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Text Box: Welcome to the fifth grading period! Mr. Clark's classes will study the Civil War that saved America, and continue to prepare for state testing in the spring. Kids can review 6th and 7th grade history by going to Mr. Clark's website and viewing the Review Slides. The Wildcat chosen by his teachers Top Student for all classes this past grading period was JUAN SANTILLAN, a gentleman and a scholar. Orale, Juan. From Ms. Neel: Hello Douglass Families and congratulations on making the first half of the year a great one. I would like to acknowledge some of my top students who received awards this grading period: Geoff Klein, John Blackard and Kellie Harris. I have many other top students who will be honored through out the remainder of the year. Here in Math 8 we have been working on the ever so famous Pythagorean Theorem. We have taken a cumulative mid-term that assesses how much we have retained throughout the year. Our next concept to tackle is graphing functions. We will spend the entire grading period on this topic. Please feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or questions about your student. Thank You-Karina Neel From Ms. Qureshi: Miss Qureshi's English 8 class will be studying poetry this March. We will study many forms of poetry: the epic, the ballad, the narrative poems, and odes. It should be quite fun. We will also write essay #5, "Response to a Poem." We will take AR quizzes on the book that we just finished reading, The Contender and start on our next AR book. The High Point B class will study chapters 2 and 3 in the High Point book this quarter. We will also be writing personal narrative and descriptive essays. We will finish reading Esperanza Rising ,our AR book, and then take a quiz. Special commendations to Perla Casas, Natalia Hernandez, Chetan Malhotra, Mauricio Ramirez, Maria Castro, Espernaza Cruz, Crystal Rodriguez, Maria Cazares, and Jose Jimenez for their hard work. Welcome to Miss Hill’s English and History! In history we are currently switching over to the second history textbook which is being piloted by the district. The program is entitled “History Alive”, published by TCI. We will be using this new program for the next six weeks, focusing on the issues facing our country leading up to the Civil War. In English, we are beginning a unit on poetry. The essay for the 5th grading period will be a response to a poem, in which the students will identify and interpret a poem’s message. We will also be reading another class novel once we finish The Watsons go to Birmingham. In addition to poetry and the class novel, we will continue lessons in spelling and grammar. If you have any questions or concerns about what your child is doing in either history or English, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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Meet Grace Hernandez

DMS Security Guard

You have probably seen a woman dressed in a green Douglass jacket labeled “Campus Security” with her “Douglass Lions” lanyard. You may know her, you may not. For those of you that know her and those who don’t, her name is Grace Hernandez. Everyone usually just calls her “Grace.” Here are some things you may not know about one of our campus security guards.

Grace has been associated with Douglass for a long time, going back to when she was a kid when she attended 8th and 9th grade at the school. As it turns out, Grace also has family ties to Douglass. Her husband Sal, eldest son Sal, daughter Ariel, an 8th grader at Douglass, and daughter Arianna, have all gone to the school.

Ever wondered what a day as a middle school security guard is like? Well, through some interviewing and observing we found out. Grace comes to school early in the morning and spends seven hours and forty-five minutes on the job. A typical day would be completing the daily routine of checking the restrooms for graffiti, monitoring students’ behavior, and being on call for whatever should happen. If you think that you are sneaky and think you can get away with just about anything, think again. Okay well everyone gets away sometimes, but not when Grace is around. During one 8th grade lunch period, she busted kids for sitting on the bumper of an S.U.V., sitting on the edge of the bench, “play fighting”, which she breaks up because she doesn’t know if it’s for real or not, and the usual lunch line running, cutting, or buying for others, not to mention keeping a close watch on everything else. Think you won’t get caught for leaving your trash around, think again. Grace will make you spend your lunchtime picking up pieces of trash.
When Grace is not helping out a student, talking on her walkie-talkie radio, checking the time, chatting with others, or just doing her job, she might be at home working her other job; being the mom, wife, and person she is outside of school. At home, along with her family, Grace has a female dog-named Mel and a Cockatoo. Some of Grace’s hobbies include playing racquetball, basketball, hockey, soccer, and softball, which she used to play until she injured herself. When not working, Grace likes to cook and run her kids around to sports.

Do you have a favorite subject in school? Grace did when she was in middle school. She liked P.E. because she loves sports and always got an “A”. One unique thing about Grace is she cares about young people and wants to help make a difference in their lives.

Grace has been a security guard at Douglass for 3 years and looks forward to continue on working hard and making this school a good and safe place for all.

Go Lions!

By: Mrs. Mahan’s CLM Class

Article Written by: Annie Jenkins

Interview Questions by: Rebecca Codde, Hannah Winger, and Nicholas Cleaver

Interview by: Jose Cazares and Jacqueline Diaz

Observations by: Stephen Castillo, Eduardo Partida and Mariel Alvarez

Edited by: Stephen Delevati, Dominic Carrillo, Taylor Wright, and Mrs. Mahan and Ms. Van Gronigen