29 Days Remain

As we finish up our week of standardized testing in English, it's time to look ahead to what remains of our time together.


29 days to read more Shakespeare and his sonnets.

29 days to complete our Music Research project.

29 days to catch up on missing work.

29 days to blog.

29 days to check in with teachers.

29 days to finish strong!

29 days of middle school remain for 8th graders.

29 days to make a difference this school year.

29 days to make sure they know I care about them.

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GUEST BLOGGERS

Two Truths and a Lie

     1. I know how to drive. My grandpa learned how to drive from his dad at age eight. Since he learned so young, he asked my dad if he would teach me how to drive and he said yes. At the time I was 10, and my grandpa took me out to the airport where there was nothing to run into. It took me about four hours, but my grandpa was patient and now I can drive.

     2. I once got paid $100 for babysitting. My aunt has 3 kids, and      when she has me babysit I get paid $30 ($10 for each kid). Once though, my aunt went out with some girlfriends and they needed someone to babysit, so I ended up watching seven kids. Usually that would get me $70, but since it was a big responsibility and I did well, I got an extra $30.

    3. I read 2 million words in fifth grade. At my elementary school we took AR test on the books we read and it counted our words. When I was in fifth grade I read a lot, so at first I read 1 million words then took a picture. And at the end of the year I read another million. For that I got to be in a special section of the yearbook and my dad threw me a little party.

Iyanah B

Movie Review: Teen Spirit

The movie Teen Spirit is what you can call high school reality. In high school there’s always that mean girl, the popular people, jocks, and the not so popular. In this movie a girl named Amber is the most popular girl in school and her high school dream is to get every vote in school to win queen at prom. So her and her so called “friends” rig the ballot so every vote would go to her. On the day of prom when they were just announcing who won, there was an accident that happened with the electricity causing Amber to die right there. Although she was a mean girl throughout all of high school, she was given the chance to go to heaven if she helped the least unpopular girl in school “Lisa” win prom queen at the school's second prom. Throughout the movie you witness love, betrayal, and forgiveness of friends and family. I like this movie because I think it really shows that you should never let popularity get in the way of who your true friends are.

-Katia S

Question of the week

Why does my friend’s grandma like pigs so much?

I only asked her this question because the first time I went to my friend’s house to spend the night with her, I saw pigs everywhere. I went to the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room and even in her grandma’s room, and everywhere there were pigs!

The first time I went I was shy because I didn’t know her family at the time, and she was introducing me to them. I was really scared because I didn’t want them to get the wrong idea of me. Mainly I was scared of my friend’s dad because he was scary looking, and today I’m still scared of him. But later on, after I was getting used to her house and knowing her family, I asked my friend why her grandma had so many pigs in her house.

She told me that she loves pigs.

Bianca F

Two Truths And A Lie

1. One Lego video game I played before was the Force Awakens. In the game there are really cool characters and missions. Some of my favorite characters in the game are Boba Fett (The Prototype) and Captain Plasma. My favorite mission on the Force Awakens Lego game was Poe Dameron’s survival.

2. My first Lego videogame was Indiana Jones 1. When I first started the game it was a little bit challenging but then I got better at the game. My favorite character was the Monkey Man. Last my favorite mission was Raiders of the Lost Ark.

3. My favorite tv show as a little kid was Sesame Street. My favorite characters in Sesame Street were the Cookie Monster and Elmo.One reason why I like the Cookie Monster was because of the funny attitude he had on cookies.Last, the reason why I like Elmo was because of his nice personality.

Evan A

Standardized Testing

Next week is state testing in my classroom 

for English Language Arts.

My 8th graders will show what they have learned so far in their educations. They will answer multiple-choice questions and short-answer questions as well as read long and short passages and write (type) thoughtful longer responses over several days during their class period with me.

For most of them, this is a grueling time. No talking, no moving about, no alternative seating. Just reading and writing quietly with their eyes trained on the chromebook screen.

I have mixed feelings about this standardized testing.

There is data that is collected afterward that helps me see where my students fall on the range between advanced and far below basic. It helps me adjust my practice for next year. It also shows parents and families how their child performed as an individual on the test and how that particular assessment measures them on the adopted common core standards.

This can be valuable information.

On the other hand, the testing doesn't measure many kinds of learning and knowledge. It doesn't show you where a student has grown. It can be stressful and overwhelming for kids, and it uses up valuable instructional time.

This Washington Post article identifies how overwhelming standardized testing can be to students.

