Welcome

23 Aug. 2021

Hello students and caretakers,

I'm excited to see you soon and teach you in person! I hope this year brings well-being and normalcy to our lives. Please note Google Classroom will be your best resource for finding up-to-date agendas, assignments, resources, etc. Additionally, the student view is much more extensive, so please be sure to use the student viewpoint.

You may have wondered how to say my name; it is pronounced “fox,” which is the translation from German. This is my 14th year at CFMS. I grew up in a small town in southwest Wisconsin, Fennimore, but enjoy raising my son in the Chippewa Valley. Weston is six years old. He likes school, but it seems it is mainly to see his friends. At his age, I wanted to be a teacher. Despite being a slow reader in fluency, I had an affinity for reading and writing. I decided in high school to teach English because I loved the critical thinking that arose from discussion and analysis.

In the upcoming year, I will strive to support students' social/emotional growth as well as help students develop academic skills. Our writing projects allow student choice to nurture this. Each trimester, students will write a composition in one of three areas: informative, argumentative, and narrative. The informative composition is first and based on research. It is preceded by learning how to conduct reliable research as well as to use the information fairly and accurately. In the second trimester, students write an argumentative paper for which they will select a side of an issue and research support for it. The last writing project is narrative and is incorporated with reading The Outsiders. In the past, students have read A Christmas Carol as well as studied the Holocaust. The Holocaust unit, which incorporates different texts and writing, has traditionally been interdisciplinary with Social Studies and Reading. This year may be different from others but will provide deep learning experiences for students.

Be well and take care,

Ms. Brandi Fuchs