Most students think that English is all about reading and writing, but there are many more genres of learning to add to it.  The eighth graders in Mrs. Breakwell’s English class wrote songs about a movie called West Side Story.  Mrs. Breakwell said, “I thought writing some songs would be a nice alternative to writing an essay, and I thought it would be a good chance for multi-genre work since we were experiencing a musical.”

The students in Mrs. Breakwell’s  English class had the chance to experience and display their musical sides.  The students got together in groups of four and brainstormed lyrics that would display the way they understood  the movie.

Eighth-graders in Mrs. Rice’s English class have the opportunity to participate in radio shows for a book that they have read.  They read parts of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. Then they listened to the radio show. Mrs. Rice said “We talk about verisimilitude, which is the literary quality of seeming real. Then we research apocalyptic events and make our own apocalyptic radio shows. We write scripts, select sound effects, table read, and then record the shows.”

Almost everyone knows of the classic movie The Princess Bride. It’s a story of romance, swordplay, giants, an evil prince and a beautiful princess. But does anyone really think about it as a quest? Mrs. Breakwell, an English teacher at SJHS, is teaching her students about the quests cycle. According to Mrs. Breakwell it was a good idea to apply the quest theme into our school learning.

Caption:  Seventh graders show which Life As… books they read.  Front row, left to right:  Marin Rosenberg, Kimber Hicken, Sarah Christensen, Sheylah Buhler, Stephanie Aragon, and Lexey Anderson.  Back row, left to right:  Darren Hooley, Samantha Allan, Kenya Rodriguez, Erika Funkhouser, Tyler Werner, and Cody Larsen.

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Power-hungry queens, mute kings, funky dances and beds? They all fit in the school play called “Once Upon a Mattress.”

Students auditioned for the play because of their friends or just because they were born with the talent to act and sing.  Helaman Burrows, ninth grader at SJHS, said, “I love acting and singing--it’s one of my hobbies.” Hard work is a main priority for the play. Mrs. Walker, the choir teacher and director of the musical at SJHS, said ,“It takes a lot of time, hard work and sacrifice to put on an excellent show. It's really fun, but the hard work comes first.”

Nebo School District’s schools third terms is coming to a close March 17th. Some students at SJHS seem a little worried with the end of the term coming up. Cody Woolsey, ninth grader at SJHS, said, “I am kind of worried because teachers give big assignments and everyone is cramming so that they can get good grades.”

But some of the students at SJHS aren’t as worried about the end of the term. Annie Anderson, an eighth grader at SJHS, is one of them.  She said, “I am excited for the end of the term because the closer it gets to the end of the term the closer school gets out."

Romance, war, death, deception, trial, and tragedy were some of the things that were rattling through Mrs. Rice’s ninth-grade honors English classes as they compared two classic books.

About four months ago, right before Thanksgiving, Mrs. Rice’s honors English classes voted on two books that they could read; those two books were Ivanhoe and Dracula.  The students not only got to vote for the two books, but they also had the opportunity to choose which one out of the two they would read.  Most students chose to read Dracula, but a few students chose to read Ivanhoe.

Every five years secondary schools that offer graduation credits go through a process called accreditation. This process is a way of finding things in the school that could use improvement. The school has to meet academic standards in order to continue to issue graduation credits.

Most students have heard of President’s Day, but have they ever taken the time to think about, understand, and appreciate it?   We have the national holiday, President’s Day, on February 22 every year.  “We have it to celebrate the birthdays of our most popular and beloved presidents of the United States,” said Mr. Shields, eighth-grade history teacher.  The presidents we celebrate are Washington and Lincoln.   We have this holiday to show appreciation to those presidents for their service, for establishing America and holding it together in our darkest hours.   Washington’s birthday was Feb. 22, and Lincoln’s was Feb.

 Everyone loves a good long break from school. Spring break is April 11-15. Different teachers and students will be staying at home and the others will be enjoying a vacation with their family somewhere else.

Teachers like Mrs. Luke, the foods teacher here at SJHS, are staying home and relaxing during this week long break. “It is my favorite week. It helps me survive the rest of the school year. Plus it is a good way to celebrate the new season,” said Mrs. Luke.