Standley Middle School
English Language Arts
7th Grade Clusters &
6th Grade Seminar
Ms. Leezy’s Room 512 lleezy@sandi.net

October 5, 2015
Issue 2

Be in the KNOW
We got through September Together!
Phew! The challenges of six teachers; six subjects; schedule changes; “Which lunch do I have ?” “Am I supposed to go to Seahawk Sessions?” getting up early; back to homework; too hot, and too cold, classrooms; AND sitting through the myriad of training videos for planner use, AVID strategies, and Seahawk expectations … DONE!
Reading Corner
We are beginning Unit 1 on 10/5/15—Students have new class novels to embark upon …
Essential Question for 7th Graders: What drives us to undertake a mission?
7th Graders—Nothing But the Truth , by Avi, in which students learn :
* Perspective (humans see through different lenses—points of view)
* Bias (natural to humans, as a way our brain categorizes or groups )
* The consequences of our actions for not only ourselves, but other people too
- Students will be reading, watching, and listening to the refugee dilemmas currently in the news, to look closer at perspective, biases, and ethical questions. They will also be reading a speech by Chimamanda Adiche “The Danger of a Single Story” which focuses on stereotyping. (6th grade continued on Page 2)

Seahawk Expectations
Learn
Make Healthy Choices
Be a good citizen
Have Fun

Inside this issue
Reading Corner for 6th Grade 2
How to Write a Gist 2
Helpful Websites 2
Vocabulary Quiz Standouts 3
A Word About Grades 3
Student Writing Samples 4
You May Want to Know:
10/13 after school tutoring begins at Standley Middle School from 3:00—4:00—late bus is available for bus riders.
10/16 is the end of the grading period
10/23 progress reports go home
10/19—10/23 is the Scholastic Book Fair

Reading Corner Continued from Page 1

Looking to the future, as President Obama asked … by Sophie Ryan and Jacqueline Fouin

Students Will be Writing Gists all Year. Here is the Low down on How:
A Gist is a short (1-2 sentence) summary. Find the gist by asking: who, what, when, where, why, and how?
Think:
Who? Who, or what, did something?
What? What did they, or it, do?
When? When did they, or it, do this ?
Where? Where did they, or it, do this?
Why? Why did they, or it, do this?
How? A bit more complex to answer—a little more open ended to answer than the above.
See Page four for an example of a student written gist.

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Essential Question for 6th Graders: What happens when life changes direction?
6th Graders—Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, in which students learn:
* Life-changing events from the perspective of a 13-year-old boy stranded in the wilderness with only a tattered windbreaker and a hatchet his mother had given him as a gift.
* Citing evidences from text to support inferences and themes
- Students will be reading a variety of others’ perspectives (different lenses, or points of view) through non-fiction, memoir, poetry, current events text, video clips, etc. where they encounter accounts of the struggles real people have faced, including Melba Pattillo Beals’ experience as a key figure in the fight for school integration, Jackie Robinson’s rise to baseball fame when he enters the Major Leagues and becomes the first African American player to break through the color barrier, and Steve Jobs’ being fired from his own company. Throughout this unit, students will explore how fictional characters and real people adapt and succeed when life suddenly changes direction. Students will synthesize the above learning with President Obama’s message to work hard, overcome challenges, take responsibility for their education—with a “no excuse” attitude.
In addition, students will be reading, watching, and listening to the refugee dilemmas, currently in the news, to look closer at perspectives and debate ethical questions.
******* Don’t worry 6th Grader’s - although this unit is oh so serious … the next Unit is all about Greek Mythology and Allusions!

The New York Times Upfront Magazine upfront.scholastic.com Sign in under Student with the password: Standley7
Junior Scholastic Magazine junior.scholastic.com
Sign in under Student with the password: Standley6
www.corestandards.org Common Core Curriculum information
www.sandiegounified.org/schools/standley Standley Middle School Information
www.sandiegounified.org/gifted-and-talented-education-gate
Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Information
For 6th Grade Seminar
www.mheonline.com/program/view/2/48/2839/STUDYSYNC/
Study Sync Information—DON’T BUY ANYTHING! This is just for your
information

Websites for Referece and Reading

Vocabulary in Context Quiz
Standouts!
James Ravine—A person in my life who meets all of these words is my Dad. My Dad works for a company which makes rovers, cameras, and satellites and sells them to corporations like N.A.S.A. or to other countries. My Dad is an innovator; he takes cameras that his work colleagues have made and he makes them better. He does this in a myriad of ways. He also has ingenuity; he stays up all night writing down his new creative ideas to better his work and his company. Since he does all that, he is very busy. He has to talk to other engineers all the time, but sometimes I think he’s just being garrulous and socializing.
Olivia Givens—My mother is very garrulous when her “teacher friends” come over. She spills everything, and I mean everything, on them, about her myriad of students. Her school has exploded with students ever since they lost a teacher. My mother is very smart and has a lot of ingenuity. She always helps me with school projects that require creativity. Whenever she makes a mistake grading her students’ papers, I help her by being an innovator. I take the grading rubric and change it so it matches what she wrote on the papers and make sure it still makes sense. Overall she makes a great teacher and mother.

A Word About Grades:

7th Grade Students were given progress reports for their first four weeks in our English Class. 6th Graders will receive theirs soon ...
Please check grades often on Powerschool. Powerschool is accessed through the Standley Middle School Website on one of the links on the left. Students know their codes, and if parents want their own access codes, please ask the office.
My philosophy is do your work to the very best of your ability, always, and the grade will take care of itself.
In a recent quiz, the students who were too garrulous in class, and did not complete the homework, were the ones who scored low. Some students scored low because they did not give specific examples. For example, if the description of a friend was garrulous, but there was no mention of talking too much or being too social, I could not give credit for knowing the meaning of the word.
There is no make-up for homework not done. Students may make-up projects and assessments for a lower grade.
Absences: I do not expect make-up work, unless absences are excessive. It is my opinion that the middle school student need not be stressed out by getting behind because of an illness. The exception is essays. If absent, student will be allowed extra time to learn and complete what they missed.

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Ice Cream
By Kate Papen and Omar Vazquez
Everyone (at least us) loves their family.
I have two brothers and a sister.
I have one brother.
We both love dogs.
Veterinarian school is for me.
I have no idea what I want to be.
We've adventured out of this country.
To Mexico!
To China and Canada!
We listen to different music genres.
Country is not for me.
Beatles are the way to go!!!
Communicate is something we do.
Yo hablo Español.
English is all I speak.
Serious to outsiders and brainless in front of friends.
We like ice cream.
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“Prepared Remarks of President Obama’s Back to School Event”
Gist = quick 1-2 sentence summary using: who, what, when, where, and how
In September of 2009, President Obama shared his speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA [it was televised across the nation to students in K-12th grades] about how learning and trying hard will help us and our nation’s future. He shared his and others overcoming challenges to show that he was once a kid and that we can become someone to make a difference in our country [just like he did]! By Angelo Zamacona
[added detail by Ms. Leezy]

Elements of Gist	Possible Planning
Who? Who did some- / thing?
What? What did they (the who) do?
When? When did they do this (the what)?
Where? Where did they do this (the what)?
Why? Why did they do this (the what)?
How? How did they do this (the what)?