The Hammer Times

We are so delighted with the great things that are happening at The Greatest School on Earth! During the month of August, we implemented our newest class for all BCMS students - - Trojan Time! Trojan Time has provided our students with access to relevant reading materials, research-based reading strategies, and opportunities to provide peer support to one another throughout the reading process.

Our students are becoming pros at using the Peer Assisted Learning Stratgies (PALS) reading strategy. Students work in pairs to read a passage, predict and summarize, and respond to the text. So far we have read informational texts on how reading difficulties can be tackled no matter one's age, how excessive use of the internet may cause issues for people like us, and most recently an opinion piece that suggests that we are too reliant on the internet. As we move into the month of September, we are transitioning to a literary focus. Our first text we will tackle is a piece by Ernest Hemingway, "A Day's Wait."

Our goal for Trojan Time is to help students grow their Lexile scores, but more importantly we want all of our students to become more avid readers. Stay tuned for our next Trojan Time update. Be sure to ask your child about the importance of reading and to share the weekly texts being shared in our Trojan Time classes. We are only one month into Trojan Time, but our students have a lifetime to go as readers!

All BCMS students are tasked with meeting a reading goal each nine weeks in their ELA classes. In the past, we have utilized Accelerated Reader to monitor students' reading; however, we have not implemented Whooo's Reading, an online platform that assesses students' reading comprehension and response to texts.

The end of the first nine weeks' reading deadline is October 10. For students in Mr. Giddens', Ms. Calhoun's, Mr. Rogers', Mrs. Hadley's, Mrs. Miley's, and Ms. Chasse's classes, the requirement is as follows:

• 1 fiction book
• 1 nonfiction book

The Whooo's reading grade is entered into the gradebook as a formative assessment grade, so please be sure to encourage your student to read each day. We recommend a minimum of 20 minutes per evening. While we encourage students to read to meet their individual goals in the ELA classes, we are also major proponents of reading for pleasure - online magazines and articles, poetry, newspapers, comic books, etc. The more we read, the more we know, and we want our students to learn something new every single day!

Knowing the meanings of words, and being able to use them, is an essential skill for both reading comprehension and effective writing. To aid our students in growing their vocabulary, we have purchased a school license to Membean.

Membean works best when students' training sessions are short and spaced throughout the week. This ensures they truly remember the words they learn, and that they stay engaged for the entirety of their session. As a result, teachers assign 45 minutes of training per week for all BCMS students. Membean recommends these training sessions be completed in 15 minute increments for a total of three sessions per week.

If you have questions about Membean, please reach out to your child's ELA teacher.

Our PBIS Mission: Focus on the POSITIVE to unlock the POTENTIAL

Our PBIS Vision: Creating a culture of positivity that will radiate throughout our school, our community, and our world

Our PBIS Slogan: HAMMER2

• Our students are Respectful
• Our students are Responsible

Congratulations to Miss Destinee Dennard, our first PBIS winner. Destinee received a Beats Pill at our PBIS Kickoff! We are excited to see what all is in store for our students who Bring the Hammer by choosing to act in a respectful and responsible way at BCMS!

Email: blee@brooks.k12.ga.us
Website: brooks.k12.ga.us
Location: 2171 Moultrie Highway, Quitman, GA, USA
Phone: (229) 588-2342
Facebook: facebook.com/wearebcms

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