Mrs. Humble's Classroom Blog

2010-09-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hooray! We all survived the first day of school! Hope your student enjoyed it. Thanks to all of you who attended the sixth grade open house Monday night-what a great turn out. For those of you who missed it, I am trying to find out how to post my "Welcome to Tenino Middle School" Powerpoint presentation on this blog. Please be patient; our poor tech guy is really swamped right now.

Here are some other important items for you to know:

I will be doing A LOT of talking in class, so don't look for any homework in my classes this week. Any work we do will be done in class. DO check your child's agenda (planner) by the end of the week. It should have an entry for every class every day!
All Fort Flagler forms were handed out on Wednesday, Sept. 1st. It is important to get them turned in as soon as possible. For example, the camp shirts for the tie-dye class need to be ordered and we will be going swimming September 23rd, so the money & permission slips need to be turned in. Thanks!
Order forms for the P.E. uniforms will be handed out on Thursday, just in case you did not receive one.
School pictures will be taken Friday, September 10th; you will receive picture packets this Friday.

Thank you for a wonderful start to the new school year. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Michele Humble

February 8th - 12th

2010-02-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you have received your student's report card by now. If not please contact the TMS Office (264-3600). To celebrate the students who did NOT receive an "F" grade on his/her report card, we will have a dance & other activities Thursday afternoon.

Here are some other activities you may wish to know about this week:

There is NO SCHOOL on Friday, February 12th or Monday, February 15th.
The "No F Party/Activities" will take place Thursday afternoon, February 11th.
We will be finishing up the Microscope Unit in Science early next week, so be prepared for a test.
In Reading we are working on fables in the literature textbook and will begin the biography projects next week.
In Language Arts we are making corrections & practicing cursive writing in the DOL (Daily Oral Language) notebooks each day now. We are also starting on the essay unit that will evolve into the biography project.
The Tenino School District Levy will be held on Tuesday, February 9th. Please remember to vote.

Have a nice long four day weekend.
Mrs. Michele Humble

January 25th - 29th

2010-01-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been so far behind; so much for my New Year's resolution, I guess. Here is some important info for this week:

Progress reports will be handed out in class on Tuesday, Jan 26th.
Second quarter ends on Friday, January 29th. Look for your student's report card next week.
In Language Arts, we will be taking the test on Adjectives & Adverbs on Tuesday, Jan. 26th. Please help your student study for this!
In Reading, your student needs to finish reading the biography he/she selected earlier this month. Also, ask how many AR points your student has accumulated this quarter. Twenty-five (25) are required.
In Science we will be working with pond water & wet mounts in addition to staining and heat setting some of the slides. This Microscope unit will continue on into next week, too.
In Art Exploratory we will move from pencil sketching to working in charcoal. More messiness, just in a different medium! (Ha, ha!)

Next week we will be re-arranging the sixth grade schedule/day; it will go from eight classes a day to seven. Your student will have me for either four periods a day (poor things!) or only for Science (Ms. Shimizu's students). We will be including the Technology & Art exploratories in the Social Studies classes I will now be teaching.

For my eighth period Math students, I must say good-bye to them on Friday. Next semester I will be helping out with Writing instead of Math, so I will be working with Ms. Clark & Ms. Campbell. Perhaps I will be able to work with some of the same students in this new class!

Have a great week!
Mrs. Michele Humble

2010-01-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

Greetings & Welcome Back!

I hope the Winter Break gave you time to get your batteries recharged and spend time with your loved ones. Now it's time to plunge on into the new year!

First of all, here are some "odds & ends" you should be aware of:

There is NO late start on Wednesday,January 5th.
There is NO school on Monday, January 18th for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The quarter ends on Friday, January 29th.
The last day to turn in missing assignments and extra credit to me is Friday, January 22nd.
In Reading, we are finishing up the House on Hackman's Hill unit. As soon as that is completed we will start working on our Biography project.
In Language Arts, your student should have turned in his/her Suspense Story; we have finished that unit and will now be working on a Parts of Speech unit during January.
The first quiz on Nouns & Pronouns will be on Friday, Jan. 8th. Please help your student study for this.
In Science, we have finished up the Mixtures & Solutions unit and have begun on the Microscopes unit.
There will be a quiz on the parts of a microscope on Thursday, Jan. 7th. Please help your student study his/her information sheet on this.