There is also this article called "Examining The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing"

Just a few days ago, a wise teacher reminded me that life is full of challenges and obstacles; this is just one that our students get to face. It's true. Many students will be taking the standardized tests over the next few weeks in classes all across America.

I am encouraging my students to get plenty of rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and come to school prepared to put their best brain forward. We will tackle this test to the best of our ability and get back to reading Shakespeare!

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GUEST BLOGGERS

Two Truths and a Lie

1. On Halloween, My family and I were going to Downtown for Treat Street. I was with my grandma and grandpa at Jack in the Box, and we saw my mom and dad park across the street. My mom opened her car door, and my dog ran towards us, getting hit by a car in the process. We were all scared. My mom and dad took her to the vet, and I had to go home early that night. The next day, they told me that my dog was uninjured except for a scratch above her right eye. Worst. Halloween. Ever.
2. One summer, my family and I  took a trip to Legoland to celebrate my good grades for that school year.  I ended up getting sick halfway through the trip and we had to leave early. We tried again next year, but I got sick before we even left! If only there was a way to bring Legoland to your own home.
3. I used to take karate lessons when I was younger. One day I got out of the car, but I closed the door too fast, and I closed my thumb in the door! I started knocking on the window, and I had to run to keep up with the car. Someone saw me and came running up to the car to tell my grandma what happened. I went home. The person teaching the class came to my house the next day to see how I was doing. My thumb didn’t heal until 3 weeks later. Why do I have such bad luck with such good things?

-Tyler M.

Movie Review: Wild Child (2008)

The movie Wild Child is a PG rated entertaining drama. The main character “Poppy” acted by Emma Roberts was quite an interesting character. She had everything she wanted. She had an endless supply of credit cards, she was popular, every guy wanted to date her, and every girl wanted to be her; but she had quite an attitude problem and loved pranking everyone. She thought since we was popular and rich she could get away with anything until her father had had enough with her immature behavior. So he ships her off to a boarding school in London. Through this movie you get to see Poppy learn these unfamiliar rules of her new school, fall in love, make enemies, meet the friends of her life, and find out who she really is. Although she doubted she would ever like that school, she slowly learns to love it and that it is where she belongs.

By: Katia S

Question of the week

One day I asked my cousin why she wears makeup.

Her response was that she said she looks ugly without it. I didn’t believe her because I know that she is beautiful and an amazing person but she doesn’t think that. She always has makeup on when I see her. Whenever we have party, she always has to put makeup on; even if we went to the store, she will have makeup on.

She is really good at doing her makeup, and I want her to teach me because I want to be able to do my makeup as good as she does hers.

I hate that she always tells me she’s ugly and that she’s fat. That irritates me because she always has to bring herself down with any negative things that are not true. She is the most lovely, caring person you will ever meet in your life.

Bianca F.

Card Tricks

I never was really into card tricks until the beginning of the 8th grade. I started off just playing with cards. I played games like Slap Jack, Poker, Go Fish, Garbage and other games. The more I played with cards, the more and more I got attached to them. Midway through junior high I started to learn and show card tricks. The first time I showed a magic trick to my friends, they were all shocked. Every day after that my friends would ask me if I had a new trick and I would always show them a new one. Every time that I showed them a new one they started to look more and more at my hands to see if I was doing something funny with them. They did not know it but they were helping me with my slight of hand by staring at my hands. I have slowly got better and better with card tricks and now I am pretty good. Hopefully there will be more tricks to come.

- Marcos

Yearbook is Done!!

My first year as a yearbook adviser has been educational and fantastic! My students have worked so hard and learned so much. I am impressed with their dedication. I'm really looking forward to next year and applying all the skills and strategies that we have learned this year.

Here are some quotes from members of my staff:

Rainhan B- It's hard work, but it's fun!

Danielle D- It is a lot of work, but it is rewarding at the end.

Vivianna T- I like the teacher, Mrs. Davis, and I appreciate everyone that helps working in the class.

Mikayla V- It's hard.

Amy S- I learned different people skills by going out and interviewing. I also learned leadership skills by making sure everyone is doing their job.

Madie S- I learned how to use a computer and social skills.

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GUEST BLOGGERS

Book Review

(spoilers)

During the break, I read Lois Duncan's “Locked in Time”. In The book, Norys mother has just died and she now has to live with her dad, stepmom, stepbrother, and stepsister. She packs up everything and moves to the outskirts of New Orleans to live in the old Berge plantation. Things go well in the beginning but as certain events happen, she reailzes her stepfamily is not what they claim to be. Her stepsister Josie says some odd things like how they were at the Hartford Circus when it caught fire (which was in 1944), and how she’s stuck the way she is. She also overhears an odd conversation between her her step mom and Josie. The thing that makes everything worse is that her step brother Dave tries to kill her but is unsuccessful.

