SPARTAN ACADEMY

To 9th Grade Spartans:

Put July 22 and 23 on your calendar for the Spartan Academy Orientation.  More details to follow.  See you there.

The new 9th grade reading list is hot off the press.   Before you go to the beach, visit your neighborhood bookstore or maybe your parents’ bookshelf to get a couple of exciting works of literature for the summer.

Traditional English 9

Choose either:Across Five Aprils (Irene Hunt) or Waiting for Rain (Sheila Gordon)  and one of these - 

Good Poems (Garrison Keillor); Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Thomas Cahill) or The Winslow Boy (Terrance Rattigan) - either read the play or watch the video

Honors English 9

Read both Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) and The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexander Dumas) - Bantam Classis and choose one of the following

Good Poems (Garrison Keillor); Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Thomas Cahill) or The Winslow Boy (Terrance Rattigan) - either read the play or watch the video

CLUE English 9

Read both Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) and The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexander Dumas) - Lowell Blair translation                                             and choose one of the following

Good Poems (Garrison Keillor); Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Thomas Cahill) or The Winslow Boy (Terrance Rattigan) - either read the play or watch the video

Howdy partners!

 I’m so sorry we haven’t talked in a while.  The Academy has been DEEPLY (like the bottom of the ocean) entrenched in Gateway and End of Course tests.  WOW, do they take a lot of time. 

We’re confident that our students did extremely well on the Algebra Gateway Exam.  Results will be in next week.  Look for Quick Reports coming in your algebra classes.

So long - talk to you SOON - I promise!

Talk about being busy… (Who is? No one, but now that you mention it).

Many events happened Saturday for our freshmen students!

At the University of Memphis, there was a race going on for charity, which many of our students joined in.

There was also the State competition for National History Day. Congratulations to all the winners.  First and second place winners go to Maryland to compete nationally, and for some of us third-placers, we get to have the alternate spot for nationals. 

There was also the cultural “fair” going on at the same time.  Witnesses proclaim that White Station took home the house by a storm.

            “I performed a Spanish song.  I didn’t win, but the day itself was amazing!  There were so many people there, all waiting to learn something about different languages.” says an insider.

And speaking about performances, let’s go back at our school.  The athletic teams were all taking a different shift and volunteering for Showstoppers, the fantastic dance competition. 

            “It doesn’t look like our school, the cafeteria is covered in drapes, and the auditorium was, like, ah-mazing!” says a worker.

To top it all up, the busy day ended with the Memphis vs. UCLA game.  Go Tigers, go!

Every five years each school must go through an evaluation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  Next week is OUR week to shine.  The Academy is looking good - lots of excellent student work posted in classrooms and in the hallways.  The second floor teachers really have it going on.  And Ms. Farris and Ms. Coleman Terry on first floor are looking great.  A list of all our Spartan Scholars is on the wall coming out of the breezeway.  Did you find your name on the scholar list?

Anyway, lets be kind to our SACS guests next week and show them what Spartan Spartan Spirit is about. 

 We’re needing blog reports.  Respond to a blog entry or drop off your contribution in the 9th grade office. 

n  “I slept. I also went to a sleepover, finished my projects, and watched movies. Oh, and went shopping.” – Seo Jung K.

n  “I went to Louisiana. My uncle’s getting married.  I also had a sleepover with my best friend.” – Malli S.

n  “I went to Atlanta for my sister’s volleyball tournament. We also had our family trip along the way.  We didn’t get to many places because of the weather.”- Ashwini J.

n  “Just hung out like I do every weekend, ‘cept this was longer.” – Blake S.

n   “I went to Chicago, and it was, like, AWESOME!” – Sandhya S.

A large percent of the student population replied that they stayed at home sleeping, watching television, or on the computer.  All this was possible from the lack of homework over the break. “Thank goodness, too! This is the first time I’ve never had anything to do. I even had items over winter break.” says a bystander. 

“Well, I think they’re making up for the ‘lack of homework’ by giving us double this week!” says another student. 

            Teachers and students are both gearing up for the fact that Spring break is the last break until School’s OUT!

Do you have an interesting Spring Break story?  Send it on the blog.  Remember that all bloggers must identify themselves.

                                                            -S.V

Mr. Mansfield, Ms. Sutton and Ms. Blassingame visited the middle school to share information about class selection on Wednesday.  Parents attended a meeting at the middle school on Thursday night.  The 9th grade students are looking forward to seeing the new 9th grade students in the fall.  An orientation is planned in late July.  The dates will appear on this blog and on the WSHS calendar wiz.

Go Spartans!

Spencer Bohren came to White Station on March 6, 2008 to teach CLUE and Honors English students.  What was he speaking about?  A song.  The song that traveled through many ages through the Civil War through the 80s right into our hands.  The song that broke many barriers, such as color and race.  With his many guitars and his voice, he told the story of this song.  A brief history of how it got started, a slave just looking for his girlfriend, to how Mr. Bohren found this song in an old record from a record store.  The song’s story is it evolved right into the culture that it was surrounded in, and this song was re-sung by artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

            Only 9^th grade students were welcome to this “concert”.  The audience was treated to an extravaganza of music in history.  He gave two concerts, one in 2^nd period and one in 5^th period.  Both attracted students and teachers passing by.  The teacher’s advice?

            “Hurry and get a great seat!”

Reported by Sanhitha

Do you have something to say about school, the world, your life?  Respond to one of the bolg articles and the blogmeisters will publish your comments. 

Say something, Spartans!

The rugby team (girl’s and boy’s teams) will be  wearing their jerseys on Friday since they have matches on Saturday. Both teams play on Saturday at NAS Millington at the field on Hornet Rd.  Girls play at 11:00 and Boys play at 2:00.  Coach Brooks leads both teams.  Several Academy members are on the teams.