Sixth Grade Newsletter
6th Six Weeks
Life as an Otto Bobcat!
PBIS
Otto students are proud to be Organized, Mindful, and Scholarly. Teachers incorporate these values throughout their lessons and interactions with students. The article linked below provides great ways for parents to help their children develop self-discipline and effective focus strategies.
http://www.kumon.com/resources/grab-their-attention-how-to-help-kids-get-focused-and-stay-focused/
Growth Mindset
With STAAR right around the corner, it is important to maintain a growth mindset. The article below elaborates on how students perform when they are learning versus during a summative assessment.
STAAR Testing
Monday, May 9th: Math
Tuesday, May 10th: Reading
Students have been focusing throughout the year on goal setting. SMART goal setting brings organization into the objectives and is crucial to student success. By following these structured steps, students take responsibility of their goals.
Panyee Football Club: Focusing on Strengths to Overcome Obstacles
What's happening in class this six weeks?
English Language Arts
We recently finished a Historical Fiction book club experience. While reading novels chosen because of their historical significance, students completed individual tasks which enabled them to participate in group meetings. The students collaborated on a variety of assignments that focused on setting, characterization, and making connections to their novel.
Students will be finishing up the year focusing on Science Fiction. The lesson, “Upcoming Attractions” includes three separate science fiction short story experiences. Each story is read using a different grouping strategy – read aloud, individual, and small group share. In each of the stories, students will search for science, technology, and social issues, as they continue to explore the effect of setting on science fiction. Also, students will be reading a self-selected Science Fiction novel and completing weekly reader responses.
The unit will conclude with the CAP, “Traveling Through Time.” Students will be creating either a historical fiction or science fiction “Post Card Book” that will focus on setting, exposition, characterization, theme and mood.
Math 6 Honors and Math 6
Math Rocks
Science
Social Studies
For the 6th six weeks we will be concluding our Conflict & Cooperation Unit. In doing this we will be finishing our studies of World War II as well as a brief overview of the Cold War. We will end the unit with our Unit Test. Our last unit for the year is the Global Interactions unit. China and Japan receive the most emphasis in this unit of study but other major countries from the Pacific Rim are also discussed. Students should be reminded that they have studied cultures in a variety of regions around the globe. The cultures are identified by one or more cultural traits that are shared by the people of that region. This unit will allow students to see that cultures are now more interdependent than in the past. Cultural borrowing has blurred the differences between cultures as many have adopted ideas from other groups and modern communication technologies have transmitted cultural traits around the world. We will end this unit with our Global Interactions Unit Test.
PACE
We are just starting our final unit, A World in Transition. In this unit students will look at how the cultures of the world are interdependent, as well as how geography and governments affect the economic development of nations. This will be explored in a World Trade Game that will show the students how countries rely on each other for resources. Another assessment in this unit is the UN Middle School where the students will consider the perspective of different countries and how countries interact with each other in our globalized world. During this unit we will be reading the books: A Long Walk to Water and Iqbal.
Students have spent the year exploring various facets of the human experience and now have a better understanding of the changing world in which they live. The Power of One project, which we end the year with, allows students to examine themselves in light of this new understanding of the world and to consider how they might affect the world in the future. Thanks for a GREAT 6th grade year!
Counselor's Corner
Angie Chavez
Otto Events
April 25th-29th: Book Fair
April 29th: Spring Social
May 23rd: EPIC Ambassadors Club presents "A Community Under the Stars" (3:45-5:15)
May 27th and May 30th: Student Holidays
Required Immunizations
Your child must complete the following immunization requirements for the 2016-2017 school year.
Meningococcal Vaccine
Varicella Vaccine
Tdap Vaccine
For further assistance, please contact Nurse Amy.
469-752-8509
Otto Middle School
Website: http://k12.pisd.edu/otto-middle-school
Location: 504 North Star Road, Plano, TX, United States
Phone: 469-752-8500