Mr. Montoya's Classroom
Parent Newsletter
November 2, 2016
Vol.4
Parent Newsletter
November 2, 2016
Vol.4
IMPORTANT DATES:
November 3: ENLACE DAY @ NMSU Field Trip!
November 8: ELECTION DAY NO SCHOOL
November 18-Dec: PARCC Make-Ups and Retakes for Seniors
November 23-25: THANKSGIVING Break NO SCHOOL
Welcome volume 4 of our monthly newsletter for the 2016-2017 school year! This monthly newsletter is dedicated to keeping parents in the communication loop for the three classes that I teach, and functions as a way for our class to be as transparent as possible and established building blocks for family support in achieving student success.
Subject Specific Class Updates
Principles of Democracy: Unit number 3 was here and the United States Constitution was heavily analyzed and a great deal of resources both primary and secondary were utilized to ensure students were exposed to multiple perspectives. We are neck deep in Unit 4: The Three Branches of Government and will be covering this unit until the end of the semester.
Scope and sequence: Nov. 1-15 Legislative Branch Nov. 16-30 Executive Branch Dec. 1-9 Judicial Branch Dec. 12-21 Semester Final Exam prep and testing week
ENLACE: ENLACE Day @ NMSU is Nov. 3rd all day! Please fill out the required paperwork if you plan on attending this wonderful college experience field-trip! We will also have our 7th Annual ENLACE Youth Art and Culture Conference on November 16th and this will take place at the East Mesa Campus of Dona Ana Community College. Please make sure your grades are still improving since we have had a high number of interim notices for a large percentage of ENLACE Students this semester! And as always if you need assistance my classroom is the place to be! Tutoring hours are always posted!
Law Studies: Crime projects are due in the middle of this month! Please make sure they are completed and submitted on the due date as this project holds a great amount of weight for our 2nd 9 weeks grading period. We will also begin diving into the Criminal Justice Process of investigations to end out the fall 2016 semester.
If you have any questions about our class please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience!
Mr. Andrew Montoya
Secondary Instructor
Social Studies Department
Centennial High School
Mr. Montoya's Classroom
Parent Newsletter
October 3, 2016
Vol.3
Parent Newsletter
October 3, 2016
Vol.3
IMPORTANT DATES:
October 7-10: NO SCHOOL FALL BREAK
October 14: ODD CLASSES ONLY
October 17-21 PINK WEEK (See Flyer)
October 18: END OF 1st 9 Week Grading Period
October 19- PSAT Testing AM classes all grades will
be effected
October 21: ODD Classes only??? TBD
October 30: Report Cards Mailed
Welcome volume 3 of our monthly newsletter for the 2016-2017 school year! This monthly newsletter is dedicated to keeping parents in the communication loop for the three classes that I teach, and functions as a way for our class to be as transparent as possible and established building blocks for family support in achieving student success.
Subject Specific Class Updates
Principles of Democracy: With Unit #1 in the books and a project to assess students knowledge as well as a Common Formative Assessment (CFA) we have established a solid understanding of what government is and how various governments function within the 4 functions we have learned. Unit #2 Foundations of US Government has begun and we will focus on Documents, People and Important Terms to gain a greater understanding of the origins of United States Representative Democracy.
ENLACE: We still need important documents sent home for parents to fill out, sign to send back ASAP. We will have our very first field trip scheduled soon and we are working on some exciting collaborations with school, district, and county initiatives. The League of Women Voters or Greater Las Cruces, Dona Ana Coalition Against Bullying and a new innovative social learning lab opportunity for students in the "LAB" are just a few of the opportunities students have been exposed to and will continue to be exposed to this month!
Law Studies: We have developed a good foundation of what laws are and where they are created and during the month of October we will focus on Crime. What crime is classified as, what are the consequences and a snapshot of research on crime rates. We will continue to focus on an introduction to law in the United States and how it relates to our perspective career focus within the Law Studies career pathway.
If you have any questions about our class please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience!
Mr. Andrew Montoya
Secondary Instructor
Social Studies Department
Centennial High School
Mr. Montoya's Classroom
Parent Newsletter
September 6, 2016
Vol.2
Parent Newsletter
September 6, 2016
Vol.2
IMPORTANT DATES:
September 5: NO SCHOOL LABOR DAY
September 12: First Interim Notice Period for D's & F's
September 13-17 CHS Homecoming Week! SEE FLYER----->
September 16 (Friday): ALL EVEN CLASSES ONLY
September 22 NO SCHOOL Staff Professional Development
September 23 NO SCHOOL Parent Teacher Conferences
Welcome volume 2 of our monthly newsletter for the 2016-2017 school year! This monthly newsletter is dedicated to keeping parents in the communication loop for the three classes that I teach, and functions as a way for our class to be as transparent as possible and established building blocks for family support in achieving student success.
I look forward to getting to meet you during parent-teacher conferencing next month. I will be out of town during the actual parent teacher conference day by will open up my schedule to visit each and every parent who would like to come to my class for the next 3 weeks! Please feel free to contact me via email or by calling the school to schedule an appointment with me.
