Welcome Parents! 

I’m so excited that you are coming tonight. If you aren’t able to come, I hope this blog post helps you feel like you were here! I am Ms. Haseltine

and I am your child’s Language Arts teacher. This is my twentieth year of teaching. I have a beautiful dog Bella! She has her own blog too. You can read it here: Bella, The Dog with the Blog.

I’ve been writing since I was in the fourth grade…here are my notebooks (I’m on #59)…

 

 

I am from Massachuetts. My family still lives there. Here is my nephew Jack and my mother when they were visiting me this summer…

In sixth grade language arts we get to see each other EVERY DAY and I love that.  We will read and write everyday together. I give students a lot of choice in what they read and write and I am able to use those books and pieces of writing and teach them the necessary skills to grow as readers and writers. My academic goal for the year is that all of the students leave as stronger readers and writers than they are today!

Another goal for me this year is to make sure that all of my students feel this message: YOU MATTER.

You’ll notice a poster in the front of the room and we’ve already written about it. We spend so much time at school, that it’s important for everyone to feel seen and heard. I told them that I can’t do this alone, so I’m looking for their help in achieving this community!

Have I mentioned that we will read a lot this year?!?! Here are the books in the classroom library…

We have comfy places to read and work too because it helps us read, write and concentrate!

We are lucky to be able to use laptops in this classroom. It’s important to remember that these are tools. They do not take the place of teaching, learning, communicating! We use the computers to do things like log our reading, we will use them for research, and to write. These tools are invaluable and we are grateful to be able to use them everyday.

Using technology prepares all of us to become better citizens. The students have already been reading this blog and making comments. Soon all of my students will have their own blog. You may be thinking, why should students have their own blog? I’m glad you asked. Here’s why I think blogging as sixth graders is important…

I also use twitter in the classroom. I tweet authors and other teachers and classes. We’ve already received some tweets from some authors. Here’s my tweet…

 

Can’t wait to share books by @Cynthia_Lord@LynMullalyHunt@nielsenwriter@varianjohnson@JackieWoodson@KirbyLarson w/my 6th graders today!

— Michelle Haseltine (@Mhaseltine) September 4, 2014

 

And the responses…

@Mhaseltine Thank you, Michelle! I’m excited to imagine that. 🙂

— Cynthia Lord (@Cynthia_Lord) September 4, 2014

 

.@Mhaseltine @Cynthia_Lord @LynMullalyHunt @varianjohnson @JackieWoodson @KirbyLarson Thanks, Michelle! Some of my fave authors are here too

— Jennifer Nielsen (@nielsenwriter) September 4, 2014

 

@varianjohnson@Cynthia_Lord@LynMullalyHunt@nielsenwriter@JackieWoodson@KirbyLarson All copies of Great Greene Heist: GONE! Wait list!

— Michelle Haseltine (@Mhaseltine) September 4, 2014

 

We love that authors know who we are! This will be an excellent year with lots of reading and lots of writing. Thank you in advance for your support!