1. Back to School Night Welcome to Ms. Brown’s 8 th grade History class. Please take a handout. Examples of the work we will be doing this year are included. Please take a seat. We will start as soon as the bell rings.

2. Monday Every Monday your child should write in his/her agenda the assignments for the week. See the board in the classroom. I want everything written down. I want you as a parent to know what is class work and homework.

3. Current events On Monday your child will receive a paper I call current events. Each day for the first 10 minutes of class your child will write a Day in History(must be US history) and find an economic article. I also give a political cartoon. By Friday your child is to write a summary on the cartoon. This is done in class. It is due on Friday. I will not be taking late work.

4. Homework Students will receive their homework worksheet on Monday. It is due on Friday. I am not taking late work. Some Mondays students will receive a vocabulary paper. This is also due on Friday. Some Mondays students will be assigned work in their Interactive Reader. The work will be due on Friday. Please see the agenda on Monday night.

5. Class work Some days we work in the class book. I call it the train book. We read and answer the questions located at the end of section together. There is no excuse for not doing this work as we do the work together. This is seldom a homework assignment. If your child is absent, they must do the work on their own.

6. Tuesday Tuesdays are computer lab day. We work on long term projects, do research, play games or anything else I believe is important. Our current project is working on the 27 amendments. It is a power point/paper project. It is not due until October. See your child’s agenda.

7. Every Wednesday we read. ( An exception is when we are studying for the state test.) We read 4 books doing the year. 1 st quarter-My Brother Sam is Dead 2 nd quarter-Orphaned on the Oregon Trail 3 rd quarter-To Be a Slave 4 th quarter-With Every Drop of Blood Wednesday

8. A reading log is to be kept. I check every so often that your child is keeping up with the reading. A project is also expected with the book. Books maybe borrowed on Fridays. I expect the book to be returned on Monday. I believe that our children do not read enough. Reading helps with writing proper sentences and improving vocabulary.

9. Thursday and Friday We go back to working in the book. Sometime we see movies. Sometimes we work on class projects. I expect your child to have markers or colored pencils, scissors, and a glue stick.

10. Book Orders The school librarian is doing book orders. Go to the library and pick up the forms.

11. Washington, DC trip I will be taking students to DC during Spring Break, March 27-31,2011 We will be having an information meeting September 16, 2010 at 6pm in my room. Please come and listen. Our students had a good time last year.

12. Agenda Any questions or concerns please write a note in the agenda. This way you see the agenda and can check if your child is writing everything down. If you want me to sign the agenda, have your child give me the agenda at the end of the class period. I will be happy to sign.