Reading, Writing, Ready!

First, let me say I share this only because I find and read parenting and child development articles almost daily. As a Teacher and a parent I find that I spend my time of kids from ages 1-14 everyday and that means I have to have a very large toolbox to deal with behaviors at different stages of development. 

Welcome to 6th Grade English Language Arts!

My Name is Mrs. Zepeda. I will be your child’s English Teacher. My background teaching is very diverse as I have previously taught K,7th,8th,9th,10th,11th grades and many college enrichment courses. I look forward to this being an educational journey that we can embark on together!  Teaching reading and writing to me, is much more than just skills for students to learn. My focus is creating rich experiences where learning  takes place. Growing up as a young child, my grandmother was an avid reader. Thus I became inundated with books and literature that spans ages and genres. My first inclination that books were relevant to my education arrived at a very early age with my first membership to a book club. I read almost everything that I could to gain knowledge about the world around me. As a young child I internalized this knowledge. What did I want to find out in my books and how would it benefit my education? I believe that is was at this time my passion and interest were leading me to my career that I have today as an English Teacher.

My philosophy of teaching is that every child should be educated and has the right to a quality education that fosters confidence, passion, challenging, and creativity. I believe that a successful educational program incorporates constructivism, authentic instruction, fosters self-efficacy, motivation, and engagement of subject material.   I am committed to making my classroom a safe and challenging environment and engaging my students through the curriculum as well as getting to know them and interacting with them one-on-one. I believe that meeting the needs of my students is a very crucial part of my classroom. I want them to be comfortable with the other students, as well as me, so that there can be meaningful discussions and interactions. I am committed to a partnership between home and school. I believe if parents are involved in their child’s school, the child will have more support at home and the parent can help with any issues that arise. I believe in involving the parents as much as possible.

My classroom has an established set of rules and procedures that are in place to be followed. This makes an optimal learning environment for all parties involved. I also think that it is imperative to adhere to whole-school rules in order to have an effective policy in the classroom as well. I always have the agenda on the board so they can copy it down in their notebook everyday as they walk in and begin the “Do Now”.This is so they can be engaged and begin working without time wasting. I will use interactive reader notebooks so students can do all homework assignments in the notebook as well as take class notes in the notebook and staple in any handouts. The purpose of this notebook is to keep all class materials in one place so when they go to study for a test, they are not looking all over for loose papers. In these notebooks, students can show their creativity in designing a cover page for each unit as well as doing free-writes or reflections to the lessons and central questions right in the notebook. There will be homework assigned every night except Fridays. The homework is to read self selected interest material and complete a reader response entry. On some occasions there may be homework given in addition to the RR entries.  I take the students to the library weekly where they can select books to utilize for this purpose.

In terms of student behavior, I strive to create an environment that is conducive to learning by creating a good rapport with the students, encouraging them to succeed, and setting high expectations for them. I expect the students to follow the rules, participate, and abide by teacher directives. If misbehavior does arise, the consequences are always in line with the offense. I am firm but fair. If there is a consistent misbehavior problem, I will initially ask the student to talk to me after class. I will talk to him/her about the positive things they are doing in class and how I appreciate something they are doing, as in participating in class for example. I will tell them why their behavior is interfering in the class and have them meet with me later to make a plan of how they will be able to stop the behavior. In class, I will give them a warning and then ask them to move to another section in the room to work by themselves. If the misbehavior continues, I will talk to the student and make a phone call home. I might also ask the parent to come into school for a meeting with the student. I think it is very important to involve the parents. I do not believe in removing a student out of the room unless they are being harmful to others or me in the class–either physically or verbally. I believe that misbehavior should be addressed with the teacher and student communicating as much as possible.

This year your student will need  (1) Five Subject Notebook, writing utensils, highlighters, and a flash drive.  I also encourage you to subscribe to my classroom alerts via Remind.com. This will ensure you receive the classroom updates that I send out almost daily. You can receive it via text message or email. These are short reminders about grades, homework, school events (book fairs/trips), conferences, and report cards. In order to sign up for these reminders you must subscribe via text or email. Homework will be assigned every night except Fridays! The HW is to read 20 minutes of self selected material and write reader’s response entries. There will be additional practice sheets as well sent home.

