For Parents...For Parents

1. Please note that Saturday Program is taking place right now. It is important that your child attend Saturday school as this program helps to prepare students for the State English Exam in January. This exam is very important since students who fail may have to repeat the grade. So if your child is not attending Saturday school, please get him or her started from the coming Saturday. Permission slips can be picked up from the principal on Saturday or from the office or students can ask me to provide slips.
The ELA exam will be taken on January 21 and 22.

2. It is very important that all students not only attend school everyday but the arrive st school on time each day. Far too many students get to class as many as 20 minutes late almost every morning and miss out on a lotof work. School starts at 8:15 am and students should be in the classroom at that time.

3. Also those students who have been selected for the extended day program must stay back from 2:35 pm to 3:12 pm. This program is designed to help those students better prepared for the January exam as well as to do better in class. There are many students who do not participate in the extended day program even though they have been selected to do so.

3. Because seventh grade performance is used by high schools to decide whether they will offer places to students at the end of eighth grade, seventh grade performance is very, very critical. It is therefore important that parents make sure that your children do all homework and, if possible, help them with homework.
Every student has been given a planner in which homework should be copied. Parents are supposed to check that planner each afternoon in order to know what homework has been given for the day and to sign the planner at least once a week to confirm that homework is being done at home. You call also call or email me to inquire about homework, especially if your child claims that no homework has been given.
Homework help is also provided by the Good Shepherd After School Program and you are urged to enroll your child so he or she can make use of assistance with homework. Please speak to Parent Coordinator, Tracey Moret or Good Shepherd Coordinator, Quenten. Homework assistance can also be obtained by calling the Dial-A-Teacher's phone number ­ 212-777-3380.

4. It is also important that students read as much as possible at home, since reading is so very important in helping them to improve writing, increase understanding of language and become better informed. So parents please make sure that your children join up the local public library and always have a book to read. Students should borrow and read books from the New York Post newspaper list of books, that I handed out to each one of them, as those books are recommended for seventh graders. Please ask your child to show you the list.
Also please make sure that your child spends less time on the TV, on the phone or hanging out with friends and more time reading (including newspapers). Students need to read for at least 60 minutes each day.

5. All students have an opportunity to improve their first marking period ELA grade by completing all missing work - portfolios, reading and activity sheets. If students are not sure what they're missing they can check with me. The final grade depends on how soon students complete missing work, on class participation and on how well their portfolios and reading and writing journals are organized. All missing work completed by the end of December can earn up to 20 additional points while all missing work completed by end of January can earn up to 15 additional points.

6. Parents please note that you can always reach me by calling the school at 718-584-1570 and asking for Mr. Boodram or by sending email to caribvoice@aol.com. I urge you to please contact me if your child says he or she has no homework, if you have any questions and to know how your child is doing. You can call the school and set up an appointment to see me, as I'm always available to meet with parents. In fact, I would really like to speak with those of you who did not atend the November Parents' Conference, so please call and set up an appointment or send a message with your child.

7. For students who are lagging behind in classwork or who may need additional help from time to time, I'm always available before school (7:00am to 8:00am) or after school (3:15pm to 5:00pm). Students can either come early in the morning or stay back after school so I can work one on one with them. Please note that this is my own time that I volunteer in order to help students perform their best.

8. Other Activities:
-- Writing and Christmas celebration for students will be held on Tuesday, December 23 from 1:00 PM. Since I don't exclude students from any party or celebration, I'm urging all parents to prepare and send a dish with your child so all of the students can participate in the Christman celebration (students don't like to attend the celebration if they are not contributing and also when all students contribute they all feel involved). Since I need to know in advance what that dish would be please let your child know what you would be preparing sometime this week.
-- School will be closed for the Christmas vacation from December 25 to January 2. Students will return to school on Monday January 5, 2009.
-- Your child will be given a homework package for the vacation. Please ensure that he or she makes time to complete this package as it will be checked as homework, graded for the Second Marking Period and discussed as preparation for the state exam. If your child will not be in school for the last two days please arrange for the homework packet to be picked up by someone else.
--The Student Council Annual Food & Clothing Drives continues on to May. Please note that only non-perishable food (such as canned goods) are accepted. All food and clothing will be donated to charities with which our school has been associated - a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter and a children's home.
-- In case you are not aware, please note that last year MS 206B received a grade A from the Board of Education Quality Control Review. This means that we were among the best performing middle schools for that year and we are committed to staying on track to do even better this year as well as in coming years. You can help in this process by actively participating in the Parents' Association, by regularly visiting the school to keep yourselves informed and by knowing how your child is doing at all times. To find out how you can participate in the Parents' Association, please speak to Parent Coordinator, Tracey Moret. Call 718-584-1570 and ask for Ms. Moret.

