cashelton@kyrene.org (480) 541-6303 Meet the Teacher Night Mrs. Shelton, 6th Grade Language Arts cashelton@kyrene.org (480) 541-6303

Communication www.kyrene.org/apr

Communication ELA Teacher Sites

In Addition… Text @apren to (480) 725-2273 for Aprende notifications via text message Update your contact information in ParentVUE before the start of school in order to receive updates on upcoming events. Sometimes these messages do not forward to your email address, but instead post in ParentVUE itself. Download the app and log in regularly!

Text Reminders for ELA Sign up for language arts text reminders! If your child is in... 1st Period ELA: text @shelt01 to 81010 2nd Period ELA: text @Shelt02 to 81010 5th Period AdvELA: text @Shelt05 to 81010 6th Period ELA: text @Shelt06 to 81010

6th grade Newsletter A sixth grade newsletter will be sent out by science teacher every other Friday. It will contain information for all subject areas, upcoming tests and quizzes, as well as school events. The newsletter will be sent through ParentVue, so be sure your email address is updated.  If you have a new email address, please tell the secretaries in the front office.

Last Tidbits Email is our preferred method of communication. There are many places to find our email addresses! We will respond within 1 business day.

How to Check Grades www.kyrene.org/apr

How to Check Grades

How to Check Grades Kyrene’s ParentVUE gives you immediate access to your student’s grades. In fact, you and your student should log on to check them together once a week!

How to Check Grades If you have never used ParentVUE before -OR- you need to update your email address from last year, please tell the secretaries in the front office.

What will my student be learning this year? Reading The district has adopted a new ELA curriculum entitled myPerspectives. There will be four thematic units that include various reading selections such as short stories, informational text, poetry, novels, etc. The units are: Childhood, Imagination, Exploration, and Animal Allies.

What will my student be learning this year? Writing In 6th grade we strongly focus on determining main idea, citing textual information, and elaborating/substantiating ideas. By the end of 6th grade, students will be able to write a well-organized essay that asserts a claim and supports it with textual evidence from valid sources in MLA format.

What will my student be learning this year? Language Vocabulary: Students will learn approximately 20 new words every two weeks. Students will create flash cards or other study tools that are meant to be practiced at home. Grammar: Students will continue learning about parts of speech and how to correctly compose a sentence. We will also focus on crafting varying sentence structure in writing.

What will my student be learning this year? Speaking and Listening One-on-one, group, and teacher-led discussions Presentations of work, including visual displays and/or multimedia components Interpretation of speeches and multimedia presentations Adaptation of speech appropriate to context

Supplies Our supply list is designed to help your student be organized. If, for some reason, you are unable to purchase the colors as indicated by class, please clearly label each notebook and folder. For language arts, your student needs to have these EXACT colors of highlighters: pink, yellow, blue, and green. NO SUBSTITUTIONS!

Supplies, contd. One of the top supplies your child needs is an independent reading book. Your child should have one in his/her backpack at all times. There is also a library permission slip if you want your child to be able to check out 7th and 8th grade books.

Why read 20 minutes at home every day? Student A Student B Student C Reads 20 minutes per day = 3,600 minutes per school year = 1,800,000 words per year Reads 5 minutes per day = 900 minutes per school year = 282,000 words per year Reads 1 minute per day = 180 minutes per school year = 8,000 words per year       Scores in the 90th percentile on standardized tests Scores in the 50th percentile on standardized tests Scores in the 10th percentile on standardized tests

Why read 20 minutes at home every day? Assuming these students started reading each day in kindergarten, by the end of 6th grade: Student A will have read for the equivalent of 60 school days, Student B will have read for 12 school days, and Student C will have read for 3. Want to be a better reader? It’s easy: just read.

About Mrs. Shelton Graduated from Arizona State University in 2011 with a BA in Elementary Education. This is my 4th year at Aprende Middle School and my 6th year teaching Language Arts. I love crafting, coffee, football (or any sport), and animals!

Questions? Please email me at cashelton@kyrene.org with any questions you may have that we didn’t get a chance to answer tonight! Please include: Your name AND your student’s name Your question(s)