Parents!
Welcome to middle school, and welcome to JYMS! If you've had the pleasure of sending another child through John Yeates or another middle school, welcome back! Middle school is a most unique place for a student to learn...heightened responsibility, increased freedom, and a lot of new concepts to master. It is my hope that, through high engagement, rigor, and some humor, your child will become a well-rounded, lifelong learner. That being said, here come the "things to do." In lieu of a paper information form (trying to be green), you will find a syllabus ( and a student information form (http://bit.ly/14zrBLZ). Please access those documents, read them over, completing items when necessary. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me by email, phone, or by the comment form on the mainpage. Please encourage your child to view my instructional and procedural videos, which are linked on my site. I will also post them to this blog this week. I will be posting videos PRIOR to classroom activities in order to maximize my teaching efficiency. This is a concept called "classroom flipping", popularized by my friend and colleague Dr. Lodge McCammon (www.lodgemccammon.com). I do not expect all of my students to view all of my videos at home; this is an unfair mandate. However, all students will have access to this type of instruction, whether it is at home (preferred) or at school (during or outside of class time). Your child will receive a TON of paperwork that requires some careful reading and/or signature(s). If you see errors, have questions, or need some help understanding the bulk of information that will find its way home, please let me know. Be on the lookout for videos! And, WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! Best, Tim (Mr. K) Good day! To bring some fantastic, fun technology to my classroom, I have created a DonorsChoose project to support purchasing Makey Makey kits, which allow users to create unique control devices for video games. If you want to make play Pac-Man using play-doh, or a drum kit out of fruit, you NEED to spread the word about this project! Here's a short blurb from DonorsChoose: I just created a request for my classroom: Evolving Gameplay With MakeyMakey Kits: Kids Play THEIR Way!. If you chip in to help my students, you'll get awesome photos and our heartfelt thanks. Give to my project by September 2 and your donation will be doubled thanks to a Matching Donation! Just enter the code INSPIRE on the payment page and you'll be matched dollar for dollar. Your support would mean so much to us. Thank you, Mr. K Useful link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joylabs/makey-makey-an-invention-kit-for-everyone Less than a month until JYMS welcomes its newest group of 6th grade students. I'm excited and READY to meet you all- parents and students alike! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the site- its links, videos, and announcements- as we will use them as early as the first week of school.
In this section, you'll find weekly homework postings, announcements regarding class activities and/or assessments, as well as reminders about due assignments. The other links at the top of the main page are reserved for student resources, teacher links, and instructional videos. Feel free to click on all of them! This site is a work in progress. Please excuse any periodic restructuring or revision; it will ALL be for the better! |
AuthorMr. K is a teacher, lover of bacon, and from NJ. When he grows up, he wants to be an astronaut. Archives
January 2017
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