Conrady Junior High
School
Volume II, Issue 22
February 2015
S w e i s s ’ C i r c l e
C l a s s r o o m N e w s l e t t e r
Snapshots from
Week of January
26:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Texts Read/Analyzed:
Bomb: The Race to Build
and Steal the World’s Most
Dangerous Weapon: Chapters 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
“To Build a Fire” by Jack
London
Facebook Argumentative
Articles
Facebook Political Cartoons
Animal Testing Article
(Block A)
Activities:
Notes Chart for Part 3 of
the Bomb book
Vocabulary Warm-Up for
“To Build a Fire”
Tone and Bias PowerPoint
Analysis of Facebook Article and Political Cartoon
Vocabulary for “To Build a
Fire”:
apprehension, treacherous,
wistful, frail, conjecture,
menacing, subdue, amber,
monotonous, reiterate, pang,
gingerly, sing, imperative,
boughs, and folly
Reminders:
 February Reading Log will be distributed on
Monday

Known as the 509th Composite Group, Tibbets’s mysterious team was officially activated on December
17, 1944. “At age 29, I had been entrusted with the successful delivery of the most frightful weapon
ever devised,” Tibbets recalled.
Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
Greetings,
This week, I introduced the new vocabulary words for the short story called “To Build a Fire” by Jack London.
This is another fantastic story. If you are interested in reading, click on this link: To Build a Fire. Blocks B and C
have completed the readings and Block A will finish Tuesday. We spent a lot of time analyzing the text and
identifying how the theme of pride is developed throughout the text. This was a story that started out rather
slow, but once it got going, it really got interesting. There will be a vocabulary quiz on the words that I have
selected from the story later in the week (Block A: Friday; Block B and C: Thursday).
Further, we continue to read in the Bomb book. Block B and C will most likely finish reading by Wednesday of
this week, whereas Block A will extend into next week. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, there are
many students in each class which have already finished the book. Block A is focusing more on determining
the central idea of each chapter.
Moreover, we moved from talking about argumentative pieces of text to political cartoons. I introduced
Standard RI 8.7 on Friday (RI8.7 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums-, e.g.,
print or digital text, video, multimedia- to present a particular topic or idea). With this standard, students have
to learn to evaluate not only the effectiveness of an argument or article, but evaluate the effectiveness of using
it as a medium of transferring information. Political cartoons, for example, are very satirical in nature. We read
an article about Facebook and its ironic effect of actually “disconnecting” people and increasing loneliness; and
then we read a political cartoon and a comic strip about Facebook. Students worked in pairs to analyze the
effectiveness of each medium. Next week, we look at ObamaCare articles and political cartoons, and eventually this will culminate in articles and cartoons about “Was the US justified in dropping the bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki?”
This upcoming week, Blocks A will finish up “To Build a Fire,” while Blocks B and C will finish up the Bomb book
and begin our journey into the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel. Further, we will take a practice Summative Assessment on Standards RI (Reading Informational) 8.4, 8.6, and 8.7. This practice assessment will address the
concepts we have been reviewing, including tone, perspective, effectiveness of an argument and/or political
cartoon, etc..
Hope you are enjoying the snow!
Sincerely,
Miss Sweiss
csweiss@npd117.net
Classroom Website
Stellar Student Spotlight:
Thank you Moe K. for helping me cut Entrance Slips
after school and organizing the classroom. And thanks
to Samir and Dunya for helping me put up vocabulary
posters after school.
And finally, kudos to Peter S. for doing an excellent job
running the Entrance Slip on Friday, despite the fact that
Homework: “To Build a Fire” Vocabulary Quiz
cameras were flashing away as he spoke. Yes, we had a
Thursday for Blocks B and C; Friday for Block
photographer from the Daily South Town stop by and
A; 7am Study Sessions
snap some photos of students in action as part of an
article about the prestigious award of being a National
Distinguished School. Yippee!
Challenge Your Kid:
Besides the “medium,” or
method of communication, of
writing, we discussed that of
political cartoons. Ask your
child to determine the tone of
this cartoon and its perspective.