Week of September 28

Picture Day is Thursday! Please make sure to provide a check and the signed form if you wish your student to purchase pictures. All students will have their pictures taken, whether or not they choose to make a purchase.

This week in Language Arts we are creating Character Stories. Students were given a photograph of a person (at random), and then asked to write the story of that person and his/her situation. They were encouraged to be as detailed and creative as possible. This is a class activity, although students were allowed to take home their writing to "tweek and fluff" - revise and edit. They were to include 15 of the frequently misspelled words from letters A-E. The spelling quiz on ONLY letters A-C is on Thursday. We also are working with parts of speech and grammar, in addition to reviewing their first, formal writing project: Who Am I.

In Literacy Skills students are reading the suspenseful "Three Skeleton Key". Please check with your student that he/she continues to read books for pleasure at home and document it in the reading journal. Also, please also ask to see the reading log which should be updated daily.

Next week on Tuesday is a writing assessment for all students at Brooks. Brooks has been chosen to participate in the process by the state. Please refer to the letter sent home for more information. By now hopefully you have received information about how to long on to your student's gradebook. If you have not heard by Monday of next week, please let the office know.

Thanks for your continued support.

Week of September 21

Autumn is stealthily approaching and the leaves are changing on my block. What a pleasant surprise amidst the rain, having grown up in Northern California where there are no seasons...

Thank you for attending Curriculum Night if you were able to join us. I sent a letter about Language Arts and Literacy Skills home with each student whose adults were unable to attend. Please feel free to email me with questions at any time. It was announced that evening that Conferences will be Student-led Portfolio Conferences this year. More information will be available soon from Brooks about this process.

A current progress report for LA and LS will be given out on Tuesday. As always, please review it with your student before signing and returning it to me. I appreciate receiving the hard copy back, although you may write me a note if you wish to keep the original. Students have been given several reminders to make up work from absences and to turn in activities that they may have not turned in. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the gradebook program will be available for you soon so that you can check in with your student's progress in all classes. The progress report is snapshot of current progress, not the final grade in class. Although not all "Who Am I" narrative essays have been graded yet, all other activities have been entered.

Hopefully you have had a chance to look over the school photo order form. School pictures will be taken on October 1. Please make sure to give a filled out form with payment to your student.

The Media Center has been very busy during lunch and 6th period Literacy Skills. Please encourage your student to take AR tests before school if possible. Students may write a book summary in place of an AR test.

This week in Language Arts students are working with prefixes and context clues. As an experiment, they were given all assignments on Monday so that they could plan how to accomplish them. Please refer to the Class Activities information to the right of this blog for more information.

Thanks again for your support.

Week of September 14

Curriculum Night is Thursday from 7 PM to 9 PM. Please attend so you can experience your student's schedule. The evening will begin in Advisory, and teachers look forward to your presence. Please make sure to sign in on the clipboard in my room so that your student may receive extra credit in LA for your attendance.

This week students will be working on a few grammar activities, creating a poem from a personal experience and reflecting on their reading. Please make sure to return the progress report from last week if you have not had a chance to sign it yet. You may check in on the Class Activities by viewing them to the right of this blog.

Thanks for your continued support.

Week of September 7

I look forward to reading the juicy details of our students lives in their "Who Am I" essays, which were collected today in class. This is a great opportunity for me to learn about each student's interests as well as writing style. As your student knows, this assignment was to be typed, double-spaced and turned in with the rough draft and brainstorm in class. If your student had issues with printing or typing, the Media Center is open before school (with an ID) and during lunch (with a pass).

Please review and sign the progress report that was given to your student today. Students and their parents/guardians will be able to access grades online from the internet in the near future, and information will be provided soon about how to log in. Please feel free to email me with a question or write it on the progress report. Please include an email address so that I am able to respond to you quickly.

This week we are reflecting on the "end of summer" and all of its memories. Thanks for helping your student maintain and bring to class the 3-ring LA/LS binder with paper and pens/pencils.

First Essay is Due

Hooray! The "Who Am I" essay, which will be used as a benchmark for the rest of the year, is due. The rough draft is due Friday, and the FINAL draft (typed, double-spaced in 12-point font) is due Tuesday. The rough draft and brainstorm sheet should be stapled to the back of the final draft. Please refer to the handouts that give the directions as well as an example for this activity.

Students have been exploring the format of this "formal" essay in class, so they should not have had to do much more than edit and add additional details at home prior to typing. Please remember that the Media Center is open before school (with an ID) and during lunch (with a pass).

Students also have begun writing a list of their "Writing Territories". This is a list of significant events, objects and memories. We will be referring to this list all year, and your student might talk to you about details from his/her past.

Thanks for your support this year, especially completing and signing all of those forms.