6th Grade Newsletter
Autrey Mill Lions
October 1 - October 12
Important Upcoming Dates:
Friday, October 5: Teacher Workday (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS)
Monday, October 8: Columbus Day (NO SCHOOL)
Wednesday, October 17: Fall Picture Make-Up Day
A message from Ms. Chans
Dear Parents/Guardians,
You have likely heard about the upcoming nationwide test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) scheduled for next week. The communication below was disseminated to all FCBOE employees and our families recently. Since this test will likely be a disruption to our learning environment, on Wednesday 10/3 at approximately 2:18 pm, we will be conducting a safety drill around this time frame.
To prepare for this test next Wednesday afternoon please:
· Carefully read the communication below.
· Talk to your students about the importance of following our school-wide rule of having cellphones turned off and in their lockers (as they will likely have alerts sent to them as well).
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Ms. Chans
Academic Information
Reading:
Reading is starting our last mini-unit, Analyzing Characters as Vehicles for Themes in the Unit: A Deep Study of Character. Students will begin investigating how characters act as vehicles for themes in novels. Our class will learn to consider the troubles characters face as possible motifs, or subjects the author is preoccupied with, and to find passages in their own novels where these motifs appear. Students will also begin to question the text more deeply, asking what the author suggests about these motifs, and developing possible thematic statements. Ms. Showfety is thrilled to see the amount of reading our 6th graders are doing and the work they are putting into the mini-units. Our Unit Test is scheduled for Friday, October 12th.
Math-
6 On-Level Math
We will have a quiz on October 3, which will cover Least Common Multiple, Greatest Common Factor (NS.4), and Dividing fractions with models and the algorithm (NS.1). Next, we will be solving fraction division word problems and learning about the distributive property. Our tentative test date is Thursday, October 18.
6 Advanced Math
We are beginning Unit 2 Part 2. We will start by reviewing fraction and decimal operations, then we will Operate with rational numbers (NS.1 & NS.2). Our tentative quiz date is Tuesday, October 16.
7A Math
Our next unit is Unit 2 Expressions and Equations. We are learning about the math properties and algebraic vocabulary which will help us combine like terms to write equivalent expressions with rational numbers. We will use the distributive property to expand and simplify expressions involving rational numbers. There is a quiz tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, 10/16.
Social Studies:
We are wrapping up our European Economics and Government unit. Next week, students will be creating a project on a European country where they will be researching the economy, government and culture of the country. This project is counting as the unit test for the European Economics and Government unit.
Starting the week of Oct. 9th, we will begin our European History unit. We will be referring back to our European Geography and Econ/Gov standards as we delve deeper into history from exploration to more recent years from the European perspective.
Earth Science
Students will have their first test on Tuesday October 2, students received study guides to prepare for this test on September 24 and will review in class for the test on 10/1. As always, any students struggling or needing additional help are encouraged to attend help sessions.
6th Grade Science students just completed their first project, writing a newspaper article on a geologic event such as an earthquake, volcano or tsunami. Students presented their work to teachers and peers.
We are very excited to begin our next unit on rocks, minerals and soil.
Spanish:
¡Hola! ¡Cómo está usted?
(Hello! How are you?) Students are having short conversations with peers, and these conversations are expanding to cover more topics. The next topic will be favorite activities. We are also learning a song that names the Spanish-speaking countries. Students are researching the flags and what they symbolize for the people of these countries.
Un saludo cordial,
Señora O’Brien
ELA:
ELA is enjoying the exploration of our fictional short stories unit. In this unit, we are analyzing how theme, plot, setting, and point of view are developed through different passages, and short stories.
Our quiz for this unit will be a short story analysis on the development of theme, setting, and plot. It will be given on Wednesday, October 3.
The Unit 1-B Test will include the development of theme, setting, plot, and point of view within various texts. A study guide will be given from your child’s teacher and will need to be completed prior to the test. This test will be held on Friday, October 12.
As always, we thank you for your support,
The ELA Team
6th Grade Weekly Help Sessions Schedule
Academic Help Sessions
Connections Help Sessions
Other Help Session Info
- Help sessions provide an opportunity for students to gain extra practice in a particular subject area.
- Teachers rotate who leads each subject's help session each week. Therefore, students may go to any teacher's help session, even if they don't have that teacher.
- Students must come to sessions with questions, a pen/pencil, and paper.
- For the morning sessions, students will wait in the cafeteria until they are picked up by the teacher leading that session at 8:00 a.m. Students must be on time, and they must be attentive so that they can hear when their session is called. Late students will not be admitted down the hallway.
- For the afternoon sessions, students go directly to the teacher hosting the help session after the dismissal bell rings. Students must be picked up on time at 4:40 p.m. in front of the school.