Weekly Memo - Fall has begun

As of 4:44PM yesterday afternoon, we are officially in the Fall Season. We are only about 100 days away from Christmas, and only a few weeks away from our first report card and Fall Break. So much to do, so little time.

This week, we continue with Read 180. In my 6th and 7th Grade classes, we'll finish up reading about Irene Rodriguez, and move on to finding out about the US Census and how it keeps track of new immigrants to the United States. While in 8th Grade, we continue to read about self-esteem and peer pressure and how it effects people differently.

For schoolwide news, this is Homecoming Week. If you're visiting the school today, you might see some interesting hats or hairstyles, but that's all in keeping with today's theme of Crazy Hat and Hair Day. Tomorrow is Nerd Day, Wednesday is School Colors Day (Maroon and Gray) plus a Pep Rally, plus the Homecoming Game against Carver, Thursday is Old School Day, and Friday is Homecoming T-Shirt Day, plus the Homecoming Dance that evening.

It is going to be a busy week to be sure.

Hope it's a good one for everyone.

Weekly Memo - Late, Sorry

I know, I know. I'm late.

Sorry. It's been a very busy week.

This week, all of my classes continued with the Read 180 Program. The new students to the program are getting the hang of it, and the veteran students are getting back into the swing of it, so things are moving along very smoothly for all.

I must continue to stress the importance of being well-behaved in class. Several parts of Read 180 are timed, so when I have to stop to deal with discipline matters, it hurts everyone in the class as a result. So please talk to your child in order to insure that they behave appropriately in all their classes.

In my 6th and 7th Grade classes, students read about Freddy Adu, a future soccer phenom who chose to stay in school rather than accept a six figure contract to play professional soccer. Then we found out about Irene Rodriguez, who had difficulties fitting in when she moved from Mexico to Los Angeles. We'll continue with her story as we head in to next week.

In my 8th Grade classes, students read the tragic story of Eric Alverez, who was pressured by his friends to climb on top of a moving subway car, which lead to his death. In our second reading, we start to learn ways to prevent low self-esteem in both themselves and others.

In school news, unfortunately we came up short against Rehobeth in yesterday's football game, although it was a close game, right down to the end.

Next week is Homecoming Week, so if your child asks to wear a crazy hat or dress-up like a nerd, it might just be for Homecoming Week. They were sent a letter home with all the upcoming events next week, which include the Homecoming Game on Wednesday and the Homecoming Dance on Friday.

That's all I have for you this week. I will do my absolute best to get the memo out on time for next week!

Weekly Memo - Read 180 Begins

We have finally begun Read 180 in all the classes. Sixth and Seventh Grade classes will start in Workshop 1 - The New Americans, while my Eighth Grade classes will begin with Workshop 5 - Under Pressure. The first two days will be Whole Group as we preview the sections and get down the Vocabulary, and we will begin Rotations on Wednesday.

Friday, I will not be here, as I have a training that I must attend to, however, Read 180 will not be deterred, as students will continue with their rotations, and continue to work hard on their assignments.

Due to me not being here on Friday, I will be handing out my Progress Reports on Wednesday, and they will be due back on Thursday signed. All other classes will still give theirs out on Thursday. I'm just doing them a day early to make sure I'm here to collect them.

This Thursday is Curriculum Night, from 6PM - 7:30PM. If you want to know what's going on in your child's classroom, this is the perfect opportunity for you to find out. Hope to see you all there.

Friday will be Hat Day for students with Cougar Coupons. Friday morning students will be able to use their Cougar Coupons to buy a sticker in order to wear a hat that day. I'm unsure on how many Cougar Coupons are needed to purchase the sticker, but as soon as I know, I will post it on here.

Hope everyone has a good week!

7th Period Newscasts

Every night, I've asked my students to read for 20 minutes. What they read is not the important part, but it is just the fact that they read. Whether it's a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a short story, something on the internet (not e-mail or anything like that), etc. The following graphic will show you why it is so important for students to do this.