Final Six Week Grades

Although your report cards will not arrive in your mailboxes until this weekend, you may view your final grades 5th six week grades on InTouch.  They are updated.

Mrs. Terpening

Beginning Poetry Unit

Students!  We begin our entry into the wonderful world of poetry today!  During the coming weeks you will write nine wonderful poems.  If you are absent or find yourself falling behind, the poems and their examples can be found in my assignment folder.  I encourage you to stay on top of your work, because late work will be graded with a penalty.  The poetry will be challenging, but fun, and should give you an idea of the rigorous curriculum you will encounter in high school. 

Vocabulary Exam Part III Postponed

Hi kidlets,
Apparently even teachers lie sometimes.  :-)  Remember when I told you that no matter what, the vocab exam was happening on Thursday, April 14th?  I forgot that science OAKS is taking place that day as well.  I want you to focus your energy and efforts on OAKS tomorrow, and your vocabulary exam will be rescheduled for Monday, April 18th.  You have a few extra days to study, and I expect you to use them wisely. 

Enjoy the brief reprieve! 

Mrs. Terpening

Study Outline for Hunger Games Part II Exam

The exam will be on Wednesday.  Tomorrow we will review together as a class (Jeopardy, anyone?) and Tuesday you will have time to fill in the holes in your packets.  THIS DOES NOT REPLACE STUDYING AT HOME.  Sorry about the caps, but I need to emphasize my point.  ;-)
Areas of focus:
Character motivation, specifically Peeta. 
Theme: How are the themes of humanity, trust, survival, and inhumanity represented in part two?
Symbolism: Understand the symbolism for all the symbols from Rue on down in your packet.
Injuries and Illnesses: Katniss and Peeta in part two
Muttations described in part two

The exam is short answer and short essay, no multiple choice.  This test will not be taken on clickers.
Happy studying!

Vocabulary Test, Part Two

Hi kids,
You have been well notified at this point of your vocabulary exam on Thursday, March 31st, but here is one more reminder.  I encourage you to make flash cards to quiz yourself, or ask a family member or friend to quiz you.  See you tomorrow!

Having Trouble Becoming a Blog Follower?

Note:  You need an email account to follow the blog.  If you do not already have one, consider making one for free at any of the web based servers, i.e. hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc. 

1.Click on the follow button at the bottom of the page.

2. If you have a gmail account click on Google.  If you have a Yahoo account, click on Yahoo.  If you have a Twitter account click on that.  If you have none of those, or an email address from a different provider, click on the link at the bottom that says to create a new Google account.  You are not signing up for a new email...you are simply just creating a log-in you can use in many places on the internet.

3.  In high school, following a blog and perhaps even creating one of your own will be an expectation.  If you are checking in regularly and posting when assigned as an 8th grader, you will be very well prepared as a 9th grader.  :-)

Spring Break Homework

What is your favorite part of The Hunger Games so far?  Post below.

For Those That Plan Ahead...

Tomorrow we are doing part two vocabulary and it's a good time to bring index cards if you have them.  You will have a vocabulary exam eventually similar to the test for vocab part one and it will save you time to make flashcards as you go. 

Also I am considering offering extra credit opportunities to my blog followers....if you have suggestions feel free to share them.  No guarantee I will use them, but you never know when inspiration might strike.

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely.~Anonymous

Hunger Games Tribute Game

I found this game/activity and linked it at the bottom of the page.  There are actually two games and on the tribute version you receive a score.  Mine was 93% and I was deemed "not ready for The Hunger Games."  Hmmm!?!?  Give it a try and see what you come up with!

Study Outline for Hunger Games Part One Exam

Okay kids, this is for you.  Many of you expressed an interest in having an online spot where I could post helpful information and you could ask questions.  If you check this blog frequently I think you will find it to be a very valuable resource.

Early next week you will have an exam over all of part one of The Hunger Games.  Part one covers chapters 1-9.  Here is an outline of what you will need to study in order to rock the exam:


Characters: Know who they are from Katniss-Thresh. (p.12-14)

Symbolism: Understand what the symbols represent all the way through "katniss (arrowhead plant)" (p.25)

Themes: Hunger, desensitization, survival, government control, humanity, and rebellion are just a few of the themes in this novel, but they are the ones that will be on this exam.  Make sure you can identify events that demonstrate those themes. (p.26)

Skills: Identify the skills that belong to Peeta and Katniss. (p.23)

Setting: Describe where the story takes place at different times and events. (p.16)


The exam will be given on clickers and will have 50 questions.

"Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible." --George Lorimer