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Class Expectations:
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Be on time, on task, and prepared to learn every day.
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Follow directions the first time they are given.
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Be honest. Cheating in any form will not be tolerated whether it be a test, quiz, homework, etc.
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Be responsible for your own learning and actions. Pay attention, take notes, participate in class discussions, and turn in all assignments. Overdramatic reactions or complaining will not be tolerated.
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Respect the teacher, the classroom, other students, and yourself. Do not interrupt or disrupt the classroom.
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TRY. Do your best. I will do my absolute best to prepare you to be successful, but you have to do your part as well.
All in all, I expect students to:
Be Respectful Be Responsible Be Honest
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The Scoop
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Classroom Library Check out / Return
Use the form below to check out any of the classroom library books. You are not permitted to take out more than one book at a time. You have three weeks to read the book before you are requested to return it. If you need more than the allotted time, please see me as soon as possible.
Be sure to return the book and place it into the "Book Bin" near my desk.
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World Book Online
World Book Online
username: harmony2
password: husky
For more information regarding this awesome research website, visit Ms. Piazza's teacher site!
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Google Classroom
Click here to access Google Classroom.
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Sadlier-Connect Vocabulary
To access the online component of the vocabulary book, click here.
8th grade = Level C
7th grade = Level B
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Pearson Realize - Online Textbook
Click here to access the login page for your myPerspectives online textbook dashboard.
How to Access the Online Text:
- Follow the link to take you to the Pearson Realize dashboard.
- link is also found on my teacher website & Google Classroom
- you can also go to PEARSONREALIZE.COM
- Username is going to be your first name & last name separated by a period
Example: firstname.lastname - barbara.streisand
*NOTE: Some students have an individualized username - those students know who they are and are free to email me for their username.
- Passwords will be the HTS student-assigned passwords used to sign into their Google accounts.
- Follow the link to take you to the Pearson Realize dashboard.
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Grammar Practice & Help
To access our grammar practice site, No Red Ink, please click here.
For more information and grammar help, use this site.
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PARCC Information
To find out more information regarding the PARCC test, please click here.
Class Documents
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Classroom Procedures & Expectations
The 2019-2020 class handbook can be accessed here.
Please use it as a reference throughout the school year!
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Usage of Classroom Library
Click here for information regarding the usage of Ms. Smith's classroom Library.
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Middle School Plagiarism Policy
The Plagiarism Policy applies to not only Language Arts but all subjects in middle school.
You can become familiar with the policy by clicking here.
Schedules
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Writing Workshop
Mondays & Tuesdays8A: 2nd period
8B: 4th period
7A: 5th period
STEAM
8A: Thursdays 1st period
8B: Thursdays 3rd period
7A: Mondays 6th period
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Google Classroom is where you can find the most up-to-date information pertaining to assignments and dates for any & all of my classes.
Class codes are required to access my classrooms:
- 8A: vurcqi
- 8B: ki5rh9b
- 7A: g77n51
- Student Council: students will be invited by Ms. Smith or Mrs. Mazz
Have Twitter?
Click here to follow our class to see some cool updates/photos!
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Each unit comes with an explanation letter of the highlighted content that will be covered and discussed throughout the literature unit.
Grade 8 - Unit 2: Holocaust Parent Letter
- Essential Question: How do we remember the past?
- In-class novel choices: Night by Elie Wiesel or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Grade 7 - Unit 3: Turning Points Parent Letter
- Essential Question: What can cause a sudden change in someone's life?
- In-class novel: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Class Novels
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Night by Elie Wiesel
8th Grade
Unit 2: Holocaust
Night by Elie Wiesel
"It is 1944. The Jews of Sighet, Hungary, are rounded up and driven into Nazi concentration camps. For the next terrible year, young Elie Wiesel experiences the loss of everything he loves - home, friends, family - in an agonizing journey through Birkenau, Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald. The greatest tragedy of our time told through the eyes of a 15-year old boy.
Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be."
Guided Reading: Z
Genre: nonfiction
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
8th Grade
Unit 2: Holocaust
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
"Berlin, 1942: When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far, far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do.
A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to his desolate new place than meets the eye.
While exploring his new environment, called "Out-With," he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different from his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences."
Guided Reading: Z
Genre: historical fiction
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The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
7th Grade
Unit 3: Turning Points
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
"Ponyboy Curtis is a good-natured teen who loves books and movies. He's also an orphan whose two older brothers and street-smart friends guard and protect him. Together these ragtag, working-class boys, known as "Greasers" to the locals, try to make their way in the world, without priviledge, supervision, or education.
But it isn't easy. A bunch of wealthy kids, call the "Socs," target Ponyboy and his friends. They bully, mock, and ridicule the Greasers. Until one night they push the Greasers too far, and violence explodes. Now young Ponyboy has a decision to make: Does he run or does he stand his ground and try to find justice?" - Scholastic.com