Accelerated Reader The Accelerated Reader is a reading comprehension testing program. This part of the curriculum encourages students to read books at their appropriate levels. Instead of book reports, the students take a 5 to 20 question quiz (depending on the reading level) on the computer. No test can be passed unless the student reads the entire book. Reading goals are set, and the students strive to read as many books as possible, pass all the tests, and raise their reading levels. Students read independently at school for 15 - 30 minutes each day and should be reading 30 minutes at home every night. Research shows that if students are given one hour of independent reading a day, they will read over 4 million vocabulary words a year. The more vocabulary words learned, the higher test scores will be. Name Subject(s) Taught Ms. Deborah Banuelos English 6 Ms. Marlene Camacho English 6 & ELD Ms. Andrea Procter English 6 Mrs. Elise Ragusa English 6 Mrs. Dina Carter English 7 & ELD Mrs. Tracy Knibb English 7 Mrs. Alyson Shields English 7 Mrs. Tracy Knibb English 8 & ELD Ms. Patti Garcia English 8 Ms. April Partin English 8 Mr. Steve Desalernos ELD Mrs. Judy Diulio ELD Mr. Chris Donahue ELD & Creative Writing Mrs. Diane Bow Language & Journalism Mr. Chris Bowen Title 1 Reading A complete list of AR Books are available in alphabetical order. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view the list. Click on the link below to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. We ask all parents to encourage reading in the home. It would be wonderful to make reading a family activity. Parents can stay involved in their child's AR progress by requesting an AR report. The students can print a report and bring it home that day. MY Access! The writing program, MY Access!, is continuing to make a great impact on West Middle School students. You can access it online at gomyaccess.com. 80 wireless laptops are available for student use (on a rotating basis). Students utilize the MY Access! writing program to write to prompts that directly correlates with the Prentice Hall literature text currently adopted by the Downey Unified School District. Students develop effective writing skills addressing the writing process including prewriting, drafting, organizing, and revising strategies. Parents can view their child's progress by logging on to the web site www.gomyaccess.com. Usernames and passwords must be given. If the student does not remember his/her passwords, parents can e-mail the English teacher by logging on the www.schoolnotes.com. The teacher will e-mail the parent back with that information. Schoolnotes.com Parents can keep informed of their child's homework and class work by logging on to www.schoolnotes.com. When the zip code 90242 Is typed in, all teachers at West Middle School will be listed. Click on a teacher's name to get his/her personal class page. There is an e-mail option at the top of each page. Teachers at West Middle School check their e-mail daily. We would be happy to answer any of your e-mails (this is for the use of parents as well as students). Novels to be read in class: Parents, would you like to read the required novels with your child? In spring, the following books will be read in West M.S.'s classes: Grade 6: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Grade 7: The Giver Grade 8: The Diary of Anne Frank (play version)