Since no one believes her, Nory Decides to find her own answers by talking to someone who used to work on the plantation. What she discovers confirms her suspicions. She learns that Lisette's ancestor had married a rich man. They had two boys and a girl. Then the husband died and the family moved away. Then the “daughter” would come back with her three children, one girl and two boys, and this went on for many generations. In one generation though, the family came back with only one boy, and this was because Dave had said his younger brother died. Now with this newfound information she decides to read Lisette's diary that is dated in the 1800’s! She finds out that Lissette did a ritual with a woman so that she would never age, and that she killed all her husbands for money.

-Iyanah B

My First Basketball Game

The first time I played a basketball game for a actual team I was 12. I played for Chico Jr High School. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was at Notre Dame Jr High School. I was really excited to play, but at the same time I was nervous. It felt like it took forever for the game to start, but when it did, I was really happy even though I had no clue what to do. We started and they got the ball and were pushing it down the court. It was my first time, so I put my hand out there to get the ball, but I fouled the kid because I reached. We were supposed to be running plays and shooting the ball, but we were just playing around and not running anything. We ended up losing pretty badly, but we did not care. At the end, we went home happy as could be. That was the very first basketball game I ever played.

-Marcos B

Movie Review for Short Circuit 2

In the beginning there is a robot named Johnny Five that goes from the country to New York City because he has human friends that need help in their newly-started robot toy factory. Johnny Five has a funny personality and loves books so much that he can finish them in a few seconds. One funny part of the movie is when Johnny Five is going to explore the city he meets this gang called the Locos. The Locos gang tricks Johnny Five into breaking into cars by saying that they have families that really need help. They cannot go home because they need these cars opened.

During the movie there is a scene where expensive jewels are being put in a heavily guarded bank that will be tied into the end of the movie. Along the way, Johnny Five notices there are bad guys that break into the robot toy factory and he meets this man named Oscar. Those bad guys wanted to break in because they have a hideout under the toy robot factory that leads to the heavily-guarded bank with the expensive jewels.

One day Johnny Five realizes that Oscar was the bad guys’ boss after all, when he was forced to drill up to the vault with the expensive jewels. During that process of drilling, Johnny Five damaged something that could have killed him. After that, Johnny five, his friends, and the New York police chased down the bad guys. Oscar’s henchmen got arrested but Oscar escaped on a speed boat. With all the power he had left, Johnny Five took down Oscar by himself.

I would recommend this movie to anybody.

-Evan A.

Academic Support

I have had the privilege of teaching a small group of students this year who need a little extra time and help to get their work in and keep their grades up. My class has been as small as 6 and as big as 16.

We have had highs and lows. Here are some of them:

Mrs. Davis- My high has been our field trip to Christine MacShane's art studio where my students created painted canvases of their own. Beautiful, imaginative, original. My low was some of the challenging behavior that students displayed (especially at the beginning of the school year). Time and continued dedication to building relationships helped me overcome the difficulties, and now I love them all!

Rebecca- A low I had was always having anxiety about my grades and what everyone else thought about me. I didn't have many friends, and it was hard for me to talk to my teachers because I never really had anyone to talk to about my feelings. I had a hard time coming to school because all summer I was so depressed that I slept all day. My high is I overcame being depressed and stressed about my grades and stuff at home. I started to look at things differently and positively instead of looking at things in a bad way.

Tyler- My high was when we went on a field trip to Butte College and the Lineman's College because it gives you an idea about where you want to go to school later in life. That way you're not wandering around aimlessly wondering what you're going to do after high school. My low is not turning my work in most of the time and getting bad grades for it.

Amanda- My high is that I have a teacher that I have a relationship with and that we went on a field trip to Butte College where we stopped to look at art. My low is that at the beginning I had a really bad attitude with a lot of my teachers, but I've learned to work on respecting people.

