June 12, 2017
Math: Math portfolios were graded this past weekend. This is an important grade as it reflects both organizational skills and effort on our classroom work during the fourth quarter. We will take a final exam this Wednesday and, yes, it will feature a sampling of all the skills and concepts we have learned throughout the year. It will take me a few days to grade it. There is still homework in math. We are going to have a week of math classes and math homework and although the temptation to start summer early is strong, we are asking the students to resist that for a little while longer.
Science: We have begun the presentations of our environmental issue work and will continue them throughout the week. I hope to have them completed by the end of the week. Science portfolios will be due on Friday.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We finish the Interview Project in class this week. Writing folders with Interview Projects will go home this week!
The Ancient History Museum Book is due on June 15.
This is the last reading slip!
We discuss prepostions this week with a grammar final on June 19, the last grade.
A notebook check will be on June 19 and all papers, notebooks and journals go home by June 20
We continue in The Stone Circle by Anthony Tuck.
We have 1 standardized test to complete: the STARS for reading comprehension.
Math: Math portfolios were graded this past weekend. This is an important grade as it reflects both organizational skills and effort on our classroom work during the fourth quarter. We will take a final exam this Wednesday and, yes, it will feature a sampling of all the skills and concepts we have learned throughout the year. It will take me a few days to grade it. There is still homework in math. We are going to have a week of math classes and math homework and although the temptation to start summer early is strong, we are asking the students to resist that for a little while longer.
Science: We have begun the presentations of our environmental issue work and will continue them throughout the week. I hope to have them completed by the end of the week. Science portfolios will be due on Friday.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We finish the Interview Project in class this week. Writing folders with Interview Projects will go home this week!
The Ancient History Museum Book is due on June 15.
This is the last reading slip!
We discuss prepostions this week with a grammar final on June 19, the last grade.
A notebook check will be on June 19 and all papers, notebooks and journals go home by June 20
We continue in The Stone Circle by Anthony Tuck.
We have 1 standardized test to complete: the STARS for reading comprehension.
June 5. 2017
Math: Math portfolios will be due on Friday. This is an important grade and along with the final exam which is slated for the following week, makes up the outstanding grades that remain. We are working with probability, circle graphs and surveys during this week. Yes, homework is still happening as well.
Science: The final draft to our environmental issue work was collected this past week. Presentations, which are between 6 and 8 minutes long, will begin this Thursday. A science outline is also due at the end of this week. Science portfolios will be due next week.
*It is a good idea for students to check Power School to see how they are faring with their grades in the fourth quarter. As the weather gets nice and the end of the year beckons, some of us find it hard to do the things we have routinely done throughout the year.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
As the end of the year beckons, I am inspired to block out all the remaining things to do:
We will not have any further use for spelling books.
We begin writing the Interview Project in class this week and will type it on, hopefully, Chrome books next week.
Writing folders will go home on June 20
The Ancient History Museum Book is due on June 15.
We have this week's reading slip and next week.
We'll study Roman numerals and Roman architecture this week.
We discuss adverbs this week and prepositions next week with a grammar final on June 20, the last grade.
A notebook check will be on June 19 and all papers, notebooks and journals go home by June 20
We continue in The Stone Circle by Anthony Tuck.
We have 2 standardized tests to complete: the DIBELS for reading fluency and the STARS for reading comprehension.
Math: Math portfolios will be due on Friday. This is an important grade and along with the final exam which is slated for the following week, makes up the outstanding grades that remain. We are working with probability, circle graphs and surveys during this week. Yes, homework is still happening as well.
Science: The final draft to our environmental issue work was collected this past week. Presentations, which are between 6 and 8 minutes long, will begin this Thursday. A science outline is also due at the end of this week. Science portfolios will be due next week.
