Sa’kehneh/September 2019
Ms. Tam’s Monthly
Class Newsletter
DEAR GRADE 7 FAMILIES
Welcome back to school! I’m excited to be working
with you this year. We’re located in room 120 this
year (the new grade 7 room!) and we’ve completely
transformed it. I invite you to come check it out, if
you’d like to see what learning space your child is
working in this year.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge
a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will
live its whole life believing that it is
stupid.”
- Unknown
One thing that I truly, honestly believe is that I have
a class full of kind, bright, intelligent and capable
students. We have started some beginning of the
year assessments, and looking over the results, I
can tell that these kids are bright and are constantly
thinking.
So you may be asking, “How can I help my child
succeed at home?” Please, please, please
encourage your children to try. One big focus of this
year is the Growth Mindset with my students,
meaning that they are able to do anything they put
their mind to. Please encourage this mindset in your
children. Encourage them to try their homework, and
in all their tasks at school.
ACADEMICS
HOM EW ORK:
Just so that you are aware, typically, the only
homework that I send home is the homework that
has not been completed in class. Students are given
lots of time to work on their work each day in class.
If they are unable to finish the assigned work in their
time in class, students know that it is for homework.
HOM EW ORK POLICY:
If students are unable to finish their work for
homework, they will be in with me for recess until
they have completed their work. As well, students
who have outstanding work for me will not be
allowed to participate in certain extracurricular
activities or certain class field trips.
M ODIFIED ROTARY:
New this year! We will be having modified rotary for
Grade 7 and 8 students to help them get used to the
flow of rotary. I will be teaching homeroom and
English to the Grade 7 students. Ms. Sowden will be
teaching Math to the Grade 7 students.
COM M UNICATION W ITH HOM E:
This website will be the primary link this year,
between home and school to help reduce waste. All
student work, school notes, reminders and what
students need to do for homework will be available
on this website. Please bookmark this site and
check back regularly. The link is
msatam.weebly.com. If you would like a paper copy
of this newsletter, please send me a message to let
me know.
REM IND APP:
As with last year, I will periodically send out
reminders on the Remind app. This text will come
straight to your phone. Please fill out the form on the
homepage of Ms. Tam’s website if you would like
my texts to come straight to your phone.
 Sa’kehneh/September 2019

NYA:WEH
SCHOOL SUBJECTS NEXT MONTH/ REMINDERS
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
In looking ahead to next month, I’m planning a
In ELA this month, we’ll be focusing on routines. leadership and community building trip for the Grade
We’re getting in the habit of reading, and writing 7 English class to Adventure Works. Details and
again after a month off. Our class read aloud novel notes home will follow shortly.
this month will be “The School that Ate Children” by
Sara General.

Nya:weh for all your support of the Grade 7

students!

Ms. Tam

M ATH
In math this month, we will be starting off with
patterns. We’ll look at how patterns grow and
solving simple algebra problems.

SCIENCE/ STEAM
One of the things that I’m really excited about this
year is science. We’re hinging our entire year of
science off of a Haudenosaunee prophecy. We’ll
also be doing some work with Mr. Lickers’ Grade 5
class in coding and STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Arts, Math)

SOCIAL STUDIES
Our first half of the year will be focused on History.
We’ll look at the history of Haudenosaunee people
in Canada and the interactions of the community
with Europeans.