Greetings Students, Parents and Guardians!  Welcome to School Year 2023/2024! 

For 6th grade English Language Arts (ELA), 6th grade Ancient History, 7th grade World History, and 8th grade Directed Studies, my students will be working with paper and pencil classwork/homework assignments, as well as, occasionally, google docs or slide decks within their assigned google classrooms (virtual classrooms).  I will be introducing my students to their google classrooms during the first few days of school, but for earlier and easier reference, here are the codes for my google classrooms this year:

1st Period 6th grade ELA:    k43wj7y

2nd Period 6th grade ELA:   tckjvi3     

3rd period 6th grade Ancient History:   ycxts6r

4th period 7th grade World (Medieval) History:    p7sx7rh 

5th period 8th grade Directed Studies:     yeh5bf7   

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     Born in Santa Monica, California, I have spent the last 34 years living, working, and raising my family in Ventura.  Educated at Loyola Marymount University, I went on to obtain my Education Specialist teaching credential at Camarillo's own Cal State University Channel Islands, and have enjoyed being in the classroom ever since.  My family and I spend a lot of time outdoors surfing, playing tennis, or hiking whenever we can. 

     My goal is to have my students grow in their own speaking, reading, and writing of the English language, and understanding of humanity's past, while deepening their critical and analytical thinking skills in an open and supportive learning environment.

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*Reminders and tips:

*Parents and Guardians: Please remember to encourage your students to read at home regularly from whatever subject and type of material interests them that is NOT ALREADY ASSIGNED AS HOMEWORK.  It is to be freely chosen reading for their pleasure and independent interest (i.e. fiction and non-fiction books, magazines, comic books, instruction manuals - with your approval, of course). My ELA students must keep their class READING LOG current.  The reading log is worth valuable homework points in my grading system, and is checked every week. Students are to read at least 20 minutes per night, for 5 nights a week; however, I appreciate, and give credit for 'honest' log entries of more, or less time.  It is each student's responsibility to complete his/her reading log entry (Title, Author, date, minutes read), and obtain his/her parent's verifying initials for each log entry. 

Your student will be issued a "Mustang" planner/agenda showing a week at a time, usually with 5 different text boxes, rows, or columns (for each subject) for each day to write down class assignments each day.  Use of the agenda/planner will be taught and reinforced by your student's teachers, particularly in Directed Studies classes. ***Please take time to review your student's agenda/planner as often as possible. The assignment entries/notes should be clear and detailed enough so that you, and your student, know exactly what each assignment entails. 

*Also, please remember, student assignments/grades can be viewed on the "Parent Connect" system available on our Las Colinas website, or viewed within your student's particular Google classroom.  All parents and guardians will be invited by email to "join" their student's google classroom, and I urge you to accept the invitation.

Here's to a great school year!

Thank you, 

Gerry Escallier