Monthly Archives: August 2018

Courtroom Time Machine Update — Week of 9/4

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Hi Legal Eagles! (And parents too!)

I’m super excited to be your student’s teacher for Courtroom Time Machine.  This US History class will commence on September 4th and conclude on December 7th.  I’ll try to send out weekly updates with info and happenings from class.  A few quick notes:
1) We have three ADI (All Day Integrated Field Trips) planned.  These are still tentative, but here are our likely destinations:
  • September 14th:  We’ll be headed to both Federal Court (Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals) and also to the Colorado Supreme Court to learn how our court system functions.  We’ll need two chaperones for this day.
  • October 26th:  We’ll be headed to the capital and one other location TBA.  We’ll need two chaperones for this day.
  • November 16th:  A Sand Creek Scavenger Hunt throughout the Denver area.  We’ll need six driving chaperones on this day.
Parents — if you are interested in volunteering and you have the necessary paperwork on file, please let me know what date(s) you wish to chaperone.
2) If possible, students should have a composition notebook for class. I prefer the 9.75 by 7.5 version and not spiral notebooks.  They tend to last longer.  I have extras if needed.
Looking forward to a fantastic semester!  Thank you in advance for your support.  -JF
Ps.  Here’s the course description just in case you haven’t seen it yet…
Oye! Oye! Oye! Please rise for the court is now in session. Who’s guilty? Who’s not? Come with us as we travel in time to judge the heroes and villains of US History. Visit 1492 where we’ll put Columbus on trial. Create your own government in 1787 (get ready to meet Hamilton!) Design a memorial to uncover the truth about the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Nat Turner Rebellion, and the Sand Creek Massacre. Don’t miss your chance to fiercely argue and judge many amazing landmark cases that have shaped our country.

LA Update — Week of 8/27/18

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We’ll be diving into Beowulf this week.  Students will be creating visual maps of the story as we learn strategies for determining importance as readers.  If time allows, we’ll also begin unpacking the Hero’s Journey.  (More about that next week!)  We will also be layering in talk about sentence structure, questioning, alliteration, and more…
At this point, students should have completed their reading plan. I’m not perfect, but I’m pretty good abut using Infinite Campus   You (and your student) can check to see the status of assignments (and missing assignments).  I’ll leave most feedback in the projects themselves, but if you check the “comments” area in IC, you can see marks for scored assignments.  At CHOICE, we use 1-4 scale.  1 = Developing Proficiency.   2 = Partially Proficient.  3 = Proficient.  4 = Advanced Proficient. For most assignments, students are welcomed and encouraged to revise if they would like.  They should just conference with me first and then resubmit within seven days of the initial due date. Except for Wednesdays, I’m always available for extra help before school — students should just let me know.  
Upcoming due dates:
  • Rambling Autobiography due via Google Classroom by 8am on Thursday.  (Although students are welcome to turn it in earlier)
  • Reading: 30 minutes/night.
  • Bring writing utensil to class every day and choice novel to class on Friday.
Have a fantastic week!  -JF

Co-op Update — Week of 8/27/18

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Lots of questions, so here goes…
Q) What about back-to-school night?  
A) It’s Tuesday.  If you are a 6th grade parent, you might enjoy coming to our new parent orientation at 5:30pm.  Otherwise, Back to School night starts at 6:30pm.  If you join us, you’ll have a chance to go through a mini-schedule of your student’s classes.  It’s also a great time if you want to get fingerprinted so you can join us as a volunteer.
Q) Goals?  Goal-Setting Conferences?
A) Students will continue to develop their goals in co-op this week.  Once they’ve done so, they’ll need to submit them via Google Classroom.  I’ll give feedback (and I’ve done so for a few students already), they’ll make edits/adjustments, print them out, and then put them in the goals section of the portfolio.  PARENTS — IF YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR A STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE, PLEASE DO SO HERE.
Q) When do Integrated classes start?
A) They will start on Tuesday, September 4th during Block 3.  We were able to give every student at least one of their first choices.  Students will find out their integrated classes tomorrow (Monday)
Q) What/When is the Regatta?
A) On Friday, August 31st, the entire CHOICE program will walk to Baseline Reservoir to cheer on the 8th graders in a “boat” race on the lake.  It’s quite a scene and you are welcome to join us and watch the proceedings beginning at 2pm.  In co-op this week, 8th graders will be building their boats, while 6th and 7th graders develop costumes, cheers, songs, etc in support.  We already have our theme this year, ask your student for details.  In any event, students may be requesting unusual supplies for this endeavor.
Q) What about community service?
A) As part of our CHOICE portfolio requirement, students are asked to complete community service.  Sixth graders are expected to perform 20 hours of community service, 7th graders — 30 hours, and 8th graders — 40 hours.  We’ll be talking about what that looks like in co-op this week (hopefully!)
Q) Fall Trip?
A) We’ll be headed to 100 Elk on September 26th through September 28th for various programming and community building.  If you wish to join us for three days of adventure, we love parent chaperones.  Just let me know.  Fall Trip permission forms (paper copy required) will be headed home this week.  Look for them.
Thank you for all your support!

