Week of Nov. 12th

Dear Families,

I have resigned from my teaching job effective November 30th. Rest assured I am staying on board long enough to ensure a smooth transition to a new teacher for your students as that is very important.

This school district prides itself on hiring only top-notch teachers, so I am very confident that my replacement will be able to smoothly pick up where I leave off and easily adapt to and continue with the current ELA curriculum.

In my last few weeks, we will continue reading the book about JFK and practicing the ELA standards. No gaps will occur in the students’ ELA education.

I have greatly enjoyed being a part of the ITIS family. This is a great school with amazing teachers and support staff. Your children are endeared to me, and I wish them the very best.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ray

Week of Nov. 5th

Highlights of this Week

General News
  • No school Tuesday
  • Substitute teacher Thursday – Monday
  • ELA Tutoring begins Wednesday at 7 AM. Thursday tutoring has been canceled because I will be out of town until next Tuesday.
This Week in ELA
  • Review of arguments via a Nearpod activity
  • Continuation of “The President Has Been Shot!” (silent reading, responses to the reading that are standards-based)
  • Grammar challenge (SeeSaw)
  • Pressure Maps (paper assignment captured by photo to SeeSaw)
  • 2nd Whooo’s Reading test is due by Friday

Week of Oct. 29th

This Week’s Highlights
  • Pink Out! on October 31st. Everyone wears pink!
  • No costumes on October 31st.
  • Book Fair – during class on Thursday and Thursday evening 5-7 PM! (Send money to school if your child will be purchasing books during our class visit.)
ELA News
  • Argument essays completed by Monday!
  • Quiz Tuesday on the 4 articles we’ve been using to write our argumentative essays.
  • Standards for personalized learning on Wednesday.
  • Fiction review using two articles for comparison.
  • Preview of this quarter’s book, “The President Has Been Shot!” by James L. Swanson. We will begin reading it Monday, November 5th.

Week of Oct. 22nd

tHIS wEEK IN ela

Most of this week is dedicated to planning and writing an argument essay. Students learned about using arguments, counterclaims, counterarguments, data, quotes from well-known people, and extreme words to craft a good essay. I’m excited to see the results because I believe they’re very prepared!

Students will participate in a mock election on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, all students in the school will take a 30-minute standardized practice test.

Mr. Garrett is the substitute teacher. He is very nice and capable. I think the students will enjoy working with him.

FYI: Professional development trip

Mrs. Ray will be with other teachers from the district on a trip to Nashville from Sunday through Wednesday to learn more about the benefits and techniques of blended and personalized learning.

iNACOL symposium

The iNACOL Symposium 2018 will be held at the Nashville Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee on October 21-24, 2018.

The iNACOL Symposium will be held on October 21-24, 2018 at the Nashville Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. iNACOL’s annual conference is the industry’s leading event shaping the future of K-12 education. Experts, practitioners, educators, policymakers and researchers gather and work to transform education. This year’s theme is “Driving the Transformation of Learning.”

Attendees will find unprecedented networking opportunities and gain access to expertise, analysis and trends in personalized, competency-based learning. Through thought-provoking sessions and information-sharing, the leaders who attend become equipped to shape the future of education. The symposium includes more than 200 sessions, each with a specific track to guide attendees toward sessions that fit their unique professional learning needs. Registration is now open for the iNACOL Symposium 2018.

Week of October 15th

quarter 2

Welcome back! Things to Remember in Quarter Two:

  • Three Whooo’s Reading books must be completed and tested on per the schedule in the right sidebar. At least one fiction and one nonfiction book required. The third is up to the student. The fourth book will be the in-class novel for this quarter.
  • Students MUST record 120 minutes of reading per week into Whooo’s Reading. This can be done at home or at school. Tracking on paper is OK, but times still must be added into Whooo’s Reading (online) by the end of the day each Friday.
  • Trackers should be signed each night.
  • Wednesday folders should be signed weekly and returned by Friday each week.

New Things in Quarter 2:

  • A new in-class book! We’ll be reading the nonfiction book: “The President Has Been Shot! The Assassination of John F. Kennedy,” by James L. Swanson
  • Centers for a Blended Learning Environment. This week, students will begin working in centers (aka station rotations). Each center is designed to focus on one element of an ELA classroom. Our centers include reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, standards study (in context). Work is completed in Canvas, in Google classroom (just weekly checklists), on paper, and in SeeSaw.
  • The Language Arts department’s pacing guide for quarter two can be viewed here. On the pacing guide, you can read about standards and activities for this quarter.

ELA TUTORING

Beginning Nov. 7th, I will be offering tutoring in my room every Wednesday and Thursday morning from 7 – 7:30 a.m. to all 5th & 6th grade students who would like support in their ELA learning. No registration needed! Just show up.

Week of October 1st

This Week in ELA

Plans are a little squished together because of our unexpected day off Monday. Students would have been given time in class to complete their third Whooo’s Reading quiz on Monday because the quiz for the class novel, The Breadwinner, had been planned for Tuesday. So it seems both quizzes must done in class Tuesday. Here is the plan going forward:

  • Tuesday: Whooo’s Reading quizzes, Literature Log completion for The Breadwinner, Flipgrid book interviews (on Canvas)
  • Wednesday – Friday: Individual Data Conferences with Mrs. Ray; error analysis on Checkpoint (Wednesday); centers activities (Thursday & Friday
  • Students should continue to log reading minutes this week.
  • NO SEESAW WRITING THIS WEEK
  • Report card grades are submitted by teachers on Wednesday by 10 a.m. (so basically Tuesday  after school).
  • End of quarter is Friday, followed by a week off for Fall Break!