Final Exams

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The eighth grade final exam for vocabulary will be on Tuesday, May 22nd.  The bulk of the exam will be on words from units 7-12.  There will be a few words from units 1-6; they will be presented in a “fill in the blank” format, and there will be a word bank from which to choose.

The eighth grade English exam will be on Thursday, May 24th.  For a copy of the study guide, please click Final Exam Study Guide .

All copies of previous tests that students have been storing in my room will be returned on Friday, May 11th.

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Capitalization Quiz

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The eighth grade has been reviewing capitalization rules during the last few weeks.  While most of them know the basic rules of capitalization, there are a few particulars that we needed to straighten out in our minds before heading on to high school next fall.  For example, did you know that seasons of the year (spring, summer, winter, fall) are not capitalized?  That was one common misconception.  Another common error students were making had to do with school subjects.   When writing sentences, the only school subjects that are capitalized are languages (English, Spanish, German, etc.).

We will be taking a ten-question quiz on Wednesday, March 16th.  The quiz will be multiple choice.   All notes on capitalization have been taken, and we will continue to review in class.

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Seventh Grade Verb Test

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The seventh grade will be taking their test on verbs on Tuesday, May 16th.  They were given the information on what each of the four sections of the test would be on Monday, May 7th.  Just in case this information wasn’t copied into the student’s notebook, the four sections are as follows:

  • A section with an irregular verb chart.  This is similar to the quiz taken earlier, but it will be much shorter.
  • A section with the base form of the verb written before a sentence.  Students read the sentence, and fill in the blank with the correct form of the given verb.  The four verb forms (principal parts of verbs) are base, present participle, past, and past participle.
  • A section where students have to read a sentence and identify the verb as being in either active or passive voice.
  • A section where students have to read a sentence and decide if the verb(s) being used is(are) correct or incorrect.

No new information has been presented since May 3rd.  Students should have already begun studying.  Twenty minutes each night for a week is a much more effective way of learning material than spending two hours the night before.  The time commitment is the same, but the students will be much more likely to retain the information if they do not “cram” the night before.

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Journals ~ Due 5/11/12

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

Choose four topics from the list below for your journal this week.  We have several topics to choose from because they came from your suggestions!  This group of ideas came from the students in Ms. Geary’s homeroom.

Each topic must be written on a clean page in your composition notebook with the date written at the top of the page.  Please be sure each entry is at least four sentences in length.  Journals are due Friday, May 11.

  1. Should cigarettes be illegal?  Why or why not?
  2. Now that you are a teen, what do you miss most about being a kid?  Explain WHAT you miss and WHY you miss it.
  3. If you could have changed ONE thing at St. Regis this year, what would it have been?  Why would you have wanted that one thing changed?
  4. “The Avengers” comes out tomorrow – if you could have one superpower, what would it be?
  5. If you  could change your name, would you want to?  Why or why not?  If you could change it, what would your new name be?
  6. If you could live anywhere in the world you wanted, where would it be and why?
  7. Have you ever been in love? (I told the author that I wasn’t sure if anyone would answer this one… we’ll see…)  Explain.
  8. List your five favorite songs by title and artist.
  9. How are you a miracle?
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Active and Passive Voice; Verbs Often Confused

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The seventh grade did several exercises designed to help them remember all the irregular verbs – I’m sure “Irregular Verb BINGO” was their favorite!

We also studied verbs in both active (action being done by subject) and passive (action being done to subject) voice.  There will be a quiz on active and passive voice verbs on Tuesday, May 8th.  I usually try to keep quiz dates closer to the actual lessons, but we have no school on Friday, May 4th, and Thursday, May 3rd is we are celebrating the National Day of Prayer, so that pushes the quiz back to the next week.

Next week we will be looking at verbs that are confusing because they have similar spellings and meanings.  Those verbs are sit/set; lie/lay; and rise/raise.  We will learn which verbs are correct in sentences according to meaning and use.  Those are the last new topics in the unit.  Students should expect a test on verbs sometime during the week of May 14 – May 18.  “Irregular Verb BINGO” will probably make a return appearance that week as well…

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Final Draft of Research Paper

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The students received their drafts of research papers in class today.  We spoke about how to correctly follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) format for citing sources in parentheses.  This skill is critical as your sons/daughters move on to high school next year.  They will need to know how to follow a prescribed format, as well as how to correctly cite outside sources in their writing.  Most of the high schools use online submission services that are designed to find out if their writing matches previously published works.  It is okay if some of it matches, AS LONG AS IT IS CITED CORRECTLY!

The rubric being used to grade the assignment has been posted under the “Research Paper Info” tab at the top left of the page.

The final copy is due Wednesday, May 9th. 

