Week of 05/17-05/21

Thank you to those who sent Kleenex.

 

Monday 05/17 & Tuesday 05/18 – Algebra End of Course Exam.

 

Wednesday 05/19 – Algebra Final Exam.

 

Wednesday 05/19 & Thursday 05/20 – Textbook Collection.

 

Friday 05/21 is the 8^th Grade Schlitterbahn trip.

Students must remember to bring two bottles of water, and a lunch, or they will not be allowed to board the bus.

Check GradeSpeed this weekend, and the beginning of next week.  All work needs to be in by Wednesday 05/19!

 

Please have students start taking out any non-necessities from their lockers so they won’t have as much to carry home when we start cleaning out lockers this week.

English Update

This week, students will:

• Work on Dailies #33 (05/17 & 05/18).
• Work on Mango Street Symbolism Drawing (05/17 & 05/18).
• Turn in any extra credit, and/or missing work (05/18 is the last day to do so).
• Work on Dailies #34 (05/19 & 05/20).
• Finish and Share Mango Street Symbolism Drawings (05/19 & 05/20).
• As far as completing additional assignments, we will have to see how far we get this week, due to the fact that most of our 8C students will be busy with Algebra exams.

English Challenge Question – Turn in your entry with a copy of the question, your name, date, and period by Friday 05/21.  All correct entries will go into a drawing for a prize at the end of the six weeks.  What happened to Louie’s cousin in The House on Mango Street after he gave everyone a ride in the yellow Cadillac?  Be specific as you explain your answer.

Math Update

Algebra students will be taking the Texas state End Of Course Exam in addition to their course final.  This will be administered on Monday and Tuesday, May 17 and 18.   The course final will be on Wednesday, May 19.  Please schedule any elective appointments at other times.

Math class information and assignments can be found at http://ghamilton.org .

Your student has the user name and password.

The dates and times for math after-school help can be viewed by clicking “tutorials.”

History Update

All past-due work is supposed to be in by today. Notices about this have been posted for two weeks on the board.   Check grades at the beginning of the week for an update.

Extra credit should be in by Monday.  Following is an extra-credit idea from Bayou Bend at Wescott off Memorial.  This is Sunday, 1-5 P. M. and it is free for families.  The students should take pictures, participate in the activities describe them, and put it all in a little booklet.  Other extra-credit assignments may be a synopsis of movies such as Gone With the Wind, Glory, Gettysburg, Paint Your Wagon.
From the butterflies and bunnies who make Bayou Bend’s gardens their home to the many animal – inspired influences in the objects in the collection, the animal kingdom is alive and well at Bayou Bend. Take a tour through the first floor of the house to see the animal influences displayed in the furniture and decorations, then stop by and visit a woodworker as he demonstrates making the claw foot of a chair. Enjoy animal-themed performances as you create a totem of your favorite critter, then stop by the petting zoo to compare your work with the real thing!

Next week we will be continuing the work on place/location for geography.

Science Update

Because of the turn around time needed to prepare report cards for eighth graders, this week is the last week I can accept make- up work. I must have my grades in by Thursday morning May 20^th

Please review Grade Speed this weekend May 15-16 and make sure any work missing is made up and turned into me by Wednesday May 19

 

An assignment turned in with some parts incomplete is better than a zero, if an effort is made to complete the missed work I will grade it and give at least a partial credit.

The only assignment not posted by Saturday should be the creative content story, which I am still reading and will have posted by Monday, May 17^th

During the week of the 17^th – 21^st we will be doing the water bottle rockets. Thank you for sending the 2 liter bottles we have enough to complete the lab.

Week of 05/10-05/14

Please send Kleenex.  We are almost completely out.

Progress Reports went home this Friday, May 7^th.

