Welcome to Language Arts 2009-2010!!!
This year promises to be an exciting year for the 7A and 8th grades. Our 7A and 8th grade writers will be encouraged to join and participate in our writers' blog, RICOCHETWRITING. This blog will provide the opportunity for students to express their views and "ricochet" their ideas off of one another without revealing their identities (if they so choose.) Students are being asked, during the first week of school, to research and choose a pseudonym for him/herself.
This is a copy of the letter sent to parents introducing our blog: Please be sure to read, sign and return.
Dear Parents,
We are about to embark upon a new adventure in the world of writing and communication with our language arts classes. We have opened a blog for our Hillel Torah students @wordpress.com wherein they will be required to blog, comment, and respond to their classmates’ blogs as part of our writing program. The name of our blog is Ricochet Writing which signifies that our students will be bouncing or “ricocheting” their ideas off of one another.
In order to set up this blog, our students will first be choosing pseudonyms, pen-names, for themselves. We are requesting that they choose names of famous/favorite authors. Using pseudonyms will enable our students to express their opinions and agree or disagree with others without being identified, if they so desire. All entries are monitored by me before they are “’published”. It also familiarizes our students with many authors with whom they may not be familiar.
We write this letter to inform and share with you, our parents, this exciting new program. Please return this letter with your signature below to signify that you have read this letter and are sharing with us the excitement of this new venture.
________________________________
Parent’s Signature_____________________________
Sincerely,
Mrs. Helene Levine Mrs. Bobbie Rosenzweig
Director of General Studies 7th and 8th grade English
Student’s Name:
IN ADDITION--
Listed below are some great links to help your child choose an author's name he /she will be able to use for the rest of the school year AND two sites that have annotated book lists for students in the middle school. When your child needs a good book to read either for school or simply for pleasure, please be sure to check out these suggestions together with your child!
(It is much easier to copy and paste these addresses)