To: Parents/Guardians and Students
From: Ms. Kincaid, Rm. 13
Honors English 6 and Honors Ancient Civilizations
Email:
Date: August 18, 2015
Welcome to Millikan Middle School and to the Science Academy! I am looking forward to meeting with parents on Back to School Night, Thursday, Sept. 3rd from 6:00-7:30. In the meantime, I wanted to give you a sense of my procedures and expectations.
Organization: It is crucial for students to have a way to organize their schoolwork and homework so that it does not get lost or ruined. Most students find that a large binder with tabs for each subject is the best method for this. In my class, work is collected at the end of a story or unit, not piece by piece. Therefore, completed work will need to stay in a safe, organized location (student's binder) until it is due. If you go through your student’s binder to clean it out, please be careful to verify with the student which work has not yet been turned in. If it is graded, it is probably safe to take it out of the binder; however, many students have found it is helpful to keep graded work in a folder at home just in case there is a discrepancy between the graded work and the monthly grade sheets that go home just prior to the Progress Reports.
Classwork and Homework: Work is due on the date noted on my teacher page on the Millikan website. It is imperative that at least one member of each family subscribe to my teacher page for homework alerts. Most 6th grade parents find it helpful to have both the student and a parent subscribe to their teachers' homework pages, especially for the first semester, in order to double check due dates, etc. Late work is marked down significantly and continued late work will result in lower grades as well as being placed on probation from the program.
Textbooks: Students are provided with one copy of each textbook. Please verify that your student has written their first and last name on the inside front cover of each textbook. Many parents buy a used copy of the textbooks on-line so that students can have a book at home and one at school. I try to do my best to alert students when textbooks will be needed, but textbooks should either be in lockers or backpacks, not left at home. Students can also use their phones at the end of class to photograph assignments from the book.
Communication: The best way to contact me with any questions or concerns is via my school email: . Most issues can be resolved quickly and thoroughly in this manner. On occasion, parents and I will determine that a conference is needed to resolve a matter after emailing isn't sufficient to settle an on-going issue. I hope you understand that general "How is my child doing?" face-to-face conferences aren't done at the middle school level, but you will be receiving a progress report every 5 weeks that is sent home with your child through his or her homeroom. Please look for this, as some students are less diligent than others about bringing this home.
In addition, I will send home alerts via the Blackboard Connect automatic telephone system. It is therefore crucial that the school has your updated telephone contact information throughout the school year. If there are any changes, please update your records with the Attendance Office so I can continue to provide you with critical information, such as missing work, grade issues, or signature-needed alerts.
I look forward to partnering with you and your student in ensuring a successful and enjoyable educational year! See you September 3rd!
To: Students
From: Ms. Kincaid, Rm. 13
Honors English 6 and Honors Ancient Civilizations
Re: Additional Procedures and Information
In addition to the Classroom Rules already covered, please note the following procedures and information to help ensure your success in my class:
Header: All work should contain your header in the upper right hand corner of the first page, in this format:
Full First and Last Name
Class Name, Period
Date (written out)
For example:
Susan Superstar
H. English 6, Per. 3
August 18, 2015
Supplies: Students should have a binder with tabs for each subject with plenty of loose-leaf paper (wide-rule preferred, without the plastic reinforcing on the left margin, no spiral bound notebooks). The expectation in the English Dept. is that anything written on lined paper should be written in pen, in blue or black ink ONLY. I recommend getting some erasable pens. Worksheets can be done in pencil in my classes. Highlighters and white-out tape are also recommended, as is a flash drive for computer lab/library use.
You are responsible for providing your own Kleenex, so I recommend having at least one Kleenex pack in your backpack.
Typed work: All essays and stories must be typed for their final draft, double-spaced, in 12 pt. font, in Times New Roman or comparable font. Legibility is becoming a larger concern each passing year. If I cannot read the work, I cannot and will not score it. Illegible work will be returned to be rewritten or typed, depending on the assignment. First drafts of essays can be typed or handwritten, but either way, they must be double spaced (skipping every other line) so that I have room to write my edits and corrections.
Turning in work: I typically do not collect work piece by piece, but instead work is completed, often corrected, and then held by the student in his or her binder until a story or section is complete. After we are done with a story or section, it is then stapled together in order and turned in as a packet on the assigned due date.
Homework: Students and/or parents must subscribe to my homework page on the Millikan website in order to stay current with due dates. Work turned in after the due date is marked down significantly (unless a student has an excused absence and/or has given me prior notification.) Continued late work will result in lower grades as well as being placed on probation from the program.