Poem

Students typed up their "I Am" poems today. Some students were unable to finish in class. This was a fresh reminder of the convenience of having a flash drive that allows them to bring the work home if they need to complete it. Some kids know their email and were able to send it home. The assignment was due at the end of class today, but I will accept it by email over the weekend. They can send it to either zumberge.lillian@slpschools.org or ms.zumberge@gmail.com. If they do not have the poem form at home they can find it by clicking here: "I Am" Poem.

Hopefully everyone has an excellent weekend!!

Vocabulary and Poem

Whew! Yesterday was such a whirlwind I didn't sit down to write about the day. My apologies! Yesterday the kids were introduced to their vocab activities for the year.

SL: Received vocab packet 1, called "Lesson 1". Students complete the homework in the packet and then tear off the first page, to study with, and hand in the rest.
HL: Received their vocab book for the year, "1000 Words You Need to Know". Students complete this assignment on a separate sheet. These are provided in my room, but should they need to print one at home they can find it in the "Classroom Resources" button of my school web site, or by clicking here.

Each class had the lesson explained to them and the process for doing homework. The cycle for doing vocab will typically be that it is due every other Tuesday and the quizzes are on Friday of that same week. In this case, the assignment is due Tuesday 9/14 and the quiz will be Friday 9/17.

Today we are beginning to work on our theme for 1st quarter: Character/ Self. Throughout the year we will be focusing on one theme per quarter: Character, Setting, Conflict, Theme. As you can see, these themes are very general and are the major elements of all types of writing. We are creating a poem about ourselves as a first step in the exploration of characters, the "I Am" poem. This is an in class assignment, but if you want to see the format you can click here. They will be writing the drafts today and given a chance to make a more formal presentation of the poem later in the week.

Kids to do: Vocab is due 9/14. Try to start it tonight so that you have a few days to check with me if you have questions.

Adults to do: If you have not filled out the short question sheet that was sent home with your child, please ask them for it.

LMC

All classes got the orientation for the Library Media Center with Mr. Holmbeck. I didn't collect the sheet they brought home for you to fill out, so they have another night to complete that assignment. 7th and 8th hour will get the sheet today.

Day 3

We finally got to experience a more normal schedule this morning. The afternoon is another matter. We have some fabulous activities planned to strengthen our school community, but I won't see my 7th and 8th hour classes. I have seen them for longer time over the last couple days, so we are pretty close together. Tuesday will be our first really normal day! The morning classes (1-6) got a sheet to fill out about themselves and the back side is for you to fill out. These are due Tuesday. 7th and 8th hour will get them on Tuesday and have them due Wednesday.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Kids To Do:
Finish filling out question sheet and give to your adult to do their side, due Tuesday.

Getting to Know You

Today has been much of a continuation of yesterday's activities. We still had short classes in the morning, which meant we were barely able to finish up with what we started yesterday. The afternoon classes will have a chance to move on to our next activity which will help us to learn more about ourselves and our personalities. Either today or tomorrow you can expect to get a sheet home from my class with some general questions for you to fill out regarding your student. We are all looking forward to the Day 3 event taking place tomorrow, which will be a building wide community event! It is sure to be a great day!!

First Day of School!!

Wow! This day is here already! Fortunately, it went smoothly for all, as far as I could tell. OT was extended, so we had time to talk to each other and get to know something new about our classmates. Tomorrow I would like OT kids to bring magazines and/or pictures to share with the class as we decorate our Hopes and Dreams. These magazines will be cut up and not returned. Thank you!!

Other classes all played games to get to know each other as well. The shortened schedule to make room for the extended OT means that we can't dive too deep into the classroom procedures. We will work on this more in the upcoming days. I did let kids know that they are expected to have a notebook exclusively for Language Arts and that this can be either a composition or spiral notebook, but that they are NEVER to tear paper out of it.

In general, this blog will comment on the SL and HL classes that happen before 5th hour. It is during 5th hour that I will be writing here, so if your child is in the afternoon class, they may have a slightly different experience, but not by much.

I look forward to working with you this year. Please contact me if you have any questions. You may use either the school email or my work gmail account: ms.zumberge@gmail.com

Thank you!!

Kids to do:

OT- bring magazines to share/ cut up for decorating our Hopes and Dreams.

Orientation!

It was so exciting today to see all the new faces of my students for the next 2 years!! We only had 10 minutes together, so we focused that time on getting to know a new friend and then making words with the letters of our names. Some very clever kids!! I look forward to seeing you all again on Wednesday!