I am very excited to be working with your child in 7th grade language arts this year. Throughout the upcoming year I will be using a variety of different activities to build on and improve reading strategies and vocabulary your child has gained in previous grades.
Writing
This year, we will be using the EmPOWER strategy to improve writing. This program breaks the writing process down into steps that follow the acronym (Evaluate, make a Plan, Organize, Work, Evaluate, Rework). Your child will be provided with checklists to use to help him/her follow these steps whenever they are doing an expository writing piece. We will also be working on revision techniques to improve sentence variety. Look for colored notecards in your child's binder to assist them with these on writing assignments. There are also flashcards on my website.
Spelling/Vocabulary
We are going to be working on spelling in the context of writing this year. Your child will be keeping a word bank in their binder of words they misspell on assignments. They will be able to use this list as a reminder of correct spellings of their own commonly misspelled words.
SAT word study is another important part of your child's vocabulary program this year. I will give students 3-4 new SAT words about every other week and they will take a test that includes new words as well as previous words. I will be giving the students the words, a cue to remember the definition such as "sounds like" or "looks like," a visualization technique to remember each word, and the definition for each word. Your child will be putting these words, along with picture cues and the definitions, onto note cards for review and keeping these on their 2 inch ring in their language arts binder. Your child should review these words nightly by using the note cards as flashcards. These flashcards are also on my website without the memory cues.
Textbook
We will be using a variety of textbooks to work on reading skills this year. One of the textbooks that we will be using this year is the Reading Mastery Plus series, which is a structured approach to learning vocabulary and comprehension skills. We will also be using the 7th grade Elements of Language textbook to work on higher-level thinking and comprehension skills. The final textbook series that we will be using this year is the Eccentrics and Heroes books. These books work on comprehension skills of nonfiction passages.
Along with the textbooks, we will be using a variety of novels this year. I will send out a letter about a week or two in advance of beginning any new novel in class. I will have classroom sets of some of the novels, while others may need to be purchased outside of class at a discount at the Learned Owl.
The final part of your child's reading program this year is independent sustained silent reading (SSR). It is important that he/she brings their SSR book with them every day to school, although continuing to read these books at home is also highly recommended. A minimum of one hours worth of reading is required weekly to fill out their reading log due every Monday.
Late Work/Makeup Work
If your child is absent, he/she will have one day for every day that he/she was absent to make up any missed work. Late work will be deducted 5% for every day that it is late.
I am looking forward to an exciting year working with your child! Please feel free to contact me any time with questions or concerns. You can contact me by email at gayhearb@hudson.edu or at 330-653-1316 ext 2243. I encourage you to check Progressbook at least twice weekly to stay updated on your child's progress
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