Book Notes

Happy February! I hope everyone is finishing up their Research Papers. We are just about finished with the research part of library and we are ready to get back to book talks and library skills! The papers that have already been turned in look GREAT! Remember, you must turn in all parts of the Rubric to get credit for each part. That means your envelope will be turned in with your bibliography cards, note cards, introduction paragraph, rough draft, conclusion and final paper. The 6th grade papers are 3 pages long and the 7th and 8th grade papers are 5 to 6 pages long. I’m really proud of the work you have been doing. I’m already planning next year’s research topic and I’ll give you a clue - it won’t be connected to Science… You will have to wait for next year to learn more.

We will begin a book club for 6 - 8 grade students soon. Start looking for signs in the hall and listen for announcements to join and become part of a group of readers!

Starting about the middle of February, the classes coming to library will change from Science to Social Studies. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my students with a new group of classmates.

I’ll sign off for now,

Happy Reading!

Mrs. France

We are going full swing in the library working on Research Papers and reading new books. All students are currently working on research papers that are based on the topic of their science projects. The students have the time during the Christmas Break to catch up or get ahead for the paper. All sixth graders will be working on the introductory paragraph. The thesis sentence should be the last sentence of the first paragraph. The seventh and eighth graders are working on the 5 to 6 page rough draft. If the students are ready to type, I should let you know that the papers need to be a size 14 type and double spaced. Thank you to all students and parents for their hard work on the research papers.

DRAMA NEWS

All drama students MEMORIZE your lines. We will only have 2 practices after Christmas Break and the lines must be memorized. If the songs don’t come along - we might have to leave some out. If time permits we will have a small Christmas celebration at the end of practice on Dec. 18th. That is a whole cast practice.

I’m proud of the work you have been doing. Mrs. Hatcher and I are enjoying working with you on this play. It will be great!

Mrs. France

Hi Everybody,

I’m sorry it has been so long since my last update. We were having some edublog issues and I stopped trying to get on for a while. It looks like we are back up and running.

I’m so proud of the way play practice is going! You are doing a great job! We are still practicing scene 5 with a practice next week. We are not practicing this Thursday. We are out of school this week Wed, Thurs., and Friday. With our December practices we need to work on memorizing our lines. Some of you have MANY lines and you should already be working on it. Most of the characters in this musical have limited lines, but are still very important and you need to be working on your lines, too. EVERYONE should be working on the songs. I would like for you to learn every song. You never know when something is going to come up and we need to switch things around. The performance is Jan. 13 at 7:00 p.m.

I have just sent in the Royalty Fee information, so those of you who have not purchased your scripts and paid your $10 dues, please do so in the next week.

We have a few costume requirements. If your character needs something specific, you should be looking for that now. The PEP group - talk to each other and make a decision on what you want to wear. I think you should stick to Collierville High colors. I think finding matching outfits will be easier that way. The athlete group - I can come up with some Collierville High Football Jackets. I think that will be enough to worry about. I think blue jeans will be appropriate with the jackets. The studious group will be the easiest of all to outfit. You don’t need to match. Just wear something a serious student would wear. My Hygiene - we will talk about your outfit. I might have something you can borrow from my son. Wink - You will need a suit. If you don’t have one, let me know and I will start looking for something. Morgan, I’ve started looking for a dress for you. If anyone has a small pagent looking dress that Morgan can borrow, please let me or her know. She wears around a 12 in young girls. We are looking for a game show hostess with lots of sequins.

Keep up the good work everyone. The show is going to be great!

Mrs. France

Hi Guys and Congratulations! You were chosen to participate in our Fall Musical. We will have a full cast practice on Thursday, Sept. 18th. All students need to be there and bring $16 to purchase a script and Drama fees. It can be cash or a check to SFMS. I am going to go ahead and order the scripts for all cast members including the two understudies. I will be out of town on Sept. 25 so we won’t have a practice on that Thursday. I will have a calendar for each student to take home that explains what cast members need to be present at each Thursday practice.

Students, please remember to keep your schoolwork a priority during the play. If the memorization gets to be too much for you, I need you to let me know. School work comes first. Don’t let your grades slip. Parents, if you are reading this, please keep me posted on any concerns you have as soon as they appear.

I’m really excited about the play. It will be a lot of fun and we have some great students that are participating. I had a hard time choosing characters because we had so many talented students audition. I know we are going to have fun with this. I hope the students that are not participating in this musical will audition for the next one after Christmas break. The cast will be a little larger and we are already working on the script. Keep watching for information on that!

On an amazing note…The author of the play has emailed me through this blog and he is excited for us. I’m glad he saw my blog and is keeping up with our progress. This should be really fun and interesting!