For Students...For Students

1. This is a reminder that you have an opportunity to improve your first marking period ELA grade by completing all missing work - portfolios, reading and activity sheets. If you're not sure what you're missing please check with me as soon as possible. Remember also that the final grade depends on how soon you complete missing work, on class participation and on how well your portfolios and reading and writing journals are organized. All missing work completed by the end of December can earn you up to 20 additional points while all missing work completed by end of January can earn you up to 15 additional points.
Those of you who did not do well in other subjects should speak to your subject teachers to find out where you fell down, whether there is any way in which you can make up the first marking period grade and what to do to ensure that second marking period grade is much better.

2. Conferencing on memoir and persuasive essay can be done before the start of school in the mornings or after school in the afternoon. Please let me know in advance when you'd like to do conferencing.

3. Work that many of you are missing include:
--memoir
--persuasive essay
--required amount of evidences for reading: 8 for first marking period. Rememember the requirement is one book per week, so by the end of December you should have read 14 books and completed 14 evidences. To help you find books that are of interest to you, I'm encouraging you to join the local public library in your area. Please borrow and read books from the New York Post newspaper list of books, that I handed out to each one of you, as those books are recommended for seventh graders.
--required amount of reading responses for reading journal: 15 for first marking period. Second marking requirement is 35 responses.
--required amount of entries for writing journal: five each for baseline, memoir and persuasive essay
--types one, two, three and four writings for writing journal. If you are not sure about these types of writing please check with me.
-- vocabulary notebook for bonus points.

ELA homework and take home tests that some of you are still missing:
(i) Answers to short response questions numbers seventeen and twenty five from the Predictice Test booklet.
(ii) Type two writings: 'What makes me proud about myself' and 'Someone close to me'.
(iii) Sentences with examples of the following figures of speech: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, hyperbole, oxymoron, onomatopoeia.

Current ELA homework:
(a) T-chart with obstacles faced by and character traits for Chi Chi Rodriguez, from the handout entitled 'Chi Chi Rodriguez'.
(b) Verbs usage - present and past tense - work sheet.
(c) Comprehension passage and questions.
(d) Type two writings:(i) What do you hope to accomplish in seventh grade and how do you hope to do so? (ii) What do you understand by show don't tell?
(e) Analyze setting work sheet (703)

Other Activities:
-- Writing and Christmas celebration will be held on Tuesday, December 23 from 1:00 PM. Please let me know by Monday, December 22, whether you will be participating in the celebration.
-- School will be closed for the Christmas vacation from December 25 to January 2. Students will return to school on Monday January 5, 2009.
-- You will be given a homework package for the vacation. Please ensure that you make time to complete this package as it will be checked as homework, graded for the Second Marking Period and discussed as preparation for the state exam. If you will not be in schol for the last two days, please arrange for someone else to pick up the homework packet.
--The Student Council Annual Food & Clothing Drives continues on to May. Please note that only non-perishable food (such as canned goods) are accepted. All food and clothing will be donated to charities with which our school has been associated - a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter and a children's home.

Students please note that you can always send me emails - caribvoice@aol.com - to seek clarification, ask questions or obtain additional information. You can also obtain assistance with homework by calling the Dial-A-Teacher's phone number ­ 212-777-3380. Or you can enroll in the Good Shepherd After School program - check with Ms. Tracey Moret or Mr. Quenten. Also check out some of the homework help links in the right hand column on this page.

Suggestions are also welcomed to make this page more attractive. Also please let me know if there are any links that you want to add to this page.