Happy Halloween!

Next week we will be reading our final Act in The Miracle Worker! We will also be working on verb tenses in Language Arts.

Important Days:
Today: Halloween
Sunday: Turn back your clocks!!!
-Bears play the Lions at noon
Tuesday: No School! Election Day-Go Vote!!

Have fun trick-or-treating!

Hellen Keller

The novel the seventh grade is reading, The Miracle Worker, is about the life of Helen Keller. Miss Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was 19 months old she had a fever, and it was this illness that left her deaf and blind. When she was six and half years old her parents arranged for Miss Annie Sullivan to come and attempt to teach her. It was Miss Sullivan who finally taught her sign language through the sense of touch. Helen went on to attend school at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Here she learned to read using raised letters and braille. She went on to attend schools in New York and learned to speak. She learned this by touching people's mouths and throats and trying to imitate this process. She was able to speak but it was very hard to understand her. Miss Sullivan was usually needed to be her interpreter. Miss Keller then went on to earn her degree at Radcliffe College.

Helen then traveled with Miss Sullivan and did fund raising for the blind. She became a world famous speaker and author. Miss Keller wanted to promote better living and working conditions for the deaf and blind. In 1915 she created the Helen Keller International which was devoted to researching vision and health.

Helen Keller wrote many different books and essays, most were autobiographical and were about the philosophies of her life. Many were about her views of socialism and women's suffrage. On June 1st 1968 she died in her sleep at the age of 87. Miss Keller has a name that will always be recognized as a woman who overcame incredible odds.

If you would like to look up more information on Helen Keller you may go to the American Foundation for the Blind's website (www.afb.org).

A Peek at Next Week

Next week students will be revising and editing their narratives. They will also be reading Act II in The Miracle Worker, and practicing extended responses.

Important Days:
Today- Fall Dance
Saturday- Illini game at 7pm
Sunday-Bears play Minnesota at noon
Monday- Red Ribbon Assembly
Wednesday- Half Day
Friday- Chicago Field Trip!

Narratives

The first draft of our narratives are due on Tuesday. The rest of the week we will be working on grabbing our readers attention with our introductions, and incorporating sensory details into our work. Students will also be learning revising and editing skills. They should have their second draft done by Friday.

Important Days:
Sunday- Chicago Marathon, Bears play Atlanta at noon
Monday- NO SCHOOL! Columbus Day!
Friday- Fall Dance

A Peek at Next Week

Next week we will be starting a Narrative essay. Students will be making timelines of their life, and writing about important people and events in their lives. They will also be reading examples of narrative writing.

In Reading we will be starting our first novel, The Miracle Worker. This book is a play that tells the life of Helen Keller. We will be going over vocabulary for the book and we will begin Act I.

Important Days:
Saturday- Market Day
Sunday- 12:00 Bears vs. Lions
Tuesday- Mid-terms go out
Friday- Picture Re-takes

BEAR DOWN!!!!!!