*It is a good idea for students to check Power School to see how they are faring with their grades in the fourth quarter. As the weather gets nice and the end of the year beckons, some of us find it hard to do the things we have routinely done throughout the year.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
As the end of the year beckons, I am inspired to block out all the remaining things to do:
We will not have any further use for spelling books.
We begin writing the Interview Project in class this week and will type it on, hopefully, Chrome books next week.
Writing folders will go home on June 20
The Ancient History Museum Book is due on June 15.
We have this week's reading slip and next week.
We'll study Roman numerals and Roman architecture this week.
We discuss adverbs this week and prepositions next week with a grammar final on June 20, the last grade.
A notebook check will be on June 19 and all papers, notebooks and journals go home by June 20
We continue in The Stone Circle by Anthony Tuck.
We have 2 standardized tests to complete: the DIBELS for reading fluency and the STARS for reading comprehension.
May 30, 2017
Math: Last week's math exam has been graded and will be going home for your signature on Tuesday. One test remains, the final exam. We have covered a lot of challenging material and I am proud of our students. They've worked hard and made great strides. Math portfolios will be graded in a couple of weeks. Only a couple of weeks remain in the school year, after all.
Science: Our work with environmental issues research, report writing and presenting what we have learned continues. Science portfolios will also be checked before the end of the year.
English Language Arts and Reading
We read the story "Honus and Me" concentrating on skill of making judgments and defending an argument. There will not be vocabulary this week. We will have Spelling 149/150 and a spelling test on Friday. Grammar this week concerns Indefinite Pronouns.
We continue with The Stone Circle and reading slips are due on Wednesday.
I'm doing a museum book check in on Wednesday. I would like to see progress made on this assignment: captions begun, drawings started, wallpapers begun etc. The point of the check ins is to make sure students do not wait until the last second to do these big projects. It is in everyone's best interest to have work completed and present in the classroom for the deadlines to make sure the big deadlines are met!
History
We discuss Julius Caesar. He will fill up the week, but if there is a chance, we may still do Roman numerals.
Math: Last week's math exam has been graded and will be going home for your signature on Tuesday. One test remains, the final exam. We have covered a lot of challenging material and I am proud of our students. They've worked hard and made great strides. Math portfolios will be graded in a couple of weeks. Only a couple of weeks remain in the school year, after all.
Science: Our work with environmental issues research, report writing and presenting what we have learned continues. Science portfolios will also be checked before the end of the year.
English Language Arts and Reading
We read the story "Honus and Me" concentrating on skill of making judgments and defending an argument. There will not be vocabulary this week. We will have Spelling 149/150 and a spelling test on Friday. Grammar this week concerns Indefinite Pronouns.
We continue with The Stone Circle and reading slips are due on Wednesday.
I'm doing a museum book check in on Wednesday. I would like to see progress made on this assignment: captions begun, drawings started, wallpapers begun etc. The point of the check ins is to make sure students do not wait until the last second to do these big projects. It is in everyone's best interest to have work completed and present in the classroom for the deadlines to make sure the big deadlines are met!
History
We discuss Julius Caesar. He will fill up the week, but if there is a chance, we may still do Roman numerals.
May 22, 2017
Math: Math MCAS testing is over. You and your child will find out how they did in the fall, probably by November. My sense is that our kids were well prepared and had indeed covered all of the required material. Nevertheless, the test questions are often appropriately challenging.
I am giving a math exam on Monday. It will be on Chapter 7 and a few other topics we've been working on for the past 6 weeks. Students were provided with a study guide and a review packet to help them get ready for it. You should see that graded exam by the end of the week. This is a busy week with Bookmarks, the school musical. Since there are late rehearsals each day and almost half of our students are involved in the play, I am not assigning any math homework this week.
Science: Our posters are due on Tuesday. Students should be working on turning their first draft into a finished, final one.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
Rehearsals will make this a light week with work done on homework during class time. I will make sure there is time to finish work as long as students try and work efficiently!
We read the realistic fiction of Ta Na E Ka on Wednesday and the test is on Thursday. Vocabulary should be completed in class.