Have an enjoyable week!
Michele Humble

December 14-18, 2009

2009-12-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

We have a very busy week and I'm sure your student is excited, but here are a few important things to keep in mind:

In Science: THE MIXTURES & SOLUTIONS UNIT TEST IS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16TH. Please help your student study for this very important test!!! Your child's Science Notebook will be due on the same day. Please look over your student's work and make sure all of the important information is there (reflections done on labs, vocabulary words, drawings with labels, data & conclusions from labs, etc.).
In Language Arts: THE "GRADED COPY" OF THE SUSPENSE STORY IS DUE ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17TH. Students are now writing the final draft of this important assignment. You have probably been involved in the editing of the "Sloppy Copy" as well as the "Rough Draft". Your child has been working on typing this assignment in the computer lab at school. If your student is allowed to use the Internet at home, he/she will also have access to it there and it may be worked on from home.
In Reading: We are finishing up on the novel The House on Hackman's Hill. There have been several comprehension worksheets given out in class as homework. Please check your student's grades online at our middle school website to make sure these have been turned in.
Also in Science: Over the Winter Break your student may enjoy going to the FOSS website. It has some fun and interesting resources your child can have fun with in addition to reinforcing the concepts we have covered in class. The address is: www.fossweb.com
In Art: Your child is finishing up a craft project this week. I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you see it--I have been very impressed with the quality of work that I have seen!

Remember that Winter Break is December 21st through January 3rd, so your student will return to school on Monday, January 4th. I hope that you enjoy the Winter Break and this festive time of year.

Michele Humble

November 30th-December 4th

2009-11-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

I hope that you had a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend, and now your student is really to buckle down for the next three weeks before going on another break.

Here are some items you need to be aware of:

Our school-wide food drive begins Monday, Nov. 30th and continues until Friday, Dec. 11th. The items brought in go to the Tenino Food Bank, so it is our local community member who benefit from this activity.
The Book Fair takes place in the media center Mon., Nov. 30th through Fri., Dec. 4th.
Your student will begin an Art project soon that requires some outside materials. Please send $2.00 to school ASAP so we can begin this craft activity.
Wednesday, December 2nd is an "Late Start" day. Please make plans accordingly.

Have a wonderful week!

2009-11-21T16:01:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe how quickly November has flown by! Only three school days until the Thanksgiving break.

The grades on last week's Capitalization & Punctuation Test were quite good! Thank you for all of the support you showed--many of the students reported the help they received from you in studying for that exam.
We are now starting a "suspense" unit in both Reading and Language Arts. Students have begun to read the novel The House on Hackman's Hill. This will include silent & oral reading, discussion of the plot as well as the elements involved in this literature, and worksheet assignments. Please help your student stay on top of these assignments. In Language Arts we will begin writing suspense stories. This will involve the writing process by first doing a "pre-write", then a "sloppy copy", next a "rough draft", and finally the "graded copy". You can help out by asking to look over your student's work each day. You will also be involved in the editing and revising steps along the way, so please be prepared for that. The "graded copy" will be due right before the Winter Break and this project will be worth 100 points.

In Science we are continuing on the Mixtures & Solutions unit with many labs and entries in the Science Notebooks. It would help if you could ask your student to look over what he/she has done in class and offered suggestions & revisions for the entries in the Science Notebook. Not a lot of homework in this class.

In Art Exploratory we have just finished up the "Coat of Arms" project. (This was due Friday, November 20th.) Next we will begin the Art Portfolio, then several in class activities such as the "Tempera Value", "Watercolor Intensity", and Color Wheel project.

For the seventh graders, we will continue on Math work that supports what they are learning in their 1st period Math class. Rarely is there homework in this class.

Remember that Wednesday is an early release day and that there is no school on Thursday or Friday of this week. Enjoy the Thanksgiving break and have a safe holiday week-end.

