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Page Last Updated Aug 17, 2011
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WE ARE UP AND RUNNING ON BLACKBOARD!! GO TO THE HERITAGE MIDDLE SCHOOL WEBSITE AND CLICK ON 6TH, THEN TRACK 2. THERE WILL NOT BE ANYMORE POSTINGS ON THIS SITE. I AM DISCONTINUING IT. THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION IN SIGNING UP FOR SCHOOLNOTES AND KEEPPING ABREAST OF OUR POSTINGS.. MS. KIRKLAND
August 15, 2011 PLEASE BEGIN TO BRING ALL OF YOUR BOOKS BACK TOMORROW. YOU WERE ISSUED A LITERATURE BOOK, MATH BOOK, AND SCIENCE BOOK. They all need to be returned so the students who are tracking in will be able to receive a textbook. Thanks for your assistance. DUE THIS WEEK by Thursday, August 18th at your regular class time: Word-Picture Dictionary. Please be sure it has been completed according to the specifications given in the informational W-P Dictionary sheet and discussed in class. In Language Arts, we will continue our studies in reading fiction and practicing identifying literary elements and genres. We will be concentrating more on the genres, but will review the elements (characters, setting(s), plot, theme, point of view, tone, and mood) and questions surrounding them. Ms. Kirkland
August 11, 2011 Good Afternoon Students (and Parents), HOMEWORK: All periods: Continue to work on your Word-Picture Dictionary by (1) adding the necessary information required, (2) checking over it for errors in spelling and for well constructed sentences that show you understand the meaning used, (3) checking for capaital letters that should not be within a word and/or a sentence where the word is not a proper noun and by adding color to the illustrations. INTERIMS GO HOME TOMORROW. Presently, the students' grades are inflated because the students were allowed to use notes for two graded assignments and because the students earned 100 points for completing an assignment - Focus Lesson 5. We discussed the possible answers so they could write in the correct ones if theirs were incorrect. Students, you received your test papers back today. It was quite evident that some of you studied and preprared for the test while others of you did not. You really should begin studying for a test as you review your notes at least five times a week (as I have asked you to do). All of the Focus Lessons, Two-Column Notes, other notes you have copied from the board, and other handouts become a part of your "Study Guide". Your binder is the keeper of these items. That is why it is so important for you to file everything I tell you to file. You cannot afford to stuff the papers in a folder, the pockets of your binder, or in your locker where they can be lost. Please remember that I have a certain number of papers I can produce throughout the year and may not be able to copy another sheet for you and others if they are lost. Parents, your child's grade on the formative assessment given yesterday is the actual score made on the test. You will see that grade inflated in SPAN by five points if your child earned five points by answering a bonus question correctly on the last graded assignment. these points were banked, but added so they could get credit for them on the interim. Have a good evening. Ms. Kirkland
August 7, 2011
Students, You were informed Friday that your literary elements test will be Wednesday, August 10th instead of Thursday, the 11th. Please be sure you are studying for the EOG-like test where you will have to read a passage and then complete questions. You need to know the definitions of your vocabulary words also. I communicated this to you several times. Not only are you listing the vocabulary in a dictionary, but you are learning what they mean. Ms. Kirkland
August 2, 2011 Good afternoon, HOMEWORK: Period 2 - Continue to work on your Word-Picture Dictionary.