We continue to review pronouns but there is no spelling test this week.
Students will tacke the Circus Maximum and Roman numerals.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue reading the excellent historical fantasy The Stone Circle by Anthony Tuck.
Interview project Part II check in is again on Tuesday. I just need confirmation that students are advancing on this deadline with questions written out, plenty of space between questions to write in notes and followup information. A note from you telling me that your son or daughter has been working on this assignment would go a long way! I am just trying to teach that you do not wait until the last minute to make a big deadline, which is June 2.
History Museum Book Projects are due on June 15. Again, I will schedule a check in next week to see how students are progressing.
Math: Math MCAS testing is over. You and your child will find out how they did in the fall, probably by November. My sense is that our kids were well prepared and had indeed covered all of the required material. Nevertheless, the test questions are often appropriately challenging.
I am giving a math exam on Monday. It will be on Chapter 7 and a few other topics we've been working on for the past 6 weeks. Students were provided with a study guide and a review packet to help them get ready for it. You should see that graded exam by the end of the week. This is a busy week with Bookmarks, the school musical. Since there are late rehearsals each day and almost half of our students are involved in the play, I am not assigning any math homework this week.
Science: Our posters are due on Tuesday. Students should be working on turning their first draft into a finished, final one.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
Rehearsals will make this a light week with work done on homework during class time. I will make sure there is time to finish work as long as students try and work efficiently!
We read the realistic fiction of Ta Na E Ka on Wednesday and the test is on Thursday. Vocabulary should be completed in class.
We continue to review pronouns but there is no spelling test this week.
Students will tacke the Circus Maximum and Roman numerals.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue reading the excellent historical fantasy The Stone Circle by Anthony Tuck.
Interview project Part II check in is again on Tuesday. I just need confirmation that students are advancing on this deadline with questions written out, plenty of space between questions to write in notes and followup information. A note from you telling me that your son or daughter has been working on this assignment would go a long way! I am just trying to teach that you do not wait until the last minute to make a big deadline, which is June 2.
History Museum Book Projects are due on June 15. Again, I will schedule a check in next week to see how students are progressing.
May 15, 2017
Math: The Math MCAS is slated for this Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I try to not make a "big deal" out of it as it is really our program that is being evaluated. I believe the kids are prepared. Our test on Chapter # 7 and some additional topics will happen next Monday after this wave of standardized testing. We continue to work with algebraic concepts such as equations, expressions and inequalities.
Science: The first draft to the Environmental Issue work is due this Tuesday. Students have had many days in class to work on it and it should be ready for inspection and revision.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We have begun the book The Stone Circle by local author Anthony Tuck as our read aloud class book. We hope to have Professor Tuck visit and give us some author insights before school is over.
Students should be working on the Interview Project. Part II is due on June 2 but I am planning on doing a check in this Friday with students identifying the interviewee's name, relationship, questions with space between for answers.I would like some evidence that there has been some contact with this person like some information written down as notes.
The Museum Book Project will be officially assigned and is due on June 15. Students have to display in each "room" one aspect of history from the 4 units we have studied this year - Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. More on this to follow.
The Colosseum questions are due on Tuesday followed by some discussion of the famous slave Spartacus, film clips of Kirk Douglas and a gladiator game.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday and Spelling pg. 131/132 with a spelling test is due on Friday.
Math: The Math MCAS is slated for this Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I try to not make a "big deal" out of it as it is really our program that is being evaluated. I believe the kids are prepared. Our test on Chapter # 7 and some additional topics will happen next Monday after this wave of standardized testing. We continue to work with algebraic concepts such as equations, expressions and inequalities.
Science: The first draft to the Environmental Issue work is due this Tuesday. Students have had many days in class to work on it and it should be ready for inspection and revision.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We have begun the book The Stone Circle by local author Anthony Tuck as our read aloud class book. We hope to have Professor Tuck visit and give us some author insights before school is over.
