Schedule for Catholic Schools Week

Monday, January 30
• St. Paul Spirit Day
• Red and White Jean Day
• DEAR with a special Twizzler treat!
• Spirit Assembly – We will be performing our cheers with our Buddies and sharing
the 3 things our class likes best about St. Paul

Tuesday, January 31
• Student Appreciation Day!
• Free Dress
• Salsarita’s lunch (if you preordered it)
• Movie in the gym in the afternoon (you can bring a beach towel to sit on)
• NO HOMEWORK

Wednesday, February 1
• Teacher Appreciation Day

Thursday, February 2
• Parent Appreciation Day – You will be writing letters/prayers for your parents
• DeLaSalle Band Assembly at 8:15 in the gym

Friday, February 3
• All School Mass 8:15
• Wear your favorite team gear over your uniform
• Bingo and Popcorn in the Cafeteria 1:30-3:00

In-Class Essay: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

To prepare yourself for writing a formal essay that involves research and citing sources, let's have a little fun with an impromptu in-class essay. So here's your assignment:


In 5 paragraphs, write an essay explaining why you think Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is so popular. Here's the challenge: I'm not asking what YOU think of Marcel the Shell; I'm asking you to analyze what made him such a hit with the general population. So for those of you who find the videos and picture book absolutely, mind-numbingly annoying, you're going to have to delve outside your comfort zone and force yourself to think hard.


Remember, in order to be counted as an essay, you must have the following things:

• Intro
• Thesis statement
• body paragraphs (at least 3)
• Conclusion that reminds your reader what your thesis was (i.e., not restating it word for word)

Priscilla and the Wimps study guide

Here's what you need to know for the test tomorrow:

You will need to answer some true/false questions about events in the story.
 Know about the following characters:

• Priscilla
• Melvin
• Monk
• Kobras
• narrator

 Know the following literary terms:

• antagonist
• protagonist
• three-dimensional character
• one-dimensional character
• hyperbole

Know the "words for everyday use" from the story
Explain in a short answer:

• Describe Priscilla, in physical appearance and personality
• Explain what you think happened to Monk after his locker humiliation
• Identify hyperbole in the story
• Explain who the narrator is

Writing Assignment: Social Studies Essay

Your 5-paragraph essay will involve choosing a famous person from Latin America and explaining why they are important to study in history class. Remember that you are not just reporting your research. You need to take what you learned about your person from your research and form a well-thought out argument for why this person should be studied.  You also need to remember to cite your sources within your paper and write a works cited at the end.

Here is a list of people to choose from, but you are not limited to these people if you can think of someone else you'd rather write about. You must, however, confirm that person with me.

Due date: ??? TBA

• Simon Bolivar
• Cesar Chavez
• Bartolome de las Casas
• Pancho Villa
• Diego Rivera
• Fidel Castro
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Pablo Escobar
• Rigoberta Menchu
• Che Guevara
• Eva Peron
• Miguel Hidalgo
• Jose Marti
• Julia Alvarez
• Selena
• Juanes
• Frida Kahlo
• Oscar de la Hoya
• Gloria Estefan
• Carlos Santana
• Eugenio Maria de Hostos
• Desi Arnaz
• Celia Cruz
• Antonio Novello
• Roberto Clemente
• Atahuallpa
• Quetzalcoatl
• Sammy Sosa 

Remember: it is OK to use Wikipedia as long as you corroborate the information by confirming it with other reliable sources. Think of Wikipedia as your jumping off point for research, not your be-all, end-all.

Priscilla and the Wimps: Thoughts on the ending

This week we read the story “Priscilla and the Wimps” by Richard Peck.  The story ends with Priscilla shoving Monk in a locker and the reader being told that there’s a snow storm and that school is closed for a week.  The reader is lead to believe that Monk is left in the locker for a whole week.  But the way the story ended was done more for impact than to inform the reader.  It was an example of hyperbole.

So my question to you is, what do you think REALLY happened to Monk after he got shoved in the locker?  Please write at least 2-3 sentences explaining your thoughts.

Pie Day: January 9

So now that we've finished Pie and we're back from break, it's time to plan our PIE DAY! So if you want extra credit for literature, you can bring in a pie from the book that YOU MADE. None of this going to the store and buying a pie stuff.

How will I know if you made the pie? Because you will bring in photographic evidence of said pie-making shenanigans. And in order to make sure you (and I for that matter) don't get in trouble for messing up your mom's kitchen, I need to see one of your parents helping you make the pie OR they need to hold up a sign that says, "I give _______ permission to mess up my kitchen." Ha ha! :)

In terms of showing me the pictures, you can either print them out or bring in the camera you took the pictures on (yes, even if it was on your phone). Please don't email me picture attachments though. Those take too long to download.

Since you know me, I'm never one to tell you to do something that I wouldn't do myself, so here is my series of pictures that were taken when I made Aunt Polly's famous buttermilk pie. (By the way, I don't need permission from my mom since it's my kitchen :p)

Making the pie filling

Always necessary to do quality control

I didn't have any dried beans for the blind baking so I improvised with dried pasta

I should probably clean up while the crust is baking

Pour in the buttermilk filling once the crust is par-baked

Sprinkle nutmeg on top

Oops! Dropped the nutmeg in the pie!

Off to the the oven

Mmmmm... buttermilk pie

You know you want a slice!

Let's talk about what we read over break

Welcome back 6th graders!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!  Now that we’re back in school, it’s time to talk about all the great books we read over break.  So here’s what I want you to do:
In the comments section tell us in two concise paragraphs about about your reading experiences over break. Here are some questions to consider:

• Did you read a really great book you couldn’t put down?  If so,  share with us!
• Did you struggle with certain books?  Getting reading done at all?
• Any cool reading-related gifts?
• Did you try a new reading experience for the first time? (Listening to an audiobook?  Reading an e-book? )
• How far did you progress in your twenty book goal? (or just how many books did you read in general?)

To make sure this doesn’t just become an assignment that you all come on here to complete without actually reading others’ thoughts, you will also be required to refer to a previous classmate’s post. You can always come back and comment later if you’re one of the first commenters and you don’t have anything to respond to.
This assignment will be worth 30 points.  Twenty points for your two paragraphs and ten points for adding to the discussion by mentioning something from another classmate’s post (and it should be more than just, “Hey _____,   that sounds really cool!”)


What did I read over break? Well I'm glad you asked!

I'm happy to say that my reading experiences over break were very rewarding. First of all, I made it past 100 books for 2011. I read 107 books total for the year so that was very exciting for me. I only finished six novels over break so that was a few away from my ten that I was hoping for, but I'm still plugging along on a few that I started, so all is not lost I suppose. I finished the book Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick and oh my goodness was it a beautiful piece of artistic brilliance! I think I have found our next read aloud!

I didn't really get any books for Christmas because most people know not to buy me books unless I ask for a specific one just because I read so much and people would probably  buy me a book I've already read. Still, I got a few Amazon gift cards so I was able to use those to buy - what else - more books!