Good Afternoon,
I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday. We are ready to get to work. This week in Mrs. Toal's class:

Reviewing the rules of the school and the classroom.
Reviewing fire drills and lockdown drills
Brainstorming thoughts and feelings about school.
Writing a 4 paragraph essay. (The essay is being composed in my classroom, there is no homework for this week.)

Important Dates:
School Pictures - September 9th
School supplies - September 9th
Back to School Night - September 12th

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me at any time.

Here's to a good week!
Mrs. Toal

Quote to ponder:
“Beginning of a great day begins a night before.”
 Sukant Ratnakar

Good Morning,
I apologize that this email is so late. I'm busy trying to get the athletic schedule up and running for our spring season.
This week in Mrs. Toal's class.
The students in period 1 and 4  have a new way of doing homework this week/and next week. I feel as though I'm not engaging them
enough in the words every week. Therefore I've photocopied the definitions of the words and gave them out, I
distributed a vocabulary workshop packet that they will do for homework and classwork. I feel that exposing them to a
variety of vocabulary activities will help them better understand the meaning of the words. They will be tested next
week 3/15. Periods 2,3, and 7 will continue to do the homework as usual.  They will be tested Friday 3/8
We are wrapping up our study of Harriet Tubman this week. We finished the story, "Harriet Tubman Conductor of the
Underground Railroad" we engaged in many rich and enlightening conversations about slavery and freedom. Today
and tomorrow we will be reading the poem, "Runagate, Runagate" discussing it and working on paraphrasing different
parts.
Finally, we will be reading, from "Why I know a Caged Bird Sings", by May Angelou. We will explore her life and how
one woman helped changed the direction of her life, and helped shape her into the woman she became.
Important reminders: Home and School meeting will be March 7. There are many meetings to discuss the proposed
middle school this week and next week. Please check the Upper Darby website for locations and times.
LASTLY, THE INVITATIONS FOR THE FIELD TRIP WILL BE HANDED OUT THURSDAY MORNING. THIS IS
INVITATION ONLY EVENT. The students were informed of the expectations set for them to be invited in January. If
they are a Tier 3 or Tier 4 they are not invited to attend, unfortunately, the consequences of their actions prevent them from getting an invite.

Let's hope for a regular week from here on out. #nomoresnow

Here's to a good week,

Mrs. Toal

Good Afternoon,
Well, finally it looks to be a normal week here at BH. Today we reviewed compound sentences and were introduced
to complex sentences. We will be working with grammar all week, so there is no Vocabulary homework this
week. The students will have a grammar worksheet page each night for homework.
The students briefly skimmed the nonfiction selection "Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad". The students
will read it tomorrow and finish it on Wednesday. After finishing the selection they will be responsible for a text-dependent worksheet that they will complete in class. This worksheet allows the students to go back in the selection
for evidence to support their answers, a great strategy to use especially with the PSSA's coming in April.
Upcoming items: Tomorrow night at BH there is meeting to discuss the new middle school that if approved will be built
in Clifton Heights. It starts at 7 pm. Our next Home and school meeting will be Tuesday, March 7 if you're interested
in getting involved.

Here's to a good week!!!
Mrs. Toal

Good Evening, Well, that was an eventful day.  The students handled the cold building very well.  They wore hats, gloves, and coats.  This week in Mrs.Toal's class.

We will continue to start each class with our daily warm-up to continue with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics.

The students are working very hard with their argumentative essays. We should be done by Wednesday.  They weren't introduced to MLA formatting for writing papers.  

Hopefully, they will remember using this next year and the years to follow.  MLA format is the most preferred style for writing papers. 

Many students submitted their Tom Sawyer project and they are fantastic!  

Many still didn't turn them in, unfortunately, this project and the writing assignment are a very big portion of 

their 3rd quarter grade.  If they don't turn them in they will be in jeopardy of a very low 3rd quarter grade. 

There is homework this week Vocabulary List #12. It is due Thursday and their quiz is Friday.  We will begin celebrating Black History this Month the end of this week. We will be reading "Harriett Tubman, a Guide to Freedom".  The students will answer text-dependent questions after the reading the selection.

I will be attending "The Underground Railroad in Delaware County" next Tuesday evening and I'm excited to share what I learn with your children. 

I know Upper Darby was vital to the underground railroad.  

Thomas Garrett, a Quaker, resided in Drexel 

Hill helped thousands of slaves escape to

Freedom.  

He was so vital in helping thousands that they named the street our school resides on "Garrett" Rd. after him.  Warmer days are ahead of us as well as "opening day" for my son's college baseball sophomore season

(very excited)!!! As always email me for questions or concerns.!! Here's to a good week!!!

Mrs. Toal

This week in Mrs. Toal's LA class;

We will continue to start each class with our daily warm-up to continue with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and
mechanics.

The students received their Unit 7 vocabulary words today. (they weren't very happy!) Homework is due Thursday and
their quiz will be Friday.

We started our new unit today. We will be reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. Today we
viewed a biography video of Mark Twain and listed 10 facts about this fascinating author. This unit will take us up to
winter break and some weeks following the break. We will be reading the novel in class, and there will be a project
due at the end of the unit. I will send information home about this at a later date.

Many students still have yet to turn in their personal narratives. If they don't turn this in, it will reflect their 2nd marking period grade. Please be sure to check your son or daughters eschool account to see how their grades are throughout
the marking period.
Today we had the 8th-grade assembly. Mrs. Douglas pointed out many school rules that have been giving our
students trouble. We hope this assembly will get our students on track.
Ms. Rush spoke about our 8th-grade trip that will be on an invite-only basis. We will be heading to Hershey Park in
May. The students' behavior has to be in good standing in order to be invited. Please encourage them to follow our
school rules, so they can enjoy this most exciting time of their 8th-grade year!!!!
As always if you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.
Here's to a good week!!!