Students should be working on the Interview Project. Part II is due on June 2 but I am planning on doing a check in this Friday with students identifying the interviewee's name, relationship, questions with space between for answers.I would like some evidence that there has been some contact with this person like some information written down as notes.
The Museum Book Project will be officially assigned and is due on June 15. Students have to display in each "room" one aspect of history from the 4 units we have studied this year - Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. More on this to follow.
The Colosseum questions are due on Tuesday followed by some discussion of the famous slave Spartacus, film clips of Kirk Douglas and a gladiator game.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday and Spelling pg. 131/132 with a spelling test is due on Friday.
May 8, 2017
Math: Math MCAS testing is slated for May 16th and 17th. I believe that the students are ready for it. I am going to refrain from doing any math testing until after those dates.
We continue to learn about inequalities and statistical concepts such as mean absolute deviation.
Science: We are well on the way to handling the challenge of doing research on an environmental issue facing our world. Once that research is complete (this Tuesday is a note check) students will begin working on their first draft of the 500 or more word report. Students have already created an outline to help them with that research. As they find information to fit their outline, they are readying themselves for the writing of the paper. Students have a specific timeline to remind them of our many small, steps along the way. Later, we will be creating posters and presenting our research to the class.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We've got a few plates in the air...
Reading: We'll be reading the story "The Single Shard" this week for a study in Asian pottery, author's perspective and historical
fiction. The plan is to finish The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Tuesday and see a movie version of the book
to write a compare and contrast journal response. We will begin the fantasy novel, The Stone Circle, by Anthony Tuck
this week. Mr. Tuck has given all students a signed copy of the book and will be speaking to the class soon.
Vocabulary #1,2,3,11,12 from pg. 452-453 is due on Thursday when we have the test.
Reading slips are due on Wednesay.
ELA: We review possessive pronouns this week. There will not be spelling this week
Students should be trying to arrange an interview for the Interview Project part 2 due on June 2.
Just the notes are due that day!
Another attempt at writing conferences will be made this week.
Our pen pal letters have arrived in Israel. They will respond with a quick letter and we will do the final letter to Israel, with
an invitation to continue communication with social media. This require a permission slip from you!
History: A word search/ map of Rome is due on Tuesday. We will start Roman mythology by the end of the week.
Math: Math MCAS testing is slated for May 16th and 17th. I believe that the students are ready for it. I am going to refrain from doing any math testing until after those dates.
We continue to learn about inequalities and statistical concepts such as mean absolute deviation.
Science: We are well on the way to handling the challenge of doing research on an environmental issue facing our world. Once that research is complete (this Tuesday is a note check) students will begin working on their first draft of the 500 or more word report. Students have already created an outline to help them with that research. As they find information to fit their outline, they are readying themselves for the writing of the paper. Students have a specific timeline to remind them of our many small, steps along the way. Later, we will be creating posters and presenting our research to the class.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We've got a few plates in the air...
Reading: We'll be reading the story "The Single Shard" this week for a study in Asian pottery, author's perspective and historical
fiction. The plan is to finish The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Tuesday and see a movie version of the book
to write a compare and contrast journal response. We will begin the fantasy novel, The Stone Circle, by Anthony Tuck
this week. Mr. Tuck has given all students a signed copy of the book and will be speaking to the class soon.
Vocabulary #1,2,3,11,12 from pg. 452-453 is due on Thursday when we have the test.
Reading slips are due on Wednesay.
ELA: We review possessive pronouns this week. There will not be spelling this week
Students should be trying to arrange an interview for the Interview Project part 2 due on June 2.
Just the notes are due that day!
Another attempt at writing conferences will be made this week.
Our pen pal letters have arrived in Israel. They will respond with a quick letter and we will do the final letter to Israel, with
an invitation to continue communication with social media. This require a permission slip from you!
