Welcome!

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Welcome to Oromocto High School. It is my pleasure to have your child in my Grade 9 English class.
This year, I will be adopting the Literacy Workshop format which will allow students to read and write both independently and collaboratively. The goal of the Literacy Workshop is to meet students’ individual learning needs and to support them in facing ever increasing literacy demands.

The intent of this course is to help students strengthen their literacy skills and transfer these strategies to other content areas. This course will cover all of the literacy strands and outcomes as outlined in the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum document. This document can be accessed through a link on our website www.wix.com/mrskendall/english9 These strands include Speaking and Listening, Reading and Viewing, and Writing and Representing. Specifically, students this year will complete such units as: Personal interest stories, formal writing techniques, oral communication skills (debates, drama), novel studies and interview techniques.

Students will need the following supplies:
• Three-ringed binder to be used in English only
• pens and pencils
• loose leaf
• page dividers
• post-it notes (3x3 size)
• personal school appropriate reading material

Due to the nature of the course, students will be encouraged to select their own reading materials. Please feel free to become involved in this process by discussing your child’s choices with him/her. It is important that students ensure that the materials they select for independent reading are at the appropriate reading level and that students are also responsible for the nature of the content. I encourage parents to monitor and dialogue with their child(ren) about the materials they select for the classroom.

The course mark will be based on the following components and it will be cumulative:
• Speaking and listening (20%)
• Reading and viewing (20%)
• Writing and representing (20%)
• January and June Examinations (40%)


Communication
In an effort to teach our children 21st century skills, I will be using the website www.wix.com/mrskendall/english9 to keep students up to date with information. When you access the website you will be able to navigate through a notebook to access general information about grade 9 English. If you click on the yellow link, “Our Classroom”, you will access a blog that will contain up-to-date information about our class. This website can be accessed either at school or home, without having to use a personal email account. I understand that students may not have access to the internet from home, so I will provide students the opportunity to access it at school.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at the school between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm at 357-4015. You can also reach me at my e-mail address: laura.kendall@nbed.nb.ca . I hope we have a successful year and look forward to communicating with you.

Thank you,


Laura Kendall