HELLO McMurray Middle School!

First, I'd like to thank this lovely community for welcoming me to McMurray with such enthusiasm and kindness; this is such an amazing place to be. I know this is going to be a great 6th grade school year!

After getting to know you, my sweet students, I feel such luck, such luck to get to spend my mornings with your caring, inquisitive, and sometimes silly personalities. Each of you has already found a spot in my heart. Thank you for being such a great bunch!

If you missed our Back to School night last night, here is the basic syllabus and information sheet I gave out. There was quite a lot more that I was unable to get to in our brief meeting, so I will be sending out several emails in the coming weeks to get us all on the same page with what to expect in room 147.

6^th grade Humanities Syllabus:

Social Studies FOCUS TOPICS ·        5 Themes of Geography ·        Anthropology and Archaeology ·        Ancient Civilizations: a.      Mesopotamia b.      Egypt c.       India d.      Greece e.      Rome f.        China g.      Meso-America

Language Arts FOCUS TOPICS ·        Literary Elements ·        Argumentative and expository essay writing ·        Reading informational texts ·        Literary texts: a.      Wonder b.      Eye of the Crow c.       Wolf Brother d.      The Golden Goblet e.      Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myths

The speed with which we cover topics will be determined by class understanding.

HOMEWORK

·        In order to build lifelong readers, students should be reading at home a minimum of 30 minutes per night. This will count towards students’ RVF scores.

·        Look for homework 1-2 times per week, depending upon your student’s ability to finish assignments in class.

GRADING

·        This Humanities class is total points based. There are no category weights.

·        To receive full credit assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class, on the day they are due.

·        Partial credit will be given if an assignment is turned in late.

·        An excused absence will not reduce credit.

·        You may access grades at home by registering for and checking the VISD Family Access website.

Please be sure to keep up to date with classroom activities by checking this classroom blog often (bookmark it so you won’t have to type all that again!)