Lucie- My low this year was the beginning of the year when I was convinced that I couldn't get my grades up, and I didn't want to. I didn't think I was capable of making the changes in my life that needed to be made in order for me to have better relationships with my friends and teachers and people around me constantly. I didn't think anybody cared about my success. I thought the teachers were just doing their job because they had to. Then towards the middle and end of the year, I started to get my grades up. I wasn't in trouble as much with my parents, and the motivation kicked in. I didn't want people to call me stupid anymore. I knew that I was smart, but I didn't feel like it was worth it. Now, I feel like I can come into class and not feel so stressed out. I can talk to Mrs. Davis about what is going on in my life. It makes me feel like I matter to the people in this classroom and the teachers at this school. It's a really nice way to start my day.

Nicolle- A high I had is when we went to Chico State. We got to see glass blown in a class. That was my favorite part. My low was when I first came to this class in the beginning because I didn't know anyone. I was shy. Now I know more people in this class and I don't feel shy anymore.


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GUEST BLOGGERS

Two Truths and A Lie

1. Last summer I went to a party for one of my friends. It was a party at the Sky High. It was the best party ever. There were trampolines all over the place basketball hoops. We had a basketball game because we brought a basketball. We played for one or two hours. We were dunking and doing crazy passes. It was a fun birthday.

2. We were about to play a basketball game. I was ready to go but none of my shots would go in. I thought I was going to miss every shot. I was not in the best mood at the very beginning of the game but when I took my first shot of the game and I made it. After that I made every shot. I think I had 16 points that game, I made a lot of threes and made all of my free troughs.

3. When I was in 6th grade I was the type of kid that stayed inside for the whole day. When I got home, I did not really like to go outside. But when I was in seventh grade all of that changed. Every day I would get home from school, grab a basketball and go to my front yard to shoot hoops. I realized that I wanted to be a basketball player, so I practiced hard every day. Now I play for Chico Jr basketball team.

Marcos B


Question of the Week:

I asked my friend, Amanda, “What is your everyday routine?”

She said, “Usually, I get up and lay on the couch with my blanky then I eat cereal. My favorite is Krave chocolate. Then I take a shower and use Tresemme shampoo and conditioner. I follow with oil free pomegranate flavor face wash. I then get out and dry myself off and put my clothes on. Then comes the embarrassing part, I pretend like i'm a youtuber and start my fake makeup tutorial. I start with foundation and apply it on the basic surface areas of my face, forehead, the bridge of my nose, cheeks, under eyes, and jaw. Then I take my concealer and conceal my under eyes and blend it out with my blender after applying it with a brush. Then I set my concealer and foundation and occasionally bake my face and after 5 min, I dust off the excess powder, following with using dipbrow to fill in my arch and Too Faced mascara and eyeshadow. I go for a more natural look so I don't apply lipstick but sometimes I’ll use a little gloss or use chapstick, and yeah then I go to school.”
Lucie D.

Two Truths and A Lie

1. Last summer I got my first phone. I had an iPod before I got my phone. I like my phone a lot more than my iPod. The first phone I had was the iPhone SE. The SE was created by Apple because of the errors in the iPhone 6 & the 6s. After this completion the SE is now the superior phone. The new SE has the same capacity as the 6 & 6s but in a compact size.

2. Last year for my birthday me and my family went on a vacation to Fort Bragg. We stayed in this big hotel right next to the ocean for one week. That week every night when I was falling asleep, I could hear the waves crashing against each other. We went to the beach every day. Being on the beach made my birthday great.

3. Last summer I went to a water park with my family. The water park was called Raging Waters. When you first walk in, it may look small because you can only see three or four rides. When you walk past those rides, you will then see a lot more rides. Me and my sister rode every ride. There was one ride that was extremely tall, long and super scary. Me and my sister were walking up the stairs, when we looked down we both had second thoughts, but we still continued up to the top of the ride. When we got to the top of the slide, we told each other that we should just go for it and don’t think about it. We both went down the slide and never went on it again.

Marcos B.

Favorite Class

My favorite class is math. I really enjoy math because it always has me thinking. For example, when I am is science, english, or history, I don’t really concentrate the same as I do in math. I like math because it has always been my strong subject in school.  Although I am good in all of my other classes I can’t really focus on them as well I can in math. In science I am not really into atoms and how a liquid turns into a gas and all of the steps in between that. I am not very good at english because I am not a very good writer and not a very good reader. You would think it would be easy to write a couple of paragraphs for me but my first language is Spanish. English is not the same as Spanish, it is more difficult for me. I am not really good at History because, I am not good at remembering the states, or the history of the Greeks, thing like that. When I am in all of my other classes I can’t seem to focus as well as I can in math. For me math is fun and always as me thinking. That is my favorite class and why I like math more than all of my other classes.

Marcos