Parent-Teacher Conferences

As a reminder, Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled on Thursday, October 24th and Tuesday, October 29th this year. If you would like to schedule a conference, you can call Mrs. Hill in the WLHS office to make your appointment. While I would love to see as many of you in person as possible for conferences, I do understand that these times may not work for your schedule. If you have questions about your student's progress but aren't able to make it in, please feel free to send me an email at allenm@wl.k12.il.us or give me a call at 672.3034 whenever you have questions or concerns.  Email is undoubtedly the fastest way to reach me, and I can usually have a reply back to you that same day.  

In general, I have been quite pleased with the transition that this group of students has made to high school students. Most students are reporting that they feel comfortable with my expectations, and they seem to have a relatively good understanding of the expectations that we have for this year. Thank you for your support and assistance in ensuring your student had the best possible start to high school! 

Short Stories Unit

After finishing our novel unit over The Lord of the Flies, we will spend the next few weeks focused on short stories. As we read, students will continue to develop their ability to infer, particularly as they look toward context clues to help them make these successful inferences. It is important that students are able to read "between the lines" and use the information that they do know to help them make accurate predictions.  We will also be looking at characterization in these short stories and examining how the character themselves use the details from the text to form inferences - both correct and incorrect.

We are also taking a closer look at conflict and working to identify the types of conflict that are present. Students have learned about the external conflict - Man vs. Man; Man vs. Nature; Man vs. Society - as well as internal conflict - Man vs. Self.  The students have spent time developing 4 square conflict charts to illustrate these types of conflict while also learning that most stories will have multiple conflicts occurring and that those conflicts will change as the story progresses.  In addition, we are continuing to develop our vocabulary and writing skills. Students will be working with specific vocabulary terms from the stories to help broaden their own language usage.

One of our primary writing goals this year is to help students find their voice as writers while also understanding the importance of supporting their own ideas with examples from the text (and later on, from their own research).  Students are beginning a writing assignment this week based on "The Most Dangerous Game" where they will be expected to support their thoughts on the double meaning of the story's title with specific quotes from the story.  This skill will continue to be developed throughout the year in a wide variety of writing assignments of varying lengths.

WLHS Yearbook

In addition to my teaching duties here at WLHS, I also advise the publications staff of the Cardinal yearbook. I have had several parents ask about how one goes about purchasing a yearbook.

Yearbooks are available for purchase online at www.jostensyearbook.com. Once there, you will enter the school name and you will be directed to the WLHS page. When you order, you can choose the basic all-color yearbook or a variety of packages with extra goodies (personalization, cover protectors, signature sheets, etc).  Jostens also offers a FREE payment plan program where you can split your payment over 3 months if that works better for your budget.

Please note that we will not be collecting orders or payment here at school. All yearbook orders must go through the jostensyearbook.com site.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

The Cardinal staff has also been out in the community selling advertising space in the 2014 yearbook. Do you have a business or organization that would like to show its support to the WLHS community and purchase an ad space? If so, we would love to talk to you! Feel free to email me or contact us via our Cardinal Yearbook Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WLHSyearbook). Thanks for your support.

Celebrate My Drive

FYI - WLHS is participating in the national Celebrate My Drive campaign. You can help show your support by visiting www.celebratemydrive.com. 

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Celebrate My Drive

Our school is committed to keeping teens safe on the road, and that's why we're participating in Celebrate My Drive®, a program that's all about celebrating the fun of getting your driver's license while helping you drive safely so you arrive safely. What's really great about participating in this program is you can also help our school win a $100,000 grant….and possibly a concert by Grammy Award winner Kelly Clarkson right here in our own town! It's simple:

• Log onto celebratemydrive.com (you must be at least 14)
• Indicate you want to support Warrensburg-Latham High School
• Commit to drive safely

Make a safe driving commitment once a day, every day, between October 18 and 26. The more safe driving commitments we make, the better chance we have to win $100,000 and host the Kelly Clarkson concert. Tell your friends and family who are age 14 and older to get involved too! Thanks for your support of Warrensburg-Latham High School and our teen drivers. Remember, 2N2: 2 eyes on the road, 2 hands on the wheel.

District Newsletter

Are you receiving the district newsletter in your inbox? If not, visit the district website at http://wl.k12.il.us/ and complete the Digital Newsletter Sign Up on the right side of the page. It's an easy way to ensure you stay up-to-date on the important happenings here at school.

End of 1st Quarter

Reminder: This Friday is the end of the first quarter. Time is certainly flying! All first quarter grades will be finalized by early next week.