Exams are here!

The exam schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, students will take their 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th period exams. Since 6th graders have related arts 7th period, that exam has already been given.

Wednesday (Half Day), students will take their 2nd, 4th, and 6th period exams. 4th period is a related arts class, so no exam Wednesday.

For my english exam, here are some facts:

• It is cummulative. Study guides list all the information.
• 100 questions
• Grade will appear immediately, so your child will know what he/she made, as well as, what he/she missed.
• Most questions are multiple choice, but some are multiple answer questions where the student will check all answers that apply.

Students can practice review games on the quia website by following these links:
Jeopardy
Hangman
Flashcards, Matching, Word Search
Get brave and challenge your child to a game of english jeopardy. Are YOU smarter than a 6th grader?

Orchard Benchmarking #2 Results

Students were expected to score at least 60% on the 2nd Orchard benchmark test. I am very pleased with my students' gains as a whole. Here is the breakdown.

Average difference in each class:
1st Period: 1% gain (Luis Q. had the highest gain with 18%)
          Class scores ranged from 53% - 80% (Sydney C.)
2nd Period: 4% gain (Bainbridge M. had the highest gain with 23%)
          Class scores ranged from 47% - 88% (Sabastian H.)
3rd Period: 4% gain (Maria B. had the highest gain with 23%)
          Class scores ranged from 39% - 86% (Jerry C.)
5th Period:  4% gain (Dylan S. had the highest gain with 23%)
          Class scores ranged from 45% - 76% (Dylan S.)
6th Period:  6% gain (Kelsey K. and Jessica N. tied for highest gain with 16%)
          Class scores ranged from 22% - 69% (Jackson S.)

***I gave out lots of candy because so many of these kids raised their scores!***

I love your children. They're amazing!

Writing Contest Opportunity!

The Hendersonville Optimist Club is offering an opportunity to win a $2500 college scholarship through a writing contest. For more information about the the Optimist International Essay Contest, please visit the website.

NOTE: I may do this as a class project, but snow days can get us behind, so no promises.

Orchard Benchmarking

We recently finished our second benchmark testing. When we tested in September, the goal was for each student to get at least 30% of the questions right. This time around, the goal was to hit 60%. The kids did very well. I gave them some goals to work towards. If the student made 10% higher than last time, he/she get a piece of candy. We called it the "sweet number." If the whole class made the 60% benchmark, I would treat them to lunch, soft drinks, and my homemade cookies.

I'll list some data later.

Coming Up: TAATU Day

Monday, November 14, is Sumner County's TAATU (Teens Against Alcohol and Tobacco Use) Day for the KDDC and Station Camp Middle School's 6th graders. This is one of those rare, grade specific events that your child will never forget. Permission slips went home today. Please return the permission slip and $10 for by Friday, November 11.

Parent volunteers will be needed to help out at Long Hollow Baptist that day. If interested, call Susan McDaniel at 804-7546.

Parent Alert!

Parents, while grading papers this weekend, I noticed something I want to bring to your attention. Multiple students are writing capital letters in the middle of words. For example: bottLe caPPs or caJun fooD. No letters are falling below the guidelines when they should. Jj Gg Pp Yy I'm not sure why this is happening, but we need to nip it in the bud! Please look out for this when you are checking your child's homework assignments.

As always, thanks for your support!

Extra Credit: A Rare Opportunity

This past Thursday, I was talking to a friend when she showed me the strangest picture. Take a look:

At first, I didn't get it. It looked like a typical yard sale sign to me. Then, the english teacher in me couldn't resist a good laugh! C'Mon, it's funny! It did inspire an extra credit assignment that I'm offering this week only. Students are to look for a typo or grammatical error in some sort of published print. I'm hoping that they'll find some improper pronoun usages or a subject-verb DISagreement. Only stipulation- they can't make it up themselves. Have fun with it and happy hunting!