We will continue our work in the Narrative Unit and take a closer look at elements that make up a narrative story such as setting, characters, plot and climax. Early this week we finished up CRCT pre-tests, reading assessments, and the final reading comprehension strategies.  
Attached below is a slideshow from the Reading Comprehension Strategy lessons we worked through. The strategies should be used with each new book or other reading material to improve comprehension, one of the biggest challenges students face. 

Posted by: Chris Conley
Podcast: ReadingComprehensionSlides.pdf

1) Artifact - Due Aug. 4 : Bring an item or refer to an item in a short writing piece that tells a little bit about the student such as a trophy, necklace or other prized possession. 
2) Warm up Week 1 - Due Aug. 8 : Three days worth (20 questions) of warm up assignments. 
3) Noun illustrations - Due Aug. 12 : On one sheet of notebook paper, three illustrations (pictures, print outs, drawings) of nouns, labeled. 
4) Bonus Point Opportunity - Extra Credit - Due Aug. 20 : Pick one part of speech and illustrate it on an 8.5 by 11.5-inch paper (vertical alignment) with the term in large letters at the top and the illustration (drawing, prints, pictures cut from another source and mounted) at the bottom in color. Not a required assignment but will replace any missing assignment at the end of the grading period. 

Posted by: Chris Conley

1) Noun: a word that names a person, place or thing 
2) Conjunction: a word that connects words or groups of words 
3) Interjection: a word that expresses surprise or strong feelings 
4) Verb: a word that shows action or state of being 
5) Adverb: a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb and tells where, when, how, or to what extent 
6) Preposition: a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to another word 
7) Pronoun: a word used in place of a noun 
8) Adjective: a word that describes or gives more information about a noun or a pronoun 

Posted by: Chris Conley

During our second full week together, we are going to continue to add vocabulary words to our notebook, complete daily warm up assignments, learn different ways to take notes, and spend the bulk of our time working on Reading Comprehension together in class. We will be discussing and practicing six different strategies to use when reading to increase comprehension, a challenge that faces everyone young and old. When we complete the lesson, probably next week, I will put a set of slides used during the presentation on this weblog so students can refer back to it frequently.  

Posted by: Chris Conley

A. I value daily classwork, homework and assignments we do together very highly. Students have placed in the front of their purple class notebooks an "Assignment Log" to keep track of every assignment and their respective grade. I use a set of rubber stamps to record their success. The following applies: 
 
1) “100 percent” stamp = full credit  
2) “Incomplete-Fix-Resubmit” stamp (60 percent) 
[You have five school days to resubmit for full credit] 
3) “No Name” stamp = No credit  
[You have five school days to resubmit for full credit] 
4) No Paper = No Credit 
[You have 5 school days to resubmit for partial credit] 
 
B. Quizzes: Students begin each class with a warm up assignment, generally 3-5 questions written or projected on the board. The questions stress grammar, spelling, sentence construction, and other "meat" of the English language. The students have approximately 10 minutes to write down the questions and their answers, and then as a class we go over the material and they may correct any mistakes they made. Students will add each subsequent warm up Monday through Thursday to the same paper, review it Thursday night perhaps, and turn it in Friday for a weekly grade. The weekly grade is based on participation, not on right or wrong answers. 
On Fridays they will be given a quiz of five questions taken verbatim from the previous four days of warm ups.  
Quiz grades count twice in the grading system. 
 
C. Tests: Test grades will include occasional large tests covering previously discussed material, large projects, essays, and book reports. One Accelerated Reader test grade will also be averaged into the grade each nine weeks based on the percentage of 10 AR points the student earned. 
Test grades count three times in the grading system. 
 
Disclaimer: LaFayette Middle School has started using a new software grading system and the above information might have to be adjusted as the year progresses. 

Posted by: Chris Conley

Click the attachment below to view our first newsletter of the year. The team will produce a newsletter at the beginning of each nine-week grading period. 

Posted by: Chris Conley
Podcast: SamplerV108-09web.pdf

Greetings To All: 
I didn't have much space in the newsletter for a proper introduction and wanted to give some of the new-to-the-system teachers an opportunity to say hello. 
This is my second year at LaFayette Middle School teaching sixth grade English and second year on the 6-1 team. I have been very impressed by the Class of 2016 during the first week of classes as they are such a well behaved, courteous and pleasant group of young people. I believe we are going to have a productive, and fun, year. 
My wife and I have been together for a decade in a half and reside in the Cloudland area of Lookout Mountain. Last month our son Carter and daughter Cora celebrated their fourth and first birthdays, respectively. 
I hold a bachelor's degree in journalism and spent more than a dozen years in the industry working in Florida, where I met my former photographer and now English teacher wife, as well locally in Walker County, Chattanooga, and Dade County. Writing and photography are a big part of my life and my classroom. 
I'm a technology fan and spend a lot of time on Macintosh computers, my platform of choice. I also enjoy working with my hands and continue renovations and improvements at my home, which is a work in progress that might be finished in time for the grandchildren. 
I attend Berry College in the evenings and during summer and am halfway through earning a master's degree in education. One benefit is that most of what I learn quickly finds its way into my classroom, but unfortunately I have to leave LaFayette Academy immediately after school several days a week to attend classes. This semester I will be available after school at least on Mondays and Fridays until 6:30 p.m., if needed. 
I hope we can work together to help your student excel at LaFayette Academy. Please call or e-mail if I can be of any assistance, answer questions or come up with some additional ways to promote sixth grade success. You can reach me at home at (706) 862 2114, by cell or voicemail when I'm in the valley at (706) 978 0194, or by e-mail at chrisconley@walkerschools.org. 

Posted by: Chris Conley

Welcome to LMS. 
I hope everyone had a terrific summer and wish everyone success on their continued academic journey. 
The sixth grade school day will probably differ from what most students are use to because we change classes, have more choice in the courses we take, and interact and socialize with students from four elementary schools. 
In English class we will cover many things before the year is over, and follow the Writer's Workshop and Reader's Workshop models as we work through the Georgia Performance Standards.  
I hope you will use this weblog to learn more about class, anticipate what will be attempted in the future, and review what has been covered in the past. I try to provide many of the materials I use in class online. 
This week we will continue some activities to get to know each other, create notebooks to use in class and at home, and begin learning the rituals and procedures we will follow each day. 
Just below is my syllabus. It contains the areas of study, ways to earn grades, and most importantly contact information. Please get in touch if I can be of any assistance. 
 

Posted by: Chris Conley
Podcast: ConleySyllabus.pdf