2009-11-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a good Veteran's Day and has gotten in this week for a conference as needed. If you did not schedule one, it is still not too late. Please call the Office (264-3600) to see about this Thursday, or next week sometime after school. I have a commitment on Monday after school, but the rest of the week is clear as far as I know for right now. Hopefully we will be able to accommodate you.

The Punctuation & Capitalization Test is taking a little longer than I expected, so it is extending into Thursday, Nov. 12th. Hopefully that gives your student a little longer to study. It is a "toughie", so any extra help will be good.

As I mentioned earlier, with the shortened periods, there will be no homework this week. Our main goals this week are finishing the Punctuation & Capitalization Test (Lang. Arts) and beginning the Art Exploratory with decorating the Advisory portfolios. No need to worry about Reading or Science this week.

Thank you for checking this week's blog and for those of you I met with during conferences, I really enjoyed them. Our terrific group of sixth graders certainly have parents & guardians!

2009-11-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

For the parents/guardians of my Language Arts students: THE FINAL TEST FOR THE PUNCTUATION & CAPITALIZATION UNIT WILL BE TUESDAY, NOV. 10TH. Please help your student study!!!

November 2nd-6th, 2009

2009-11-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a nice, safe, dry Halloween weekend!

I had the chance to see some excellent athletic contests this weekend: congrats to our Tenino Tigers football team on an exciting & outstanding game. And as a volleyball coach, I was thrilled to see the skills of some of our future players at their last volleyball match of the season. Way to go!

The "biggies" this week include:

Quotation marks, apostrophes, italics, & hyphens TEST ON TUESDAY, NOV. 3RD. PLEASE HELP YOUR STUDENT STUDY FOR THIS. Grades have been sagging lately.
The quarter ends on Friday, Nov. 6th. THE LAST DAY TO TURN IN EXTRA CREDIT & LATE ASSIGNMENTS TO ME IS WED., NOV. 4TH.
Science Notebooks will be due on Friday, Nov. 6th. These will be worth 100 points! Please check your student's work over and make sure it is all caught up!
This is the last week of Keyboarding. Next week we will begin Art as our new Exploratory class.

Also remember that Wed, Nov. 6th is a "Late Start" day. Sixth graders missed the first one because we were up at Fort Flagler, so you may want to review the home procedures now. On that same day, we will be going bowling, so hopefully your student has turned in the paperwork & money by now.

Have a pleasant week!
Mrs. Humble

October 12th through 16th, 2009

2009-10-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

Fort Flagler was wonderful this year! Weather couldn't have been better, sixth graders were super, high school counselors were awesome, and we could not have pulled it off without our fantastic parents. Thank you for all of the help & support! This was a fantastic way to start a fantastic year. If you weren't there, I hope you have talked about this extraordinary experience with your student.

Students will be going over how to log in to their accounts here at TMS. This means we will be beginning Lit Logs in Reading this week. And in the Computer Exploratory, after this week's "refresher course" in keyboarding, students will use the Word program to write an essay about their Fort Flagler experience.

We will continue on the Capitalization & Punctuation unit in Language Arts. We will cover commas, colons, and semicolons this week, with the test on Friday, October 16th.

In Science we will continue on the Mixtures & Solutions unit, and there may be some actual homework this week. (Only one worksheet, and probably on Wednesday or Thursday.)

Sometime this week, sixth graders will also receive a presentation on Harassment, Intimidation, & Bullying from our counselor Mrs. Lucero, so you may want to discuss this with our student.

2009-09-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Oh my!!! Where has the time gone??? I sincerely apologize for missing my weekly update. It was an extremely busy week with two days of MAP testing and Friday was tied up with the swim test, but that's still no excuse I will try to do better.

Fort Flagler is in high gear now. Hopefully you attended the parent meeting last Thursday night and received the student booklet which contains both of the forms your student needs to attend camp. If you were unable to attend, your child received the booklet on Friday. PLEASE FILL OUT THOSE FORMS AND SEND THEM BACK TO THE OFFICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND WITHOUT THE TWO FORMS.

