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•  I have shown the students useful internet sites that accompany our textbooks.  One is online quizzes for each section and the other is homework video tutors, which is especially helpful for any days they have been absent.  Students will have homework most days and it is very important they keep up on a daily basis.  The only way to learn math and to get better at math is practice, practice, practice.

8^th Grade Transition Math - Mrs. Cheryl Hanson
•  Transition math is essentially pre-algebra; it takes kids from the 7^th grade basic math into preparing them for Algebra next year. 
•  In this first month of school, we have studied reading and writing numbers which included integers, scientific notation, order of operations,  and coordinate graphing.  Currently, we moved into using variables in expressions, equations, and inequalities.  This will also included learning the Pythagorean Theorem. Throughout the year, we will continue to do cumulative reviews of what we have already learned.  In math, we keep building on previously learned material, so it is important to keep reviewing past material often.   Math is just like sports or music or many other things in life, to learn and to get better, we need to practice.
•  Hopefully, the students are learning the importance of keeping up with daily work and reviewing (studying) for tests.  Our textbook assignments cover three areas: covering the ideas, applying the math, and reviewing learned material.  As the year progresses and as I start making the transition to the new core standards, we will be moving to more abstract, hands-on problem solving.  The students will find out how and why you get that answer to a problem and see that there are sometimes several ways to arrive at the same correct answer. 
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9^th & 10^th Grade English - Tricia Schmit
•  The 9^th Grade English Class is currently finishing up their study of the elements of a short story and their review of the parts of speech. To celebrate the fall season, we will be moving into a unit on Edgar Alan Poe, which will combine some of the author's classic horror stories with the popular graphic novel genre. This will lead into a fiction writing unit in which students will compose, edit, and illustrate a haunted house story of their own.
•  The sophomores are in their Speech semester of English. Along with continuing their study of grammar and writing, they are also gaining experience with public speaking. The students recently presented informative speeches with their topics ranging from the "Stanford Prison Experiment" and "Alcatraz" to "Walt Disney World Attractions" and "Bonnie and Clyde". Students were able to pick their own topics,

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