Gretchen Buis - Language Arts

How much I enjoyed meeting all of the six, sevens, and eights today! What a wonderful group of young people!  This week the goal is logistically to work our way through each day's schedule.  The handbook, cell phones, uniforms, supplies, classroom procedures, and the Honor Code are focal points of discussions.  In terms of English, assignments will be concrete for awhile:  students know exactly what to do.  Each class has memory work to be studied these next two nights and then written in class Thursday.  They also have a longer range assignment - but still concrete - due next Wednesday and Friday: study the definition and spelling of words in Lesson #1 of their vocabulary books.  Next Wednesday we will check exercises a,b,c, d in class.  We will do exercise #e in class.  A quiz is scheduled for next Friday.  The ultimate goal is for students to incorporate the words into  their writing, reading comprehension, and conversations rather than merely memorizing book definitions.  Parents can help students by being aware of the various vocabulary lessons in order to incorporate the words into conversations with sons and daughters. We will spend several weeks working with summer reading beginning with Animal Farm (eights grade), The Giver (seventh grade), and Walk Two Moons (sixth grade).  For returning students all books should have been read by now but the assignment over Labor Day weekend is to finish up whatever has not been read.  New students who have only recently received the list are on a different schedule and I will work with them individually. Enough for now.  Again, thank you - both parents and students - for your encouragement, support, and enthusiasm. Because of you, we are off this year to a great beginning.