Guiding Principle #4:

Demonstrating a Strong,
Positive Effect on Student
Growth
 Example #1: Parents Letter Home About Tutoring Curriculum
Dear Parents and Guardians:

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Miss Fricke and I am

currently teaching on Thursdays & Fridays in Mrs. Schmidt’s 5th grade
class. A little background about myself: I am an Elementary Education
and History major attending The College of New Jersey with an
expected graduation date of December 2018. I am thrilled to have the
opportunity to teach 5th grade students this year and to be a part of the
Edgewood community for the next couple of weeks.

This letter is to inform you that I will be offering tutoring for the
students in Mrs. Schmidt’s class. I noticed there currently is not a
tutoring program available to the students at the school which is why I
would like to offer this service. At times, I required a tutor and I found
tutoring to be very helpful. That is why I would like to offer this
tutoring program to your children.

I am interested in tutoring students in different types of writing. This

includes, but is not limited to helping students with narrative writing,
poetry, and persuasive/expository writing. I will also help students
with their thesis statements. The tutoring sessions will be offered at
8:15 AM on Thursdays.

If you think you would like to sign up for tutoring, please have the
permission slip filled out by Thursday, March 22nd, 2018. If you have
any questions regarding the tutoring session, feel free to email me at
frickeb1@tcnj.edu.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing back from anyone
who is interested.

Sincerely,

Miss Fricke
 Curriculum and Schedule:
nd
Thursday, March 22 , 2018: Narrative Writing. This tutoring session will focus on five different
ways to capture the audience’s attention. This has already been covered in class so this will be a
review of this topic. The “hook” is an essential part to the narrative, since this is what grabs the
reader’s attention. The students will learn that they can start their narratives with: dialogue, a
question, an elaborate description, interesting fact or a sound effect (onomatopoeia). During this
session, the students will practice writing an introduction to their narratives using these techniques.

Thursday, April 5th, 2018: Narrative Writing. This tutoring session will focus on character
development and the sequence of events. The first fifteen minutes will focus on how to develop
characters throughout the narrative writing. Throughout this tutoring session, the students will learn
about creating character traits and developing a background story for their characters. The next
fifteen minutes will focus on teaching students about how to develop a sequence of events in their
narratives. In this part of the lesson, the students will learn about how the story begins with the
exposition, then transitions into the rising action, then the story peaks at the climax, then the
characters begin to resolve their problems at the falling action, and lastly each narrative will end with
a resolution.

Thursday, April 12th, 2018: Poetry: There are many different kinds of poetry to examine. But on
this day, the curriculum will be focused on haiku and limericks. A haiku poem is generally very
short and they typically focus on nature. Since it will be spring, during this session, we will be
creating a haiku to emphasize the change in the seasons. A haiku often focuses on emotion and how
the changes of the seasons evoke emotions. This will be for the first half of the class. The second half
of the class will focus on limericks. Limericks tend to be silly poems that are five lines each. In
limericks, the first, second and fifth lines rhyme which each other and the third and fourth lines
rhyme with each other. During this workshop, we will make our own limericks.

Thursday, April 19th, 2018: Poetry: This tutoring session is focused on the use of figurative
language in poetry. This will focus on how similes, metaphors, personification, hyperboles, and
alliteration can be used in poetry. The students will be given examples of the figurative language
listed above and will be told how to implement it into their poems. The students will then practice
using the different types of figurative language to create their own poems.

Thursday, April 26th, 2018: Expository Writing: For this tutoring session, we will discuss how the
five paragraph essay is broken into five separate parts: the introduction, detail #1, detail #2, detail #3,
and the conclusion. This is often compared to a hamburger bun since there are five separate parts to a
hamburger bun: the top bun, tomato, lettuce, the hamburger, and the bottom half of the bun. After
discussing the different parts of an essay, this tutoring session will address different ways to say the
word, “said”. The word “said” is often used before a quotation, but there are many different ways to
say the word “said”.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2018: Expository Writing: For this last tutoring session, we will focus on
creating and developing thesis statements. This has already been covered in class so this will be a
review of this topic. The thesis statement is one of the most important components to an expository
essay. For this session, the students will be using their chrome-books to research a topic. A thesis
statement should have at least three parts for when students are writing a five paragraph essay. The
students will be examining thesis statements and as a class we will evaluate which thesis statements
are correct and why the statement fits for the writing.
 Before School Tutoring Permission Slip

Please fill out the below information if you are interested in school tutoring for

your child on Thursday mornings. For further information regarding the curriculum

please see the above pages. Please fill out this form by Thursday, March 22nd, 2018

and check off the day(s) your child will be attending.

_____ Thursday, March 22nd, 2018: Narrative Writing

_____ Thursday, April 5th, 2018: Narrative Writing

_____ Thursday, April 12th, 2018: Poetry

_____ Thursday, April 19th, 2018: Poetry

_____ Thursday, April 26th, 2018: Expository Writing

_____ Thursday, May 3rd, 2018: Expository Writing

Student Name: ______________________________________________________

Teacher/ Grade: _____________________________________________________

Parent/ Guardian Signature_____________________________________________

Emergency Contact/ Phone Number_____________________________________