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Verbs and Irregular Verb Quiz

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The seventh grade has finished its study of pronoun cases and is now taking a closer look at verbs.  We will be studying the four principal parts of verbs (these are the four forms that are used for all verb tenses), with close attention paid to irregular verbs.  Then we will look at which principal parts of verbs form six of the verb tenses.  We will wrap up by differentiating between active and passive voice verbs.

Our first quiz in this unit will be on April 27th, and it will cover the spellings of many irregular verb forms.  Any of the verbs found on pages 223 – 226 in the yellow and purple charts could be on this quiz.

In this unit, any misspelled verb is considered to be an incorrect answer!

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Journal Topics ~ Due April 20th

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

Choose four topics from the list below for your journal this week.  We have several topics to choose from because they came from your suggestions!  This group of ideas came from the students in Mrs. Shawver’s homeroom.

Remember to put each new entry on a separate page with the date written at the top, and each entry still needs to be at least four sentences in length.

  1. Who is your favorite professional athlete?  Why do you admire him/her so much?
  2. Who would you say is the MOST important person in your life right now?  Give at least three reasons why this person is so important to you.
  3. If you had won the Mega Millions jackpot that was more than a half a billion dollars, what would you have done with all that money?
  4. Your eighth grade year is almost over.  Are you ready for it to end?  Why or why not?
  5. You have been a student for more than eight years, and you have learned from a variety of teachers.  Who was your favorite teacher – give at least three reasons for your answer.
  6. Who was your least favorite teacher – give at least three reasons for your answer.
  7. When you watch TV, do you watch the commercials, or do you skip over them?  Why do you choose to watch/not watch?
  8. If you have already been on your Confirmation retreat, what was your favorite part? (If you are going on the retreat later this month, please choose another topic!)
  9. Do you think the legal driving age should stay at 16, or should it be raised to either 18 or 21?  Give at least three reasons for your choice.

 

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Extended Vacation Work Grade 8

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

Here is a list of assignments (book) and .pdf files (worksheets) for students who left before vacation began or returned after it was over.  This post will be updated with each new assignment, so if you are missing more than one day, be sure to check back.  You are responsible to complete and turn in all work you missed while you were gone!

Checked Thursday 3/29 – Review C (pages 215 – 216) and Review E (page 219).  Complete sentences must be written for all answers!

Assigned/Checked Friday 3/30 – Subject verb agreement worksheets: click on sv agreement one and sv agreement two to print copies to complete.

Checked Monday 4/10 – Vocabulary Unit 10

Assigned Tuesday 4/10 – Vocabulary sentence sheet.  Click  vocab sentence sheet unit 10 to print a copy to complete.

Assigned Wednesday, 4/11 – Take notes on pages 219 – 221, agreement of pronouns with antecedents.  Exercise 12 was assigned; it is due on 4/12.  See the notes in Powerschool for directions and an example.

Assigned Thursday, 4/12 – Review F on page 223.  See notes in Powerschool for directions.  This assignment is due on 4/13.

Checked Friday 4/13 – Review F.  We also reviewed collective nouns and did another sheet for the memory book.   This memory book sheet must be turned in!  Journals werre passed back, and the new topics have been posted under “Grade 8 Journal Topics.”  If you do your journals on loose leaf, you can cut and glue them into your journal when you return.

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Pronoun Test and Extended Vacation Work

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Mrs. Geary

The seventh grade has finished their study of pronouns.  They know the difference between nominative, objective, and possessive case.  The have learned when to use “who” and when to use “whom” even though we don’t commonly use “whom” in conversation or writing.  We learned how to figure out whether to use “us” or “we” as an appositive.

The test will be on Friday, April 13.  If students are taking an extended vacation, it is their job to log into their Powerschool accounts to stay caught up on any reviews they will miss.  If there are any handouts/worksheets, they will be attached to this post as given, so please check back here if your vacation goes beyond the school vacation schedule.

  • On March 29th, Review D was assigned.  It starts on page 259 and continues on page 260.  Write full sentences, and choose the correct pronoun(s) from the parentheses to use in your sentences – be careful!  Some are tricky!
  • On April 10th, the chapter review was assigned.  It starts on page 261 and continues on page 262.  You are to write full sentences for # 1 – 15 and # 31 – 45.  For 31 – 45, if the sentence is correct, just copy it exactly as it appears in the book.  You will SKIP sentences 16 – 30 and 46 – 50.
  • On April 11th, we typed business letters in the computer lab.  Upon your return, get your letter from Ms. Geary, and you will need to type it at home.
  • On April 12, we reviewed for tomorrow’s test.  You will need to turn in your notebook to have work checked in after you take your test.
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