September 2

Dear 7th and 8th grade Students and Parents,

Welcome back to a new and exciting school year! To get started, here are a few required items that you will need to start off this semester.

1) 1 marble notebook (preferably more than 100 pages)
2) 1 folder
3) Loose leaf paper
4) 2 pens, 1 pencil
5) Markers/crayons/color pencils (for in class use)
6) Glue stick

Please have these items with you within the first few days of school. Students will receive many important handouts and it is crucial that they have a folder labeled ‘Social Studies’ in order to store everything. For the 7th grade, we will be studying American history from prehistoric times to the end of the Civil War. 8th graders will be focusing on the period after the Civil War up until the 21st century. We will be doing a lot of interactive and hands-on work involving picture/photo analysis, creating advertisements and cartoons, writing and performing scripted dialogues, etc. In addition, the 8th grade will also be taking the New York State Social Studies Grade 8 Intermediate Exam in June.

Please feel free to contact me at mfong2@schools.nyc.gov if you have any questions. Our class blogs are grade7sswjps.blogspot.com (for the 7th grade) and grade8sswjps.blogspot.com (for the 8th grade). Parents and students alike are encouraged to visit these sites for information on the class, homework, updates, etc.
I look forward to working with all of you this school year!

Sincerely,



Ms. Fong
7th and 8th grade social studies instructor