WELCOME LETTER

Welcome to the new 2019-20 Roseway Heights Middle School (and Mr. Gentile's Social Studies 7th and 8th grade classes!)

I will be teaching three 7th grade and two 8th grade SOCIAL STUDIES this year.  I have taught 6-8th grade language arts and social studies in this building since 1998.

Not quite a dinosaur, but getting there!!!

My online goal is to maintain an almost daily blog for each class on what we are doing in class and what the homework is each week.

Now that we are a middle school again, 2019-20 is our second year of a being a very brand new school community and culture!   Roseway teachers met quite a bit at the end of last year and this year to look at ways to make our second year better, stronger, more efficient, and funner (yes, I did just use "funner" as a word.  I know the rules of grammar and language usage.  I can also break the rules of grammar and language usage.)  

Continuing to build a better middle school is exciting and challenging, but it's also going to continue to be a learning process as we keep working creating a single community with a system of traditions and expectations.

One thing remains the same for us all, however:  the expectation that we all practice SAFE, RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE behavior.  

This includes coming to class on time, being prepared with needed information, and having both materials, as well as completed work.   

Our new motto this year is "Roseway Heights students G.E.T. it!"  Our students give respect, engage daily, and take responsibility  - mantras that we will focus on, teach, model, and discuss all year long.  Not only do we want your students to succeed, we want them to want to succeed as well.

A successful attitude also includes trying your best to be an active, focused member of the classroom community -- being engaged in class, trying to be positive in all interactions with others, and allowing others (including yourself) to share ideas openly. 

It's okay to make mistakes and we all need to support each other when we take a risk.  

Our goal is to create a strong, fun, comfortable, welcoming and SAFE community of learners.  That takes effort from all of us as we venture into this exciting new year.