History: A word search/ map of Rome is due on Tuesday. We will start Roman mythology by the end of the week.
May 1, 2017
Report cards went home last Friday. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or issues. We are entering the second week of the fourth quarter. Yes, the year is moving quickly and it is time for our students to start thinking a little about what comes next for them. For many of them, it will be the 7th grade at Jabish Brook Middle School, an excellent school. With that in mind, Ms. Parker, a guidance counselor from Jabish will be visiting with our kids this Tuesday morning. She will be accompanied by a team of 8th grade students who will answer questions about life in middle school. By the way, Tuesday is an early release day for students.
Math: Math MCAS testing is a few weeks away so we will be reviewing some of the concepts and skills we learned this year. This week we will collect and analyze data using various data landmarks and graphs and plots. We will also continue to learn new topics in algebra as we work with inequalities.
Science: We have begun work on our Environmental Issue. Students have been given a time table listing all of the requirements and their due dates. The next due date is Tuesday of this week. Students should have completed an outline for their work by that day and then begin to collect notes to answer the questions posed on that outline. Students have a biome assignment due at the end of this week as well.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
Writing:On Monday, we will be starting the prep work for our final writing assignment: the Interview Project.
I will be asking students to conduct a 30 minute interview and collect information about "the olden days".
Student myths were wonderful and part of last term's report cards. Writing conferences begin this week.
Grammar: We continue in the wacky world of pronouns.
Spelling:Spelling work is 111/112 with a test on Friday
Reading: Reading slips are due on Wednesday
: We will be finishing Tom Sawyer on Friday
: We read the story "Major Taylor" on Wednesday with a test on Thursday. Our skill work will be on inferences, identifying
facts and opinions and reading a biography.
Vocabulary is due on Thursday when we have the test
History: We finish working with primary sources of Greek pottery and discuss Greek philosophy.
A map of Rome and word search will start on Thursday.
Report cards went home last Friday. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or issues. We are entering the second week of the fourth quarter. Yes, the year is moving quickly and it is time for our students to start thinking a little about what comes next for them. For many of them, it will be the 7th grade at Jabish Brook Middle School, an excellent school. With that in mind, Ms. Parker, a guidance counselor from Jabish will be visiting with our kids this Tuesday morning. She will be accompanied by a team of 8th grade students who will answer questions about life in middle school. By the way, Tuesday is an early release day for students.
Math: Math MCAS testing is a few weeks away so we will be reviewing some of the concepts and skills we learned this year. This week we will collect and analyze data using various data landmarks and graphs and plots. We will also continue to learn new topics in algebra as we work with inequalities.
Science: We have begun work on our Environmental Issue. Students have been given a time table listing all of the requirements and their due dates. The next due date is Tuesday of this week. Students should have completed an outline for their work by that day and then begin to collect notes to answer the questions posed on that outline. Students have a biome assignment due at the end of this week as well.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
Writing:On Monday, we will be starting the prep work for our final writing assignment: the Interview Project.
I will be asking students to conduct a 30 minute interview and collect information about "the olden days".
Student myths were wonderful and part of last term's report cards. Writing conferences begin this week.
Grammar: We continue in the wacky world of pronouns.
Spelling:Spelling work is 111/112 with a test on Friday
Reading: Reading slips are due on Wednesday
: We will be finishing Tom Sawyer on Friday
: We read the story "Major Taylor" on Wednesday with a test on Thursday. Our skill work will be on inferences, identifying
facts and opinions and reading a biography.
Vocabulary is due on Thursday when we have the test
History: We finish working with primary sources of Greek pottery and discuss Greek philosophy.
A map of Rome and word search will start on Thursday.
April 24, 2017
MCAS on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Try to make sure students are on time, have had a good night's sleep with a breakfast and limited screen time before bed. We will provide snacks for students who turned in forms but students are welcome to bring their own snacks and water, as usual, but there will not be food or drink during the exams. There will not be any use for phones in these next few days, so it would be great if students kept phones at home for these days.
