Welcome! Ms. Filanoski Room 213 at H.M.S. 2013-2014

Wowie! Didn't the summer just FLY by?! It's not too upsetting though, because I'm lucky! Lucky that I get to come to Horizon each day to hang out and teach the most awesome group of kids IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!
You: How do YOU know we're the most awesome kids in the entire world, Ms. Filanoski?
My answer: I ONLY TAKE THE BEST OF THE BEST! You would not have been put into my class if you were not amazingly awesome! I pay the office in cookies and Starbucks to give me the cream of the Horizon crop. I called the Bosses of You and convinced them to send you to Horizon. (Okay, maybe this is slight fabrication. I suppose I know you're amazing because you're YOU. You're the ONLY you there ever was and ever will be. And that's pretty darn cool!) 

For most of you reading this post, this year will be your first in middle school- HOW FABULOUS! You will really love it here at Horizon. The teachers are pretty cool, the students are pretty cool, and now that you're here our school will be VERY cool! I'm excited to meet you and teach you all the wonderful things I know about Language Arts and Social Studies!

Could you do me a favor? Will you bookmark this page? Save it to your favorites? Friday of each week I post a shot of what our schedule will be for the following week. I also post extra credit, pictures, and other things I think you and the Bosses of You might be interested in reading. OH! Let's start NOW!!!

If you've read this post, please click the "comments" icon. Write JUST your first name and grade. (DO IT ONLY ONCE! I must approve all comments before you will see them in the comments section.) I'll gift you with a WHOLE 5 extra credit points JUST for doing that!!

Enjoy Your Summer!

Oh my little ducklings,

I hope you have the best summer yet and that

ALL OF YOUR WILDEST DREAMS COME TRUE!

See y'all next year!

May 20-24

April 29th to May 3rd

April 22-26

YAY! I've got control of my blog again! Thanks to whomever it was that decided to hack my account...hmmmm.

March 25-29

Don't forget, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.

Extra Credit Option for 6th Grade S.S.- 20pts if done well - Explore one of the aspects

of Ancient Egyptian life that we've been studying, and in 3 paragraphs

explain why it interests you. Due by the end of the day on TUESDAY 3/26.

For Liam C.

Liam, please answer questions 1-3 from this page.
Happy weekend!

March 18-21

March 11-15

This week is the close of the trimester. You will NOT have to turn in a reading log this Friday! Woo!

Remember, if you're working on A.R. for the third trimester that you need to read one NONFICTION book this trimester. Ms. Albers has a whole section of the library set aside for you to peruse, and she's more than willing to help you choose a book to suit your needs.

March 4-8

Feb 25 to March 1

Click on any pictures on this page to enlarge them for easier readability.

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.