Together we can!

Dear Parents and Students,

I have really enjoyed teaching your children this year!  Sadly, I will not be returning to Schilling Farms Middle School next year.  I wish you all a wonderful summer and a great 7th grade next year!  You should be really proud of how much your students have learned this year.  They are all hard working and willing to try hard.

I would recommend to your students to keep studying the multiplication facts and addition/subtraction facts over the summer.  They need to learn these and be able to use them without trouble.  Your students should also read, read, read!  They need to keep up with these skills.  If your student is having difficulties, there are places that can help, such as Sylvan Learning Center.  

Have a great summer.  I will remember your children always!

Love,
Mrs. Chaffin 

We have come back from Spring Break ready to start the last 9 weeks of school.  I am so proud of your students and want to express my joy at their hard work and abilities!  We spent last week and will spend this week working on TCAP skills.  There will not be much homework since we are working so hard in class.  Please encourage your child to continue studying his/her multiplication facts and to read as much as possible!

In Math we are working on reviewing the Countdown to TCAP which is at the front of the book.  You can go over these as well with your child if you wish.  For Language Arts, we are going over parts of speech, prepositional phrases, and sentence structure.  We are also reading for comprehension.

If you have any questions about what we are doing in class, please feel free to contact me at m1chaffin@scsk12.org.  I will try to respond to you as quickly as possible.

          This week in Resource Language Arts and Resource Math will be a busy one.  We are going to take the 3rd Think Link Learning Assessment on Monday or Tuesday.  We will be working on grammar lessons in Language Arts.  We have 5 new vocabulary words that your student will be learning.  The words this week are:     

GAPE, OUTFOX, HYPNOTIZE, DREAD, AND AFLOAT  

There will be Vocabulary Homework every night.   

•  Monday will be writing these words 4 times each and then once in ABC order.    
• Tuesday will be a matching definitions and sentence completion worksheet.   
•  Wednesday will be writing a paragraph using all five of their vocabulary words.  The paragraph should be written in complete sentences and should make sense.   
• Thursday will be a sentence completion worksheet that shows that your child understands how to use these vocabulary words.   
• Friday will be a vocabulary test.

In Math, we are still working on adding and subtracting fractions.  This week we are going to be working on Chapters 6-3 and Chapter 6-4.  Your student should also be practicing his 4’s Multiplication Facts.  Every day we have a timed test with a graded test on Friday.  Please help your student study these facts.  If you have any questions about what we are working on, please check your students agenda book or contact me.

In Language Arts we are going to study sequencing on Monday.  Capitals and Punctuation on Tuesday.  Wednesday through Friday we are working in the dictionary.  Your student will also have a review vocabulary list of 15 words that we have been studying.  Your student will have homework every night with the vocabulary.  Please look for these assignments in your child’s agenda.

Your child should have brought home an index card to decorate as his credit card for class.  I have been giving credit for appropriate behavior to work towards free time on Friday.  Starting this week, our credit card will be a debit card.  Your child will start each Monday with 20 credits.  Poor behavior or not following directions or not bringing back assignments with cost your child a behavior check.  Hopefully, this will be enough incentive to keep your child on track and focused on his/her work.

I appreciate everything you do to help your child succeed.  Please make sure your child has enough school supplies to bring to class.  Please help your child complete his homework on time and neatly.  Have a great week and if you have any questions about what we are doing, please e-mail me at m1chaffin@scsk12.org.

We have begun our 3rd nine weeks with a great start!  Period 2 Language Arts just finished reading Baucis and Philemon.  Period 3 Language Arts just finished the story Antaeus.  This week both Language Arts classes will be working on Main Idea, Sequence of Events, Fact and opinion, Simile, and Cause and Effect.  We will also start five new vocabulary words that your student needs to learn.  These are: Magnate, Despite, Conceal, Climate, Swelter.  We will practice these words using sentences, matching definitions, fill in the blanks and practice spelling.

In Math, we are going to be working on Chapter 5-5 and 5-6 in the Glencoe Mathematics book.  We are working on Fractions.  Your students have been working hard learning the Greatest Common Factor and the Least Common Multiple.  This has been tricky for them, and they will get more practice doing this.  We are also studying our TENS times tables.  We finished our doubles and your student has been doing great!  You will see Math and Language Arts homework every day this week.

If you have any questions about what we are working on, please feel free to contact me at: m1chaffin@scsk12.org.

This week we only have two days of classes before beginning our Thanksgiving Break!  I know I am looking forward to spending time with my family and celebrating two daughters birthdays (my oldest will be 21 on Thanksgiving day, and my youngest will be 16 four days after Thanksgiving).

In Math, we will take a test over Chapter 4 on Monday.  On Tuesday we will be taking the 2nd ThinkLink Assessment on the computer.

In Language Arts, on Monday, we will be watching BrainPop videos over grammar lessons that we have been working on for the past week.   On Tuesday, we will be taking the 2nd ThinkLink Assessment on the computer.

I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.  Again, if you need to contact me, please feel free to e-mail me at m1chaffin@scsk12.org.

Interims are going out on Monday.  Your students are working hard and I am pleased with how hard they try!  In mathematics class, we have just finished decimals and perimeter.  We are starting now with measuring circumference.  This will be a little more difficult but I hope we will be able to be successful!  When we finish circumference, we will start Fractions.  There will be a chapter 4 unit test on Monday (your students can study for this on p 170-171 in the book.

Language Arts has been interesting.  We just finished reading the short story, The Gold Cadillac.  We have been studying adjectives in class.  This week we are going to start Cartoon Vocabulary.  Your student will have five vocabulary words to learn every week.  This will help him in his reading, comprehension, and decoding words.  All week we will be learning about the parts of speech and writing watching BrainPop videos.  The class really likes this and it gives us an opportunity for discussion and learning.

Any time you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at m1chaffin@scsk12.org.  Have a wonderful week.

I hope you have a wonderful Veterans Day holiday with your family!  We should all be thankful to the Veterans who have fought to keep us free and safe.  (I thank my husband and father!)

This week in Language Arts we are finishing the story The Gold Cadillac.  The students have really enjoyed this story.  We will be taking a reading comprehension test over this story on Wednesday.  If they would like to reread this story, it is on page 316-327 in the Holt Elements of Literature book.  Thursday and Friday we will be going over Adjectives, Articles and Pronouns in the Prentice Hall Writing and Grammar book pages 332 – 339.

In Mathematics, on Wednesday the students will complete the mid chapter practice test on page 148 together.  Then they will take a teacher made test over the same concepts.  On Thursday and Friday, we will learn how to calculate  Perimeter (page 154 – 159).

I enjoy working with your child.  If you have any questions about what we are learning in Resource, please e-mail me at m1chaffin@scsk12.org.