Periods 3, 5, and 6 - Complete the "What's the Mood" sheet. If you have time to enter a few entries in your dictionary, please do so. Follow the bulleted items above.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND DATES TO REMEMBER: Pictures will be taken next Week, Wednesday, August 10th. Interims will go home Friday, August 12th. Clubs are in full force. If you want to join a club and will have an average of "C" or higher, please check it out. THANK YOU Parents, thank you for your partnership as you assist you children each evening with schoolwork. It is quite necessary for them to practice in and out of school for reinforcement and repetition. Many of you are doing a great job in assisting your child and us, and we want to thank you for your tremendous work. It takes us working together. Thank you for the items contributed to the class (tissues, hand sanitizer, pencils, paper, erassers, and wipes). We sincerely appreciate it. Have a lovely afternoon and evening. Ms. Kirkland
July 26, 2011 Students, Period 2 will work on the crossword puzzle we did not work on today because of the time we spent setting up the SPAN accounts. Therefore, you will not have a graded assighment regarding the information on that practice until after you complete it and have a night to study it. Your graded assignment will probably be on Thursday. In the meantime, Period 2, Be sure to use Focus Lesson 6 to help you answer question number two on the second Focus Lesson 5 sheet you received today, stapled to Focus Lesson 6. Period 3, 5, and 6 - Complete Focus Lesson 7 and be ready to discuss it tomorrow after you complete the graded assignment. Please study for your graded assignment that will tap into your understanding or lack thereof of literary genres and literary elements. I am expecting all to perform well as you did today on the crossword puzzle. If you perform poorly, you will need to revisit the information. IF YOU HAVE TIME, work on your W-P Dictionary. Ms. Kirkland
Parents, The students set their SPAN (Student/Parent Access Network) account information this morning. The user ID is the student's lunch account number. Their passwords include: Their first and last initials - CAPITALIZED plus lowercase "nav" for our Navigation track name, and 06 representing grade 6. Using my initials, I would log in as PKnav06. Your child's password is identical to mine EXCEPT for their initials. Please be especially careful when trying to access the account because if the the account can be locked and, in the past, it has taken quite some time to have it unlocked. We learned this afternoon that the school district is experiencing some technical difficulties. I understand that grades teachers have input in the system are not reading as they should. Therefore the student's grade may show an "F" and that may not be the case. Please five them a few days to identify and alleviate the problem. Please ask your child to show you how to access SPAN so you can do so whenever you want to view your child's records, grades, attendance, and schedules. Thanks for your patience. Have a good evening. Ms. Kirkland
July 24th Good evening, This is a reminder for students to pack their literature books and composition books with the Word-Picture Dictionary within. The W-P Dictionary should be carried back and forth each evening until the student has completed all definitions assigned before August 18th (due date). There will be other words assigned this week and whenever other activities are completed in class, the student will be working on the dictionary. PLEASE bring your two items listed above tomorrow. Pack them this evening please. Thanks for your cooperation. Ms. Kirkland
July 22, 2011 Students, the non scheduled fire drill disrupted some classes and the information for what will be happening Monday in some classes are given below. Please be sure to read it carefully. First of all, I applaud you again for your cooperation in not talking and fooling around during the scheduled fire drill and the non-scheduled fire drill. You represented Track 2 very well. Keep it up! Language Arts Periods: Monday: Period 2 - Monday, we will work on Focus Lesson 5 in class. It will include reading a short story and answering questions as well as completing a graphic organizer. If your literature book is home, will you please pack it this weekend to bring to school Monday? You will need it to read the story. Periods 3 and 6 - You completed the assessment and followed directions well. Your assignment is to review Focus Lesson 5, and be sure you can discuss the story when questions are asked. Be sure your graphic organizer on that focus lesson is explicit. Review it for inclusiveness. Period 5 - You must complete the vocabulary portion of the assessment. It will not be timed. You will be able to use all the time you need, and I know it will not take too long. Following the assessment, we will discuss Focus Lesson 5 and your answers. Please be sure you can discuss the story when questions are asked. Be sure your graphic organizer on that focus lesson is explicit. Review it for inclusiveness. Tuesday: We will review Literary Genres and Literary Elements to distinguish between the terms. You may be asked to identify some genres and some literary elements. Use your Focus Lessons to assist you with that. Prepare any questions you may have ahead of time so we can discuss them and help you understand them. Wednesday: You will complete a graded assignment per Tuesday's discussion on literary genres and literary elements, so it is important for you to be listening closely to the discssion. Each day, complete some items in your Word-Picture Dictionary and have someone check them for accuracy. They should be checking to see that you wrote the correct forms adn definitions of the words, used the words correctly in the sentence, and illustrated it correctly. Please take your time when completing your work. That is the planning so far for the upcoming week. There may be more added this weekend. Enjoy this weekend. I love you guys. Ms. Kirkland
