May 24 Blog Post

7th Grade Retreat
Thank you for sending in food for our 7th grade class retreat last Friday and for praying for our time together. It was beautiful weather and we had a great day. Thank you to the Solle's for opening their home/yard to us. We had a fun day playing kickball, eating together, reflecting on the year, and talking about goals for 8th grade.

Nothing But the Truth

The students received their copies of Nothing But the Truth by Avi today in class. They also received the specifics of our last large assignment of the year for language arts. The students will be working in class throughout the next week to read the novel and complete projects. While they will be given ample class time, they will need to work on it at home as well. Final projects and reflections are due on Thursday, June 9. The students need to bring the copies of the book EVERY SINGLE DAY until the end of the school year. This is especially important because students will be given time to work in class and cannot complete assignments without the book. Please help your child remember his or her book.

MI Adventure

Thank you to everyone for sending in $10 for our MI Adventure trip on Wednesday, June 8. We will leave at the start of the school day and return at 4:30. Please be ready to pick your child up at 4:30 promptly. I will give the 7th grade students some specific reminders about our day next week. Lunch is included in the ticket price. Let me know if you need help arranging a ride home for your child that day.

Miscellaneous
*Pre-Algebra has a test tomorrow in class. They also will have a cumulative exam next Tuesday (June 7).
*8th grade graduation takes place on the evening of Thursday, June 9. The 7th and 8th grade choir sings at this event, so it is expected that 7th grade students will attend.
*Bible memory work (Psalm 33:12-23) is due on Friday, June 3.
*I am traveling to Ethiopia this summer (in just less than 2 weeks) to help serve in some orphanages and ministries that Bethany Christian Services is involved with. We have a blog that we hope to be able to update during our trip. Feel free to check it out if you are interested in more information http://ethiopiajames127.blogspot.com

May 24 Update

Language Arts

I was proud of how the students did on their parts of speech test. They are working on a project due this Thursday in class. The students are creating movies about how to label parts of speech in a sentence. Each student was given an assignment paper that has specific requirements, directions, and a rubric.

Next week the students will begin reading Nothing but the Truth by Avi. We'll spend time reflecting on the themes from the story in the last two weeks of the year.

Reading log will continue until the last day of school. Thank you for encouraging your children to complete homework assignments all the way through the end of the year.

7th Grade Retreat

Our 7th grade retreat is this Friday. Thank you for volunteering to bring in food for it. Can you please join me in praying for good weather on Friday? I'm looking forward to the time we'll spend reflecting on the year and looking forward to next year. Please also pray that God will bless and guide our time together.

Survey

I forwarded an email from Mr. Burgess last week that contained a link to a survey. There were some difficulties with emails being delayed last week, so I wanted to be sure to send the link again. http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22C3PSV5VEM/ This survey will only take a few minutes to complete and will help RCS plan and prepare for extracurricular learning activities next year.

MI Adventure

Thank you to those of you who have volunteered to drive and chaperone the 7th grade trip to Michigan's Adventure on Wednesday, June 8. While other parents are welcome, we currently have enough volunteers. If you are still interested in coming, please email me no later than this Friday. Thank you for sending in $10 for your child's ticket no later than this Friday.

Miscellaneous

*It was great to see many of you at the Open House last week. Thanks for taking time out of the busy spring to come see artwork and celebrate things happening at RCS.

*Similar to last year, I will be going to Sleeping Bear Dunes with the 6th grade students next week. We will be gone next week on Wednesday-Friday. I won't have access to email while we're gone, so thanks for being patient if it takes me a little while longer than normal to respond.

May 16 Update

Language Arts Test
The students have been working hard learning about and discussing parts of speech. I was very proud of their hard work at the end of last week. They persevered through lots of information in class and participated well in discussions. If they have studied their notes, quizzes, and information highlighted on the study guide, I think they should be successful on the test tomorrow. The test includes true/false, multiple choice, matching, and fill in the blank questions. It will be important for the students to work carefully through the questions to avoid careless mistakes. The students will complete a unit project at the end of this week creating a PowerPoint and video on how to properly label parts of speech in a sentence.

