Welcome to Mr. Companion's Humanities 8 course, and to Dover Bay Secondary School! It is my hope that this year will prove to be a happy and fulfilling experience for students and parents!

Let's begin with an explanation of what Humanities is, and what you can expect in this class. Humanities is the study of human achievement over the centuries and how humanity has interacted with its physical environment; it is more commonly thought of as history, geography, literature, and the other "liberal arts". Humanities 8 is designed for the student who has demonstrated success in these disciplines in elementary school.  Humanities 8 runs all year long, so it provides new Dover Bay students with a sense of continuity. Some of the areas of study in Humanities 8 are as follows:

• Elements of geography including mapping skills, graphing skills, geographic terminology etc.
• Study of history, including emphasis on our western classical roots of Greece and Rome, eastern classical roots of India and China,  medieval society, renaissance culture, and the scientific revolution and age of exploration.
• Comparative Religions including special focus on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and others.
• Elements of literature including study of the novel, short story, poetry, non-fiction
• Language Arts, with a focus on English grammar, sentence structure and punctuation
• Composition Skills, focusing on paragraph development leading to essay writing
• Affective Skills, such as drawing, painting, creating, developing, and imagining...

Mr. Companion will discuss classroom rules personally, but for now just be aware that all school rules apply; read your blue student handbook carefully and aquaint yourself with them. Parents: interim reports are posted once per term and are posted to the internet. If you do not have access, ask your son or daughter to print one in the library and bring it home to you. Parents and students can access their interim reports by visiting my web site at the address above and clicking on the see your marks tab. Access requires your student number so be sure to record this from your course selection sheet when you receive it from your homeroom teacher on day one. The dates for interim reports are published by the school and usually posted on the marquee on Hammond Bay Road.  Many of the school and class procedures are explained to parents at Meet The Teacher Night, so please try to attend. Thank you for your assistance in advance in making the transition to Secondary School as smooth as possible and if you have any concerns please contact me at the school.
 

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Note: parents who provide e mail address may have better communication with me and I urge you to provide it if possible! When e mailing, please provide the student's name in the subject bar to avoid being deleted as spam.