Model Congress will be held on Monday, June 9. The bill sessions will be doing on throughout the day. We highly encourage parent involvement in this culminating day of events for our middle schoolers work in Social Studies and L.A. these past couple of months. Please contact Brad or myself if you are interested in getting involved!

Parents, We are planning a celebration lunch at a local Mexican Restaurant on Thursday, June 12 at 12:15. We are seeking a couple of parent volunteers to go with us! Please email me at millerr@edmonds.wednet.edu if you are interested in joining us!

WASL times and class schedule is now posted under the calendar section on April 14.

Brad and I are excited to be working with a student teacher this spring in our classes.

Angie Lead will be starting observations in our classes just after spring break

and will be teaching on her own after a transition process. She will be observed

closely by teachers, administration and her university’s supervisor for a good

part of her student teaching period. She will send out an introduction letter after

break. We are excited to work with her as she brings several years of experience

with working with middle and high school students in Japan as well as completing

her second master degree! Please feel free to contact me if you have

any questions about this.

My LA students worked so hard on their Immigration Journal projects, and in the end, I am proud that they came through with flying colors. Students should feel so proud of all the work and time that they put into this project. During their presentations, I am always beaming as they share a piece of their writing. It really has been a great journey!

Thank you to all the parents who completed the parent editing assignment! Your work is very important to help your student to improve his/her writing. I encourage you to keep reading more entries and giving them helpful feedback throughout this large project.

You will have homework for the immigration journal project! This week, a parent editing assignment will go out. Please look for that sheet with detailed information.  It will be due on Friday, Feb. 1. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

My LA students did a GREAT job with completing their first three entries. Brad and I are planning to give them feedback on those first three entries. Please encourage your student to keep working on his/her entries and manage his/her time on this large project.

Students found out before break which novel they were assigned. Students who requested to check out books from the classroom library received their novels. The remaining students are expected to obtain their novels from their local library or purchase one. Extra books are available at the Alderwood Barnes and Noble store. They can also order students one if needed.

Students have their reading assignments and  they will be expected to get their novel during break to complete the assigned reading due  about a week after we return from winter break.

Last week, we also began a district novel, Tangerine by Edward Bloor.It is a powerful realistic fiction novel that focuses on many important topics including bullying, sibling rivalry, disabilities and self-acceptance. For more detailed information on the novel, please download a brochure about this unit of study.

staff.edmonds.wednet.edu/tl/Parent/Mid/RWC/Tangerine.pdf

Students should acquire their novels by Friday, Oct. 5 to start their reading. If your student does not have his/her novel this week, please have her/him come see me so we can work on an alternative novel.  On Friday, we will begin discussing the research process for the project. This research work will be mostly done outside of class. Students will know their presentation date by the end of the week. 

This realistic fiction book and research project is on a current social issue that can affect teens, their families or friends. These can sometimes be controversial and tough topics in our society, such as racism, suicide or disabilities. While the content of some of the teen novels is more mature and the topics are difficult for society to grapple with, we feel that it is valuable subject matter for our students. We encourage parents to take an active role in helping your student to choose his/her novel and topic. In addition, since students are choosing their novels, students will need to acquire their own novels for this book project. We have some novels for check out from our classroom library as well as the Madrona Library. Your local library will also be a great resource.  If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact me.