Subject Specific Class Updates
Principles of Democracy: We will be completing our Unit #1 Introduction to Government with a project that will have 3 class period work days built into it. The highest level of learning according to Blooms taxonomy is creating and in my very diverse, project-based learning environment we will show what we know through communicating Unit 1 material through using a project. Please check our POD assignments page for the project rubric as well as step by step guided material for students to find success in completing this project. We will also move on the Unit #2 Foundations of US Government in the weeks to come this month.
ENLACE: We will have our very first series of guest speakers this month and we will be sending important documents home for parents to fill out, sign and send back. We will also be making strides in completing our Cultural Autobiography activity in class as well as developing SMART Goals for this year and beyond. Opportunities to participate within our community will also present themselves this month as well so be on the look-out!
Law Studies: We have developed a good foundation of what laws are and where they are created and at the beginning of September we will be focusing on a project for laws and governance that deals with creativity and applying knowledge of what we have learned about laws. We will also be taking a literary approach to developing our understanding of the Legal System in the United States and how it relates to our perspective career focus within the Law Studies career pathway.
If you have any questions about our class please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience!
Mr. Andrew Montoya
Secondary Instructor
Social Studies Department
Centennial High School
Mr. Montoya's Classroom
Parent Newsletter
August 15, 2016
Vol.1
Parent Newsletter
August 15, 2016
Vol.1
IMPORTANT DATES:
August 15th: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
August 19th: Senior Sunrise @ 6:30am in the courtyard of CHS on the Zia Symbol!
Doughnuts and orange juice will be provided! CHS: Building Tradition since 2012
August 25th: 9th-11th Grade Picture Day
August 26th: Senior Picture Day
August 26th: 1st Meeting of Advisory (Hawk Talk) tentative
Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year! This monthly newsletter is dedicated to keeping parents in the communication loop for the three classes that I teach, and functions as a way for our class to be as transparent as possible and established building blocks for family support in achieving student success.
I am pleased to say that this school year I will have the honor of teaching over 200 students! Your child is in my class for a reason in my mind and it is not by chance that our paths have crossed. I will be using this exciting opportunity as an educator to teach your child/young adult strategies and skills on how to think not what to think, by incorporating 21st century learning and employability skills within the classroom instruction, as well as developing students knowledge and growth in the required standards and benchmarks of each course your child is enrolled in.
Below you will find subject specific class updates where you will get a glimpse of what we are learning in class this month and what you may have the opportunity to assist your child in studying if they require assistance from home.
Please feel free to take a look around our website mrmontoyasclass.net and check back regularly for daily assignments, project rubrics, study material, and general classroom updates. Each course syllabi is located on the respective webpage link above and you will be able to find it quite easily. I participate in a "green classroom" environment and I will be asking for your assistance in virtually signing that you received the syllabus for class through this website. To assist with parent access and classroom equity, there is a mobile version of this website available to ensure you have information at your fingertips regardless of having a computer or not. If this still poses a challenge, please feel free to contact me through your child via letter or call in to the school and I will provide you a hard copy of the course syllabus.
I look forward to getting to meet you during parent-teacher conferencing next month and if at any time you have any questions or need more detailed assistance, please feel free to contact me via email at [email protected] or by calling Centennial at 575-527-9330. I will be sending home a small invitation to sign-up for our class Remind tool so that you can have access to important updates and upcoming events for my class as well as a link to this website.
Subject Specific Class Updates
Principles of Democracy: Our first couple classes together we will build community and learn from each other to create class cohesion. From that we will then dive into Unit #1 of 8 which is titled INTRO TO GOVERNMENT. Intro to Government will consist of an historical approach to the human experience and how government came to be and has continued to adapt and evolve. Unit #1 is scheduled to continue for a planned 8 instructional days taking us to roughly the second week of September.
ENLACE: Welcome to the ENLACE Familia! ENLACE is a class in which students learn about the significance of their past to understand where they aspire to get in their future! This class is overflowing with opportunities for students to prepare for college and career and I am happy to say our first month in this class will be a learning experience that will allow your child to purse a path of culturally identity, goal setting, time management, strategies to find success within the classroom as well as within their community and planning for our very first field trip to NMSU. The ENLACE Parent Coordinator will be contacting parents this month to plan for our first ENLACE Parent Night filled with opportunity and FOOD.
Law Studies: I am glad to say that this Criminal Justice pathway course is filled with diversity and students who are interested in learning about a specific career pathway Centennial offers! We will introduce students this month to the Project Based Learning model right out the gate with a intro to Law studies project that students have commented as "awesome" ,"interesting", "educational" and believe it our not, "FUN". Please feel free to take a look at our Law Studies webpage and review the rubric once it is posted.
If you have any questions about our class please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience!
Mr. Andrew Montoya
Secondary Instructor
Social Studies Department
Centennial High School