1. Welcome to Language Arts! Mrs. Monaco

2. Background Information
Twelfth year at Hillcrest
Masters of Arts in Teaching from Sacred Heart University
Sixth Year from Mass. College of Liberal Arts
Previously at Trumbull High School
Worked in the business world for 3 years
I have a wonderful 9 year old daughter (Lyra) and a 6 year old son (Louis)!

3. Contact Information
Hillcrest Website
My address:
School’s Phone Number: (203)
Extra Help is Monday
The library is open Mondays and Wednesdays after school.

4. Overview
The Language Arts program is a balanced program of writing, literature, grammar, speaking and viewing. It seeks to develop in students the ability to share, explain, and support written responses to what they read, write, hear and view.

6. Writing Overview Narrative (personal and/or fictional) Argumentative
Informational/Explanatory
Writer’s Notebook
Brief Writes
Reader response
Story analysis
Creative writing/poetry
Research

7. Units of Study- New Curriculum
* What Makes a Good Story Meaningful?
* Presenting a Strong Argument
* Analyzing and Interpreting Historical Facts
* Analyzing the Impact of Society’s Traditions and Roles
* Studying the Importance of Family, Faith, and Fear in Our Lives
* Writing and Language Analysis
* Understanding the Big Idea
* Grammar Concepts
* Pieces of literature: novels, short stories, poetry.

8. Skills * Identifying and explaining significant passages/quotes.
Some skills that we will focus on developing and strengthening throughout the year include:
* Annotating text for inferential meaning, connection, and critical stance.
* Identifying and explaining significant passages/quotes.
* Selecting appropriate evidence to substantiate opinions and claims.
* Using a thesis as a controlling idea for literary analysis and elaborating on
ideas to show relationships between thesis and text citations.

9. Goals Help your child become a more effective communicator.
Learn essential life lessons.
Encourage students to become more active participants in their learning through a metacognitive approach.
Maintain open communication with students, parents, and staff in order to best serve each student’s needs.
Discover new things.

10. Career Assignment Career Night- Thursday, October 5th
Naviance Survey-September 18 or 19
Career Night- Thursday, October 5th
Students are required to attend with a parent/guardian.
Research- October 23th-24th
Note Cards, Source Cards, Works Consulted
Oral Presentation-October 26th-October 27th 

11. Grading Ingredients Tests/Essays/Projects = 50%
Quizzes (including responsibility) = 35%
Class work/homework (reading & writing activities) = 15%

12. Wisdom from Maya Angelou
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

13. to a great year! “Success is the sum of small
efforts, repeated day in and day out.” Robert Collier
I am looking forward
to a great year!