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Ms. Kit Murley-Henspeter » Home

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Hello! My name is Kit Murley-Henspeter. I teach middle school English at Athlos Leadership Academy. I have been teaching for ten years. I received my undergraduate degree in Secondary Education from University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2006. I also have my Master's degree in Literacy Education from Hamline University. Authentic literacy is my passion. My goal as an educator is to assist students in reaching their full potential in reading and writing, as well as in life.
 
During my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family - my husband, Evan, our daughter, Azalea, our son, Wilson, and our black Labrador, Manny.  We enjoy taking walks around Lake Nokomis in South Minneapolis and relaxing with some good reading. 
 
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
 

Posts

18-19 MCA Parent Letter

The attached memo contains information about the upcoming MCA assessments. Students will be taking the Reading MCA during the week of 3/4-3/7.  In the event that your student will be absent on a testing day, please reach out to me in advance so that I can notify our school’s assessment coordinator to make alternate arrangements for your student.

 

Per state requirements, students are unable to have access to their cell phones or wearable technology at any time during MCA testing or during breaks from MCA testing. In the event that a student has access to a cell phone or wearable technology during testing, the student’s test is required to be invalidated, even if the student did not use the device. Having a cell phone or device in a pocket or other accessible location is considered “having access”. Wearable technology includes, but is not limited to smart watches and fitness trackers.

 

On dates when your student is scheduled to take MCA assessments, your student will check in their phone and/or device with me on the morning of testing. I will label the phone/device and keep it in a locked cupboard until the end of the school day at which time I will return the phone/device to the student.

 

Valentine's Day Flower Sale

Students will be able to purchase flowers for any other student if they bring in 1$. The notes and flowers will be delivered on Valentine's Day. The dates for buying is Jan 7th-Jan 25th. Parents can buy flowers for students in the front office. 

Box Top Competition

We will be competing in a school wide competition to collect boxtops. 8th grade will be competing against all other grades. Bring in box tops until January 31st.

8th Grade MCAs

8th grade MCAs are fast approaching!  Below is a general schedule for the three tests each 8th grader will take.  We will schedule make-up days for students that are absent or if other schedule changes occur. 

Reading:  Week of March 5th

Science:  Week of April 2nd

Math:  Week of April 9th

 

Please review the following announcement regarding our upcoming MCA assessments:

Per state requirements, students are unable to have access to their cell phones or wearable technology at any time during MCA testing or during breaks from MCA testing. In the event that a student has access to a cell phone or wearable technology during testing, the student’s test is required to be invalidated, even if the student did not use the device. Having a cell phone or device in a pocket or backpack in the testing room is considered “having access”. Wearable technology includes, but is not limited to smart watches and fitness trackers.

 

On dates when your student is scheduled to take MCA assessments, your student will check in their phone and/or device with their homeroom teacher on the morning of testing. The homeroom teacher will label the phone/device and keep it in a locked cupboard until the end of the school day at which time the teacher will return the phone/device to the student.

 

Winter Conferences

Hello! 

Parent conferences are on Friday, February 16th. Middle school conferences will be held in the same manner as fall conferences. A letter will be going home soon with specific details. 
 
I hope to see you there!

World Fair

Please join us for the Athlos World Fair on Tuesday, February 13!
 
Eighth Graders will be representing France!
 
We hope to see you there. 

Poetry

8th Graders will be focusing on poetry for the next few weeks.  Students will review poetic devices such as metaphor and symbolism and will apply their close reading strategies to understand figurative language in poetry to analyze higher level poems.