7th Honors Syllabus Ms. Gist

“If you want to reach a goal, you must 'see the reaching' in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”

Supply List:

Five Subject Spiral Notebook or 1 ½ inch binder with dividers

2 Highlighters (two different colors)

Loose Leaf Paper (wide or college ruled)

1 package of sticky notes

Summer Reading:

All students are required to have readUglies by Scott Westerfeld before the first day of class. Students are required to bring their own personal copy of the novel to class each day as we use it to learn various skills. The assessment on summer reading will be given within the first two weeks of class.

Novels:

This list includes but is not limited to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens(classic version), Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe, A Circle of Time by Melissa Montes (We provide class sets of this particular novel – no need to purchase), and two additional novels that will be named at a later date.

A purchase order for novels will be sent via students at the beginning of each semester. Students are not required to purchase these novels through the school; however, they must be obtained and present in class on the assigned date. I will notify students well in advance of when novels should be present in class.

Independent Reading Novels:

Students will be required to read two additional outside reading novels per nine weeks. Guidance and dates for these outside novels will be given in class.

Poetry:

“The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyles, “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service, “The Village Blacksmith”, and additional other poems.

Short Stories:

“After Twenty Years” by O. Henry, “The Smallest Dragonboy”, “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Meyers, and select others.

Grammar:

Grammar will be taught within the context of writing. Students will focus on identifying and using the various parts of speech, sentence structure, subject verb agreement, pronoun antecedent agreement, capitalization, and punctuation.

Folklore:

Students will read and distinguish between a variety of stories from the folklore genre—myths, legends, parables, fables, trickster tales, etc.

Writing:

The seventh grade curriculum places a strong emphasis on the three main modes of writing: expository, narrative, and persuasive. Writing will occur daily in class in various forms--essays, journal prompts, responses to literature, poetry, creative writing, etc.

Plagiarism and Copyrighted Material:

Plagiarized work is prohibited within my classroom. Any student who is found plagiarizing work or cheating in any fashion will receive a zero for the assignment.

Grading Policy:

Tests and all major projects will count for 60% of a student’s overall grade. Daily work and quizzes will compromise the other 40%. Progress reports are issued every three weeks. Exact dates can be found on the Madison City Schools and Liberty Middle School’s website. Grades will be accessible via the internet via INow with a student’s password which will be sent home within the initial weeks of school starting.

Make-Up Work

If a student has an excused absence, we adhere to the Madison City Schools policy on make-up work. Students are given three days for daily assignments and five days to make up tests. In my class, it is the student’s responsibility to ask me for missed assignments. Google Classroom is a great resource as well for missed notes and other information.

Late Work

As for late work, that classifies differently from excused make-up work assignments. Daily work is accepted no more than one day late with a mandatory fifteen point deduction. Exclusions on certain assignments may apply. As for test grades, I will deduct ten points per day the assignment is late. To be considered “on time,” students must have their work completed and present in class before the tardy bell rings.

*This syllabus is merely a guideline of literature, grammar skills, and writing that will be covered during the first semester of this course. Changes may occur in the students’ best interest.

I am looking forward to teaching each of you.

Sincerely,

Ms. Gist