Welcome New Students!
I'm hoping that you are as excited about becoming junior high students as I am about getting to know all of you. In language arts you will be a part of my class for both grade 7 & 8 and we will be navigating the transition from elementary school one year and preparing to move on to high school the next.
Our school's PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Systems) initiative focuses on Respect, Responsibility, and Perseverance and these tenets will guide a lot of what we do during the first few months.
Classroom Expectations
Be Responsible for your yourself. One way to do this is to plan your day during morning TA time and bring materials to class with you.
Items that you will need every day in language arts class are:
*Chromebook- supplied by school, your responsibility to charge at the end of every day
*writing utensils- pencil or pen used every day
*Planner- supplied by school & used to organize outside classwork
*3 ring binder- at least 1.5"-3" and only for language arts work
*Independent reading book- self selected during our visit to our school library every Wednesday
*Journal- small composition book or single subject notebook
Be respectful of the teacher, your peers, and any adults in the classroom. Ways that you need to show this are:
- Be on time. You only have a few minutes between each class, so use that time wisely and plan your schedule during TA or lunchbreak. Cut down on locker stops by getting materials for 2 or 3 classes at a time. Keep a copy of your schedule in your planner and on your locker door to help. Also, if you need to fill your water bottle of go to the bathroom, make these stops ON YOUR WAY to class rather than making a separate trip to class, dropping your things and then asking permission to leave again. I would rather have you one or two minutes late every once in a while (not every day) instead of leaving to go to these places as class begins.
- Be kind to those around you. This doesn't mean that you have to become best friends with every person in your class (though making some new friends is a great idea!) but you do have to be polite to everyone. There are kids from more than five elementary schools who are also making their new home at the junior high and it's important to be open to this diverse group of people. I always say that Thumper's dad (from Disney's Bambi) said it best, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all."
Be Perseverant by realizing that not everything is going to be easy, but know that not succeeding the first time is not the same as failing. We only fail when we give up when something is hard.
I always expect you to try your best, your efforts may not always achieve perfection- but give yourself a break and know that sometimes just making something better than it was is success.
