WELCOME TO SEVENTH GRADE ENGLISH

CONTACT INFORMATION SCHOOL WEBSITE: Find teacher pages and click. The team websites are there under team pages. AR WEBSITE: You can check AR titles, student quiz scores, and print quiz grade reports here. AR BOOK FINDER: You can read summaries, search by genre, and choose your novels here. ROOM: 212 PHONE: ext LATE NIGHT: Thursday BEST WAY TO CONTACT ME:

Additional Information An AR letter went home today explaining the procedures for outside reading. Please read this and any further questions. This presentation can be downloaded and printed from your home computer through the school’s website on my webpage.

x2 This year I am going to open my x2 grades. It is important that you read my grading policy so you understand and are aware of my system. Most of you have signed this policy already. I have 107 students so items will not be posted right away. I will post about every 2 weeks. If you have questions about a grade, speak with your child first, then contact the teacher.

GRADES Students will be graded on homework (15%), classwork, Acclereated Reading quizzes (5%), grammar (15%), vocabulary (10%), literature/reading comprehension (20%), projects (15%), writing (20%). These will be averaged together for a final grade. There are occasional opportunities for extra credit.

HOMEWORK I assign homework Monday-Thursday. I try not to assign homework on weekends. I view the weekend as a chance for students to catch up on Accelerated Reader novels, work on long term projects and writing assignments, and to make up any missing work. The students are expected to bring their agendas every day and write homework in agendas at the beginning of class. They may use the homework board, the running agenda I keep on my shelf, and the homework webpage. Many of this year’s activities can be printed directly from the website if needed. Homework is expected to be done efficiently, neatly, and to the best of the student’s ability. If your child misses a homework assignment, I will contact you via to notify you of the miss. This policy will be in effect until Thanksgiving. After that, you will be able to check homework grades online. Students can turn in homework one day late for partial credit. After one day, no credit will be given. Exceptions can be made for extenuating circumstances. Please communicate via any situations which prevent your child from completing homework. When absent, students should check the community center for any handouts that were distributed while they were out.

MCAS MCAS will be scheduled between March 20th and April 2, Tests include Long Composition (March 20, 2012) which requires students to write a five paragraph essay on a given prompt. Tests also include Language and Literature taken over three days. Students will read short selections and answer multiple choice questions and short answer questions. We will work on these skills throughout the year. Check for examples to practice.

Curriculum READING Short Stories: “Miss Awful” Arthur Cavanaugh “After Twenty Years” O. Henry “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Rudyard Kipling

MORE CURRICULUM Plays: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” Mark Twain “The Monkey’s Paw” W.W. Jacobs “The Necklace” Guy Maupassant “The Tell-Tale Heart” Edgar Allan Poe “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Washington Irving Novels: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain The Contender Robert Lipsyte Poetry: Various selections and creative writing

WRITING GRAMMAR VOCABULARY VOCABULARY: Assigned on Mondays, practiced throughout the week, quizzes online on Fridays. Practice games are linked to teacher pages on the school website. WRITING: This year’s main focus. Writing on the computer using word processing is best for assignments. Always use 12 font, times new roman, double spacing. Our main focus will be five paragraph essays based on MCAS writing prompts. GRAMMAR: The main focus this year is learning the usage of all parts of speech. Other topics will be according to the MA frameworks and include the study of mechanics, usage, and sentence structure.