Welcome Back, Middle School Families!

We now begin the 4-week stretch to Christmas! The middle school will begin using Google Classroom this week, which will make communication easier and will lessen the fear of losing or forgetting homework! All teachers will start using this upon our return on Monday. It is imperative that students are charging their laptop every night so they have a full charge at the start of each school day.

5th & 6th Grade Language Arts:

I have made the decision to postpone the I Am The Cheese unit until later in the year, and have replaced it with a unit on E.L. Konigsburg’s novel The View from Saturday. The Character Based Literacy title of this unit is E.L. Konigsburg is one of the most memorable authors from my 5th and 6th grade education, so I am excited to teach her this year! This unit will start on Monday, and students will have sections to read each night. Students will need to complete a 5-word vocabulary assignment (on Google Classroom) for each section, and will do a reading response every 2 days. These assignments will replace the reading log for this novel study.

7th & 8th Grade Language Arts:

Students will begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird early this week! The Character Based Literacy unit title for this novel study is Change Requires Effort. This is one of the most widely taught middle school novels across the country. Because of the length and the complexity of language, I want students to focus their reading on this novel and will not be requiring a reading log for the duration of this novel study. Instead, students will have nightly reading homework that includes annotating and vocab (vocab will be on Google Classroom, and annotations will be checked for a homework grade) in order to prepare for in-class discussions, activities, and writing. Please make sure that your student has sticky notes for annotating. Reading (1 or 2 chapters) will be due each ELA class period. It is important that students come to class prepared to discuss and engage in the novel study each day so they don’t fall behind.

*Please remember that this novel is centered on racial struggles and discrimination during the Great Depression era, so students will be encountering old-fashioned language and racial terms that are no longer appropriate to use (8th graders may remember this from Of Mice and Men last year) and we will discuss the connotations and implications of these terms and issues as we encounter them.*

Report Cards will be sent home with your student on Friday.

Looking Ahead:

Mon. 11/26: School resumes
Fri. 11/30: Report cards go home
Mon. 12/3 – Fri. 12/7: Scholastic Book Fair
Fri. 12/7: Early dismissal
Wed. 12/12: Early dismissal; Our Lady of Guadalupe at 9am after Mass
Thurs. 12/20: Class parties after recess
Fri. 12/21: Christmas pageant; early dismissal (you may pick your student up from the classroom after the pageant) *no extension, students must be picked up by 12:15
Sat. 12/22 – Mon. 1/7: Christmas break!!!
Tues. 1/8: School resumes