1. Caroline Tucker

4.  Our curriculum is more challenging than anything you’ve seen before! You will see more skill based versus content based activities and assessments. Union County has set forth many expectations that we have incorporated into our classrooms.  Weekly: Study Island  Monthly: Benchmarks, projects/essays, tests  Yearly: Lexile and Milestone growth

5. There will be several thematic units taught this year. These may include:  The Diary of Anne Frank/Holocaust  The Giver and The Book Thief  A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Nonfiction  Poetry  Grammar  Fictional short stories  Writing  Independent novels to be read at home

6.  You are expected to have a three-subject notebook for language arts only. You may also get three one-subject notebooks.  Teacher-given instruction, handouts, etc. will be placed on the right side of the notebook and your interaction will be on the left.  This will be graded a minimum of two times per quarter.  YOU NEED TO KEEP UP WITH YOUR NOTEBOOK!!!!  You may need a new notebook each quarter.

7.  I will post most of our stories and handouts are posted on my Weebly site. I will post due dates, test information, and resources for grammar, Milestone review, etc. This is a useful tool for students and parents both. If you are absent, go to Weebly for missed assignments. ◦ http://ctuckerELA.weebly.com http://ctuckerELA.weebly.com  PowerSchools-used to monitor academic progress  Get in the habit of checking both weekly

8.  The Union County grading scale is as follows:  A90-100  B80-89  C70-79  Fless than 70  Why do grades count? We use them to place students in Enichment/Remediation this year and most importantly: WHAT CLASS STUDENTS WILL GO INTO NEXT YEAR!

9.  The 8 th grade Language Arts grades will be the following:  Major Assessments60%  Tests, book projects, essays, AOW average  Minor Assessments40%  Study Island average, quizzes, classwork, homework  Your work ethic, grades, and EOG score will be the major factors in placement next year.