CLINTON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
MIDDLE SCHOOL
75 Chenango Avenue
Clinton, New York 13357
2016/2017
March 2016
Dear Parent/ Guardian and Upcoming 6th Grade Student,
In preparation for the 2016/2017 school year, 6th Grade students are required to take the following courses:
Language Arts 6Math 6
Science/ Health 6Social Studies 6
PE 6**Art 6/ FLES 6/ Home & Careers/ Music 6 (specials)
**Please note, FLES is an exploratory language course where the students will study 5 weeks of French and 5 weeks of Spanish in order to more effectively choose which course they will pursue in 7th Grade.
**The special area classes rotate every 10 weeks.
**If a student has Mandarin Chinese in 6th Grade, they may be enrolled in PE 7 and do not have to take FLES but can be scheduled for it with parent consent.
______Yes, I am interested in having my child study Mandarin Chinese through distance-learning next year.
______If yes, please DO enroll them in the FLES course with Mandarin.
______If yes, please DO NOT enroll them in the FLES course with Mandarin.
Students will automatically be enrolled in their current music performance group for the upcoming 2016/2017 school year, unless both parent/guardian and student request otherwise (see “comments”). We strongly encourage students to maintain their interest in the music program. We also welcome new students to join Chorus. If a student wishes to join Band/ Orchestra for the first time, please contact the Counseling Office and/ or Mr. Lavender for more information on that process. For scheduling purposes, it is understood that this is a full year commitment.
______Chorus 6
______Band 6 (Instrument ______)
______Orchestra 6 (Instrument ______)
**Comments: ______
______
______
Student Signature and Date Parent Signature and Date
This completed form, signed by student and parent, must be submitted by Friday, April 15th to your 5th Grade teacher. We will be holding a Parent Orientation Meeting on Monday, May 23rd in the Clinton Theatre starting at 7:00pm. A schedule will be sent home in August 2016 verifying these choices. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Renee Keyser at (315) 557-2249.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Renee Keyser
Clinton Middle School Counseling Office
March 2016
Dear Parent/Guardians,
Clinton Central School is pleased to provide a unique foreign language experience, Mandarin Chinese, for our sixth grade students during the 2016-2017 school year. Our district, along with several neighboring districts, is participating in a unique global learning experience.
Mandarin Chinese is a course that is offered primarily via distance learning. As Mandarin Chinese is classified as one of the world’s more difficult languages to learn due to the language’s written characters and tonal changes, the traditional levels of learning a world language have altered to insure appropriate acquisition. Therefore, Level 1 will be completed over a three-year time frame, while Level 2 will be completed over a two-year time frame. All subsequent levels will be completed in the traditional one-year time frame.
This introductory course will begin a three-year program of study to achieve Checkpoint A of the New York State standards for the study of a world language. It will present students with the rudimentary basics of listening, reading, speaking and writing. Basic, formative grammatical concepts are introduced and practiced. Students will become familiar with differing tones and their impact on the meaning of words. Students will learn to pronounce the Chinese characters through the use of pinyin, a phonics based system using English sounds and letters that serves as a helpful transition in the recognition of Chinese characters. Students will learn to recognize, read and write Chinese Simplified Characters.
According to an article in District Administration (April 2007, p. 38-46), 200 million Chinese students currently study English; fewer than 50,000 American students study Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of mainland China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. Unlike English, the language is based on characters (not letters), which must be memorized. There are over 50,000 characters!
We are currently establishing the interest level in this exciting program at the sixth grade level. Generally, students must show evidence of high Math and English Language Arts scores on standardized tests, have interest in this program, have a strong work ethic, as well as, integrity. Please return the scheduling form to your child’s teacher by Friday, April 15th, 2016, if your child wishes to take this course. You will be contacted once we have determined the class for next year.
Sincerely,
Shaun Carney, Middle School Principal
Ellen Leuthauser, Elementary Principal