The Connect
An 8th Grade Newsletter. Edition 3
Article of the Week - It May Be Difficult, But it is Important!
We will be starting our FIRST ARTICLE OF THE WEEK (AOW) assignment next week. Your students will be participating in higher level reading skills by annotating (not just highlighting or underlining words) in their article. They will also have to respond whether they agree or disagree on three statements about the text and then back up their point of view with strong textual evidence. This is VITAL WRITING practice. Finally, they will be writing their response and their reflection on the article using the textual evidence that they have previously identified. WOW! I know I didn't have such rigor in reading assignments when I was in middle school!
This is a multi-step process that I will slowly release to them to be in charge of as their main Language Arts homework. This process CAN NOT and SHOULDN'T be done in just one sitting. Please help your student by reminding them to follow a schedule that will be supported in my classroom. We will do TWO weeks of Article of the Week Assignments together in class as a class so that ALL students understand what to do when Article of the Weeks are assigned as homework.
Here's the homework schedule- this will start in two weeks:
Monday - Students will annotate the Article - with words, comments, and symbols. NO HIGHLIGHTERS on this assignment. I will check the annotations the next day.
Tuesday - Students will fill out the Summary page. This is in their WWWW workbook and includes filling in the title, authors, summary, and main idea of the article. This is a resource that they will refer to when they start writing their response to the article.
Wednesday - Students will respond to three statements dealing with the main idea of the article. They have to agree or disagree and then find strong textual evidence to support their thinking. They also need to explain, in their own words, why they chose the quotation. Students will also write their response to the article. They are following a basic "recipe" that can be found in the WWWW book. We start out with this format and then eventually move away from it when students automatically know what needs to be stated in the first paragraph of a reflection piece (the title of the piece, author's name, main idea, and possibly their thesis statement).
Thursday - Students will write their reflection on the article. They are following the "recipe" found in the WWWW book. This is also the time they will self-edit their piece by reviewing the AOW checklist. They also will make sure their paper is longer than 250 words.
Friday - The process starts over again, they receive the AOW article for the next week.
Thanks for your support and if you have any questions don't hesitate to email or call Mrs. Daley.
Week 3 - Thursday Folders - NEXT WEEK - We PROMISE!
Thursday Folders were not sent home today, we are still getting new students and we are waiting just a couple of more days before we formally write names on the Thursday Folders! As a reminder, students will be asked to have you fill in percentages for each core class and also count up and record the number of missing assignments. This is a weekly grade "check-in" to ensure that you are aware of your child's progress in their core classes. Please look through the graded papers and remember to put these in a safe folder/ box /refrigerator until the end of the grading period. I find this is a great time to be able to have discussions and action plans when dealing with missing work or low quiz/test scores. Also, don't forget to sign your "John Hancock" on the last line of the grade page.
If the office has your current email address then you (parents) should be able to access student grades at this time. Please contact the office if you have not already given them the email address needed to access the Parent Portal.
One great feature of the Aeries port is that you can set up an automatic weekly email notification. Here's how you do it after you have signed into your parent account: under the options tab click on Parent Notification Preferences, then choose a day and time you want the email. The email consists of a gradebook summary that gives you the overall grades and missing assignments for each class, upcoming assignments, and recently entered (adjusted) scores. This looks like this would be another great tool for tracking grades!
How to Help Your Child Succeed at School - Part 3 - by Jessica Lahey - New York Times
Maintain a Long-Term Perspective
Education and parenting are both long-haul endeavors, and improvements don’t happen on a daily basis.
- Don’t live in the daily emergency of this homework or this test.Instead, think about where you’d like your child to be in a year or five years in terms of competence and growth. Which is more important to you, that you deliver your child’s forgotten math homework today or that she develops a strategy for not forgetting her math homework tomorrow?
Model: When things go wrong in your own life, talk about them. Keep your focus on doing better next time and your long-term perspective. For example if you mess up at work, frame your discussion around improvement and long-term progress: “Well, this work project did not work out the way I wanted, but I still love what I do and want to be doing something related in five years. Here’s how I plan to learn from this so I can get there.”
Help Kids Create Effective Good Routines
Present mornings, chores and homework time to kids as a problem to be solved together. In a quiet, calm moment, say, “You know, mornings are really hectic around here and it’s hard for everyone to remember to get out the door with everything they need. How do you think we can make mornings easier and happier?”
Kids are more likely to stick with a plan they created themselves. Buy-in happens most often when kids have a hand in creating strategies, and sometimes it’s more important to be functional and efficient than to be right.
Try asking, “What would your ideal morning routine look like?” or “What would a perfect homework day look like for you?” then help them come up with ways to make those visions real.
Help kids operationalize the systems they create. If it’s a planbook, talk about setting intermediary deadlines. If it’s alarms on a virtual calendar, try different sequences of alerts ahead of a due date. Think of your role in this process like that of the training wheels on your kid’s bike. As our children get more sure of their strategies and systems, we can raise the training wheels up until they are no longer needed at all.
Model: Talk about your own systems, when they fail, why they work for you. As I get older, I find I have to write more things down or I will forget them. When I do, I mention this to my kids, and they have even helped me brainstorm ways to get things down on paper before I lose them to the ether.
Dates to Remember!
Monday 9/6- No School - Labor Day
Monday 9/13 - Staff Development Day - Non Student Day - No School
Monday 9/20 - Minimum Day All sites
Monday 9/27 - Friday 10/1 - Parent Conferences Minimum Days All Week
MRS. DALEY AND MRS. KANESHINA
Mrs. Kaneshina - matilda_kaneshina@etiwanda.org
Email: angela_daley@me.com
Website: ww.kanley.org
Location: 12345 Coyote Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, United States
Phone: 909 803 3300