This year's report cards will be a standard-based report card.  On this tab, I will list the standards we are focusing for the quarter.  Please visit the following link that explains each standard:

Parent Matrices

October

To my eighth grade parents and students,

     Our first month has quickly slipped through our fingers and we are in full swing of our eighth grade year together!  The students are working hard on their academics and we have already been visited by two high schools.  This month will be spent choosing the Catholic High Schools that they wish to apply to and attending as many open houses as they can.

   High School Info for October:

 - CSI Open House for last names A-L Wednesday 10/16 at 5PM
 - Staten Island Tech Info Night Thursday 10/17 - register on website
 - Xavier Open House Saturday 10/19 11:30-4:00
 - Xaverian Open House Sunday 10/20 10:00-2:00
 - Sea (GIRLS) Open House Sunday 10/20 1:00-4:00
 - Farrell Open House Sunday 10/20 11:30-3:00
 - Notre Dame Academy Open House Sunday 10/20 11:00-2:00
 - CSI Open House for last names M-A Tuesday 10/22 at 5PM
 - New Dorp Information Night Thursday 10/24 at 6:30 PM
 - Sea (BOYS) Open House Sunday 10/27 1:00-4:00
 - St. Joseph Hill Academy Open House Sunday 10/27 11:30-2:30

     Please try to attend as many as you can to make educated decisions on your applications.  All scholarship information is up on the school sites, so visit the ones you are interested in to see if you meet the credentials!  Public HS applications are open for you to enter your choices as well!

 Important Info for St. Ann for October:

 - No School 10/14 and 10/18
 - Winter Uniforms begin 10/15
 - Student Council Debate 10/22
 - Trunk-or-Treat 10/31 - $5 to participate and wear your costume!

    In Literature, the eighth grade has started a unit revolving around the theme of DEATH.  We have already read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the students composed a writing piece arguing the speaker's sanity.  Next we will be reading another work from Poe "The Masque of the Red Death" with a writing piece to accomany that as well.  We will end with analyzing Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death."

    In Social Studies we have been studying Lincoln's assassination and the conspiracy that surrounded it.  This will go hand in hand with our visit to Ford's Theater and the Lincoln Memorial during our D.C. trip!  We will be reading Walt Whitman's tribute to Lincoln "O Captain! My Captain!" as well as a photobiography of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.  

   Please remember the following due dates are approaching:

- $60 ring fee 11/1
- $50 D.C. deposit 10/21
- D.C. balance due 11/1
- $5 Trunk or Treat per student
- Class dues #1 to Erin Goodwin

   Our student council election is well-underway!  The students will get a tangible insight to the world of politics as we mimic a presidential race.  We already held our primary elections and I was so proud of our students who wrote, practiced, and delivered their speeches.  The two candidates, Julia Cuomo and Connor Goodwin, are currently choosing their Cabinets.  Next, we will be hosting a debate in which our students get their chance to ask both candidates questions.  A campaign with a platform will follow, ending with their final speeches!  It is an awesome experience for the students running and those voting.  It is so important to teach the future that it is their vote, their voice!  Try to take them with you on Election Day to show them what they soon will be doing!

  Looking forward to a great month...
      If you have any questions at all, you are always welcome to email me at LGross@stannschoolstatenisland.com  

                                                                             Gratefully,
                                                                                   Lisa Gross (Mrs. G)