Should we forgive?

Sophomores are reading Simon Wiesenthal's Holocaust book Sunflower.  Throughout this nine weeks, they'll be exploring this question:

What are the possibilities and limits of forgiveness?

To kick off their exploration, students previewed several scenarios and discussed whether the perpetrators deserved forgiveness. Here are a few highlights from their first blog posts. Enjoy!

Wanna Expand Your Vocabulary?

VocabAhead is a great (FREE!) tool to help you grow your vocabulary. This site lets you learn ACT words by watching videos and quizzing yourself. Try it by watching some of the videos below. You can click on a word from the list at right, and watch a video. Visit VocabAhead to a get a free ap for your phone.

Calling All Pioneer Parents

At BHS, we strive to prepare students for college and careers beyond high school. We understand that literacy is a key component in making sure our students will be able to compete and contribute.


The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), national standards for college and career readiness, clearly define what it means to be literate in the 21st century and explain key skills students must acquire to be successful. Below are some of these skills:

• Read and comprehend challenging texts.
• Discuss and debate--both face-to-face and online--substantive texts and topics.
• Draw conclusions and support them with textual evidence.
• Write and publish informational texts, arguments, and narrative pieces.
• Expand vocabulary and gain control of standard English conventions to convey ideas purposefully and clearly.
• Use digital elements (images, videos, charts, informational graphics) to support and enhance ideas.

At BHS, we are striving to use blogging as an instructional tool to allow students to practice regularly and improve upon these skills.


How Can Parents Help?
You can actively support your child's literacy growth in several ways:

• Read your student's blog posts.
• Engage your child in discussion about the texts and topics he or she is writing about by commenting on your child's blog posts.
• Read and comment on other students' posts and on the comments of others, encouraging healthy debate and discussion.
• Talk to your child about what he or she is reading and discussing in class.

Below are some tips for commenting on blog posts:

• Ask a question.
• Agree or disagree (nicely—Stick to discussing IDEAS; never attack PEOPLE!)
• Share a related connection: to a personal experience, to another text, to a current issue/problem/event.
• Make a recommendation.
• Piggyback on others’ comments, building a conversation around important ideas and opinions and experiences.

You may want to print the blogging tip sheet.


Parents, we welcome your participation in our Pioneer Blogging Portal!