Welcome back, 8th graders!  It’s been a terrific start to the school year, and I’m glad to report that we are ‘in the swing of things’ already.  I am so impressed with this class of students.  They are friendly and welcoming, especially to me and the six new students who came to Marie Murphy this year, and they are ready to get down to the business of school.  By the end of our first full week of classes, 8th grade students have completed their first writing assignment–a letter of introduction from them to me–discussed their summer reading books, and taken on their first vocabulary assignment.  Now that’s impressive!

Now that we are in the third full week of school, students have moved on to reading short stories and showing how literary elements work to enhance a story’s meaning.  Soon students will become authors themselves!  They will be asked to write an original piece using clues to foreshadow events that will happen later in the story.  Stay tuned!