6th Grade Weekly Newsletter
10/12 - 10/22
Family Dare
We hope you took advantage of reaching out to a loved one these past two weeks! It's hard to keep in touch with loved ones who are far away when travel can be difficult as the pandemic continues.
New Family Dare - Pick Up game
Better yet, grab some neighbors or friends and see if you can get a community game going with families and friends.
Character Strong Recognition
Weekly Character Strong Winners at Barry School
6th Grade Restroom Reminders
Please remind them that these are the expectations for the 6th-grade team when using restrooms during school hours:
- Passing time is to be used to take care of business before class starts. Please fill up water bottles and use the restroom during this time before coming to class before the tardy bell rings. If a student is worried about being marked tardy, have them drop off their materials first so teachers know they are here.
- When a teacher is giving active instructions or guiding students through notes, this is NOT the time to responsibly leave the classroom for a bathroom break. Wait until independent or group time occurs to use the bathroom during class or wait until passing time to the next class.
- If your student needs to use the restroom and is being directed to not leave the classroom at that time, it could be for a variety of reasons. Please reach out to the classroom teacher if you are noticing concerns and would like more information. However, if it is an emergency, please encourage your student to let the teacher know before leaving during any type of instructional time.
- It should take a student no longer than 3 minutes maximum to use the restroom and return to class if it is not an emergency situation.
Teachers will be tracking students starting in 2nd Quarter with their bathroom usage, so we can make sure students are using their valuable instruction time in classes as much as possible. If needed, consequences and punishments may be administered for certain situations.
Barry Book Fair
Ms. Stephenson will also be planning on being open during conferences on November 3rd from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm and then on November 4th from 3:30 to 7 pm at Barry School.
Payment methods are the following: Cash, check (made out to PCR3), credit/debit card. Please remember that tax will NOT be included in prices but applied when checking out.
If you have any questions, please email Ms. Stephenson at stephenn@platteco.k12.mo.us.
Information from the 6th Grade Team
ELA
This past two weeks, we have continued our new unit: Theme and Summary. Since I had to be gone multiple days in a row due to being ill, we will continue to practice using plots to help us write summaries and good themes. However, we will be practicing using actual short stories instead of Pixar Shorts.
As always, please encourage your student to keep reading at least 20 minutes a day! We try our best as teachers to encourage this habit if students have free time during the school day, but middle school gets busy with assignments to work on and incentives for LiveSchool. It will help students reach their weekly reading goals and, hopefully, make progress on their 1st Quarter Reading Journal that we update weekly on our Library Days. The due date for the 1st Quarter Reading Journal is TODAY, and it will be for an assessment grade (the only one not able to turn in late or redo). We will have a new reading journal for 2nd Quarter starting next week.
Science
This week in Science we are continuing to identify rocks as sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous based on how they are formed. We have used a Snickers bar and Starbursts (thank you to all who donated) to model the processes of the rock cycle.
We finished this week starting our first project. The rock cycle project will be an assessment score and will be due Monday, October 25th at the end of the hour. It will be our first 2nd Quarter grade.
Also next week, Wednesday, October 27, we will have a quiz on the processes of the rock cycle. See below for study materials.
On Friday, October 29 we have a special guest teaching the force of water to our students through models and demos.
Math
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th Hours
The Topic 1 Assessment is scheduled for Monday, 10/25, and Tuesday, 10/26. This will be a two-part test. Monday the test will be on the computer and you will be allowed a calculator. (Make sure to bring your calculator on this day!) Students will also have the opportunity to make corrections to the test during the same class on their answer document for full credit for any question they may get incorrect. Tuesday the test will be on paper and students will not be allowed a calculator. I will need to grade this by hand so I will need some time to get these graded and back to students. (Students should know their final grade by the end of the week.)
To get ready for this test this week we have been working on a study guide in class and a review game. I have posted on google classroom a copy of the study guide along with the answer key for students to use at home to help them study. Students were also told to take their binders home this weekend to study. I have also put two reviews (Quizziz) up on Google Classroom to help students study over the weekend.
1st and 5th Hours
Students have been working hard on finishing Topic 1 over Positive Rational Numbers and are flying through our next topic Integers and Rational numbers. In this topic, students will be adding negative numbers to their knowledge and graphing in all four quadrants. Students are more than welcome to work on these topics at home or during academic lab. I will have grades updated by the end of this weekend.
Social Studies
For the last 2 weeks, we have been finishing up our first unit over introduction to physical and human geography. The students have been exploring different systems of economy by playing a board game that demonstrated a specific economy where they were able to purchase resources.
This last week students took their Intro to physical and human geography test. This will be the first grade of the second quarter. This will allow students who would like the opportunity to retake the assessment enough time to complete the requirements to retake and prepare for the test retake. Students will have two weeks to complete the retake if they would like to do so. Retake request forms are printed out in my classroom, students just need to request one or take one from the request form folder I have posted in my room.
This next week we will begin our second unit exploring North America and Canada. We will also be looking at locating and naming the 50 states in this unit. I'm excited about everything we will be doing this next quarter.
Specials
PE
We introduced our Ultimate Games unit and participated in Ultimate Bean Bag along with a Fitness Day and Cardio Day outside. We played an Eclipse Ball tournament and went through our Weight Room orientation in order to start having groups in there working out.
Choir
Choir updates can be found on our website: https://barryschoolchoirs.weebly.com/
You can also follow Mrs. Harris on Twitter to see what is happening in choir @mrsharrismusic
Band
If you have any questions or concerns, please email our new Instrumental Music Teacher Mackenzie Brazier at brazierm@platteco.k12.mo.us.
Art
6th grade students are working on finishing up their ceramic animal hybrids. They will begin glazing their animals as soon as possible, before the quarter ends.
World Language
Monday starts a new quarter which means new electives for most 6th graders!
Welcome to 6th Grade World Languages. Students will come home with a syllabus stating our learning goals for the quarter. In a nutshell: we study Spanish, French, and Chinese as our 3 main languages. Please ensure your child has a folder for World Language with some lined notebook paper inside of it. Adios, au revoir, and zai jian!
Computer Literacy
Students are wrapping up the quarter with a quick lesson on digital citizenship and some fun sketching and design software. Their last day in computer literacy is Friday, October 22nd. A new group of 6th graders will start on October 25th.
PLTW - Flight and Space
The 6th graders I currently have just finished up their quarter. The kids learned a lot about the science behind traveling to space. The final project was planning a trip to Mars which included building a Mars lander prototype. The 2nd quarter students are just getting ready to start and I'm really excited to go through this course with them. Students will start by learning about Newton's laws and some basic forces of flight.
Reading 180
If you have any questions or concerns, please email our new Reading Specialist Tanya Fleming at flemingt@platteco.k12.mo.us.
Important Dates to Remember
Thursday, October 28th: Character Council and Pirates R.O.C.K. visits 6th Grade
Friday, October 29th: 1st Quarter Report Cards Sent Home
Friday, October 29th: Barry Spooktacular 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Wednesday, November 3rd: Parent-Teacher Conferences by appointment from 3 pm - 7:30 pm
Thursday, November 4th: Parent-Teacher Conferences by appointment from 3 pm - 7 pm
Friday, November 5th: NO SCHOOL