I hope everyone had a great fall break! It went by WAY too fast, but it was nice to slow down, relax, and spend a few days with family.

Our 7th and 8th graders have finished their Pumpkin Patch stories! We laminated and bound them all, and they are ready for our special Halloween activities on Friday, October 30th. I’m excited for everyone to see what the students have been working on!

We also had a great time at our Fall Festival! The 7th-grade boys, along with some wonderful parent volunteers, put a lot of time and effort into creating an Up-themed booth inspired by the Disney movie. The decorations turned out so cute, and it was fun seeing everyone enjoy the booth. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered and helped make it such a success!

We’ve also been doing some fun Halloween reading in class. The 5th and 6th graders read “I Hope I Don’t See a Ghost” by R. L. Stine, and the 7th and 8th graders read “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl. Both stories were a hit with the students! We had some great discussions about the different literary elements and what made each story so interesting. After reading, students created their own book covers and even wrote a few spooky stories.

It’s been a busy few weeks filled with reading, writing, and lots of fall fun! I’m proud of all the hard work the students have put into their projects, and I’m looking forward to more Halloween fun next week!

October is shaping up to be such a fun and exciting month in English Language Arts! Our 5th and 6th graders have been working diligently on their Wordly Wise Vocabulary Lessons and Weekly Spelling Tests, continuing to build their vocabulary and strengthen their language skills.

Meanwhile, our 7th and 8th graders have been hard at work creating their Pumpkin Patch stories. On October 30th, they will have the wonderful opportunity to share their stories with our Pre-K and Kindergarten students. Each student will dress up as the main character from his or her story and bring that character to life by painting it on a pumpkin. I know the younger students will love seeing the creativity and imagination our older students have put into their stories!

We are also looking forward to our Fall Festival on October 17th. Our 7th graders have a GREAT booth up their sleeves, and we cannot wait to show it off to all of the festival-goers!

Later in the month, our 5th and 6th graders will dive into the short story Hope I Don’t See a Ghost, while our 7th and 8th graders will read The Landlady. There will be plenty of opportunities for reading, writing, creativity, and a little Halloween fun along the way!

I am so looking forward to all that October has in store. The pumpkins, stories, festivals, and cooler weather make this such a special time of year. The cooler weather is just a big plus!

It has been a busy and productive few weeks in English Language Arts! My students have been working diligently on spelling, vocabulary, Wordly Wise, reading, and even their first short essay of the year. I am so proud of the effort I am seeing from them each day!

We recently watched the Pixar short film Piper, which gave us a fun opportunity to practice our writing and comprehension skills. After watching the film, students were asked to explain two specific examples of how Piper overcame her fear of the ocean. This was a great first opportunity for students to practice supporting their ideas with specific details from a story rather than simply retelling what happened.

In Wordly Wise, we have been learning some new and bigger vocabulary words! The students have worked hard to understand definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and how to use these words in context. Overall, they did a great job on their Wordly Wise test, and I am very proud of the progress they are making.

We are also continuing to read our novels and dive deeper into character development, important events, and critical thinking. As we move further into our books, students are learning to look beyond what happens in a story and think about why characters make certain choices, how they change, and what lessons they can take away from the story.

Coming up, we will begin working on parts of speech, which will help strengthen our understanding of grammar and sentence structure.

Overall, I am very proud of my students and all the hard work they have been putting into ELA. I have also truly enjoyed getting to know them more personally and watching their individual personalities and strengths shine through in the classroom. It has been a wonderful start to the year!

Thank you, as always, for all that you do to support your students and their learning!

What a great start to the year! I want to take a moment to brag on my students because I am seeing progress all around! Each week, they learn, grow, and become more confident in their ELA skills, and it has been so fun to watch.

One area where we are making great strides is spelling. Each week, students learn new spelling words that challenge them to expand their vocabulary and strengthen their understanding of English. I love seeing them work hard and practice!

We have also officially started the Wordly Wise vocabulary curriculum, and your students are working hard to succeed with this new material. Wordly Wise is about so much more than simply memorizing definitions. Students are learning new vocabulary words, discovering their meanings, identifying synonyms and antonyms, and learning how to apply these words in real-life situations.

They also work with short reading passages to practice reading comprehension and critical thinking. After reading, students answer short-answer questions that require them to think carefully about what they have read and explain their answers. These are important skills that will keep growing throughout the year!

I am incredibly proud of the effort I am seeing from my students. They are learning to challenge themselves, work through difficult material, and keep going even when something doesn't come easily.

Our middle school English Language Arts students have had a busy and exciting start to the year! We’ve been building our writing skills through our “Dear Me” Letters, where students wrote thoughtful letters to their future selves. We’ve also been strengthening our understanding of sentence structure and working hard to become more confident spellers.

One of our biggest focuses has been spelling! Students have been learning strategies to tackle challenging words, recognize patterns, and become more careful and confident writers.

And now, the exciting part—we have officially started our first novels! Students are diving into new stories, meeting new characters, and making predictions.

It’s been a wonderful beginning to the year, and I can’t wait to see how much our students grow as readers, writers, and communicators!