English Update

This week, students will:

• Work on Dailies #30 (05/10 & 05/11).
• Review Vignettes 13-14 – There Was an Old Woman… and Alicia Who Sees Mice (05/10 & 05/11).
• Read & Analyze Vignettes 15-16 – Darius & the Clouds, And Some More (05/10 & 05/11).
• Turn in Similes in Songs Extra Credit Activity and share similes with the class (05/10 & 05/11).
• Work on Dailies #31 (05/12 & 05/13).
• Review & Check Dailies #30 & #31 (05/12 & 05/13).
• Write Mango Street Journal #2 and share response (05/12 & 05/13).
• Read & Analyze Vignettes 17-18 – The Family of Little Feet and A Rice Sandwich (05/14).
• Work on Mango Street Characters Word Search (05/14).

English Challenge Question – Turn in your entry with a copy of the question, your name, date, and period by Friday 05/14.  All correct entries will go into a drawing for a prize at the end of the six weeks.  What happened to Louie’s cousin in The House on Mango Street after he gave everyone a ride in the yellow Cadillac?  Be specific as you explain your answer.

Math Update

Algebra students will be taking the Texas state End Of Course Exam in addition to their course final.  This will be administered on Monday and Tuesday, May 17 and 18.   The course final will be on Wednesday, May 19.  Please schedule any elective appointments at other times.

Math class information and assignments can be found at http://ghamilton.org .

Your student has the user name and password.

The dates and times for math after-school help can be viewed by clicking “tutorials.”

History Update

Progress reports go home today.   They reflect grades the students have earned as of May 5.  If your student’s grade is low, it is indicative of missing work.  Many have turned in past-due assignments since then, but many have not.  Please check GradeSpeed for the latest work.  I will be entering grades this weekend.

Due today:  Map with questions.

Due Monday for all students:  Latitude/Longitude assignment with map.  They have had two class periods to work on this assignment.  If it is not done today, it is to be handed in Monday morning.

Due Wednesday/Thursday:  Map Questions.

None of these are posted assignments because most require a special map.

We will be continuing with some basic geography work until the last day the students are here and each assignment is a grade.

Pin Oak Principal Search Update:

The following people will serve on the Pin Oak Advisory Committee for principal interviews slated for Monday, May 10th:

* Albert Fernandez, Dean, Pin Oak

afernand@houstonisd.org<mailto:afernand@houstonisd.org>

* Anne Powell, Instructional Coordinator, Pin Oak

apowell@houstonisd.org<mailto:apowell@houstonisd.org>

* Celeste Garcia, English Teacher, Pin Oak

cgarcia8@houstonisd.org<mailto:cgarcia8@houstonisd.org>

* Joyce Ballard, Reading Teacher, Pin Oak

jballard@houstonisd.org<mailto:jballard@houstonisd.org>

* Misty Wagers, Fine Arts Chair, Pin Oak

mwagers@houstonisd.org<mailto:mwagers@houstonisd.org>

* Ann Nichols, outgoing PTO president, SDMC for 2010-2011

nicnis@sbcglobal.net<mailto:nicnis@sbcglobal.net>

* Roxanne Van Ravensway, incoming PTO president

rvanraven@ix.netcom.com<mailto:rvanraven@ix.netcom.com>

* Shahara Wright, PTO treasurer

deltalaw98@yahoo.com<mailto:deltalaw98@yahoo.com>

* Dr. Maria Perez, PTO secretary

mdperez@texaschildrens.org<mailto:mdperez@texaschildrens.org>

* Judy Long, Community member

judmlong@swbell.net<mailto:judmlong@swbell.net>

Please feel free to email them directly if you have additional input.

Thanks for your support and we will continue to keep you updated.

Julia Dimmitt

MS SIO 2010-2011

This Friday night, May 7th, will be the 8th grade party.  It will be at POMS from 7 to 9o’clock.  The theme is “Prom at the Beach”.  The dress  code is school appropriate attire, that is either prom dressy, or casual beach party attire like Hawaiian shirts and shorts.  There will be costume contests.  Admittance is free, but there will be photo cds on sale for $5, made from pictures that students turned in to Ms. Delacey from their years at POMS.  There will also be an opportunity for the kids to have their pictures taken at the party in front of a scenic backdrop.  However, in order for the kids to be allowed to have their photo taken, they must have turned in their parent signed media release form to the office.  These went home with the students yesterday and should be turned in ASAP.  It should be a great time with food, music and activities.  Hope everyone can join us.

