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

September 8, 2015
Issue 1

Be in the KNOW
Welcome to the 2015—2016 School Year
Who is Ms. Leezy? I was a stay-at-home Mom for ten years before deciding to become a teacher; I have a daughter, Allissa, who is 25, and a son, Ryan, who is 22. I am in my 10th year of teaching, and my education consists of:
Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts, with a minor emphasis in Science,
San Diego State University
Teaching Credential in Multiple Subjects with a supplementary certificate in English, San Diego State University
Master's Degree in Educational Instructional Leadership, National University
GATE (teaching of the gifted and talented) Certificate, from San Diego State University
Cultural Diversity Certificate
QTEL (quality teaching of English Language Learners) Certificate
I believe that ALL students can, and will, learn with the appropriate support; this support includes a strong relationship between teachers and parents/guardians.
Hiking is one of my favorite hobbies. I hiked the Grand Canyon TWICE – once carrying a 35 pound backpack to the bottom of the canyon, camping alongside the Colorado River, hiking halfway out and camping at Indian Gardens, and then hiking the rest of the way out. This past summer I had the opportunity to chaperone 15 incoming 8th graders hiking throughout Yosemite! I also love to read, quilt, walk my dog, walk on the beach, work in my yard, and travel.
I love adventure, and try my hardest to incorporate this part of my personality into my teaching; my aim is to make learning fun while at the same time providing a high quality education. Be on the lookout for some adventurous student writing headed your way!
Reading Corner
This summer, I read four books:
The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan— I fed my new love of Mythology, after reading The Lightning Thief with my 6th graders last year!
The Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon—I loved the book, but won’t read the series … enjoyed the history, but too much of a romance novel for me
The Maze Runner, by James Dashner—I enjoyed the book because of the strange science fiction (bio/machine Grievers), but it was too much like The Hunger Games which I read last summer. . . I did enjoy the hinting at World in Catastrophe because of a Solar Flare—reminded me of The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau and the catastrophe of an inferred Nuclear Bomb catastrophe.
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien—LOVED because of the author’s sentence fluency and craft, which you will learn more about this year.

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

Inside this issue
Suggested Student Materials 2
Ms. Leezy’s RELAX message 2
Helpful Websites 2
September’s Happenings 3
Organization of Room 512 3
Ms. Leezy’s Wish List 4
The Case for Cursive Writing 4
You May Want to Know:
I head up Standley Middle School’s Drama Club. We just got the club going towards the end of last year. Our first production will be scenes from A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare. Club members wrote the exposition (beginning) and the Resolution (end) and the three scenes in the middle are true to William Shakespeare’s writing.

Suggested Material For Each Student

It is suggested that each student have:
A single subject spiral bound notebook (Two for the year—one for each semester)
Pencils, Pens, and a pack of colored pencils
A single folder with pockets to hold handouts in (if you are carrying a three-ring binder, your handouts can go in there)
By October 1st:
- 6th Grade Seminar- a personal copy of the paperback Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen
- 7th graders - a personal copy of the paperback The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
NOTE—THIS IS JUST A SUGGESTED LIST; if you cannot provide these, I will provide them for you.

“Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” by A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh

Relax and Enjoy the first month back to school
This year finds our school with a new permanent Principal, Mr. Pearson and new permanent Vice Principal Ms. Kent; a change in our teacher websites—right now we do not have one; for me, a change in curriculum because I will be piloting a new online program called Study Sync with my 6th Grade Seminar class; and for you, possibly a new school, new schedule, and for most, new teachers and routines. All the unknowns can be scary and overwhelming … I urge you all to relax, and by the end of September we should all be feeling much more comfortable!

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Websites for Referece and Reading

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

What’s Happening In September???????

