February 11-15

If you've ever wondered what it's like to teach 11 year-old kids- here's an example of how flexible one needs to be when dealing with them: today my afternoon block held a wedding ceremony for

a girl and a can of corn.

It was complete with formal wear, vows, and a full bridal party. It was beautiful, and more than a little odd.

The Vows

I'm guessing Akbar kissing his bride? Notice the sincere tears being shed?

 Kissing their cans of corn

 The full bridal party

 The bride and her bridesmaids

 The groomsmen

Feb 4-8

January 28- February 1, 2013

January 22-25, 2013

I love school so much that I spaced it and forgot that we don't have school on Monday! So take the lessons and move them down a day. Easy cheesy!

This sheet gives a basic overview of this week's L.A. focus.
However, prepare to learn your fancy punctuation marks like a comma (,) semicolon (;) and EVEN a colon (:)!

 

 

Here is a copy of the reading log- JUUUUUST in case you forgot to bring one home. I'll check these each Friday.

January 7-11, 2013

Why you shouldn’t miss your 20 minutes of A.R. reading each evening:

Student “A” reads 20 minutes each day, 3600 minutes in a school year, 1,800,000 words= 90th percentile of readers in the USA

Student “B” reads 5 minutes each day, 9000 minutes in a school year, 282,000 words= 50th percentile of readers in the USA

Student “C” reads 1 minute each day, 180 minutes in a school year,

 8,000 words= 10th percentile of readers in the USA

December 10-14

Please click on the lesson plan book to make

it larger for ease of reading.

Reading Logs are due each FRIDAY! You do not have any set number of minutes or pages that you are required to read at home, however I suggest you try to read about 20-30 minutes a day. If you're busy one day and choose to read for an hour or two on a different day, that's A-OK- JUST READ!

HOLIDAY FAMILY

Each holiday season here at Horizon, our grade levels get together and adopt families in need from the Valley. We provide them with Christmas gifts for their kids and staples to make a holiday meal. These students do not attend Horizon, but are in our district.

This year my Language Arts classes have been assigned two young men aged 8 and 10 for whom we will provide gifts. Attached to this email is the information about these boys that was given to us by the administration of their school. Our job is to shop for new gifts for the boys, wrap them, tag them, and then take them to the Horizon A.S.B. class. They will deliver everything to the boys' school before Winter Break starts on the 19th.

This is not a competition, nor is it mandatory, it's just a simple way to spread holiday spirit. Please, when you're out running your errands, think of these two kiddos and do what you can to help us provide them with a joyful Christmas morning.

If you have questions or concerns, please email me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Test Taking Time!

December 3-7

Better late than never, right?!

 Grades come out next week, so be sure you're keeping

yourself on track for an A grade until the very end!

You're all such amazing kids, and I feel so lucky

to get to work with you each day. YOU RULE!!!

The Gobble Gobble Week

Don't forget, Wednesday is an early release day! Have a marvelous holiday.

November 12-16

This week is the canned food drive competition! We're in a heated duel with the 4 other middle schools in our district to collect the most canned food for the Second Harvest food bank. Let's win this thing people! Bring your canned food to your first period class.

November 5-9

HaLLoWEen fUN!

I love seeing all the kiddos dressed up for Halloween!

Conference week October 22-26

October 15-19

Don't forget to click on the picture to enlarge it for better reading!

October 1-5, 2012

Amazing work last week guys! Looking forward to seeing what you produce THIS week!

       (please remember to click on the photo to enlarge it)

September 24-28 Last week of September!

 

Lots of writing this week kids! Get those pencils handy!

Please remember that if you click on the image it will show up larger in another window.

September 17-21

Please click on the image to increase size and readability.

September 10-14

WOW! What a great start to the school year! I'm so stoked to have such an amazing bunch of kids in both 6th and 8th grades. I feel so lucky- really I do!
This week there will be projects introduced in both classes in both grades. We're off and running!

Usually all grades are posted online for parents to see as soon as they are entered, however with the new software system the district adopted this may not be possible. So I will be sending classroom progress reports quite a bit more often than I usually do.

Let's have another stellar week Hawks!

(if you click on any pictures they become larger)

September 6-8 FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

Please be sure to bookmark this blog and check it each week for upcoming projects, assignments, and possibly EXTRA CREDIT!

How exciting this year will be! I’m teaching sixth, seventh, AND eighth grade this year and couldn’t be happier.

Some of you may be a little curious about what life will be like in my class. I promise you that I am pretty easy-going, and I don’t assign homework for homework's sake. Really! (However, you’ll probably still have class work to take home, so don’t start cheering yet.) My homework policy is below, so be sure to read it. My room is usually pretty colorful and bright. I like books, so the walls are covered with bookshelves; feel free to sign out on any book that floats your boat!

Okay, a little about me: This is my 12th year teaching and 7th year at HMS. I LOVE teaching- and I especially love middle school aged kids. You're my favorite! I like to sing, and I enjoy hiking. I have four kids, two of whom are covered in fur. I suppose you’ll learn more once you’re happily ensconced in our classroom!

Please be prepared for my class each day. I tend to get a little huffy if you forget basic items like paper, pencils, and books. Come in with a happy attitude and I will return it!

HOMEWORK POLICY
Parents and Students,I’ve been reading a lot lately about the benefits and consequences of homework for middle level students. I had been thinking that perhaps our kids have been overwhelmed by the amount of work that has been given to them and I have a plan to perhaps change this.

A few years ago a lovely student named Trevin brought me an article written for the September 2007 issue of Time magazine by Claudia Wallis. This essay discusses several different viewpoints about the benefits of homework. Since the topic had already been on my mind, and then it was presented in such a concise little package by a student, I mulled it over and I’ve decided to implement a new plan: No more assigned homework. I will still be assigning essays and readings and projects, but I will not assign additional work specifically as “homework.”

Studies have shown that “students who feel overworked tend to lose interest in the topics and it may damage their interest in learning and natural curiosity.” (Wallis, 2006) While I do feel that it is important to instill a love of reading and writing in our kids, I don’t want to squash the current interest that they have.So, for the next trimester I am going to test my hypothesis. Your students will still have work to complete at home but it will be work that we began in class and didn’t get finished, or longer projects that need additional time.

If you have any questions or concerns about this, please call me at 509-228-4994 or email me at sfilanoski@cvsd.org, OR feel free to drop by, introduce yourself and talk to me in person!

Sara Filanoski

June 4-8

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