Welcome to Hadley Middle School

Curriculum Night 2013-2014Mrs. Donna Murphy

Room 211 S Team

S Team Members

• Mrs. Elizabeth Hitzeman

• Mrs. Debbie Kuhny

• Ms Kelly Klosak

• Mrs. Camille Hicks

• Mrs. Laurie Moroz

Philosophy of our Class• Teach less and Teach it better• Learn how to solve problems• Prove It. Show me the evidence• Produce your best Professional

Product-always!• Everyone starts with an “A”. It’s up to

you to keep it!• Teamwork is always better!• Know your kids!• Excite them anyway you can.• You are part of a Global Community• Make 6th Grade Memorable! • I will believe only 50% of what they

say about you, if you only believe 50% of what they say about me!

Core Curriculum Teacher Checklist

• Lead High-Level, Text Based Discussions

• Focus on Process, Not Just Content

• Create Assignments for a Real Audience that Serve a Real Purpose

• Teach Argument Based on Evidence, Not Persuasion

• Increase Text Complexity

What Does It All Mean?• Worksheets, multiple choice , and true/false

questions will be minimal• Written essay type answers using evidence from

the text will be greatly increased• Higher level reading material will be the norm

• Student centered collaborative classes• Several research/cited papers a year

• Less material covered, but covered in depth• Different types of homework and less grades in the

gradebook

READING

What We Will Read

1. Novels-Where the Red Fern GrowsNumber the Stars2. Textbook-Storytown3. R.E.A.D. & Jr. Scholastic

Magazines4. Informational text from many outside sources5. Online sources of related text

Skills-Writing

1. Literary Elements of Fictional Writing2. Author Techniques-symbolism,

personification, simile/metaphor, humor

3. Using chronological order to organize informational research

4. Evaluation of credible sources/web sites to synthesize info

5. Our overriding question all year will be, “Can you prove it? How do you know?”

6. Forming an educated opinion using evidence

Social StudiesGeography

location, location, location

Modern Day

How does yesterdayaffect today?

Ancient Cultures

Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Inca (SA),China, and Aborigine (Australia)

Homework Policy

• Students are expected to hand in their best product • We use black or blue pen

• We use clean notebook paper (not from a spiral)• Cursive writing will be awarded extra credit

• Turn work in on time and complete which means when collected in class

• Students will have two days after returning from an illness to complete graded work

• I will be happy to give full credit to all work that follows these guidelines

Homework-continued

• We are happy to accept any work dropped off in the office, but it will not receive full credit

• It will be graded as a “late” assignment starting at 10 points off (team policy)

• We are hoping to promote personal responsibility and organization with the team/school policies

• WEEKENDS-I do not assign HW-it’s family timeI would ask that you have your child read the paper

over the weekend…..ask lots of questions!

Contact Information

• Homework Hotline can be found on the Homer 33C website (click on my name-left hand column)

• Phone: 708-226-7748 (direct line to my room)

• Email: dmurphy@homerschools.org

• Phone calls will be returned during 8th period each day during my plan (1:30-2:00)