LA Update — Week of 8/20/18

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Here’s what’s happening in LA over the next several days:
 
1) We’ll be creating book plans. Students will choose a reading plan and will be identifying books to read over the course of the year. Students should be reading nightly. They are welcome to listen to audio books, but I would highly recommend that they follow along with book in hand if they are doing so.  Also as an fyi… studies show that reading comprehension drops about 40% if someone is listening to music while reading.
 
2) We’ll start to dive into the Beowulf story.  We’ll be exploring those strategies that “good” readers use to better understand text.  One of those strategies is determining importance.  How do you figure out when something matters in a story?  And what exactly does a 1500 year old story teach us anyways?!  (Parents — if you want to brush up on Beowulf yourself, here’s a link to the summary we’ll be reading in class.  No worries — it’s not in old English!)
 
3) If time allows, we’ll also start the rambling autobiography project. Here’s a link to the task description.
Upcoming due dates:
 
Reading nightly. (Here’s a link to my book recommendation padlet fyi…)
Thursday: Bring choice book to class.
Friday by 8am: Book Plan due via Google Classroom.
Thursday, August 30th: Rambling autobiography due.
 
Students will have time to work on these assignments during class.
 
Thank you for all your support!  -JF

Co-op Update — Week of 8/20

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Lots happening in co-op as we enter our first full week of classes.
1) Goal Setting Conferences.  Please sign up for student-led goal setting conferences in September.  Sign up by clicking here.
2) Field Trip Permission form.  If you haven’t filled out CHOICE’s Field Trip Permission form, please do so asap by clicking here.
3) Monday afternoon —  we will be creating masks in co-op.  This involves vaseline and lots of mess.  Students should have appropriate clothing (an old t-shirt is perfect).  Also, if your student has longer hair, hair-clips or hairbands are recommended.
4) We are headed out for community day on Friday.  Students should bring a sack lunch, water bottle, sun hat, and sunscreen.
5) Portfolios.  We have started creating our portfolios.  At this point, students should have completed the following.
  • Cover page
  • “Spine” page
  • Dividers with labels of the 8 portfolio sections
  • Copy of Portfolio Sign-off sheet and Community Service Log inserted into portfolio.
6) CHOICE Donations.  If you haven’t made your annual CHOICE donation, please do so via revtrak.  Thank you so much for your support of our program.
7) Community Service.  We haven’t talked about community service requirements yet, but the expectation is that 6th graders complete 20 hours of community service, 7th graders complete 30 hours of community service, and 8th graders complete 40 hours of community service before May, 2019.  With that in mind, Community Fruit Rescue may be a great way to get community service hours (and eat a lot of apples too!).  If your student is interested, they can check out the website here.
This week, we’ll continue to get to know one another, sign up for integrated classes, plan lollipop Thursdays, and (if time allows) introduce goal setting and community service,  We’ve also started our read-aloud book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.
Lastly, I LOVE our co-op.  We have a really amazing group of kids in our class.  Thank you for the opportunity to be their teacher this year.
Have a great week!  -JF

LA Update — 8/16/18

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Hi Everybody,

 

Our first day of Language Arts class is tomorrow and I’m so excited to be your student’s LA teacher.

 

I’m a big believer in building classroom culture through content.  We are actually going to start our first class tomorrow by reproducing an in-class theatrical version of Beowulf.  Our studies this year will explore our humanity through the lens of the hero’s journey as we try to unravel why so many stories have similar threads. We’ll look at how to read texts closely and critically. Using Beowulf as a foundation, we’ll also write our own hero’s journey stories. What do we want to teach our readers through the power of story?  How can we manipulate our own mythology? With a focus on sentence structure, paragraph development, and idea organization, our attention will not only be on our own growth as writers, but also on peer critique.  Learning to give kind, helpful, and specific feedback is an invaluable skill and we’ll practice that a lot.  Our hero’s journey project will culminate with a “coffeehouse reading” at a local Coffeehouse on the evening of Wednesday, December 12th.  Please save the date.

 

Upcoming due dates: (subject to change)

  • Reading.  Students should have a book with them at school.  We’ll spend some time “dating” books and creating reading plans at the beginning of this year.   Here’s a link to the Reading Plan task description (due by 8am on Friday, 8/24) I also have.a lot of book recommendation resources on my website.  Students should be reading 30 minutes most (all?) nights.  If students wish to listen to audio books to fulfill this reading requirement, that’s great — although I encourage students to track with text in hand whenever possible. (Also —if your student doesn’t have his/her/their own public library card, this is a great time to get one!) Students are welcome to bring Kindles or Nooks to class, but I do not allow students to read on phones.
  • Rambling Autobiography due via Google Classroom by 8am on Thursday, August 30th.  Here’s a link to the task description.

Thank you so much in advance for your support.  I’m looking forward to a great year.  -JF

8th Grade Seminar begins February 19th, 2019

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8th grade seminar will begin on February 19th, 2019.

Students will need:

  • A composition notebook (not spiral)
  • Sticky notes (For annotating)

Students may want:

  • A copy of To Kill A Mockingbird.  The school has plenty of copies available, but some students may wish to write directly into the book.
  • Extra pens/pencils.

The 8th grade seminar blog will be updated again in February, 2019.  In the meantime, have a FANTASTIC first two trimesters!  -JF