The James Logan Courier

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a report on how academic interventions are being incorporated into the instructional program to meet student needs.

Alvarado Middle School Principal Yvonne Hull and teacher Sarah Graff told the Board how the Voyager program is being used to support students with skill needs in language arts. Voyager, which also is being piloted at Barnard-White and Cesar Chavez middle schools, is a mandatory class for “below basic” and “far below basic” students. It focuses on improving vocabulary, fluency and comprehension skills.

The Board also discussed the possibility of bringing a bond measure before New Haven voters in 2008.

Note: Each week, The Courier spotlights books newly arrived, or expected to arrive, in the James Logan Media Center

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 26, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385733135
ISBN-13: 978-0385733137

From hattiebigsky.com:
For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana, to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim.

Under the big sky, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove on her quest to discover the true meaning of home.

Read the first chapter.

By Abhishek Saluja, Courier Book Reviewer

The novel King Solomon's Mines involves an intriguing character by the name of Allan Quatermain. Quatermain is asked for help by a rich man, Sir Henry Curtis, in a search for his lost brother. Sir Henry's brother desired treasures which reside in King Solomon�s Mines and was presumably lost on his journey.

Quatermain is the daring leader of the expedition, in addition to adventure he wants part of the treasure sitting in King Solomon's Mines. This is supposedly his last job whether he finds the treasure or not. He believes that the dangerous journey will consume his life; yet he agrees to embark on the quest anyway.

Read King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard, one of 57 of his works available free from Project Gutenberg.

LUNCH: Spicy Chicken Salad with Cheddar, Tomatoes, and Ranch Dressing, Milk, Fresh Fruit, Fun Chips, All Veggie Pizza

ACTIVITIES:
The boys soccer teams will have their first game of the season Friday night vs. Antioch. Jv at 4, Varsity at 6.

Come support the boys soccer team Monday night as they match up against Mt. Eden in our home stadium. Jv at 4 pm and Varsity at 6 pm.

Pick up your id card and/or pictures in the Activities Office at lunch.

From wikipedia:
Robert Fulton was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1765. He may have become interested in steamboats in 1777 when (at the age of 12) he visited William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who had found out about Watt's steam engine on a visit to England; Henry then made his own steam engine and in 1763 – two years before Fulton was born – tried putting it in a boat, which sank.

Read "A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation" by Robert Fulton, free from Google Books.