Here are some other "odds & ends" about camp you need to know about Fort Flagler:

Your student needs to be all packed up (Label everything, please!) and ready to go Monday (October 5th) morning.
Students need to bring a sack lunch on that day.
Students need to bring one or two packages of cookies by Monday, too. (These may be turned in earlier, if you wish.)
Please have someone here to pick your student up when we return on Thursday, October 8th. He/she will be extremely tired, and with all of that gear from camp, it will be very taxing on your child.
Remember that there is no school on Friday, October 9th. That will be a great day for your student to rest up from camp.

In Reading this week we continue to work on AR books/tests and filling out agendas, so there is no homework. I hope to start making entries in the Lit Logs when we return from camp.

In Language Arts we are reviewing for the Capitalization & Punctuation Test. It will be on Friday (October 2nd). PLEASE HELP YOUR CHILD STUDY FOR IT.

In Science we are working on the Mixtures Lab. There will be only classwork in the form of making entries in the Science Notebooks, so no homework this week.

In Keyboarding (Exploratory) we have been going over the "Word" word processing program, so again, no homework.

My 7th graders in Challenge Math have been reviewing Chapter 3 concepts on fractions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), and there will be a quiz on Thursday with the test on Friday. PLEASE HELP YOUR STUDENT STUDY FOR THIS.

Finally, I am not sure I will be able to make a post from up at camp, so I may actually have a good excuse for not blogging next week. Wish us good weather and a great experience up at Fort Flagler! (I know I will see many of you up there, too!)

Have a great week!
Mrs. Humble

Exploratory & Other Items

2009-09-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! In the computer lab today I was SO impressed with the difference in my students. We have been working with the keyboarding program for five days now and I have seen such an improvement in their speed & accuracy! Please ask your student about this experience. Find out their "top speed" and how far along he/she is on the lessons.

Boy, they sure are lucky! No homework again this week! We have been doing many assignments in class, especially in Science. There are no grades in Language Arts and Exploratory (Technology) yet, but there will be next week. Also, you may want to wait until Monday to check the online progress reports; we are JUST getting our gradebooks set up today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday).

Have a nice weekend!
Mrs. Humble

First Week

2009-09-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

Hooray!

We have all survived this week (as far as I know)! Of course it was only three days long.....But seriously, the sixth graders seem to be adjusting to the new building, staff, & programs well.

I have not given any homework this week at all, there have just been a multitude of forms. Just in case you have lost track, here's a list:

Student/Parent Handbook Certification (Both you & your student need to sign & return this)
Picture Packet (Pictures will be taken on Friday, Sept. 4th
Swim Test Permission Form (Please send the $5.00 along with it)
Fort Flagler T-Shirt Order Forms (Again, please include the check or cash)
Internet Usage Form (Peach colored form--needs both parent & student signatures)

So your student may not have had any homework this week, but you sure have!!!

Don't forget that there is no school on Monday, Sept. 7th. We will really jump into more academics next week. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Mrs. Humble

Time to Get Started!!!

2009-08-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am really excited about school starting now. I have spent A LOT of time doing training this summer (mostly Science), and I've been getting my classroom set up for the past week--so I'm starting to get "antsy".......Let's get school started.

FYI: the Open House for TMS will be on Tuesday, September 1st; it will begin at 5:30 P.M. and will continue until 7:30 P.M. Hope to see you there!

Enjoy the Summer!

2009-07-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings! I hope you are enjoying your summer. It's been a busy one for me. I attended six days of Science training in Vancouver, WA, in June and helped select our newest sixth grade teacher in early July. (We had over 100 applicants!) I'm very excited about the new "structure" of the sixth grade this year--it will be far more self-contained. If your student is in my "home room" class, he/she will spend half the day with me. That means Reading, Language Arts, Science, and Exploratory. All sixth graders will either have P.E. first or eighth period. Band will be first period and Choir will be eighth. My planning period will be first period, also, and if you need to call me the phone number in my classroom is (360) 264-3644. I can also be emailed at humblem@tenino.k12.wa.us. This will be a great year, full of many changes. I look forward to meeting you at the Open House in August.

Until then, have a wonderful summer!
Mrs. Humble