Senior Center Service Project

Every year, the 8th graders have several opportunities to serve the community around them.  The first of these opportunities is to serve lunch at the Hillsboro Senior Center.  On the first Tuesday of every month, four 8th graders spend a few hours during the school day at the Senior Center helping out and being God's light in our community.

There is a permission slip coming home today for this service project as our first Senior Center trip is this upcoming Tuesday, October 4th.  This permission slip will give permission for your 8th grader to attend any of the Senior Center trips throughout the year.  Mrs. Patti White will be the chaperone that drives them there and back, as well as helps out when needed at the Center.

Let Mr. P now if there are any questions!

Literature: The Outsiders

Walking in Their Shoes

These past weeks eighth grade has been reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.  The setting is a 1960's small town where you are either a "Socs" living on the right side of the tracks or a "Greaser" living on the wrong side of the tracks.

 To help the class understand the characters better we acted out a few scenes from the chapter.  They needed to act out how each social group would have acted (body language, the way they talked) to help them better understand each group.

They found it challenging but they still had a great time roll playing these scenes.

Ask your child to explain what they are reading.  What have they discovered is the same and different between the "Socs" and the "Greasers"?

What do they think will happen next? 

Subject Update: US History

Yesterday, we completed out first chapter in US History for the new year.  We discussed the expansion of European nations into the New World of the Americas.

We looked at the importance of Christopher Columbus and the conquistadors as they claimed land for Spain.

We saw how New France was started by explorers looking for the Northwest Passage in the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers.

We learned about the missing colony of Roanoke and the real story of Pocahontas when we talked about New England.

We discussed New Netherland, the ill-fated colony that turned into the British colony of New York.

Starting today, we are narrowing our look at US History by focusing on the 13 British colonies that will soon become the start of the United States.  The class is split into groups and will be researching a specific colony and creating a poster of information.