Good Afternoon,

Several news items to share -

• 7th grade students will be going to see the fall play at the high school on Thursday morning.  A $5 fee has been added to your school fees for this.  All  7th grade students will attend.  
• Today is the first day of a new grading period.  It is a fresh start in many ways.  Report cards will be issued later this week.  
• Thanksgiving break is next week.  No school on November 22, 23, 24.  
• Today I introduced a new plan to work on some grammar skills in class.  It is a program called NoRedInk.  I have set up pretests in many different grammar skills for students.  If a student scores 80% or above on the pretest, I will record the grade and they are finished with that skill.  If a student scores below 80%, they will have to do some practice skills and take a post test.  Explanations and mini-lessons are provided within the practice skills.  And, of course, I am here as an additional resource.  One problem I see with students is that they just click through things and do not stop to read the explanation.  This is not helping them understand and learn.  Students can choose what order to work on the skills.  For most students, they must complete 7 skills this trimester (and 7 in the last trimester).  Each skill will be recorded as a 20 point grade.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this.  
• We continue to work on iLit to help us with our reading/writing skills.  Some students are several weeks behind on this program.  Unfortunately, even though it is a new grading period, I cannot fast forward students to the current week.  They still have to complete the work for the previous weeks but now they no longer get credit for it because the grading period has ended.  Students were warned about this ahead of time.  
• Please try to have a time and place for your student to work on homework each night.  There is ALWAYS homework.  Even if there is nothing written that must be turned in, notes can be reviewed.  Reading is a skill that should be practiced daily and all students should be doing some reading in their free time each evening.  

Have a wonderful week. 

Good Afternoon,

Just a reminder that the first trimester ends on Friday, November 10.  Any missing work needs to be completed by that date to receive credit.  My grades are current as of noon today.  Also, we have a vocabulary quiz in my class on Friday.  Assignments in iLit should be completed through week 8 by Friday. 

Good Afternoon,

This morning in our EL class we did a listening activity about the history of Halloween and how the celebration came to this country.  Ask your son or daughter what he or she learned.

A couple important reminders -

• 2 hour delay tomorrow (11-1)
• No school next Tuesday (11-7)
• Vocabulary Quiz in EL Class next Friday (11-10)
• End of Trimester next Friday (11-10) - This one is VERY IMPORTANT!  Several students are missing some assignments in my class and in other classes.  In my class if they are not turned in by next Friday, they become zeros and cannot be turned in for a grade later.  Most of the grades in my EL class come from the iLit program that we are using and from the vocabulary quizzes.  If students are behind in iLit (they should have completed everything through week 7 by this Friday), they need to spend some time at home getting caught up.  

Please double check with your student to see that he or she has all of the required school supplies.  This includes ear buds of some sort that will work with the Chromebooks.  These are often needed in class and students should have them in their pencil bags so that they are always prepared.  

Thank you for your support and encouragement of your student!  It is very important that students know that their parents value education and expect them to try their best.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at debra_skarsten@plsd.us or call the school at 614-830-2200.  

Have a great day!

Good Afternoon,

I hope that all of you are receiving the Tuesday newsletters from Mrs. Bertke, our principal.  They are sent via email to the address listed on Infinite Campus.  If you are not receiving them, please check your email information on IC.  If there is an error or something that needs added or changed, please let the office know. 

Tomorrow is our Panther Prowl.  This is a new event this year and a way that the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) is trying to raise money for student events in the school.  All students and teachers will be walking around the track 2 times in the morning during first period.  Students are encouraged to wear shirts/hats from their favorite sports teams if they wish.  If it is raining, we will walk inside during that time.  Please dress appropriately. 

As always, please make sure you are checking your student's grades in IC regularly.  8th grade English has a 5 paragraph essay due on Thursday.  This is 50% of the grade for this grading period (district policy).  7th grade will be writing their essay next week.  A great deal of practice has gone in to this to try to help students be successful. 

Thank you to those of you who came to Parent Teacher Conferences.  This is always a helpful time for parents, teachers and students to talk and make sure that we are all doing the best we can to help each student be his/her best.  If you were unable to come to conferences, (or even if you did come to conferences) please feel free to email teachers any time if you have a questions or concerns. 

Have a great day!

WINTER SPORTS PRE-SEASON MEETING

Any student interested in playing a winter sport, there will be a mandatory pre-season athletic meeting THIS Wednesday, October 18th at 6:00pm in the gym at Lakeview Junior High. The meeting will cover OHSAA and PLSD eligibility rules and regulations.

If you attended the Fall pre-season meeting you DO NOT need to attend.

At 6:30pm you will have an opportunity to meet your head coach and receive information on open gyms, tryout dates, and schedules. We look forward to seeing you on the 18th!

Good Afternoon Parents and Caregivers,

Some news to be aware of for this week -

• Interim grades were posted for students on Friday.  If you have not checked Infinite Campus recently, please check.  We are half way through the grading period.  The period ends on November 10.  We do not send home paper interim reports in Junior High so the only way to see the grades is to check IC. 
• No school on Friday 10/13 or Monday 10/16 for students.
• Monday 10/16, Thursday 10/19, and Tuesday 10/24 are Parent-Teacher Conferences.  If you have not scheduled one but would like to, please let me know quickly.  Available times are decreasing.  Also I need to know if you would like an interpreter or not.  Thank you to those that have already scheduled! I, and the rest of your child's teachers, look forward to meeting with you. 
• Vocabulary quiz in my class on Thursday of this week.  Students have the lists and definitions and can use Quizlet to practice their words.  
• We started something new in my class last week.  Each day when students enter the room, they are to write on the board what they will do to be great in school today.  It is an attempt to get students to think about the role and responsibility they have in their own learning.  Ask your student what he/she wrote each day.  
• We are getting the problems with iLit worked out.  I will start taking grades on it this week.  Some students are behind and need to catch up.  Week 4 assignments will be graded this week.  All prior work needs to be done before Week 4 assignments will show up.  We do some work on this in class daily but some students will need to do some work outside of class to catch up. 
• 8th Grade - Science project due on 10/13!!  

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.  Have a wonderful week!

Good Afternoon,

A couple brief reminders:

*Make sure you are checking your child's grades on Infinite Campus from time to time.  If you are not sure how to do that, ask your child.
*Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming up in October.  Please let me know as soon as possible if you want a conference and if you need an interpreter at your conference. 
*Tonight is the Homecoming football game with extra ceremonies at game for the occasion. If your child has never seen this, it might be fun to attend.

*****8th grade only - Independent Reading Project in English 8 was due today.  If it was not turned in today, it must be turned in on Monday to avoid losing points.   Also, science project is due October 13 and students should be working on this daily.

Have a wonderful weekend!