Mrs. Ziniewicz's Language Arts

Important notice for Honors students: Students should have completed the rough draft of a classmate's biography by Friday, June 5. The final copy is due on Tuesday. The biography may be hand-written or typed.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

During the fourth term of the school year your child’s language arts reading homework responsibilities will change. Instead of the weekly reading responses assigned throughout the year, I will assign two creative book projects. During the next few days the students and I will be sharing ideas for these projects, and your child will be asked to discuss his/her plans with you. I am advising each student to choose a challenging, interesting novel that will stimulate creativity. Students may work together on the same project if they are reading the same book, as long as each student demonstrates a clear understanding of the elements of the story.

I am very proud of the improvement I have seen in most of my students as a result of the weekly reading responses, especially for those students who showed in their responses that they were reading for meaning beyond the literal text, reflecting on the underlying meaning of the challenging and inspiring stories they were reading.

Thank you for the support you have given to your child this year in developing his/her higher level reading and thinking skills. Though I am no longer assigning weekly written responses, I do require the students to continue reading for at least twenty minutes each night, and to bring the books they are reading to class each day. I want to be aware of the books they are currently reading. I will frequently include references to their novels in class assignments and book discussions, and I will give the students opportunities for independent silent reading in class.

Please watch for updates on the book project assignment, and check with your child about ideas and progress. I will continue to update information weekly on the Homework link of my web page. The due date for the book project is May 14, 2009.

After reading and discussing the above information with your child, please sign below. Your child will receive full homework credit for returning the bottom portion to me by April 17.

Sincerely,

Celeste Ziniewicz
Sixth Grade Language Arts Teacher

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Student’s Name ______________________________________ Class ____________

I have read about the change in reading homework requirements for my child.

Parent or Guardian Signature _____________________________ Date _____________

Please read, print, and sign the announcement below as well:

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTfor Parents and Guardians

FCPS uses Criterion-Referenced Evaluation System (CRES) to determine how well students have mastered our essential curriculum through daily instruction.

When you open Pinnacle for Term 4, you will notice the following categories / grades appearing first:
Brief Constructed Responses 1, 2, 3, 4, Extented Constructed Response 1 and Language Usage 1 (already completed during Semester 1)
Brief Constructed Responses 5, 6, 7, 8, Extended Constructed Response 2, and Language Use 2 ( will be completed during Semester 2)

These grades make up the end of the year CRES grade. The average of these CRES grades will appear in a separate column next to the final Language Arts grade. They are calculated in Pinnacle so that they will not influence the Term 4 grade. Think of Term 4 as a holding area for our CRES work completed throughout the school year.

In addition to showing up separately in the CRES section at the end of the year, I also calculate these tests along with other tests as they are completed during each term.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you for all your support this year!

Mrs. Celeste Ziniewicz
Language Arts, Grade 6