I look forward to meeting you and having an amazing year with your student. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Best,

Mrs. Zepeda

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is designed to educate our children to their highest potential in Language Arts/Literacy by addressing the diverse needs of all students.  Our goal is to ensure that all students are prepared with 21st century skills and knowledge to be successful in college and career choice as well as on the PARCC assessment. There are five units that we will cover this year. District-wide Benchmark assessments will be administered at the end of each unit.   During each unit, there will be vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing activities to accompany each text.  As a class we will read to think and construct our own meaning from a variety of texts. We will cover the following below and much more!

Unit Name Pacing Schedule Unit 1. Unlocking the Text Model Curriculum: Reading Literature – Writing Narrative

September - October Unit 2. Text Analysis: Author’s Craft Model Curriculum: Reading Information – Writing Informative / Explanatory

November - January Unit 3. Navigating Informational Texts Model Curriculum: Reading Information – Writing Argument

January - February Unit 4. Digging Deeper Model Curriculum: Reading Literature – Writing Narrative

March - April Unit 5. Bringing it All Together Model Curriculum: Reading Literature & Information – Writing Narrative & Argument

May - June

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Reading Students will develop the habits of strong readers. Students will read and analyze a variety of texts such as short fiction, novels, and various forms of non-fiction, drama and poetry. Writing Students will develop the habits of strong writers. Students will utilize the writing process to produce a variety of writing such as narratives, various essays, and responses to literature, plays/ poems. Students will use technology to integrate learning while researching topics. Students will produce various products such as essays, narratives, and presentations. Speaking and Listening Students will learn and practice active listening. Students will speak for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Language Students will learn essential grammar, usage and mechanics conventions. Students will enhance their vocabulary through shared and independent reading, as well as vocabulary skill-building strategies.  

EXPECTATIONS Students are expected to follow the school-wide rules “Be Caring”, “Be Cooperative”,  “Be Responsible”, “Be Considerate”. Students are expected to submit all work on time.   Students are expected to be in class every day.  If a student is absent, it is his/her responsibility to make up missed work!

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Raise your hand and be recognized before speaking. Be seated when the bell rings and be ready to begin at the start of class. Listen and follow all instructions the first time given. If you don’t understand something, ASK. I am happy to help you ALWAYS! ツ Remain Seated, unless you have asked. In this class, work is expected. Keep talking academically centered,  behave as scholars would!

MATERIALS NEEDED (Verify with individual teacher) Pencil or Pen (must be black or blue ink) Composition Book (Reading Journal) One notebook One folder One flash drive

ATTENDANCE AND MAKE-UP POLICY Students are expected to be on-time to class every day.  A student must have an excused absence in order to make-up missed assignments If you are absent, it is your responsibility to get the work you missed, including class notes.  Make-up homework and class work is expected to be complete in a timely fashion.  You will receive 2 days for every day you are absent in order to make up the work. If an assignment was due on the day that you were absent, I will expect you to turn it on the day you return. If you are absent for a test or quiz, you will be expected to make arrangements to stay after school the day you return to make up the quiz.  If extenuating circumstances occur, please see me to arrange a make-up date.  You will have one week to make arrangements to take the test.  If I do not hear from you within a week, you will receive a grade of zero. If you cut class, you will receive a zero for any assignments that are completed or that were due that day including homework, class work, tests and quizzes.

HOMEWORK Students are to read at least 20  minutes every night. Reading response journal entries are to be completed nightly, Monday – Thursday. Other homework includes: essays, vocabulary study, projects, etc. All homework should be finished and on your desk at the beginning of class. Homework turned in late will receive 50% credit. Homework must include your full name, date, and assignment in the upper right hand corner. No Exceptions! Any major assignment (paper, essays, project, etc.) that is late will automatically have 10% deducted for each school day that it is late.

GRADING CRITERIA Refer to District Grading Policy for Weighting  

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