September 2014 Newsletter, Mrs. Jennifer Agens Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians, I hope that you have had a great first month here at CMS! I think that we have all adjusted nicely to our new school environment. It is hard to believe that September is nearly over! As they say, “time flies when you’re having fun!” I sure do hope that the first month of school has been fulfilling and exciting for you! The rest of the school year will only be more rewarding! The 6th graders have been busy in English Language Arts! We started off the year learning about one another. Students completed a written “time capsule,” which asked them to document their personalities and interests at the beginning of the school year. Students had approximately 15 questions to answer about themselves (like “how tall am I?” or “what do I like to do on the weekends?”). The answers were recorded in the September column, and in June, we will revisit these questions to see how much we have grown! In addition, students wrote themselves a letter, which they will read in June, to remind themselves of how they felt during the first few days of middle school. It will be interesting to see what has stayed the same and/or changed come the end of the school year! We have spent the majority of our time in ELA learning about Short Stories. While students have been immersed in this genre their entire lives, we delve deeper into the genre in the 6th grade. Students have read “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, “Greyling,” by Jane Yolen, and “The All-American Slurp,” by Lensey Namioka. To prepare students for their readings, we looked at the classic, “Where the Wild Things Are,” to identify the many different elements of a short story. Students learned about plot, characters, setting, theme, and conflict, and they were able to identify each of these elements in all of the short stories we have read this month. To reinforce our understanding, we listened to a fun song titled “Flocabulary .” The song is very catchy, and many students were caught singing it in the hallways! After learning about the different parts of a short story, students were quizzed on their understanding of said elements. This quiz has helped prepare us for our unit test, which students will take on Monday, September 29th. This test asks students to demonstrate their knowledge of literary elements, the short stories genre, the four types of conflict, vocabulary, and writing. Students were given a study guide to help prepare them for this test.
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September 2014 Newsletter, Mrs. Jennifer Agens Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians, I hope that you have had a great first month here at CMS! I think that we have all adjusted nicely to our new school environment. It is hard to believe that September is nearly over! As they say, “time flies when you’re having fun!” I sure do hope that the first month of school has been fulfilling and exciting for you! The rest of the school year will only be more rewarding! The 6th graders have been busy in English Language Arts! We started off the year learning about one another. Students completed a written “time capsule,” which asked them to document their personalities and interests at the beginning of the school year. Students had approximately 15 questions to answer about themselves (like “how tall am I?” or “what do I like to do on the weekends?”). The answers were recorded in the September column, and in June, we will revisit these questions to see how much we have grown! In addition, students wrote themselves a letter, which they will read in June, to remind themselves of how they felt during the first few days of middle school. It will be interesting to see what has stayed the same and/or changed come the end of the school year! We have spent the majority of our time in ELA learning about Short Stories. While students have been immersed in this genre their entire lives, we delve deeper into the genre in the 6th grade. Students have read “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, “Greyling,” by Jane Yolen, and “The All-American Slurp,” by Lensey Namioka. To prepare students for their readings, we looked at the classic, “Where the Wild Things Are,” to identify the many different elements of a short story. Students learned about plot, characters, setting, theme, and conflict, and they were able to identify each of these elements in all of the short stories we have read this month. To reinforce our understanding, we listened to a fun song titled “Flocabulary.” The song is very catchy, and many students were caught singing it in the hallways! After learning about the different parts of a short story, students were quizzed on their understanding of said elements. This quiz has helped prepare us for our unit test, which students will take on Monday, September 29th. This test asks students to demonstrate their knowledge of literary elements, the short stories genre, the four types of conflict, vocabulary, and writing. Students were given a study guide to help prepare them for this test.
In addition to learning about short stories, students have been reintroduced to the “RAFT Strategy.” Students have learned that the RAFT Strategy is a tool to help us organize our ideas when responding to an open-ended question/prompt. We reviewed each letter of the strategy, and practiced writing an open-ended response in pairs. Students have been successful in using this strategy to help them structure their ideas when writing. Students will make use of this strategy at different points throughout the year. Students have also been keeping up with their Typing Logs. During the month of September, students have been asked to show their signed logs every Friday as a homework assignment. During the month of October, the logs will be checked once every other week (dates are posted on the “Homework” page of my website). We will be using the computers for the first time in ELA during the first two weeks of October, so I am very excited to see how the typing practice at home has helped! I will continue to urge students to complete their logs in their entirety, as well as having the logs certified with a parent/guardian signature. Thank you for your diligence in helping students with this ongoing assignment! Our Independent Reading assignment is off to a great start! Students are quickly filling out their IR Logs and putting stickers on their Class Reading Progress Charts. I am SO proud of the students for all of their hard work in this area! Students are reminded to bring their IR book to school every single day. There will always be an opportunity to read while at school-- whether waiting for the doors to open at 7:50, or for a parent to pick a student up after school, or even during a study hall-- students are encouraged to read! The first 5 books of this requirement will be due by January 31, 2015. A book log check (unannounced) will be coming during the month of October! October is going to be an exciting month! Students will be working on their “Diversity Projects,” which relates to what we have studied in regard to “The All-American Slurp.” Students will be working in groups for this project. A short group oral presentation is one aspect of this project, and all presentations will take place on October 8th. Students will also be introduced to the Writing Process and Narrative Writing during October. The Writing Process Quiz will take place on October 21st, and the Narrative Essay will be due on November 3rd. More information to come!
It has been a true joy getting to know each and every student. I am looking forward to a successful year! Thank you for your support thus far!
Happy Reading and Writing,
Mrs. Agens
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