Students in the Middle School began the year learning how to diagram sentences to review the parts of speech and parts of a sentence. “Although diagramming seems to be somewhat old fashioned, the students enjoyed showing off their skills and competing against one another to see who could accurately diagram the fastest,” shared middle school ILA teacher Mrs. Teri Neafach.
Through diagramming, the students distinguished linking and action verbs, complements and direct and indirect objects. Later, students began reviewing sentence structures and are now reviewing grammar that results in the most writing errors, such as subject-verb agreement and shifts in tense.
All middle school grades have written comparison essays, with Seventh and Eighth comparing two fictional pieces while Sixth graders compared chocolate. Seventh grade students have also written expository essays and practiced outlining. Eighth graders have outlined research and written persuasive essays from their research. All students have also responded in writing to their assigned reading. Students in middle school have the opportunity to compete in various writing contests, at the national and local levels.
So far this year, Sixth graders have read a contemporary Young Adult fiction novel, Ungifted, and are on their second novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. They reviewed literary terms by reading short stories and fables. Seventh grade students have read two historical fiction novels: The Windeby Girl and Forge. They also read and presented Greek, Native American, and Nordic Myths. Before Christmas, the Seventh grade acted out a portion of A Christmas Carol for their prayer partners after reading the entire play and learning about Victorian Christmas traditions. Eighth grade students read a mystery and dystopian novel, and are now reading a novel of their choice. Eighth graders will soon read the dramatized Diary of Anne Frank and study the Sho’ah.
All classes will study poetry in April, which is National Poetry Month. “Students also read nonfiction to supplement their novels and other fictional works,” explained Mrs. Neafach.
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