NIS Expectations Respect Organized Accountable Reliable

NIS School Rules Show respect to everyone. Keep hands, feet, objects, and comments to yourself. Follow directions the first time. Allow teaching and learning to take place at all times. Maintain NIS as a safe and clean school.

NIS Conduct and Behavior Expectations Planners will be used to communicate to parents about any school information. Wednesday folders will be sent home with student work each week. Progress reports will go home every 3 weeks. Home Access letters were sent to you this summer. This information (including your personal password) allows you access to your child’s grades online. Please keep this information in a secure spot.

6th PROMOTION GUIDELINES Students must have an overall average of 70% or better in ELA (English/Language Arts) and Math for the year. Students must have an overall core class average of 70% or better for the year. (Math, ELA, Science, Social Studies) Unlike the 5th grade SSI year where you must pass the STAAR tests to be promoted, 6th grade promotion is based on the grade averages mentioned above.

Dress and Grooming Highlights (Secondary Handbook pg. 28) The district’s dress code is established to teach grooming and hygiene, prevent disruption, and minimize safety hazards. Hair should be clean and neatly groomed and not covering the eyes. Hair should not be colored or styled that distracts from the learning environment. Clothing that does not adequately cover the body or that has tears or rips that are higher than mid-thigh, such as: i. Low cut, see-through, spaghetti straps or backless dresses, or other revealing tops. Midriffs are to be covered. ii. Sleeveless shirts for boys. iii. Baggy/oversized pants or pants that hang on the hipbone, or unhemmed shorts. iv. Shorts, skirts, or split skirts shorter than mid-thigh in length. Skirts should be slit no higher than mid-thigh. Parents will be contacted if a student’s dress or grooming is not in accordance with district policy.

Bring Your Own Device Policy NIS Campus Guidelines: Students may bring their electronic device to the classroom to be used for academic purposes only if the following procedures are followed. All electronic devices must be used at school in accordance with the TISD Acceptable Use and Internet Safety Policy. As well as the NIS Technology Use Policy that was sent home in the Wednesday folder (September 6). Parents need to sign the agreement before students will be allowed to use school or personal electronic devices on campus. Unless the classroom teacher authorizes use for instructional purposes, students’ electronic devices shall remain silenced and in a backpack or locker.

Bring Your Own Device Policy (Continued) All students will follow the school wide procedure for In-Class Usage.  Each teacher will indicate through a visual classroom signal the expectation of the use of electronic devices that day in class. Electronic Devices may not be used in the mornings after arriving, between class periods, during lunch or after school dismissal. *Violations of the user agreement may result in withdrawal of privileges of using electronic devices at school or other disciplinary action including confiscating the device.

Absences and Tardies State law requires that students be in attendance at school 90% of instructional time which includes tardies and early departures. If your child is absent, please send a signed note with them when they return explaining the reason for the absence. If a child is absent more than 5 consecutive days, a note from the doctor or health clinic to verify the illness or condition will be required.

Tardy Policy Tardies are issued for any student arriving after 7:45 or leaving early from school. Each student is allowed two tardy excuses each nine weeks, starting on the third tardy a consequence will be given. A detailed explanation of this policy will be in this Wednesday’s Folder.

Teacher Websites Tomball ISD uses Edlio to maintains the campus and teacher websites. You can access my website by going through the Northpointe website. You can subscribe to my website to receive updates by pressing the SUBSCRIBE  button.*Make sure to subscribe to my personal and page the specific class for your child.

Scope and Sequence Unit 1: Launching Workshop (2 weeks) Unit 2: Diving into Fiction (9 weeks) Unit 3: Poetry and Drama (3 weeks) Unit 4: Memoirs, Personal Narratives, and Autobiographies (3 weeks) Unit 5: Informational Text with Research (9 weeks)

Continued… Unit 6: Reflecting on Strengths and Weaknesses in Testing Situations (3 Weeks) Unit 7: Solving the Mystery before the Detective/Fiction through Mystery (5 weeks)

Writing We keep a Writer’s Notebook (WNB)in class which keeps their notes, quickwrites, reading reflections, writing assignments, vocabulary, and many other things - it is our class “book”. This 9 weeks, we will write an imaginative story that will count as a major grade.

Reading We will READ, READ, READ!!! We will read independently and as a class. Yes, your child has reading homework Monday-Friday. We will make connections between literature and our lives and share our thoughts and ideas. We will make inferences and think critically. We will learn 700 new words (statistically).

AR POINTS & GRADES Your child has a copy of the grade chart in their WNB. Your child earns a reading grade based on their total points each nine weeks. It is a school-wide, required assignment to read 30 minutes each night for homework.

AR POINTS & GRADES AR is on-line: Parents can set it up to get an email every time their child takes an AR test. Parents can check student record from home.  Students can only take tests at school. We won't ever have to order tests again.  We will have access to everything the company offers. Testing will still be done AT SCHOOL.

2017-2018 AR Cut-off Dates 1st nine weeks: October 12, 2017 2nd nine weeks: December 20, 2017 3rd nine weeks: March 7, 2018 4th nine weeks: May 10, 2018

Spelling and Vocabulary We do not have spelling lists or weekly spelling tests in 6th grade. Spelling is graded in context. Vocabulary words are taken from text being used in class. Vocabulary assessments will be combined for one of the major grades for the nine weeks.

Grading Guidelines Your student will have 3 major grades and 9 daily grades each 9 week marking period.   We will have a common assessment each marking period that will count as a major grade.  It is district policy that students are allowed to earn extra credit points to improve one major grade.  We will allow students to make corrections to their common assessment in order to improve that major grade.

Homework Your child should be reading at least 30 minutes every night. Reading responses and/or vocabulary practice should be expected 3-4 days a week.

Late Work I follow the Tomball ISD grading guidelines for late work as follows: 1 day late: minus 15 points 2 days late:  minus 30 points 3 or more days:  0 for assignment

PreAP vs. On level The differences in the two levels of classes are in depth, complexity, and pacing. Being in a PreAP class, it is assumed that your child has exceeded the mastery level of the ELA TEKS from previous years.

How to be successful in 6th grade ELA Follow directions Make an effort Be respectful

THANK YOU FOR COMING TONIGHT!