Thank you for taking the time and interest in your child’s education. Below are a few bits of important information regarding your students’ 8^th grade year in my classroom:

· Contact Information:

I feel that communication between home and school is very important. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I can be reached by phone at 209-754-2137 ext. 4211 and by email at jpotter@calaveras.k12.ca.us.

· Supplies:

The following is a list of supplies is needed for your student:

o Pencil

o Binder Paper

o 1 Subject Notebook

o Colored Pencils

o Scissors

o Glue Stick

· Expectations: We Are Warriors: We are SAFE, RESPECTFUL, ENGAGED

1.) Safe

2.) Respectful

3.) Engaged

· Discipline Policy - Classroom

We Are Warriors: We are SAFE, RESPECTFUL, ENGAGED

I believe all students have the ability to make appropriate choices that benefit themselves, those around them and the community as a whole. In order to help achieve or improve on this ability, classroom expectations will be clearly established. These expectations will be explained, modeled and practiced to make sure students know what is being asked of them. Expectations will be reinforced by positive or negative logical consequences.

My philosophy is to discipline students, and therefore have them learn from their mistakes and/or inappropriate choices, rather than punishing them. In order to discipline instead of punish, I try to follow up on their choices with positive logical consequences (rewards) and/or negative logical consequences. While the best reward for living up to expectations is the satisfaction of a job well done, other positive consequences will be implemented such as earning good grades, recognition and receiving other privileges. Inappropriate decisions will be followed by negative logical consequences such as re-teaching expectations on the students’ time, loss of privileges, apology letters, and/or removal from the group in order to complete a “My Think Time” sheet. If students are asked to leave the group to complete a “My Think Time” sheet, they will bring it home for their parents to sign and return it to school the following day. The consequence chosen will be determined by the inappropriate choice that was made by the student. If inappropriate choices continue to be made, the student may enter into a behavior contract between the student, teacher and parents (and principal, if necessary).

In addition to my classroom discipline policy, there is also a Toyon Middle School Discipline Policy that has been implemented school wide.

· Absences

Regular school attendance is critical to your child’s success and the learning process. When your child is absent, they miss valuable instructional time. Please review Toyon’s attendance policy for specific information regarding absences. If you know your child will be absent, please speak with me ahead of time (at least 24 hours) so we can make arrangements for your child to complete any possible work that they will be missing. It will be your child’s responsibility to obtain any work they missed while absent. When returning from an absence, your child needs to check the homework calendar to write down assignments from the day they were absent and check their absent folder for any class/homework assignments they missed. Missed work is due the following day. (if absent longer than a day, your child may talk to me about when work will be due.)

· Homework Policy

Each MONDAY students will be responsible to turn in their reading comprehension work (TIC,IRA,CP). They will have ample class time to complete these assignments BUT can work on them at home if they are unable to complete them by Monday.

At times, other homework will be assignments not completed during class time. It is expected to be completed and returned the following day. I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE WORK. If a student does not have his/her work on the due date, he/she will receive a zero for the assignment. On most occasions, if a student is absent on the day an assignment is due, the work will be accepted when the student returns to school.

Each day students are responsible for filling in their weekly homework calendar with that day’s assignments. Homework assignments will be posted in the classroom daily so there is no doubt as to what the students are expected to do for homework that night.

· TIC/IRA/CP:

The TIC/IRA/CP are comprehension tools used to measure the comprehension of expository text. Students start with a TIC, Tracking Their Inner Conversation. If they receive three 4’s, full comprehension, they no longer move to the next tool, IRA. The IRA, Independent Reading Assignment, challenges students to make a claim, support the claim, analyze the claim, make a counter claim and create a thesis. When students receive three 4’s on the IRA’s they move to CP. The CP, Critical Paragraph is two pieces, a planning page that resembles the IRA, and a typed paragraph in Google Docs. The paragraph measures several aspects and standards.

Students use these tools when they read NewsELA articles, or any other article they find. They have 7 days to complete the task and it is always due on Monday (unless there is no school on Monday, then it is due Tuesday).

· NewsELA Quizzes:

Students will be required to obtain 15 NewsELA Points per Quarter. In order to meet 8^th grade standards students need to be reading within the 950-1250 Lexile range at the conclusion of your 8^th grade year. Thus, they need to be making progress on their personal level throughout the year. During each quarter they will need to not only show progress toward this goal but they must also pass 15 Newsela comprehension quizzes with 75% comprehension or above within these ranges 950-1250. They will have a reading log that will help them keep track of their progress and must be filled out and turned in in order to receive credit. This will be 15% of their Quarter grade.

· History and Language Arts:

History and Language Arts will be integrated together throughout the year. Students will be writing papers based on expository and narrative texts and information they learn in our History lessons. Thus, much of the work we do in class will stay in class. You will receive a folder of work at the end of each term that will consist of the integrated units we have been working on. If at any time you would like to review what your student has done thus far please send a written note or email and I will make sure the work comes home but I ask that you return it the following day as we will be utilizing many of the materials daily.

· Grading System:

The state of California has given students standards that must be met in order to receive passing grades. On assessments, some assignments, and report cards you will see letter grades which will indicate whether or not your child has met a standard.

Grades will be determined according to quantity, quality, and improvement of students work throughout the year. Both History and ELA grades will be based on a point system. Each Assessment, Assignment, Project, Homework, etc. will be assigned a point value. The number of points will determine the letter grade given. Along with Assessments, Assignments and Projects NewsELA Points will also factor into students ELA grade. I give feedback on almost all assignments, which can be viewed through Infinite Campus. .

The easiest way to do well in this class is to listen, participate, and engage in the assignment or lesson.