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

March

To my eighth grade parents and students,

We are flying through the school year!  As spring approaches, so does "senioritis"...let's work together and make sure we keep pushing our eighth graders to their potential!  We are halfway through the third semester with progress reports going home Friday, March 15th.  The fourth semester is a very short one as they begin final exams the last week of May and before you know it, graduation week will be upon us!

We have a Kindness Initiative going on throughout the building during the Lenten season.  Please ask your children about this.  I hope the students remember in a world where they can be anything, be kind!

I thought the students could use a break from the stress of high school and everyday affairs, so I booked a class trip to the Escape Room of Staten Island on Wednesday, March 27th!  Here they will bond and learn the importance of teamwork and strategies...I know they are really looking forward to this day!

We have finally finished Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.  The students have taken their assessment test and done quote analyses.  We watched the film together in class.  Currently, they are preparing an oral presentation and Google Slideshow on a chosen topic and we will soon start an MLA thesis paper.  I know the majority of them enjoyed this classic novel.

Friday, March 22, is "Munchkin Day!"  The students may dress down (Wizard of Oz theme is encouraged!)  Best costume in the class gets entered in the school contest for free VIP play tickets.  We will enjoy munchkins that day as we watch the movie in the gym.  Rainbow ices will be sold at lunch for $2.00.  We have a lot of classmates starring in the play on March 30th and 31st so I encourage the class to come out and support them!

We will spend the majority of this month preparing for the ELA State Exam, which will be on April 2nd and 3rd.  They are working very hard and I am positive they will do well.  

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at Lgross@stannschoolstatenisland.com  As always, I am blessed to teach your children!

                                                                 <3 Gratefully yours,

                                                                                     Mrs. G