Hello Knox Families!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We give thanks for all of your support in partnership with our school.

Thank you for joining us at our Fall Student-led conferences on November 16th. If you did not have a chance to join us, please support your student in completing the conference at home. Students were given a conference form by their Advisory teacher and classroom teachers. Attached to that form, was also your Powerschool Parent Portal log in information. With this information, you can monitor your student's assignments and attendance online. We will also be having a computer distribution event on January 4, 2018 from 2-3:30 at Knox. Knox families can purchase a computer for $80 (desktop) or $100 (laptop) during this event. See additional information below.

Report cards will be mailed home next week. Please reach out to your student's teachers or counselor if you have a question about their grades.

Our library is open! We encourage all students to read for 20 minutes a night independently. Students can check out books during Advisory or lunch time.

We thank you for your partnership in your student's success. Power School Parent Portal info letters were distributed at Student-Led conferences. If you need your access information, please email our site tech Ms. Ojetti at kojetti@sandi.net

GO BULLDOGS!!

On time daily attendance is an extremely important factor in promoting student success. School starts at 8:15 every morning. We highly encourage all students to make up missed days (for any reason) on a Saturday. When students are absent, they miss 6 different class lessons. Saturday School can help provide students the time to make up missing assignments.

Knox is open from 8-12 on Saturdays and some Sundays.

12/2, 12/3

12/9, 12/10

12/16, 12/17

Students can clear 6 absences this month!! This is 24 hours of additional learning for our Knox students!!

If your student has missed any days of school, please consider sending them to Saturday School next weekend.

Our grade-level teams are focused on supporting student writing across the curriculum. We are streamlining the way in which we teach writing with our students. Our writing process focuses on Claim, Evidence and Reasoning. Students are writing in all classes at Knox.

Words from the ELA Department:

The English department is focusing on strengthening writing. This mission is being supported by class novels, focusing on personal narrative, and each grade level is working on a different component of the writing process. Sixth grade is centered around stating claims in formal writing, seventh grade is enhancing those claims with supporting evidence, and eighth grade is moving to a deeper level of critical and literary analysis. We will be continuing to build upon this focus as we shift to our second unit in January, using class novels to work on persuasive and argumentative writing.

Current Units:

6th Grade-The Lightning Thief

7th Grade-A Long Walk to Water

8th Grade-Inside Out and Back Again

Knox ELA teachers use the Engage NY Common Core Curriculum in their classes.

Parents can learn more about this curriculum here:

6th grade ELA

7th Grade ELA

8th Grade ELA

Students should be reading for 20 minutes every night. Students may read newsela.com articles at home or an independent reading book from the Knox library.

Our students will also take the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) this month to measure reading growth since September.

Sixth grade science is getting ready to create a campaign to raise awareness of climate change. As a department we are looking at how students use argumentation to evaluate and communicate data collected via research and hands on activities. Two of our Knox science teachers are part of the district's Early Implementor grant for the Next Generation Science Standards.

Principal-Heather Potter- hpotter@sandi.net

Vice Principal- Alex Villalobos- avillalobos@sandi.net

Head Counselor-M-Z- Lori Watkins- lcruz@sandi.net

Counselor- A-L- Sherri Penaloza- sbaildon@sandi.net

Restorative Practices Coordinator-Jeff Ponsford- jponsford@sandi.net

Registration-Leticia Alva Sanchez- lalvasanchez@sandi.net

Site Tech- Power School Parent Portal- Kristen Ojetti- kojetti@sandi.net