As we get to know one another, all my classes will be engaged in the same activities. The different classes will veer off into their own unique directions come the end of September.
9/8—9/14 Students will collaboratively read, with fluency and intonation, a two-voice poem, and look at a Venn Diagram to compare (what is the same) and contrast (what is different) between the characters in the poem (6th and 7th grades will have different poems). This will help them recognize different points of views and perspectives. Next, to help us bond and learn about one another, students will be creating Venn Diagrams, with a randomly chosen peer, comparing and contrasting one another’s character traits. They will then write a two-voice poem collaboratively. Finally, after editing and rehearsing, students will read, with fluency and intonation, their two-voice poem to the class, in a stage-like setting. October’s Newsletter will include student samples :)
9/15—9/23 Students will use vocabulary concept maps to learn potentially new to them vocabulary used in an upcoming text. They will use the routine of appointment calendars to meet with several peers expanding and deepening their knowledge. Students will create Venn Diagrams once again, this time comparing who they are as academic students. Using the assigned vocabulary words and Venn Diagrams, students will write a paragraph about themselves as academic students. Again, look for student samples in October’s Newsletter. Next, students will learn to annotate and summarize the main idea in the text, “President Obama’s Back to School Speech” from 2009. What is President Obama doing? How? Why? Finally, students will synthesize their learning: their character traits, new to them vocabulary, their habits as students, and what President Obama is urging them to do—Students will create personal academic goals for themselves, as well as create an art project to go along with their goals.
9/24 + 7th Grade will start The Hobbit and 6th Grade will start Hatchet . We will be looking at how author’s develop perspective/point of view, and punctuation fluency: semi-colons and commas. We will strongly develop the ability to annotate texts, emphasizing non-fiction text.

Room 512’s setup:
We have a supply station with pencils, pens, colored pencils, scissors, tape, glue, three-hole punch, stapler, stapler remover, etc … You are free to use these supplies anytime, but PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THESE ITEMS FROM CLASS!
We have a monthly calendar on the board with activities and items due— It is located as you walk in the room to your right.
We have a daily Focus on the board behind my desk with the Common Core Standards we are working on, why these standards matter, and how we aim to accomplish this learning.
We have a “While you were absent” table with folders labeled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Check the folder that corresponds to your absence day (s). DO NOT ASK ME WHAT YOU HAVE MISSED DURING CLASS TIME! THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE AFTER SCHOOL, AS I HAVE A WHOLE CLASS TO TEACH!
Students will be assigned a number, and that number serves as the computer number they are assigned to for the year, as well as the number they must put on EVERY paper behind their name; this will make organizing and inputting grades easier and quicker for me.
Example: Leezy, Leane #5
9/8/15
Period 1
Ms. Leezy

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.Ms. Leezy’s Wishlist
We love to have ice cream parties , Dunkin Donuts, or Bagels and cream cheese as class rewards;. As you can imagine, this gets expensive! If you wish, watch for small jars of cherries, nuts, and hot fudge, or spoons and bowls to go on sale at the grocery store, and donate them when you can. There is a Brueggers Bagel shop on Scripps Poway on my way to work and a Dunkin Donuts in my hometown of Ramona, if donating gift cards to either of those businesses is doable.
Lysol wipes for desks are also welcomed at any time
Volunteers to come into class to be an audience for our readers, writers, and speakers would be appreciated!

The Argument for Writing in Cursive

(Excerpt) Fighting to Save Cursive from the Common Core, by Ruth Graham
Some scholars who study the educational and cognitive effects of writing by hand do point to specific benefits of learning cursive. “There’s value in teaching both manuscript and cursive, as schools always have done,” said Virginia Berninger, a psychologist at the University of Washington who has written about the advantages of being “multilingual by hand.” “We shouldn’t be asking, ‘Do we teach handwriting or do we teach computers?’ We need to teach it all.”
Berninger is conducting ongoing longitudinal research on the effects of training children in various methods of text production. Her work suggests that print handwriting, cursive, and keyboard all have distinct developmental advantages. In one recent study, she and her coauthors reported that cursive in particular had measurable positive effects on older children’s spelling and composition skills.
In part, this is because cursive is a faster communication method than print. For young children in particular, research suggests that comfort with handwriting allows them to express more ideas, because they’re able to get ideas down on paper before they slip away. Berninger compares learning handwriting to an athlete doing pre-game drills, or a musician practicing scales. “Our handwriting is just a warm-up to give us a tool so we can get to the real purpose of writing, to express our ideas,” she said.
Even at later ages, there’s research that suggests pen and paper still have their place. A paper published last year in the journal Psychological Science, for example, found that college students who took longhand notes during lectures retained more information than their peers who typed their notes on Internet-disabled laptops.
Works Cited
Graham, Ruth. "Fighting to Save Cursive from the Common Core." April 2015. Boston Globe. August 2015.
*Note from Ms. Leezy – if you know cursive, USE it! If not, I’ll be teaching it!