6th Grade Weekly Newsletter
4/13 - 4/16
AMI-X - Tuesday, April 20th (repeat)
- Students will NOT be reporting to school that day.
- Students will participate in their learning remotely by working on assigned work either on paper that will be sent home the previous day and/or online work assigned through Google Classroom. Teachers are expected to post a video on Google Classroom to walk students through the directions that day.
- There will be no live instruction for students on this learning day (aka NO Google Meets).
- Students are encouraged to email their teachers if and/or when they have questions but to be patient for a response since teachers will be in and out the building for vaccinations.
Friday FPC Incentive
Parents and Students need to be aware of the following things in order to participate in our weekly incentive:
- Students need to have their missing/current work turned in by each Thursday by 11:59pm.
- Teachers will be updating grades no later than Friday by 7:30am.
- If a student turns in an assignment during the school day on Friday, teachers are unable to grade it before FPC time and students are unable to participate in the incentive.
- If it is a mistake (teachers do make mistakes), students are responsible to show their FPC teacher that the assignment is not marked missing in their Student Portal.
2021 MAP Testing
Map Testing Information for 6th Grade
- Testing will occur on Wednesday, May 5th (morning) and Thursday, May 6th (afternoon).
- Students will only be testing over Math and ELA ONLY.
- Students are discouraged to bring cellphones and/or smartwatches during those days for interference of validation of these tests. If students do bring these materials, they will be collected and stored in a safe place during the time of testing.
- Students are unable to pair their Bluetooth headphones (ex. airpods) to their Chromebooks while taking the tests with the program. They will need headphones or earbuds that connect by a wire.
- Students NEED to have their Chromebook charged and ready to go during the testing days. This prevents their Chromebook from shutting down during the test.
Congrats to our 6th Grade Students who received this week's Character Strong Trait!
Information from the 6th Grade Team
ELA
This week, we continued our Close Reading Unit. We have gone over denotation/connotation, tone/mood, and now all the types of figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, idioms, hyperboles, and allusions). Next week, we will be having a quiz over all of this on Thursday, April 22nd. Review materials will be posted on Tuesday on their AMI-X Day to go over and study.
We also continued our Social Justice Reading Passion Project. This will act as our overall assessment of this unit. It is an ongoing project that will focus on a social justice issue by reading a book and then using close reading strategies to determine overall meaning by using comprehension, author's craft and structure, and applying historical/cultural contexts. We will have one full work a day a week on Thursdays as well as a whole class discussion to reflect on what we are learning and our progress on Fridays.
If you have any questions, please let me know!
Science
This week in science we have been showing how the moon changes over time and predicting past and future moon phases. The kids are starting to really get it, but there are some who still struggle with waxing (light on the right) and waning (light on the left). We will continue to master these two concepts. We ended the week "creating" the moon phases with Oreos. Thank you to all who donated Oreos to help us do this engaging activity!
Math
We are continuing to work with ratios and students have gotten very good at making equivalent ratio tables and graphing the ratios they find. This next week we will be taking the mid-topic assessment over ratios and then we will start to learn about rates and unit rates. Pretty soon students will be able to find the better buy of many different products. Remember if you have any questions or concerns, please email me. Have a great weekend.
Important!
Please read the attached letter from Dr. Haniger, regarding the Math Pathways (Accelerated) program available for 6th students next year in 7th grade.
Social Studies
We wrapped up our unit of Central/Latin America. Students have done an excellent job working on and presenting their jam board gallery walks this week. Students made a lot of connections to Central American life, struggles, and culture by answering their essential question: "What is important and why."
Starting next week we will begin a very short unit over South America. Students will be able to identify and understand the population, government, and culture of all the South American countries. This is the last country that we will cover in the Western Hemisphere before we move overseas to the Eastern Hemisphere to discuss Africa and Europe.
Specials
P.E.
We continued our weight room groups this week and participated in some stations that included Badminton, 4-square, Ultimate Beanbag, Hacky Sack, and Juggling. Next week we are hoping to get outside to compete in our 2021 Barry Olympic games where students will participate in a number of events ranging from track and field to sport skills and teamwork activities.
Band
In 6th Grade Band, woodwinds and brass students have been busy preparing for our Spring Band Concert! I am very excited to share that we will have an in-person band concert on Wednesday, May 19th in the Barry School Gym. 6th Grade Band will perform at 6:00pm. Please read the attached letter for more information in regards to our Spring Concert and add that date to your family calendar!
6th Grade percussion students have been preparing for our annual Platte County percussion showcase, DRUM! You should have received some communication from percussion teacher Mr. Bailey in regards to this event on May 7th. If you have not, or have any questions, please reach out! Percussion students will also be preparing for the Spring Band Concert on May 19th. Please also read the attached letter in regards to the concert and add that date to your family calendar!
If you are not hearing your student practice at home, please encourage them to do so. Students should be practicing 20-30 minutes per day and have weekly practice journals in Google Classroom that contain weekly assignments.
Choir
Please see the Choir Concert information in the pdf linked below. If you have any questions or comments, please email Mrs. Duffy/Ms. Rolls.
Art
Please email Mr. Elliott if you have questions or concerns.
World Language
From now on, Hannah Rivers will be taking over this class since Mrs. Lackey will out for maternity leave. Please email Miss Rivers if you have questions or concerns at riversh@platteco.k12.mo.us.
This week in World Cultures class the 6th graders learned about French culture and how it compares and contrasts with American culture. They have also been working on mastering French numbers up to 10. Next week they will be finishing up the French Unit and will have their assessment project, a France Travel Blog.
Computers
Students are finishing up their practice assignments for Google Sheets. They've learned a lot about simple formulas, making charts, and setting up data tables. Next week, they will take an assessment over Google Slides and Sheets combined.
Reading 180
Please email Ms. Berglund if you have any questions or concerns.
Important Dates to Remember
Tuesday, April 20th: AMI-X Day - Students don't report to school/online learning day without Google Meets.
Wednesday, April 21st: PLC Day - Students are released at 12:50pm
Sunday, April 25th: Trolley Run Day