Welcome to your very first Late Start day.  Just in case you forgot, Late Starts begin at 11:00 AM, so no student should be on campus prior to 10:30 AM. 

This week marks the beginning of when we'll be "getting serious" in my class.  This means journals every day, homework checks every day, and writing every day.  Your journal needs to be either a seerate spiral or composition notebook OR a section of a multi-subject notebook.  No loose leaf paper, no cramming your journal in next to your math notes, etc.

Also, PLEASE do your class work.  If you don't, then it becomes homework, and nobody likes that (especially me.  That's why I don't assign you homework!).  If you don't do your homework, then you don't get F.A.C.E. time on Friday.  I want you to have a fun year, but I also want you to pass.  So do your work. 

This Friday we're having a test on expository writing (which includes the patterns we discussed in class, graphic organizers, expository essay format, and what we'll be going over Thursday) so be ready!  You can use notes on my tests, so if you were absent any days this week, get the notes from a friend.

See you in class.

Congratulations to all my fantastic new students for surviving your first week of 8th grade.  I'm looking forward to our year together, and hope that you are too.  Or, if you're not, I hope that you're at least not dreading it.  Myself and the other teachers on team Explorer(s) are here for you, and we all want to see you succeed and go on to pass high school with flying colors.

I took it easy on you this first week, but come Monday the 17th, we begin our work in earnest.  Be prepared with a j...
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