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Welcome. Please come in and sit down. . A little about myself. I am originally from Ankeny, Iowa and moved to Arizona 8 years ago. I graduated from the University of Iowa and recently from NAU with my masters. I have a son named Wyatt who’s turning two in September.
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Welcome Please come in and sit down.
A little about myself • I am originally from Ankeny, Iowa and moved to Arizona 8 years ago. • I graduated from the University of Iowa and recently from NAU with my masters. • I have a son named Wyatt who’s turning two in September. • I just bought a house in Chandler with my fiancé. • We have a cat named Cookie.
Background • This is my 8th year teaching. • I’ve taught 6thand 5th grade for one year each. • This is my 6th year teaching 7th grade language arts.
Notebooks • Most, if not all assignments will be in their composition notebooks. • -easy to see all their assignments and their improvement over the semester. • We’ve been working on organizing them into the different sections. (reading, writing, vocab, refocus) • Keeps them organized. • Easy for them and myself to find their assignments. • Each assignment should have a heading and the date on the right side of their paper.
Classroom Rule • “I will not interfere with the learning, safety, and well-being of myself or others.” • -Refocus-Students will refocus in the back of their notebook. This gives them the opportunity to reflect on a better choice. • -Talk to the one on one and/or move them to another seat. • Parent Contact • -ISI
Positive Rewards • Homework pass, positive email, student of the month, extra pts. pass, educational films, lunch with the teacher
Scope Magazine • Scholastic Magazine geared towards 6-8th graders and has nonfiction articles of high interest targeted towards middle school students. • Aligned to common core standards for reading and writing.
Trade books this year and Writing assignments • “Freak the Mighty,” and the sequel “Max the Mighty” • “Gentle hands” • “And Then There Were None” • ~ “The Wave” • Introduction letter • Personal narrative • Persuasive letter • Persuasive paragraph • Expository essay • Fictional story
Trade Books and writing assignments for honors • “The Giver” • “The Illustrated Man”-required • “House of the Scorpions” • “The Wave” • “As You Like It”-required • “Fahrenheit 457” • Letter of recommendation • Persuasive narrative • Persuasive letter • Persuasive paragraph • Expository essay • Fictional story
Chapter books for honors We are starting “The Giver” in honors and students will be expected to read 5 chapters a week. They have their own copy and that should be coming home each week.
Chapter books • We are beginning the book “Freak the Mighty.” Students will be reading approximately 4-5 chapters a week. They will have time to read in class and check out the book after school if needed. • The book must be returned the next day for me to have a class set for my other periods to read. • Suggestions: Kindle, IPAD, check out from a local library, Amazon.com, if they would like their own copy
Spelling and Vocab • Spelling and vocab will be coming from the student’s trade book and will be given weekly.
absent • Students have two days for each day they are absent to make-up work. • They can go to the team website and see what they’ve missed. If they miss notes, they can get the from a friend.
Grades • Grades will be updated weekly. Please be sure to check on a regular basis.
Writing Responses • I’m really working on complete sentences and giving examples. • Anticipation Guide: Discusses themes in the book and to analyze and respond. • I show them good and bad examples that I’ve come up with for their homework. • *Because* in their answers • Example Topic: Friendship is the most important thing in life. • Good: Friendship is the most important thing because some people don’t have a real family. For example…. • Bad: Friendship is not important. • Friendship is not the most important thing. Family is.
Writing Responses • We are working on making sure all responses are in complete sentences. • *Legible*- We’re working hard on making our answers legible for when we trade and for when I grade. • We’ve talked about if it can’t be read, it’s wrong. We can’t spend time in class deciphering what a letter or word is.
I’m thrilled to be here and have thoroughly enjoyed my first 3 weeks at Altadena! The students have been great!
Please email me if I wasn’t able to answer any of your questions.