THE CLASSROOM CONNECTION
6th Grade Newsletter
WELCOME TO 6th GRADE!
We have successfully completed the first two weeks of school. We hope your child is settling in to the adjustments made in middle school this year. In an attempt to keep you connected to the classroom, we will be sending out a newsletter every 2 weeks. This will be a condensed update of what your child is learning in class and notification of any upcoming due dates. This does not replace our teacher websites so please continue to visit those or contact us directly, if you have further questions.
MATH / MRS. MILLER
Based on what Math class your child is in, this is what we have been working on:
MS Math 2: Rational Numbers
HS Math 1: Expressions, Equations and Variables
SCIENCE / MS. TORRES
During the first week students analyzed class expectations / procedures and established goals for the first quarter. Students gained a greater understanding that these expectations will be higher in comparison to fifth grade.
PROJECT BASED LEARNING: This year students will be utilizing a class binder to facilitate organization of the projects they are completing.
UPCOMING DUE DATE: FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11
First Project: Review of scientific inquiry (due September 11th).
SCIENCE FAIR: Setting the foundation for a successful science fair process please review an important document at the front of the science fair binder. It is a timeline for the science fair process that needs to be signed at the bottom and after each component is completed (adjacent to the due date).
UPCOMING DUE DATE: BACKGROUND RESEARCH notes and report
This year students should be utilizing a variety of resources (documentaries, articles, interviews...) for their background research not just general websites.
Please thoroughly review and discuss with your child their experiment plan so last minute changes can be avoided.
Evaluate for: cost, time frame, materials required, and your comfort level regarding the degree of safety (as some projects may require more direct and active supervision).
CLASS KANUGA TRIP
Please review information posted on the wikipage.
REMINDER: Similarly to last year, students and parents are reminded to utilize the wikipage consistently for class information and resources.
LANGUAGE ARTS / MRS. KUHN
Students will be reading stories from the Junior Great Book Series. Each story gets progressively longer and more complex building on previous skills learned.
Sixth Graders read Through the Tunnel, by Doris Lessing. We held discussions about the main character and his motivations, discovering how much the plot was tied in to Jerry's emotions. We will be reading another story from that book next week.
The Grammar segment of our class this year is the Caesar's English II program. We will also add in vocabulary from other books that we read. Quizzes will generally be given on Fridays.
UPCOMING DUE DATE: THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 10
Our first writing assignment this week was to write a summary of a nonfiction article. Students were taught how to take notes on an article identifying the key points, and how to organize a summary into a paragraph. Winnowing out the key points is sometimes challenging. This is one type of writing where, "Less is more!". The final copy of this summary is due next Thursday, 09/10/2015. Students will need to complete this as homework.
SOCIAL STUDIES / MS. ELLINGTON
GEOGRAPHY / MAP SKILLS
Students sharpened their map skills by reviewing the physical geography of the world using latitude and longitude coordinates. Students are developing mental maps to understand the location of world regions and important physical features of places. This will lay the groundwork for the study of world history by exploring the relationship between physical geography and human geography.
Students will continue studying the 5 Themes of Geography this week by researching a city, state, or country. When the research is completed students will try to guess their classmates location based on their description using the 5 themes of geography.
Geography Review: To help students with their geography, I have posted a great list of educational games and quizzes on my website
TEACHER TALKS
The Middle School Teacher Talks will consist of six, 15 minute sessions. Parents will arrive and go directly to their child's homeroom. They will be given a schedule to follow in order to see all core teachers, which includes their foreign language teacher. We look forward to seeing you soon.