SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE
7th Grade English/Language Arts/Reading
Our Occasional Newsletter
We are 5 weeks into our school year and off to a great start. We like to keep you all informed about what is going on in our classrooms. In order to do that, we will send out an occasional newsletter to keep you posted on what's been happening and what is coming up in the near future. We have so much to share with you! We hope this helps you keep up to date on your child's year in English and Reading.
Penny Wars for Houston
So many Houston schools were affected by Hurricane Harvey; KMS wants to offer its support. Many teachers lost everything in their classrooms. In a gesture of giving, we are partnering with an affected middle school in HISD to donate books to their library and teacher's classrooms by having a "Penny Wars for Houston".
Send in your spare change! All proceeds will go to buying books to donate to our sister school in Houston.
"Penny Wars for Houston" will be happening from September 25th-October 9th.
**We need your empty and clean liter soda bottles and milk jugs for our "Penny Wars for Houston". Send them to room 211, and thank you!
Book Fair is Coming to KMS!
- Purchase awesome books!
- Donate books and spare change to our partnered school in Houston.
- Gift books to your child's teacher based on their "wish list"
We hope to see you there!
Homework: We Need Your Help!
We've had many, many students not turning in homework--already. This early in the year, that is a problem. We need your help in making sure students are stepping up and turning in their assignments. Please sign up for alerts on Parent Portal so you can be notified when your child is missing an assignment.
Once in a while we will give a writing or other assignment, but usually we have just two weekly homework assignments. Both are due on Fridays:
1. #FluencyFriday- This is a 1-2 minute oral reading using Seesaw.me. Fluency is the ability to speak and write with ease. Strong fluency is directly correlated with increasing reading comprehension, which builds overall literacy. In order to continually build fluency, students read orally for one minute every week. It's quick and easy and has a huge impact on student confidence and ability.
2. Weekly Reading Activity Log- Building a community of readers means our community (our students) actually have to read. Our expectation is that they are reading for 20-30 minutes a night, M-TH. Their weekly log, signed by a parent or guardian, is due on Fridays.
Why Reading is So Important
1. It Exposes Us to New Things: Through reading, we gain new information, learn new ways to solve problems, figure out how to reach a goal, learn about new hobbies, and so much more!
2. It Helps Us Understand the World and Ourselves:We live in a big world. Reading helps us know what is going on around us.
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
3. Literacy and Comprehension: The more we read, the more we get what we read. Our vocabulary increases, which means we can better understand information we come across.
Reading is a starting step of many things, which build a more solid stairs for you to climb up achieving something big out there.
4. Uses our Imagination: Reading can spark our imagination and send us into another world. Books let us travel and experience things outside our everyday existence. Oh, the places we can go!
5. Brain Connections: Reading directly connects to our brain activity. We are clear and focused. We learn and grow, feel and see. We make ourselves and our brains better!
Check out these statistics on why reading is SO important.
Adapted from www://inspirationboost.com
AUTHOR VISIT: Soman Chainani is coming to KMS!
Mr. Chainani's book trilogy has sold more than 1.5 million copies and book one, The School for Good and Evil, is being made into a movie by Universal Studios.
We will be fundraising to pay for this amazing and engaging author to come to our school. Step one is chocolate! We'll be selling chocolate bars for $1 each. Get your chocolate fix in... all year long!
About The School for Good and Evil:
With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil.
The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed—Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.
But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?