WELCOME TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS period 1 Ms. Jaime Brennan Room 101

About me I grew up in a small beach community in NY and moved with my family to AZ my senior year of high school. ASU is from where I earned my degree in elementary education, graduating summa cum laude. I have an endorsement in English as a Second Language, and Middle Grades Language Arts 6-8 is an approved area on my certification. This is my fifth year at Altadena. I taught fifth grade for 14 years, 10 of which were at Monte Vista. I’ve been in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers twice. I was honored to be a nominee for the Educational Mentor of the Year by the Ahwatukee Foothills News and SRP in 2013. I am so excited to be teaching ELA at Altadena again!

Language arts Reading Skills—read it, think it through, understand it Pearson’s myPerspectives novel studies Writing Skills—sentence structure, organization, conventions one extended writing piece each quarter journal—two prompts per week Grammar

Preparing for the future Common Core State Standards for ELA clear and consistent standards for teachers, students, and parents relevant, real-world skills to prepare for college and careers to prepare students to compete in the global economy “I Can” statements, learning goals, and scales computer-based assessments AzMERIT in the spring

READING SKILLS LEXILE INFORMATIONAL TEXT (nonfiction) difficulty of the text is considered 6th grade—850 to 1050 INFORMATIONAL TEXT (nonfiction) majority of reading material across core subjects LITERARY TEXT (fiction) genres, structure of stories, real-life connections, perceptions

UNITS OF STUDY whole-class, small-group, and independent learning QUARTER 1—Childhood Essential question: What are some of the challenges and triumphs of growing up? nonfiction narrative QUARTER 2—Imagination Essential question: Where can imagination lead? fictional narrative and Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin QUARTER 3—Exploration Essential question: What drives people to explore? argument and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan QUARTER 4—Animal Allies Essential question: How can people and animals relate to each other? explanatory essay and Flush by Carl Hiaasen

COLOR-CODED PARAGRAPHS Students will use the color-coded paragraph to structure the writing of quality paragraphs containing at least 11 sentences. Green—topic and concluding sentences Blue—transition Yellow—reason/detail/fact Pink—examples/explanation

Typical homework—YES, EXPECT IT. read 30 minutes each night writing grammar practice all homework will be posted on my website

grading 80% assessments (tests, projects, etc.) 20% practice (homework, classwork, etc.) Turn everything in on time. Late homework earns a zero. For each day a project is late, 10% is deducted. Advocate for yourself. This is YOUR education. Altadena teachers love it when a student emails them with a question! Please use the StudentVUE or ParentVUE portal on the Kyrene website to check grades frequently.

other school spelling bee word games/brainteasers friendly competitions in class book orders The ability to read it does not mean it is developmentally appropriate.

www.kyrene.org/alt Class website: ParentVUE: weekly agenda and homework--Please check daily for updates! literacy links to practice skills ParentVUE: grades, absences, tardies, contact information The best way to contact me is through email: jaimebrennan@kyrene.org **Please write your name and period number in the subject line. Join Remind to receive text messages with reminders and updates. periods 1 and 5—text @elamsbr to 81010 periods 2 and 6—text @gateelams to 81010

I am looking forward to a wonderful year!