MI Adventure
Thanks for sending in $10 for MI Adventure by Friday, May 27. I have received money from quite a few students already. Please contact me by this Friday if you anticipate it being difficult for you to send in the money.

May 19 Celebration
Please join us on Thursday, May 19 for the RCS Art Show and Open House Celebration. There will be student artwork creatively displayed throughout the building. There will be poems written by 7th grade students on display in my classroom. See the note from the Home Bulletin with times (there is one session right after school and one session later in the evening to accommodate different family schedules). Hope to see you there!

May 9 Update

Camp Roger
The 7th graders will go to Camp Roger this week on Wednesday afternoon. There is no hot lunch on Camp Roger days. The students need to make sure they are dressed for the weather. This will be the 7th graders' last visit of the school year.

Parts of Speech
The students will be receiving a study guide this week on Wednesday for the upcoming test in language arts over parts of speech. The test will be next week on Tuesday, May 17. I am encouraging the students to plan ahead and work carefully through the study guide. For this test, the study guide is a tool to help them be better prepared. They will need to refer back to their notes and the countless examples we completed in class. Please help your child plan wisely so that they are not stressed out or trying to study at the last minute.

I will not be collecting the study guide. We will most likely not go over answers for it in class. I am expecting students to use their notes to remind them of the answers on it. I am also expecting that students will talk with me if they are confused or unsure about specific answers. We'll do plenty of review in class, and they should have all the information available to them. However, they are going to need to study and review.

Students who do not receive a "C" or higher on the test will have to review the material again. Information from this unit is foundational to things the students will be building on during 8th grade language arts.

End-of-the-Year
Hopefully your child brought home a piece of paper last week with information about 7th grade activities between now and the end of the year. Please let me know if you need me to email you a copy of the paper. Thank you for sending in $10 to cover the cost of MI Adventures between now and May 27th. As students get excited about things they'll be doing during the summer, please help them to not check-out of school before we've finished. Summer is coming, but there is still a significant amount of work and learning that needs to be accomplished before June 11th.

May 3 Update

Language Arts
We are continuing work with parts of speech. It has been a little bit of a slow start, but I was encouraged by student participation and growth that I saw today in class. For most students, it seems to be coming along.

Identifying parts of speech teaches critical thinking skills; students must evaluate, rationalize, and justify all their work and answers. Trying to quickly breeze through sentences without thinking does not usually result in success. Similar to the mechanics test earlier this year, students must receive a "C" or higher on our final assessment in order to move on to the next unit. We will finish the year reading a novel and discussing it together. If students have not mastered the parts of speech we've studied in class, they will have to use this time to review, ask questions, and practice the material. What we are doing in language arts right now is foundational for language arts next year.

I anticipate the test being towards the end of next week or beginning of the following week. Students will receive a study guide and have a packet full of notes that they've been taking over the last several weeks.

NWEA Testing Dates
The 7th grade students will be taking the spring NWEA (Maps) tests tomorrow and next week.
Wednesday, May 4 (Math)
Monday, May 9 (Reading)
Tuesday, May 10 (Language Usage)

The students have all reflected on their fall and winter scores and made goals for themselves for this round of testing. Thanks for encouraging your students to get enough sleep and try their hardest for the tests. As teachers, we use information from the test results to see where gaps are in student learning and to evaluate how to better meet students' needs.

Camp Roger
The 7th grade visit to Camp Roger last week was cancelled due to the weather. The visit will not be rescheduled. Instead, the 7th graders will complete the activities on their last visit to Camp Roger for this school year on May 11.

End-of-the-Year
I sent home a yellow paper yesterday with information about the end-of-the-year activities for the 7th grade students. Please talk with your child if you have not seen this yet. You can also email me if you need a copy of it electronically. Thank you for sending in $10 for Michigan's Adventure no later than Friday, May 27.