Dear incoming 3rd-8th grade Parents/ Guardians,
Your student(s) have grown tremendously as readers, writers, and critical thinkers this year under the guidance of their Language Arts teachers, campus administrators, and the partnerships they have formed with you at home.
We are excited to continue to progress the English Language Arts department during the 2016-2017 school year with a few new initiatives.
1.) In 3rd grade, students will have one teacher who will teach English/Social Studies and one teacher who will teach Math/Science. This split will serve as the perfect segway for 3rd grade students who will enter middle school having different teachers for every content area.
2.) In 4th-8th grade, students will have one teacher for Reading and one teacher for Writing. While the expectation will remain that reading and writing naturally intertwine, this model will allow for an increase in small group and individualized instruction, and will allow for our teachers to further develop his or her skills in a specified content area.
3.) Over the summer, your student(s) will complete 2 assignments-a reading and a writing project. The reading project will be turned into your child’s reading teacher and the writing project will be turned into your child’s writing teacher. 3rd grade students will hand in both assignments to his or her ELA teacher. Students will be given hard copies of the project directions, which can also be found online on your campus website, under “Summer Assignments.”
4.) Moving forward, in 4th-8th grade, students will have separate grading policies for Reading and Writing. These policies will be shared with you by your son or daughter’s teacher at the beginning of the school year and will begin to take a standards-based approach.
5.) In other exciting news, all students in 4th-8th grade will be receiving Kindles to borrow and use for the duration of the school year! We will be expanding our Kindle libraries to between 40-50 books per grade level. To further advance your son or daughter’s choice for reading, I highly encourage you to visit your local public library to sign your child up for a library card. This will allow your child access to thousands of e-books from the library!
I wish you all a relaxing and restful summer. Please encourage your child to read for at least 20 minutes a day. By doing so, you are affording your child the opportunity to build literacy skills and explore new experiences. Not to mention, practice makes perfect! We look forward to the upcoming school year and all the new endeavors it has to offer. Most importantly, on behalf of the ELA teachers and campus administration, we look forward to continuing to work with you and your child to reach his or her goals.
Sincerely,
Christina Roman
ELA Program Director
iLearn Schools, Inc.
(201)773-9140 ext. 134
