Happy Oaks and Derby to all!  

All students should be finished with their tri-folds by the end of class today.  If they do not finish today, they will need to arrange with me to come in early or stay after school to get them finished before the Celebration of Writing Thursday evening. 

Testing starts Monday morning.  In order to ensure they do their best, please make sure your student gets a good night's rest and eats a good breakfast before coming to school each day of testing.  Seventh grade is testing Monday - Friday of next week.  If your student is absent any of those days, make ups are the following week.

All students need to bring at least 2 wooden pencils. Per the testing guidelines, mechanical pencils are not allowed.

All students should also bring a FICTION BOOK to read.  Non-fiction books and ereaders are not allowed, again per testing guidelines.

Homework

5/11 - Final Reading Recommendation Form due

Reading Log Due Dates -

Starting with February - the last day of each month. Students have received a monthly reading calendar to track goals and actual reading each night/week.

Encourage your student to read a book that is challenging for them. Reading a challenging book helps reinforce reading strategies and improves vocabulary.

As always, reading logs/calendars can be found under "Homework Documents" if needed by students.

Ongoing

*Read every night - 140 minutes per week minimum - track on reading log.

Reading Recommendation Forms - students have three of these due each trimester for a total of 9 for the year. This means they must read 9 books of their choice, at a minimum, this year. Due dates for these are 9/9/11, 10/7/11, 11/4/11, 12/9/11, 1/20/12, 2/10/12, 3/9/12, 4/6/12, 5/11/12. These dates are also listed on the bottom of the form. The Reading Recommendation Form can be found on this website under "Homework Documents."

Parents, please encourage your student to find a quiet, comfortable place to read
each night. Numerous studies show that the more students read, the better
readers they become AND the more students read, the better writers they become.

Please go to "links" and take a look at the video "How to read a book you
don't want to read." It is 9 minutes long but well worth your time.