Grades Seven & Eight:
Mrs. Kerri Seifert
September 23, 2009
Hello Parents, Families, and
Students!
I am very excited to be here in my first year at Green Mountain School,
especially in middle school. I look forward to a wonderful year with
students in which we share information and experiences. We are into
about our fifth week at Green Mountain, and things are going
wonderfully. The class I have this year is one of the best I have ever
seen or worked with. I have enjoyed getting know parents and hope to
meet all of you at the parent teacher conferences in October. Below I
discuss some of the things we are doing in class, and it is important to
keep in mind that some students have modified assignments. Therefore,
some students may be doing modified versions of the assignments or
something completely different. If this is the case for your student, it
is best to contact me by email or phone for more information on your
student’s school work.
Some of the things we are working this month:
ü
Social studies
projects such as power points and posters
ü
The writing
process
ü
Density in
science
ü
7th
grade math: integers
ü
8th
grade math: exponents, powers, scientific notation, radicals, and more
Reading: for reading
we have been doing literature circles where small groups of
students get together to share their ideas about the same book. Right
now that book is A Wrinkle in Time.
Pages will be assigned for each day, and students must have those pages
completed before the next day’s class. Time is given during class to
complete pages and anything not done is homework. In addition, each
student keeps a journal where they write down their ideas about the
pages they read. It is imperative that students come prepared for
literature circles, which are on Tuesdays because participation and
preparation are a big grade for language arts. Points are awarded for
the following items: journals, literature circle participation, a final
Project, and a possible test. Another item that includes many points
that go towards their language arts grade is the independent reading
assignment. The students read independently mostly at home, with
some opportunities to read at school. They choose at least 3 books, and
the pages need to total at least 900 all together. Books cannot be less
than 150 pages, and they need to choose two fiction books and one book
of their choice. Furthermore, books need to be at the student’s reading
level. There will be three teacher-student conferences per trimester to
monitor student progress. Students will do some journaling as well on
the books they read.
*Literature
circles will be done a few times throughout the year and the independent
reading assignment will be done every trimester (due a week before the
end of the trimester).
Ø
8th
Grade Trip Fundraising Thus Far:
v
Haunted House
at Halloween carnival
Ø
Leadership is
on a volunteer basis this year and is now called citizenship. Seven
students have volunteered and are doing a great job. In celebration of
their selfless efforts, the first Friday of every month there will be a
pizza lunch party in my room for these students.
I will have a calendar up soon which shows when assignments are due and
more.
Please contact me if you have any
questions or concerns. My email address is
kseifert@esd112.wednet.edu.
Thank You,
Kerri Seifert