Communication is key.
Letters to parents and guardians
Q1 halfway over already?
9/17/2016
Hello!
I hope this note finds you all well. I have enjoyed my first month with your darling. I love teaching middle school because there are so many unique personalities in a room at once! It's never a bore! Perhaps your child has mentioned my ridiculously lame dance moves, the way we enjoy our reading time, or one of our writing prompts. I hope your kiddo is enjoying class as much as I am! We just finished up our unit on folk literature. The test was Friday and those grades will be in the gradebook this weekend. I think the comic about Perseus and Medusa myth may have been the favorite! Monday we will begin a new novel, Ungifted by Gordon Korman, as a class. Students will participate in a Socratic seminar discussion. Socratic seminar combines the social aspects of learning with the power of questioning. Students will be asked a guiding question before reading and will respond in their journals. We will then read a few chapters, and students will use sticky notes to mark passages that connect to the guiding question or generally spark their interests. Finally, we will discuss the guiding question together, and after hearing the viewpoints of their classmates, students will expand upon their original written answers. Socratic seminar allows students an opportunity to think critically, articulate thoughts, and appreciate the opinions of others. I know they will enjoy it and learn a great deal. We will continue writing daily in our journals. We have several drafts so far, and next week students will select one to edit, revise, and polish. These finished pieces will be placed in portfolios eventually passed on to seventh grade English teachers. We will write several more drafts and select another to finalize at the end of the quarter. The DAR essays will be completed in mid-October, at the beginning of quarter two. More information about that in the next email. Next week students will receive information about the Varsity Letter E. That information is on my website under Resources. We are currently reviewing parts of speech. This is often a struggle for students when taught in isolation via worksheets, so I try to connect the lessons to our own writing. Students who have a solid grasp of the content will complete extension activities. In Advisory, we are currently listening to Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty, the first in a trilogy of books about a girl who lives in the basement of Biltmore Estate. I was lucky enough receive a class set of the novel from the author himself and have met him several times. Hopefully we will take a trip to Biltmore Estate after the SOLs so we can see in person how the novel connects to the history of our region. As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. I keep my website current with class events and homework, often including documents students need for studying. Remember that the Funbook has those same notes for review purposes as well. Thanks for your continued support. The parent/guardian survey is still active. For those of you who have not yet responded, please feel free to do so! Have a great weekend! -Aimee
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GATE in English
8/19/2016
Hello Parents!
Whew, it sure feels good to have one full week complete, doesn't it? As the parent of a GATE student, I thought I'd take the opportunity to share a bit about how I incorporate enrichment activities into my English classes. Reading comprehension assignments and activities are often differentiated without students' knowledge. Your child and the child next to him/her may be asked to read texts at varying levels of difficulty with all students focusing on the same skill, and students likely won't know, rightly, the difference. The year-long Varsity Letter reading program is always optional for students, but I highly encourage GATE students to participate. Students who read 10 books of their choosing and complete 10 creative projects in a school year earn a letter E in sixth grade, a B in 7th, and an S in 8th. Information on this is forthcoming. I find that presenting the program to students in the first few weeks usually results in glazed eyes and confusion, so I give them a bit of time to get used to middle school life first! Vocabulary assignments will often be more creative. While others are making flashcards or practicing using the words in a sentence, your child may be creating a video that visually demonstrates the meaning of the words and presenting their videos to the rest of the class. Another option, if deemed appropriate, will be the study of an entirely different set of higher-level words. Writing assignments for all students will often include several options, and one of those will always be more challenging, lengthy, or complex should your child choose to complete it. I encourage GATE students to participate in the DAR and Patriot's Pen essay contests as well. Research projects, which occur closer to the end of the year, will be based completely on interest and (somewhat) self-directed, allowing students to engage more fully in the research process. I will encourage GATE students to research problem-based topics that connect real-world issues to their interests. An example activity and a bit of background...I just finished my Master in Education with a school library endorsement. To stay connected and current, I write reviews for a professional library publication. An added bonus is getting to keep all of the books for my classroom! We have been reviewing character, plot, setting, conflict, and theme in class. After assessing their needs, I asked a group of students in my Core 2 who I felt already had a solid grasp of the material to skim a series of nonfiction books about Native Americans that I am currently reviewing. They also briefly discussed a few guiding questions regarding the usefulness and appropriateness of the series for students. They immediately pointed out that the books did not glaze over or dumb down the hardships Native Americans experienced and felt that my review, which I asked them to read and critique, needed to state that the books were most appropriate for middle school aged students, not fourth and fifth graders as I had determined. I think they got a lot out of this quick out-of-the-box activity, and we had a fantastic chat together. As always, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. Thanks and have a great weekend, Aimee Welcome!
8/10/2016
Hello Everyone,
I think our first day in English class went fairly well, and I hope your child feels the same! As I'm sure you know, things are rather hectic the first day. As much as I would like to get into the flow of a typical day, there are so many interruptions and distractions on day one that make that impossible. I am sure your child still has questions about routines and procedures in English class, and well as questions about lunch, bathrooms, homework, lockers, and more. I will be taking the time during the next several days and weeks to address every question and concern they throw my way! What's to come? We'll talk about elements of fiction - characters, setting, plot, conflict, and theme through our study of short stories and folk literature. We will also write in our journals daily, planting seeds for published essays to be written later in the first nine weeks. Students will receive a letter about me soon, likely Monday, and they will write a friendly letter about themselves in return. Students will have several days to work on this and will receive a guide to the friendly letter format as well as a grading rubric to assist them. Monday is our first library day, and if you feel the way most students do, I'm sure many of you will be happy to learn there is no Accelerated Reader at the middle school level. The kids cheered when I told them today! I think someone even stood up while clapping! They will choose whatever books they like, and they will read EVERY DAY in class, but they will not be taking AR tests or competing to earn points. Instead we will celebrate the wonder and awesomeness of books through casual conversations, formal conferences, and book groups. We will read several novels together over the course of the year, I am hoping to read 4-6, and there will be assignments and grades associated with those. In the coming days, if students wish to, they may decorate the cover of their composition books, (the non-spiral one), with pictures of themselves, family, pets, hobbies, etc. This is a completely optional homework assignment but many students enjoy doing it. We will lovingly refer to this composition book as our Fun Book as it will house all of our English notes. When finished, I will cover the collage with clear packing tape to help it last longer. I don't have a set schedule for emails such as this one, but you will likely receive information about what we're up to once every few weeks. In the meantime, as we begin our year together, please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you or your child may have. I look forward to getting to know each and every one of my darlings! Also, I am still working on my website, haslam.weebly.com so check in there when you can. Homework assignments, important events and dates, author and book resources can all be found there. Thanks to those of you who completed the survey I sent out before school began. I enjoyed reading your responses as they help me learn more about your child! Thanks for your support, Aimee |