November 9th, 2018

Hello parents/guardians,

I have provided a breakdown per grade for your viewing pleasure:

6th grade:  The 6th grade students have just finished their novel study, final novel test, and and their persuasive essay for The Phantom Tollbooth. I used the essay as a diagnostic to gauge their writing level for creating a five paragraph essay. The next novel we will be reading is Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. We are utilizing noredink.com to work on our grammar lessons so that students are able to work at their own pacing.  I will also have students working on fragment sentences and detail sentences to support their topic sentences.

7th grade: The 7th grade students are currently working on their compare and contrast essays for A Wrinkle in Time, where they are comparing the novel to the movie.  I will have one-on-one teacher conferences with students to help with revision to ensure that their thesis statement and topic sentences tie into one another.  We will also begin utilizing noredink.com for our grammar lessons, and I will also introduce students to a practice HSPT and begin teaching test taking tips.

8th grade: The 8th grade students have all just finished their first literary analysis essay for My Brother Sam is Dead.  It has been a very long and tedious process, and it is clear that we have more work to do with improving our writing overall.  By now, all of you should have received a letter granting your child permission to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Students have all chosen a research topic and are all currently conducting online research to create their research report. Students will be completing the research reports as a summative assessment, and they should pay close attention to all grading rubrics I provide, as that is the manner in which they will be graded.

Kind Regards,

Ms.Gonzales