My name is Rebekah Newhouse and I am so excited to be your child’s ELA teacher this year. I was born and raised in Arizona and my extended family still lives there. I also lived and taught for 6 years in Colorado. I moved to New Jersey 20 years ago and have been teaching in New Jersey since then. Although I love going to the beach, I really miss the mountains! It is always good to go home to Arizona to visit my family and spend time in the there.

This is my 6th year at Asher Holmes and my 27th year of teaching. I have taught both elementary and special education classes during my career. 4th and 5th grades are my favorite grades to teach. My goal as an English/Language Arts teacher is to find ways to show my students how much fun reading and writing can be. It will be my personal challenge to connect students with books that they find interesting and engaging. I will also be helping students to focus on adding details and descriptions to their writing in addition to working on organization and structure.

The first novel we will be reading as a class is called Frindle by Andrew Clements. Frindle is the story of Nick Allen and his desire to show his teacher Mrs. Granger that words can come from anywhere. Even though Nick is known to be the funny guy, this in one thing he is serios about. He is determinded to make a pen into a "Frindle." This story gets students thinking creatively about words and where they come from. We will also be reading a book called Rules. This is a story about a girl, Catherine, and her younger brother, David, who is autisic. Catherine feels like she needs to always take care of her brother. Here is a summary of the book: Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public" -- in order to head off David's embarrassing behaviors.But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

Please feel free to contact me through email at [email protected] . You can also write a note in your child’s planner which I check every day. I am looking forward to getting to know your child and to a wonderful year ahead.