July 21, 2011 HOMEWORK: Students are to complete Focus Lesson 5 (FL 5) by reading the FL sheet and following the directions on it. You are to read pages 24 - 27 in your literature book and then complete the questions. BE SURE TO READ THE STORY TONIGHT BECAUSE YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE YOUR BOOK IN CLASS TOMORROW. THERE WILL BE A FEW BOOKS ON HAND IF WE NEED TO REFERENCE SOMETHING. PLEASE LEAVE THE BOOK AT HOME. THANK YOU. MS. KIRKLAND
July 20th HOMEWORK: Word-Picture Dictionary Begin or continue work on your Word-Picture Dictionary. You are to include the words from the Unit One Vocabulary sheet beginning with characteristic and end with the second entry of theme. Some changes to what I stated in class are items 1 and 2 below. 1. Regarding the Literary genres and genres terms, they have the same definition so you can put both terms on one page. 2. Regarding theme, please use the last definition. Hopefully, you took your literature book home this evening. LEAVE IT THERE TOMORROW. You will not need it at school tomorrow, but you will need it tomorrow night at HOME to read a story. If you forgot and left it at school, please pack it first thing in the morning in your book bag upon arrival. Tomorrow will be a FULL day of activities in class. Please come in, copy the TOC, and be ready for the activities. Hope to see you tomorrow. Enjoy your evening. Ms. Kirkland
July 19th Dear Students, It was reported that you were the most well behaved students that went to the Media Center Orientation today. Thanks for being so cooperative and inquisitive during the sessions. I was proud of how you represented the track! Unfortunately, my homeroom class was the only class that did not have time to check out books. We will visit the Media Center (MC) tomorrow immediately at announcements during Encore time so that you can do that. Please come in and follow the instructions on the board, including copying the TOC so you will be ready at 8:25 to leave for the MC. Because of our schedule today, some things that I was hoping to share were not shared because of the time. That also negated homework for some of you. Period 2 only was given homework because I used Encore time to introduce a project to them. The project will be introduced to the rest of you tomorrow. Period 2, you are to begin constructing your Word-Picture Dictionary. No other Language Arts class has homework this evening unless you did not complete Focus Lesson 3 last evening. For the group that worked with Mrs. Williams yesterday, please be sure you completed her homework and ready to submit it to me tomorrow. Our next genre under the fiction genre is novel. I guess you assumed that because of Focus Lesson 3. Be sure you understand the characteristics of the novel and know how to compare/contrast it with the characteristics of the short story. We have an interesting activity regarding that tomorrow. I think you may like it. Have a good evening, and remember to complete all of your homework. I love you. Ms. Kirkland
July 18th Dear Students (and Prents), Tomorrow is Media Center Orientation where each class will visit the Media Center to learn about how it functions and what is expected of you. We will be visiting with another track throughout the day so please be courteous and respectful so that all of us can be served in a timely fashion. About 60 students will be in the center and we will need your full cooperation please. Our Media Center specialist, Mrs. Talley will show a powerpoint and explain the specifics. You need to be wide awake so you will not miss anything. After the powerpoint, you will be allowed to check out books to take home tomorrow. However, if you have a fine or books owed to your elementary school media center, you will not be able to check out books until those fines are satisfied. I thinik you can pay the fine here, and I also think you can bring the book here to be sent to the elementary school through our school mail. If you do have a book home, please bring it tomorrow. Put it in your bookbag tonight please. Depending on the time left after the orientation and checking out of books, I will introduce your first project, our Word-Picture Dictionary. You will be given a sheet of information on the Word-Picture Dictionary that you will begin to construct. It will be explained in detail in class and the sheet of information must be shared with your parents so they can help keep you on a schedule you will need to develop to stay current and up to date. I am sorry that my page has not been visible. I changed it earlier today when one of our bright students informed me that she could not see my page. I checked it again this afternoon and it reverted to "Do not make it visible." I again changed and saved it this time, so hopefully, you will be able to read this. Please have your parents sign up to be notified when I save each entry. The system will automatically send them an email to check schoolnotes and that way they will not have to check it periodically to see if I have sent something. Please URGE them to sign up. Our sessions were very good today. Your participation was great! Thanks to those of you who are volunteering to participate. Some of you for the first or second time today. GREAT! Be sure to ask questions when you do not understand. Remember, completing homework is crucial. Some things you can do at home that need to be done, will be homework. Additionally, some homework will be assigned because it will be reinforced from today's activities and because you will need to study. Remember, YOU ARE MAKING YOUR STUDY GUIDE BY KEEPING UP WITH THE INFORMATION DISTRIBUTED AND BY COMPLETING YOUR HOMEWORK. Looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow and having an even better day! I love you. Enjoy your evening. Ms. Kirkland
