Dear Parents, The students will be working on a team project for the current social studies chapter on the colonies. All work, for the most part, will be done in class. They will receive an individual and group grade for this assignment. We are posting pictures on the link page to see 8th grade activities this month focusing on life in the colonies. There are pictures of our recent food festival from the Middle Colonies. We will be viewing excerpts from the PBS production on John Adams during the next few weeks in addition to covering text material. In literature, will be starting a novel next week titled My Brother Sam is Dead, which is a historical fiction selection on the Revolutionary War and the various positions taken by the colonists during this time. During the first quarter, the students worked on improving sentence structure and will be preparing to use their skills to begin the process of strong essay writing. Your student has been asked to keep a section in their binder with the handouts I give them for writing, so please ask to see it. Most writing assignments will be done at school. Thanks to all the parents who helped out with our recent field trip to the Justice Center: Mrs. Beverage for organizing all the rides and chaperoning, and Mrs. O'Neil, Mrs. Gerish, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Mrs. Amador, Mrs. Brokop, and Mrs. Mattei for driving/chaperoning as well. The students and I appreciate it. Sincerely, Mrs. Wood