Language Arts

Language Arts is designed to assist students reflect and participate in classroom discussions.  The students will understand differing points of view, distinguish between fact and opinion, and analyze the effectiveness of group communication skills.  The student will read a variety of fiction and nonfiction works independently for appreciation and comprehension, including classical works.  The students will read and review primary and secondary source information texts.  The students will plan, draft, revise and edit narratives, descriptions, and explanations with attention to composition and style, as well as sentence formation, usage, and mechanics (from Mississippi Language Arts Framework 2006).

Textbook and Materials
Textbooks are supplied by the teacher and remain in the classroom.  Students are expected to bring their resource binders, pencils, pens, sticky notes, highlighters, folders, and pencil sharpeners to the classroom daily.  Each student will have a notebook (sourcebook) that is divided into five sections.  The sections will be in the following order:  Writer’s, Reader’s, Homework and Notes, Vocabulary, and Do Now.  Students will check out books from the school and/or classroom library.  It is the responsibility of the student to keep track of all books.  Lost or damaged books will incur fines.

Classroom Requirements
Each student will be required to complete daily reading both at home and in school. There are four major assignments that will be completed school-wide.
           

Summer Reading Project: 
Each summer students are given a list of novels to choose from and complete a project based on that selection.  Students are given the assignment and rubric before school is dismissed in May.  All summer reading projects are due the first day of school and will be graded according to the provided rubric.

25 Books Campaign: 
Every student in America’s Choice middle schools is expected to read at least one million words each year through independent reading at school, after school, and at home.  That means that each middle school student should read at least 25 chapter books or chapter book equivalents.  To assist our students in reaching this goal, each student has a target number of books to read each nine weeks.  Once they have completed their reading, they will write a literary response that teachers will evaluate using the provided rubric. Each response sheet has the potential of earning 20 points. Students should read six, seven, seven, and five books for the first, second, third, and fourth nine weeks respectively.  Therefore, students can earn a possible 140 for a major grade.
           
Reading Fair: 
Each student will complete a reading board within the 2nd grading period.  These boards will be graded within the classroom, and the top three will be sent to the school’s reading fair to be judged by an outside panel of judges.  The winners of the school reading fair will advance to the district’s reading fair, and those winners will advance to the state.
           
Spelling Bee: 
The school Spelling Bee will occur in January.  All students will participate in a spelling bee in the classroom and the top three winners advance to the school’s spelling bee.  The spelling bee will be a school-wide event that is open to the public and those winners will advance to the district, country, and mid-regional’s spelling bee, respectively. The date of the school spelling bee is yet to be determined.

Attendance and Make-up Policy
Students will have three days to complete missed or late assignments before a failing grade is given.