congratulations to all who helped raise the $$ for Dalton! I love those hat creations. lol.



Let's stay focused this week and finish all of our work so we can enjoy those two weeks we have off.

See you in class.

Routines are a Good Thing!

As we come to the mid-point in our first nine weeks of school, routines are falling into place and we seem to know our schedules, specials classes and most importantly the routine of running an effective classroom. Thanks to all of my students who are giving 110 percent!
Progress reports will be going home on Tuesday of this week, so please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Family Night is Tuesday evening of this week too and we have some cool activities planned for the middle school wing. Our focus will be on France and Japan. Did you know that Mrs. Brooks was born in France?? Pretty cool.
Please remember to turn in your registration and $$ for Grandparent's Day by September 3rd.
Also each Friday in September is Hat day for $1.00. We are supporting Dalton Lockhart in this fundraiser.
The last bit of news is to remind my homeroom class that our theme basket (voted on by the majority of the class) will be John Deere theme. Please start collecting items now for our Fall Festival basket. Mrs. Laughter and I will have the goldfish game again this year but it will be in my room!! Start practicing your throwing skills now.
Thanks for a great start to our new school year.

I can't think of a better opening blog than to say:
Congratulations to the Logan County Little League Team on their major win and wish them the best at the World Series!! Ian and the team played a great game. I don't usually watch baseball but this was one cool game.
We have had a few busy weeks at school, settling into our schedules, learning each other's names and of course when to go to the locker and when to not stop. I'm very happy to say my classes are well behaved and the new 6th graders are an awesome bunch!
My 7th graders are mostly returning students from last year with a few pleasant surprises and they are a fantastic class!
We have GRADE testing on Monday and Tuesday of this week, so please encourage students in my classes to rest, eat a good breakfast and do their best on the test.
Thanks again to all of my students for making the start of this 2009/2010 year the best!! Sixth graders please note: I wrote the correct year this time (not 2019!!) ha- ha
See you in class.
Mrs. P.

CATS READY!

As we head into the last couple of weeks before our CATS testing begins, I want to remind students and parents to:

• rest (at home),
• review (at school), and
• be ready (for testing!).

We will be GRADE testing in my classes this week and it is really important for students to do their best on the GRADE test. Since our CATS testing format is changing, our GRADE results becomes more important and will give us information that can affect your reading needs next year.

Other Reminders:

Monday is Chandler's night at Fox's Pizza- enjoy a night out!

Academic Team Members and Families: Academic reception is on Tuesday(April 21) of this week. We hope to see each of you there!

In closing, let's make the best of these two weeks and be prepared for our testing.

Snow in April?? We must be in Kentucky!!

Well, the end of Spring Break and I just finished my first online "chat" with a group of fellow writers! So many of you may have already participated in a live chat but this was indeed a first for me. I found I couldn't type as fast as I wanted to talk and then at one point...I was to shy to give a response. Can you imagine me being shy?? Believe it. In fact, my teacher asked if I was still online. I explained I was thinking and he just encouraged and prodded me to jump back in the conversation. It was so neat!! I think we should try this as a class project- maybe we can do this after we wrap up our CATS testing.
Yes, we are fast approaching that time again. Since the changes in the CATS assessment have begun this year, we are in a transitional time but we can't let our guard down. We still need to be prepared and we will be reviewing over the next few weeks in preparation for our testing in May.
Eight Graders will be taking a field trip to the Frist Museum in Nashville later this week (Thursday to be exact- make sure you have turned in your permission form please!). We will be viewing Medieval artworks- I'm looking forward to our trip.
Seventh Graders will continue to complete their portfolios because we need to finish projects we begin and good writers always finish their work! We will also begin small group/literature circles of novels- the groups choice from a selection. It will be interesting to see why groups pick the novel of choice.
Sixth Graders we continue to write personal narratives- I really enjoy these- it's always intersting to read your writing and we will begin a new novel later in the week.
I hope each of you rested, read and enjoyed your break from school.
See you on Monday- with snow and all!
Mrs. Pryor

Wow! Can you believe the last week of weather? How much ice did you receive? While we were fortunate in Auburn, we still have several limbs that have fallen. We lost electricity for a few hours but that was all. I drove to Morgantown over the weekend and the number of limbs and trees that were still down indicated the severity of the ice storm.
Well, now back to school and the business of learning. Sixth graders continue to read Bridge to Terabitha and we continue to see the development of the two main characters. It seems to me I discover something new every time I read this novel. I hope you are enjoying it too. Seventh graders we have a LOT of work ahead of us. We are about one week behind on portfolios and so our time crunch begins. We have to choose our final pieces this week and begin conferences along with revisions and then write your final portfolio piece- a reflection. Our goal is to be complete (or very, very close) by Spring Break. Let's focus and really work hard over the next few weeks. Along with portfolios, we are also trying to finish Heartbeat. I wonder...do you connect more with Annie or Max? We will discuss this in our next class.
Eight Graders (8C) we had an awesome analysis discussion of painting on Monday and I hope you can regain that momentum when we return. We were just beginning to discuss and analyze Chagall's painting when the bell rang. I was VERY impressed with your vocabulary and observations. Keep up the good work!
Last but not least, I just want to thank all of those who helped with Governor's Cup which Chandler's hosted. I heard so many compliments on our school, staff and students - I was so proud for us. This event would not have been as successful without the helping hand of everyone. Parents, your kids worked so hard and we have five who will be competing at the Regional Governor's Cup in a couple of weeks. Thanks to your support of your child and our Academic Team.

Wow! Congratulations to 6A for winning the Recycling name challenge!! I'm so proud of you for entering the contest and working as a team in the classroom. Can you believe we have been back in school for almost a week?? I have been looking for those promised snow showers but have yet to see any.

We have begun reading Bridge to Terabithia- one of my favorite books. Katherine Patterson, the author, is able to create relationships with the characters and connect with the reader so well. We will also have a couple of "surprises" as we read our novel in class. If you have watched the new video just remember- the book is different (better to me) than the movie.

The Academic Team prepares for our Governor's Cup on January 24th and we are hosting the event this year. We will be asking for volunteer help throughout the day and several of our Chandler's staff and students are already preparing to help us make this a great experience for the visiting schools!

7th Graders are preparing for the final push to create Proficient and Distinguished Writing Portfolios and over the next two-three months they will be working very hard. They are an awesome bunch and we are excited about their writing.

As you can see, we are gearing up for a busy January, thanks again for all who are giving 100 percent.