"All about Me" assignment

Writing Assignment

Goal: produce a piece of writing that shows me how well you write.

• do not ask me how long; our goal is always quality over quantity
• what makes a quality piece of writing?

 Created by: writingprompts.tumblr.com

Welcome back letter

Welcome back!

Today is the first day of over one hundred eighty days we are going to spend together.  My greatest hope is this will be a time of great learning and fun together.  I recently saw the quote, "I care more about the people my students become than the scores they get on tests." The more time I spend teaching, the more this idea seems to hold true for me.

This will be my seventeenth year of teaching. Man, am I getting old? I think this will be my ninth year at Highview. I never thought I would stay at one school for this long, but Highview has been such a great community it is hard to imagine leaving. I am really excited to be teaching grade 6 again this year. When people have asked me what my favourite grade to teach would be, I've always said grade 6.

Since I will be learning about you, I thought I would share a little bit about me. I was born in Sarnia, but my family moved to Toronto when I was only five. I am the third of four boys (my poor mother). Two passions ruled my childhood, sports and comics. The year I moved to Toronto was the first year the Blue Jays existed. I have been a die-hard fan ever since. I've celebrated the two World Series victories and suffered through some rough seasons (like this year). I played baseball in high school, even playing with a couple of eventual major league players. I credit comic books for my reading passion. I've noticed that the people making superhero movies today, like "X-Men" and "The Avengers", are my age.

My biggest influence during my teenage years were my experiences at camp. From working at a summer camp, I discovered I wanted to be a teacher and I loved spending time in the great outdoors. Eventually, I even met my wife to be at camp. My wife and I still spend parts of our summer on canoe trips whenever possible.

This past summer my wife and I took a trip to Algonquin Park. Our dog, Toby, is getting older and we thought we would take him for some canoeing and swimming. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time. 

A large part of my leisure time this summer was spent playing golf. I have only just gotten back into playing golf in the last three or four years, but I have caught the bug in a big way. No matter how badly I play, I can't wait to get out again to see if I can get better.  It certainly keeps me humble. During the school year, my sport of choice is volleyball. I play a couple of nights a week.

My big passion all year long is reading. Mr. Kaufman calls my book collection a library! Though my library is not growing very fast, because I'm reading more and more e-books. I read about 20 books this summer, including a number of books in preparation for teaching grade 6. You will notice I couldn't make up my mind on our first read aloud!  I hope we will be able to share many great books together. What are your favourite books?

I hope over the next days and weeks I will have the opportunity to get to know all of you better. What is important to you? It looks like a great year ahead.

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                T. Congram

Vote for the first read aloud of the year

Click on the book titles and you can read a summary and some book reviews. When you've decided, select the book you would like to start the year with below. Choose wisely!

Skeleton Creek


 Out of My Mind

 Bird

First Day Checklist

1. timetables
2. lockers (187-197 and 217-232)
3. textbooks
4. homework/blog/agendas
5. Lunch routines
6. Entry/Exit/Fire Procedures
7. Classroom Rules
8. Personal devices (iPods/iPads/laptops)
9. Questions/concerns

Introducing Mr. Congram

What Every Teacher Should Know About Me

Parent Contact Information

Welcome to our classroom blog. 

This will be my primary means of communicating with you about what is happening in the class each day. On the top right corner of the page, you can subscribe to our blog and receive a daily email between 3 and 5 pm directly to your email. Before the students leave at the end of the day, the students and I will complete a blog entry indicating all homework, upcoming assignments, and important events happening at our school. Agendas will not be mandatory in my class this year. My hope is that between home and school we can develop a plan that will work for the individual student. However, agendas are available at a cost of $6.00.

On the blog I will be posting a great deal of useful information, such as:

• homework assignments
• assessment information (how work is being marked)
• learning goals for literacy and math
• links to provide students with extra practice
• texts (videos, readings etc.) for students to enrich class discussions and activities 
• links to all online tools we will be using in class
• calendar of events

I would also like to compile email addresses for the parents/guardians in the class, so that I can occasionally send out group emails about important events, projects, etc. You can click on the link below to fill in the contact information of up to two people for each student:

PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION

If you need to contact me, I would prefer if you email me directly using my board email address timothy.congram@yrdsb.ca or call the school at 905-727-6642 (email is probably the most reliable if you looking for a timely response).


Thank you for taking the time to fill out this form. I'm looking forward to a great year!