The Tornado Tiger Times

September 2013 The Tornado Tiger Times, our monthly team newsletter, is dedicated to bringing you news you can use. We have adopted LSU as our team college to encourage all students to explore higher education after high school. The LSU Tigers motto is Love Purple, Live Gold and exemplifies our commitment to go for the gold and Aim for the A.
SCIENCE: We have such an exciting year ahead us! Our classroom this year is what is called a Classroom of Tomorrow. These are incredible rooms designed to integrate the use of state of the art technology and group work in the classroom. They come equipped with touchscreen computers, hand held TI calculators (which are more like mini computers), data probes, rolling chairs and much more. We have an amazing opportunity this year to experience science with some of the best technology available in classrooms. Our scientific experiments are going to involve using entirely new equipment, tools, and technology, and I believe we are going to have a great time using and exploring this together. In physical science this year we will be studying the practice of science, characteristics of scientific knowledge, properties of matter, matter and energy transformations, the role of theories, laws, hypotheses, and models, and science in society. We will be working very closely with our Interactive Notebooks. Interactive Notebooks will help students stay organized and allow students to integrate writing into every aspect of scientific learning. The Interactive Notebooks are going to greatly enhance our learning this year. I am looking forward to working with each of you. This is going to be a great year for the Tigers! -Mr. Kamlade, Physical Science ------------------------------------------------------------SOCIAL STUDIES: This has been an exciting start to the 2013-14 school year in my United States History classes! The enthusiasm and hard work of my students has allowed them to cover a lot of informative and enjoyable material. During the first grading period we will study the concept of thinking like a historian and examine the early people and civilizations of the Americas and the Europeans explorers of North and South America. Within the coming weeks, we plan to expand our horizons by studying the origins of the original 13 colonies and the events which led to the Revolutionary war. In addition, we plan to study the presidential administrations of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and the issue of slavery. By looking to the past we hope to enhance our understanding of the political, social, personal and moral dilemmas people of those eras faced. I would like to thank all of my students for their hard work and creativity in making this a great start to the school year !!! -Mr. Grimes, U.S. History ---------------------------------------READING: This year in our Reading class, we have moved into an integrated technology classroom environment. Recognizing the importance of technology for the 21st century learner, I have split the

class into a mixture of physical and online learning as this will better prepare our kids for both higher education and the workforce. Throughout the year we will be exploring the theme of One World, One Ocean, with non -fiction reading assignments revolving around environmental consciousness. During the first quarter the focus is on our local environment. This not only opens the students eyes to the need to protect our world, but also builds technical reading skills as they are reading informational texts that are interesting and meaningful. If your child is ever absent from class they can access BlackBoard through the internet and stay up-to-date on assignments and lessons. There is a link to BlackBoard on my website at: www.mrleggett.weebly.com -Mr. Leggett, Intensive Reading -----------------------------------------------------------------LANGUAGE ARTS: Our LA class has started out the school year with a bang: each student has signed a pledge to read at least ONE MILLION WORDS from books of his/her choosing! Students have also written their first district writing assessments that have been scored to show writing abilities in the key areas of focus, organization, conventions, word usage, and support. Classes are structured to include vocabulary, reading and writing on a daily basis. Thinking maps will be used often to help visualize and articulate ideas. iEngage strategies will highlight teacher modeling of thinking and concept application as well as student collaboration. We are focusing on the idea of connections where fiction and non-fiction alike are analyzed for real-world life lessons, problem-solving, and character-building. In this way, students will explore the world and excel in their studies for a successful year and beyond! Ms. Everist, Language Arts and Technology Quote of the Month: Each day is a journey and the journey itself home . Matsuo Basho

Comments and suggestions are welcome! We would be delighted to hear from you simply email: MaryPat.Everist@sarasotacountyschools.net Torrey.Grimes@sarasotacountyschools.net Justin.Kamlade@sarasotacountyschools.net James.Leggett@sarasotacountyschools.net