July 15th Dear Students, We have come to the end of a very busy week where many of you have done quite well in making positive adjustments to middle school. Others of you are still somewhat leary of what is expected and how to get though it all. RELAX. We are here to assist you. Please ask questions of your teachers if you do not understand something or you need assistance with an assignment. Getting off on the right foot is most important and will prove to be beneficial in the long run. This means when assignments are given, please complete them that afternoon/evening and be ready to discuss or participate in some way in class. For those of you who have completed all assitnments in all classes thus far, congratulations on tackling middle school and its requirements! Unfortunately, others of you have already received silent lunch because you did not complete your homework. Homework is practice and is needed to help obtain new skills and sharpen your already acquired ones. You need homework to reinforce what was taught in class and because it can assist you in recalling the information presented by your teachers. If you are not completing homework as you should, get on the ball with the rest of us (Yes, I have homework too). You performed well in your discussions today. I liked how you volunteered to critique your classmates' papers and most of all how those whose papers were critiqued, accepted the constructive criticism and compliments. Great job! Keep it up. HOMEWORK FOR FRIDAY, JULY 15TH - NONE However, for those of you who did not complete assignments this week, they need to be done so you do have an assignment/assignments. The papers I gave/give you are your study guide for tests and quizzes. Be sure to keep them securely clipped in your binders. Because our budget is tight on the number of copies we can make for the year and on the paper used, I encourage you to please clip everything in your binder in the area I will direct you to do so. I will also check notebooks at least once per quarter. You need to keep your binders organized so as I thumb through them looking for certain dated papers, they need to be in the correct area according to the Table of Contents. Enjoy your weekend with family and friends and I will see you Monday. Ms. Kirkland
Dear Parents, Please sign up to be notified when I send these correspondences. I will save and then the system will notify you that you have a schoolnotes email to view. This will be our way on Track 2 of communicating until we get our team up and running on Blackboard. Please email us with questions and suggestions any day and/or time. We try our best to respond within a 24 hour period. We look forward to working with you and your child. Our being effective partners in education can help your child progress to meet or exceed his/her potential. Let's make it a good year for them. Ms. Kirkland
July 14, 2011 Dear Parents and Students, This will be our means of communication regarding homework until Blackboard is up and running for our team. Please some to this sight until then. You will be informed of the change when it happens. HOOMEWORK: Period 2 only 1. Return the letter regarding the free/reduced lunch application with the corredt boxes being chcecked according to your family. We would like to receive every letter with one of the choices checked please. 2. Read the questions in the margins of Feathered Friend and answer them. The Literary Analysis and Check Your Reading Questions are those that you should write answers for. 3. Bring your book to class tomorrow, Friday.
Periods 3, 5, and 6 1. Complete Focus Lesson 2. 3. Bring your book to class tomorrow, Friday. Parents, if you have not completed the forms sent home this week, will you please do so and return to school tomorrow or as soon as you possibly can? Thank you. Ms. Kirkland
July 13, 2011 Dear Students, IF you saw the assignment for tonight that was written yesterday, I changed it today in class by telling you to read the story only. You are not required to answer the questions in the margin. However, if you have done so, good. I changed my mind because Period 2 had to review "Books Fall Open" and write additional information, and SOME students in the other classes (Periods 3, 5, and 6th) did not complete the Noun Signals activity sheet worked on in class. Whenever work is not completed in class, it becomes homework. Because of those items, I decided not to have the questions answered. It would have been too much work for some, and I think they could have been frustrated. It is difficult to enter home assignments in Language Arts because of the situations that occurred today. Therefore, I will not write assignments for future days beyond the evening assigned UNTIL I learn more of the work ethics and abilities of the students in the classes. TONIGHT's ASSIGNMENTS FOR PERIODS: Period 2: 1. You were to review your answers regarding the poem. We discussed some points of the poem, but I want you to add anything you now see in the poem that you can add. 2. Read "Feathered Friend" on pp. 322 - 326. Read for understanding and to discuss tomorrow. Periods 3, 5, and 6 - Read "Feathered Friend" on pp. 322 - 326. Read for understanding and to discuss tomorrow. PLEASE be sure to complete your homework. For those who do not do so, you may have silent lunch where you can work on completing it as you eat or after you eat. Good evening, Ms. Kirkland
July 12, 2011 Dear Parents and Students, I will be using this site to update team home assignments and important information relaed to 6th Grade/Track 2 students. We are delighted to have you with us and do hope you will find our postings helpful. Language Arts Homework assignments for July 12th - Students are to read poem, "Books Fall Open" by David McCord and then answer the three questions. All reponses can be written on the paper with the poem or student can use notebook paper. Students, please review the poem several times to be able to tell what it means. Interpret the poem and be ready to discuss it tomorrow.
Language Arts Homework assignments for July 13th Students will reread the short story, Feathered Friends and answer the questions. Students, be sure to read the questions carefully before you begin to answer the questions in complete sentences. Be sure to use capital letters at the beginnings of sentences and the correct punctuation at the end. Students, as you reread the story, pay close attention to the plot so that you can correctly list the sequence of main events of the story. Remember, MAIN events. Upon completion, please file you paper in your binder for tomorrow's class. Ms. Kirkland |
