6th Grade Newsletter
Autrey Mill Lions
October 23 to November 3
Autrey Mill Book Fair: October 23-27
The Scholastic fall book fair is coming to Autrey Mill next week, October 23-27! All students will have a chance to go to the book fair with their Language Arts class one day next week! It is a great opportunity for students to find new books!
Red Ribbon Week: October 23-27
Class Updates
Social Studies
This upcoming week begins our study of World War II. We will spend the first part of Monday reviewing the causes of WWII with students. These causes are: Treaty of Versailles, Great Depression, Intense German Takeover, and Fascism (TGIF). Students will then be asked to create an iMovie trailer to show their understanding of these causes. They will have two and a half class periods to work on the assignment in class and it will count for a quiz grade. For this project, we will also give students the opportunity to work either in pairs or on their own. The rest of the week will be spent reviewing WWII and the Holocaust.
The following week we will start with one of our favorite activities of the year! We will be using Jolly Ranchers and Rock, Paper, Scissors to help show students what life was like in Russia before and after communism. The rest of this week will be spent discussing the Cold War. Tuesday, we will look at Dr.Seuss’s Butter Battle Book and its connections to the Cold War. The rest of the week we will spend on a timeline activity about the Cold War. First, students will have to determine which events happened in which year. Then, they will have to read a bit about the events and write a brief summary in their BOSS. Finally, students will take a look at political cartoons related to the events and determine their meaning, now that they are masters of Cold War events.
Reminder: the test for this unit will be on November 14 and 15. On the 14th, students will be writing a short essay (6-10 sentences) about one topic we have learned about. They will have three choices to pick from. On the 15th, students will be completing the multiple choice portion of the test online. If your student will be out one of these days, please contact his/her Social Studies teacher to work out a way for them to take the test.
ELA
After Friday’s test, we will be continuing our two-part elements of fiction unit. Throughout the next month, we will continue focusing on writing standard W3 - narrative writing through students’ personal narratives. We continue to examine the development of theme, plot, and setting in class, as student work to apply their knowledge to their current choice novels. We will also be looking at how the author establishes narrative point of view in a text.
Spanish
Students are beginning to ask and answer questions about what clothes they are wearing. They are connecting clothing to weather and seasons in North America and South America. In addition, students are beginning to recognize the Spanish words for major parts of the body, like head, arms, feet, hands, fingers, etc. We use TPR (Total Physical Response) to practice reacting to Spanish verbal commands like stand up, sit down, touch your nose. Teachers say the command and model the action. With repeated practice the response becomes automatic based on the verbal command alone without teacher prompting. Over the next two weeks students will be learning how to describe eye and hair color along with other items of personal description such as height and personality. Students are also exploring ways to say what they like and do not like and how to talk about their favorite activities. We are preparing our students to begin reading a novel about a little girl their age who has a big personality and lots of curiosity about the places she visits with her mother in Latin America.
French:
Bonjour parents,
Please refer to Madame Blackburn’s emails and Google Classroom for the most up-to-date information.
Mathematics:
60:
We will begin our new unit, Unit 2: Rates, Ratios and Proportional Reasoning Using Equivalent Fractions. Students will examine the differences between ratios, rates and unit rates (6.RP.1) as well as comparing unit rates to determine the better buy (6.RP.2). Checking out unit rate labels on the shelves at the grocery store to find the better buy is a great real life application of our standards. We will set up and solve proportions. Students will use unit rates and proportional reasoning to convert customary and metric measurements (6.RP.3d). Lastly, we will use proportional reasoning to problem solve using tape diagrams, double number lines, equations, tables and graphs (6.RP.3a, b, d). Quiz on 11/3, tentative date.
6A
We are finishing up Unit 2, Operations with Rational Numbers. The test will be Thursday 10/26. It will cover addition, subtraction, multiplication & division of rational numbers (7.NS.1 & 7.NS.2), order of operations with rational numbers (7.NS.3) and word problems using rational numbers (7.NS.3). We will then start Unit 3, Expressions and Equations. We will begin with mathematical properties, parts of an equation, and combining like terms(7.EE.1).
7A:
We are continuing in Unit 2, Expressions and Equations. We will have a quiz on Tuesday 10/24. It will cover the definitions of properties of operations, identifying the parts of an expression, simplifying expressions by combining like terms, and the distributive property through models and application. (MGSE8.EE.7, MGSE7.EE.1, MGSE7.EE.4) Then, we will be factoring out variables and coefficients from linear expressions, translating algebraic expressions into words and words into algebraic expressions, and solving one step equations with all rational numbers (fractions and decimals). (MCC.8.EE.7)
Science:
Next week in science we will be finishing up with rocks and minerals with a quiz on Tuesday, October 24th. Students should study their ISN, the Geology Review Resources page (in the “About” section in google classroom), and Chapters 3 and 4 in the textbook.
The remainder of the unit will focus on weathering, erosion, and deposition. We will begin with looking at weathering and the difference between chemical and mechanical weathering. We will then move on to erosion and deposition. A big focus of this part of the unit will be trying to identify different examples of weathering, erosion, and deposition in the world around us. As you go about your day-to-day life, ask your students if they see any examples of weathering, erosion, or deposition!
Please continue to check google classroom with your students to keep up-to-date with our class activities. Please also encourage them to study the notes in their ISNs for 5-10 minutes each night – this will help them to feel less overwhelmed with upcoming tests and quizzes!
Other Academic News
Mrs. Meredith, the AMMS Graduation Coach, will host organization sessions each Thursday from 8:30 through 8:55 in room G103. Any student who needs to organize notebooks, backpacks, etc. is welcome.
Weekly Help Session Schedule
Upcoming Important Dates
October 25- Parent information session about reading and writing workshop
November 13- Make up picture day
November 20 to 24- Thanksgiving Break