Hello to all students interested in Drama!  We had a HUGE turnout for auditions last week and will continue to have auditions on Thursdays from 3:15 - 4:45 until we are finished.  There are over 100 students auditioning for this musical.  I’m flattered that so many of our students are interested in Drama, but I’m also looking at this realistically and realize that everyone won’t make a part.  I want to encourage everyone to continue to audition for parts for our plays.  We will have another musical after Winter Break that everyone needs to keep in mind.

I’ll try to keep everyone informed about the auditions and parts selected.  Once the auditions for A Twist Of The Tongue have been completed, I will post the character list and an announcements will also be made at school.

Email is the best way to get me for questions.  My email address is nfrance@scsk12.org.  I’m trying to discourage drama questions during library time.  My library time needs to be devoted to the students having library class.

On a last note, please make sure you can be picked up from play practice/ auditions by 4:45.  I have to be somewhere at 5:00 and I can’t leave my students unattended.  If this practice time does not work out for you, please try to audition for a different play.  My time schedule is tight for this one.  If you are late being picked up twice, your character will have to be replaced by another student.  I know this sounds harsh, but I don’t have time to stay late.

Hi Students! Welcome back to Schilling Farms. I hope everyone had a relaxing summer and you found some time to read. I read several books that we have in our library, just so I could see what you are enjoying. I really liked Hoot and Flush. They were funny, but also made me think out our environment. I also read Twilight. I wasn’t looking forward to this because vampires don’t appeal to me, but I finally read it and I have to say, I enjoyed it. If your parents are worried about you reading this, ask them to read it first. I think it is fine for middle school. I have not read the 2nd, 3rd or 4th books in the series, so I can’t tell you about them. The movie is scheduled to be released in December.

Speaking of movies…. The next Harry Potter movie should be coming out later this Fall. Keep your eyes out for this one. It will be great.

Let me know if you have read any good books this summer. I’m starting a new book review process for our library and I need some help from students and also from some parents that would be willing to read some book out of our library. If you or your parents are interested, please let me know.

I can’t wait to see you all! See you the library, and keep reading,

Mrs. France

Hi Drama Students!

I hope you had a nice summer and are ready to get started. Drama Practices will be on Thursdays this year! I have ordered our musical that we are beginning with this year. Our performance date is set for Jan. 13, 2009, so I guess we can’t call this a Fall Musical. The title of the musical is “A Twist of the Tongue.” It is about a tongue twisting competition at a school and is really funny. You can read more about the plot and hear samples of the music if you go to PioneerDrama.com and search for the play. You can also google “Twist of the Tongue.” We will have a brief meeting (30 min.) on Friday Aug. 22, 2008 from 3:15 - 3:30. We will discuss the play and audition process and you will receive the information about what to memorize for the auditions and practice schedules. If you must miss the meeting, you must come by the library and get an information sheet about auditions. It must by signed by a parent, so you must have one.

We will have auditions on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 from 3:15 - 4:45. Remember to bring your signed permission form from your parents. You cannot audition without it. This lets me know that your parents are aware of the practice times and can modify your schedule to attend drama practice.

I’m excited about our new play and I can’t wait to see you all at auditions.

Mrs. France

Hi Students,

We have many new AR tests loaded on our AR site, so be sure to check them out. Many of you have been in the library checking out the latest books and we are trying to keep up with the tests, so let me know if you have a request for a test.

We are having a book fair at Barnes and Noble and the Collierville Mall. Our bookfair is scheduled for the week before Spring Break, March 10 -14, 2008.  The Tuesday night(March 11) of that week is our Family Event for the bookfair. We will have students performing to entertain the customers of Barnes and Noble. The Drama Club will also be performing some of the songs from the upcoming musical - The Nifty Fifties! Our school will receive a percentage of all sales the week of our bookfair, so please visit the bookstore and see if any books interest you. Purchases from the cafe also help our school. It will be a great time to get a cup of coffee and look for a good book. I’ll be there Tuesday night from 6:00 - 8:00.

Good-by for now - Keep on reading!

Mrs. France

Welcome back to school everyone! I hope you had a great summer and you found some time to read. There were some great books available this summer. I’m sure most of you have read or at least heard about the last Harry Potter book. I thought it was great! I can’t believe that is the last book about Harry and his friends at Hogwarts. It has been an incredible series of books and if you haven’t read them, you need to.
I’ve also been reading some really good mysteries. They are my favorite genre. I can’t get enough mysteries.
I’ll see you in class soon and we can share notes about good books and authors.
Can’t wait to see you all.
Bye for now,
Mrs. France

Hi Everybody! I hope you are having a great summer. This is a great time to find a good book to share with your friends or find a great new author and pass that name around.
If you have found any great books you would like to recommend, let us know.
I have been reading quite a lot. I’ve been enjoying some mysteries by Lillian jackson Braun. They are light and easy reading. They have the word “cat” in the title. The main charecter has two siamese cats and they help him solve the mysteries. There are 28 books in the series, but you don’t have to read them in order. However, it might be easier to understand the storyline if you do.
Try it and have fun!