TGIF!!

I have just updated grades. The only thing that is not in your grade is the Persia map. By the way, if you were not in school today, please be sure to hand in the chpt. 3 section assessment and Persia map on Monday. Also, several of you did not hand in the Herodotus DBQ. Check your progress report on I-parent and hand in what you are missing by Monday.
Good luck to the basketball teams today!
Our next unit on the pacing guide will be the Minoans, Myceneans, and Phoenicians. We will start that on Monday. Thursday we will have a unit test on Persia, and the above cultures with a few questions on Mesoamerica.
I know everything is going quickly now, so keep up with your work on a daily basis. You can do it!!
Enjoy your week-end!
Mrs. Carley

Reminders

Tomorrow we will begin with a 30 question map quiz. It will focus on physical features of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China. There will not be any cities on the map.
Remember to finish the Persia map and chpt. 3 section assessments by Friday. After the quiz tomorrow we will wrap up Persia and discuss the Hebrew tribes and the rise of Judaism. Please review the corresponding material in the text book so you can contribute to class discussion. You may also want to check out the summary of the major religions in your textbook. I think you can find it yourself!!
Parents, your student should be bringing progress reports home for all classes tomorrow. Also, ask to see the early dismissal release form for exam week and the exam schedule. Be prepared for your student to need lots of extra encouragement and support to finish our their first semester. They will have End of Course tests in some of their classes and final exams in all. They will probably have several other tests, projects, etc. to finish out their semester course work. It may seem like a lot especially to your ninth grader who is not used to this work load, but you will both survive! And then -- a well-deserved two-week break before we start all over again in January.
Please e-mail me with any questions or concerns.
Mrs. Carley

Checking In

Hi everybody! I hope you are all stuffed with turkey, etc. and relaxing. I was disappointed in the media coverage of our Band of Gold appearance in the Chicago parade, but I'm sure you all had fun. Those of us watching only got to see you for about a minute, if that.
Just want to remind you to gear up for the next four weeks of finishing out your first semester. It would be a good idea to get caught up on your timeline or begin reading and doing the section assessments for Persia. (Check your pacing guide for the pages in your text.)
If you haven't been keeping up with the London reading, you should have it finished by December 10th.
Enjoy the rest of your week-end! I'm off to watch the Georgia/Georgia Tech game on TV!
See you Monday.
Mrs. Carley

A Short Week

We have a short week--only Monday and Tuesday. Then we have five days off to relax and celebrate Thanksgiving. Tomorrow we will be having our London discussion so be sure you read up to page 76 and take a look at the questions on gifted center. Also if any of you were planning to turn in make up work or missed work tomorrow is the deadline.
Tuesday is multicultural day and we have a different schedule that day.
See you all tomorrow.
Mrs. Carley

Project Tips

Tomorrow is presentation day for your Mesoamerica Project. Remember that your project is a museum display, not a cutsy collage! Your captions should not only explain the visual, but should also add information on the topic. Check the instruction sheet and make sure you have done everything correctly and included everything in your folder. If you don't document your work, I will assume you didn't do it!
I'm expecting great and fascinating displays. There are no do-overs this time. You have been given multiple instructions, a whole four days of class time, and lots of research help. The rest is up to you!
Also, remember our next London discussion is Monday. Check Gifted Center for a list of questions. Be prepared! You will receive a grade on your discussion.
Looking ahead: Your BIG timeline of civilizations will be due on Wednesday, December 12th. This has been a semester-long project and last week when I checked timelines, some of you hadn't done much. You had better get caught up NOW!!
See you tomorrow.
Mrs. Carley

Monday Madness

We had quite an interesting day today starting on our Mesoamerica Museum project. Parents, please note that this project is due on Friday. The students are getting plenty of class time to work, but they also may have to do some research at home. If you would like to view the assignment, it is located at Gifted Center on our Pre-AP page under Current Assignments. A link to Gifted Center is at the bottom of this page.
The students spent time planning as a group, assigning tasks, and researching today. They are getting information from books as well as on-line sources.
Remember those of you who didn't have the section assessments done for today or your essay re-writes should turn it in tomorrow.
Research hint: click on all the menu choices when you are on a web site. Do not do a dialogue box search!! You will miss information! Also click on embedded links and other related links. There is more than enough information on the web sites we have given you, but you have to look for it!
Have a great afternoon and evening.
Be grateful for our Veterans including those who are currently protecting us in the armed forces all over the world.
See you tomorrow.
Mrs. Carley

Sunday Reminders

Congratulations to our Sprayberry Varsity footbal team for beating Pope and securing a place in the play-offs! This hasn't happened in quite a while so it's exciting!
Congratulations to all of you on winter sports teams and to the band for the honor of playing in the Chicago Thanksgiving parade. We are proud of all of our talented students!
Don't forget that your essay re-writes are due tomorrow! You also should have finished the section 2, 3, 4 assessments from chapter 16 and the lab we worked on.
This week we will focus on Mesoamerica through our cooperative group museum project. We will have time to work on the project during class, but you will also have to do some work outside of class as well, especially printing out pictures in color for the display. The project will be displayed and presented on Friday. Remember that if you are going to be absent that you still need to do your part.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
How about them dawgs!!
See you tomorrow.
Mrs. Carley

Tuesday Updates

We had some "technical difficulties" at school today so your report card grade will not include the biography project or the writing workshop. However, I will be adding those grades so you can see an updated grade in class tomorrow, I hope!
We will have a current event day tomorrow on India and China. If you happen to watch the news or go on-line tonight, see if you can get an article to share with class tomorrow. This is optional, but I'd love to have some articles from you.
Also, have your timeslines, maps, and notebooks ready for checking.
Enjoy the rest of today.
See you tomorrow.
Mrs. Carley

Monday,Monday!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week-end and a good Monday. It started out with our exciting win over Kell on Friday night. It was fun to see many of you dressed up for the Homecoming dance.
A few reminders for Wednesday: I will be checking timelines, maps, and note books so get organized! I would also suggest that you start reading and doing the section 2, 3, 4 assessments for chapter 16. We will be starting the unit on Mesoamerica on Thursday.
I'm working on report card grades. You should be able to see an updated grade report on I-Parent by Tuesday night.
While you enjoy another day off, I'll be stuck in meetings at school, so make me feel better and do some school work!
See you Wednesday!
Mrs. Carley

Happy Homecoming!

Homecoming week has been crazy, but fun. Congratulations to the freshmen for doing such a great job on the 400 hallway!
You have a four day week-end and extra sleep Saturday night to look forward to so I hope you plan to relax and catch up on any work that you've let slide this week.
For Wednesday have your timeline, maps, and notebook organized and ready for checking. some of you would probably do better if you were organized!
Also, you could start working on the Section 2, 3, and 4 assessments for chapter 16. We will begin our new Mesoamerican unit next Thursday.
Report cards come out next week which means we are on the last six weeks of the semester!
Enjoy the long week-end!
Go jackets!!
Mrs. Carley