THANK YOU!

A Huge Thank You goes out to the Wolfe family for their ever-so-generous donation of a class set of Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Such donations allow us to keep our curriculum current and in line with student interests.

Student Senate Liaison Election

Your classmate, Jake Oen, is running for the position of Student Senate Liaison to the MMSD Board of Education. Please offer any possible support. He needs to obtain signatures from students at each of the 4 main high schools and Affiliated Alternatives to be eligible to run in the initial primary. Most needed are student contacts at LaFollette High School.

Jake's Blog is linked here.

International Women's Day

Today marks the annual celebration of International Women's Day. To read more about the history of this event or to learn about the conditions of women globally, please check out the IWD website.

Daylight Savings Time

Yes, spring is certainly on its way. This weekend marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, so we all lose that precious hour of sleep on Saturday night. Set your clocks and change your batteries in the smoke alarms.

Literary Birthdays Today

Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) -- 1904-1991









Tom Wolfe (1931- )

The Final Class List 2008-09

Q4 -- revised 2/23/09

• First Hour -- Writer's Workshop (Amanda's new class)
• Second Hour -- Finding Self: Space and Place in YA Literature (new)
• Third Hour -- Reading Toni Morrison (Amanda's class)
• Fourth Hour -- Prep
• Fifth Hour -- Reader's Workshop (repeatable)
• Sixth Hour -- C.L.A.S.S. (repeatable only with special permission, written appeal needed prior to Registration)

Q3
First Hour -- CLASS
Second Hour -- PREP
Third Hour -- Vampire Image
Fourth Hour -- Cinema By the Decade
Fifth Hour -- Reader's Workshop
Sixth Hour -- The Reflective Imagination

Q2
First Hour -- CLASS
Second Hour -- Images: Media and Gender (Katy)
Third Hour -- Advanced Film Analysis
Fourth Hour -- PREP
Fifth Hour -- Reader's Workshop
Sixth Hour -- Short Fiction (Katy)

Q1
First Hour -- CLASS (Community, Leadership, Action, & Solutions in School)
Second Hour -- Introduction to Film Analysis
Third Hour -- Prep / Free Hour
Fourth Hour -- The Reader's Workshop (Katy)
Fifth Hour -- Introduction to Film Analysis
Sixth Hour -- The Creative Female (Katy)

Books to be used:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
American Born Chinese
Animal Farm
The Arrival
Beloved
The Bluest Eye
Caucasia
Dracula
Growing Up Female (selections)
The Hobbit
Lord of the Flies
Pride and Prejudice
A Sand County Almanac
Voices of a People's History (Zinn) ?
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
(also -- choices on "Finding Self" YA Literature list)

A Shout Out to the School Librarians

School Library Media Specialists are finally getting good press!

Here's a recent video and related article from the New York Times on the role of the ever-important school librarian.