 

Thank you,

Renee Bowling

parent of Daniel Bowling 8a

Week of 05/03-05/07

Please send Kleenex.  We are almost completely out.

We really need chaperones to commit by Wednesday, May 5^th for the 8^th Grade Schlitterbahn trip on Friday, May 21^st!!!

Please contact Dr. Hamilton by email for specifics.  Thank you.

Progress Reports will go home this Friday, May 7^th.

English Update

This week, students will:

• Work on Dailies #28 (05/03 & 05/04).
• Finish their group analysis of Vignettes 9-11 – Meme Ortiz, Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin, & Marin – (05/03 & 05/04).  We did not get as far on this last week as I had hoped due to our busy testing schedule.
• Continue on to read and analyze Vignette 12 – Those Who Don’t (05/03 & 05/04).
• Receive Similes in Songs Extra Credit Activity (05/03 & 05/04).
• Take the English LTF Exam as required by the School District.  This exam is largely looked at as a benchmark (or indicator) of how well students are doing at mastering Pre-AP level coursework (05/05 & 05/06).
• Work on Dailies #29 (05/05 & 05/06).
• Review and Check Dailies #28 & #29 (05/07).
• Read and Analyze Vignettes 13-14 – There Was an Old Woman… and Alicia Who Sees Mice (05/07).
• Also, Scholastic Book Orders are due by Tuesday, May 4^th.
  

English Challenge Question – Turn in your entry with a copy of the question, your name, date, and period by Friday 05/07.  All correct entries will go into a drawing for a prize at the end of the six weeks.  What happened to Louie’s cousin in The House on Mango Street after he gave everyone a ride in the yellow Cadillac?  Be specific as you explain your answer.

Math Update

Algebra students will be taking the Texas state End Of Course Exam in addition to their course final.  This will be administered on Monday and Tuesday, May 17 and 18.   The course final will be on Wednesday, May 19.  Please schedule any elective appointments at other times. 

Math class information and assignments can be found at http://ghamilton.org . 

Your student has the user name and password. 

The dates and times for math after-school help can be viewed by clicking “tutorials.”

History Update

We are finished with U. S. History as of today although I probably will go over some material with the students today and Monday.  I have told the students that they need to keep their materials from U. S. History this year because 50% of their TAKS in tenth grade is this course and 35% of the exit exam is this course.  They are the last class to take TAKS.  The review materials, in particular, will be valuable.  With budget cuts, it is unlikely that high schools will run that material for their students.  I suggest the students put their materials including their notebooks in a big plastic bag and put it some place they will remember in tenth grade.

We now go into geography in preparation for high school.  All students attending public schools in Texas will take geography next year; I cannot speak for the private schools, but the geography we will be covering will help those taking world or U. S. History in high school so I expect the work to be done by all students.  Also, if your student transfers from a private high school which does not teach geography to a Texas public high school, that student will have to take geography to graduate.

This work will involve lots of map work, map reading, studying the physical world and place/location.  The students will need map pencils and black ball point pens by Monday if they do not have them.   They will need these for next year also.

Please contact by e-mail if you have any questions.

Science Update

We are in the home stretch and almost finished with testing. The last district testing, LTF “laying the foundations” is this week for Math, Science, and English. Designed to prepare students for the AP exams in high school and provide the students with their first look at the kind of rigorous testing to come in AP classes. 

TLW:

1. Each student should have a manila folder with Nine Different Lesson Plans, a Lessons Note Packet, an Objective Packet and a TAKS Attack Packet inside; the students should be taking that information, choosing one lesson and synthesizing it into one creative writing story. The story can be of any genre they want, folk tale, science fiction, poetry, comic book etc… What I do want them to do is take the material from the lesson and use it in an original fashion and apply the content in an original way. 

This story assignment will be due on Friday, May 7, 2010  I will give time this week  after testing for students to work on these stories. 

2. As soon as LTF is finished we will be completing two outdoor activities: Croquet Physics, and Water bottle rockets the students will need nothing for the Croquet but we need 16 empty two liter soda bottles for water rockets. Please help and send me any bottles you can by Monday the 10^th other wise I am going to be chugging some Soddy Pop next week. 

3. We will finish out this next two weeks covering Electricity and Light.

Dear Pin Oak Parents and Community,

Thank you to those who attended last week’s “Principal Profile Input’ meeting.  Attached are the notes from that meeting.  If you were unable to attend and want to add to one of the areas on the profile that was created, please email me at jdimmitt@houstonisd.org.

I look forward to working collaboratively with you as we search for the next principal of Pin Oak.

Julia Dimmitt

MS SIO for 2010-2011

Click Notes From Parent Input Meeting to access an electronic copy of the notes.

This week I am asking that you be sure the students are taking time to read through the lesson they have created. Each student should have a manila folder with nine different lesson plans inside; the students should be taking that information and synthesizing it into four creative writing stories. The stories can be of any genre they want, folk tale, science fiction, poetry, comic book etc… What I do want them to do is take the material from the lessons and use it in an original fashion and apply the content in an original way.

Having these done by Thursday morning would be optimal for use as a tool to prepare for testing, but I am aware of the difficulty of writing four stories in such a short time, so I am asking for this to be finished by May 3^rd.   I will give time this week for students to work on these stories.

Please be sure to have your students at least read through and review the lesson plans and packets with notes to prepare for the Science exam on Thursday.  Thank you for all of your efforts these last few weeks.  I am sure the effort and time you put in won’t go unrewarded, and our students will benefit from the support in many ways.

Week of 04/26-04/30

Please send Kleenex.  We are completely out.

 

We need chaperones for the 8^th Grade Schlitterbahn trip.

Please contact Dr. Hamilton for specifics.  Thank you.

 

Report Cards went home this past Wednesday, April 21^st.

 

This week’s schedule will run Charger, Testing Green, Testing Blue, Testing Green, and Testing Blue.

 

8^th Grade Science TAKS will be Thursday April 29^th.

 

8^th Grade Social Studies TAKS will be Friday April 30^th.

 

English Update

This week, students will:

• Review & Check Dailies #26 & #27 (04/26).
• Write, share, & discuss Mango Street Journal #1 (04/26).
• In groups, students will read, discuss, & analyze Vignettes 9-11 (Meme Ortiz, Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin, & Marin) with a Mango Group Literary Analysis activity (04/27-04/30).
• Due to four days in a row this week having a Testing Schedule, we may tweak and/or adjust the English assignment schedule you see posted here.  That said, it looks like we’ll “play it by ear” this week and see how far we get in our Mango Street Unit.

English Challenge Question – Turn in your entry with a copy of the question, your name, date, and period by Friday 04/30.  All correct entries will go into a drawing for a prize at the end of the six weeks.  What does the nun say to Esperanza about where she lives in the beginning of The House on Mango Street?  Be specific as you explain your answer.

Math Update

Algebra students will be taking the Texas state End Of Course Exam in addition to their course final.  This will be administered on Monday and Tuesday, May 17 and 18.   The course final will be on Wednesday, May 19.  Please schedule any elective appointments at other times.

Math class information and assignments can be found at http://ghamilton.org .

Your student has the user name and password.

The dates and times for math after-school help can be viewed by clicking “tutorials.”

History Update

TAKS Review:  The students have had three packets for over three weeks and they should be completed by now.  One consists of a number of questions to answer, one is entitled Cause and Effect, and the third requires studying.  It is 100 Things to Know to Pass TAKS.

 

In addition, all the students have a test to complete that is due on Monday morning before they go to first period.  I want just the ScanTron submitted; they should keep the test for review.

On Sunday evening at 8:00 P. M. on Channel 8 is an hour program that is first in a series of American History.  It might be a good program for the students to watch or record it for later viewing.  This one is about the colonization of America through 1770.  It would be a good review.

The Social Studies TAKS will be on Friday.  Please encourage your student to study and review.  We want to keep the record of 100 percent passing with most commended.  Mr. McDonough challenged this class to do as well as the two previous classes.  This group should be able to do even better.