Math: The after school, extra help sessions in math have been curtailed. I am involved in our school musical and it happily consumes several afternoons each week. Those sessions were helpful surely and I enjoyed working with the kids in small groups. This week we continue to solve problems using algebraic thinking. We remain several weeks away from any test in math. By the way, I do assign homework for math and science during MCAS testing. I know that some teachers do not and that is fine but the practice that homework provides is vital to the learning of this material.
Science: We have begun work on our 4th quarter project on Environmental Issues. By now, each student have been given an issue to learn about. This week students will receive a timetable for that work and an explanation of what needs to be done every step of the way.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
This week will be mostly Greek history: the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian Wars, Alexander of Macedon, Greek pottery as primary sources and Greek philosophy. This will be mostly classwork, with a couple of homework assignments.
I'll throw some Adventures of Tom Sawyer in to balance everything out
MCAS on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Try to make sure students are on time, have had a good night's sleep with a breakfast and limited screen time before bed. We will provide snacks for students who turned in forms but students are welcome to bring their own snacks and water, as usual, but there will not be food or drink during the exams. There will not be any use for phones in these next few days, so it would be great if students kept phones at home for these days.
Math: The after school, extra help sessions in math have been curtailed. I am involved in our school musical and it happily consumes several afternoons each week. Those sessions were helpful surely and I enjoyed working with the kids in small groups. This week we continue to solve problems using algebraic thinking. We remain several weeks away from any test in math. By the way, I do assign homework for math and science during MCAS testing. I know that some teachers do not and that is fine but the practice that homework provides is vital to the learning of this material.
Science: We have begun work on our 4th quarter project on Environmental Issues. By now, each student have been given an issue to learn about. This week students will receive a timetable for that work and an explanation of what needs to be done every step of the way.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
This week will be mostly Greek history: the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian Wars, Alexander of Macedon, Greek pottery as primary sources and Greek philosophy. This will be mostly classwork, with a couple of homework assignments.
I'll throw some Adventures of Tom Sawyer in to balance everything out
April 11, 2017
Math: By now you should have already seen the graded math portfolios. In general, our kids did a terrific job with the challenges from this important assignment This week we continue to learn about linear functions. We will also learn about the value of nets and how to find the volume of a cylinder.
Science: The science portfolios have been graded and the grade slip will be sent home on Monday. Please sign it. Our next project will be about the environmental challenges that our world must face in their lifetime.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We've got a relatively simple week after the extensive MCAS practice we've undergone recently. To our Penguins' credit, they have worked hard at all the exercises I've put them through and I foresee a group of well-prepared students for any standardized test, if that matters.
We really finish up pen pal letters. We continue with Tom Sawyer.
There will be a notebook check on Tuesday. All papers for ELA, Reading and History should be in order, bound into a notebook, and completed for a quiz grade. I'll post the list in the download section.
We'll talk about the science of Ancient Greece with some questions due on Thursday.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Math: By now you should have already seen the graded math portfolios. In general, our kids did a terrific job with the challenges from this important assignment This week we continue to learn about linear functions. We will also learn about the value of nets and how to find the volume of a cylinder.
Science: The science portfolios have been graded and the grade slip will be sent home on Monday. Please sign it. Our next project will be about the environmental challenges that our world must face in their lifetime.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We've got a relatively simple week after the extensive MCAS practice we've undergone recently. To our Penguins' credit, they have worked hard at all the exercises I've put them through and I foresee a group of well-prepared students for any standardized test, if that matters.
We really finish up pen pal letters. We continue with Tom Sawyer.
There will be a notebook check on Tuesday. All papers for ELA, Reading and History should be in order, bound into a notebook, and completed for a quiz grade. I'll post the list in the download section.
We'll talk about the science of Ancient Greece with some questions due on Thursday.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
April 3, 2017
Math: It is a big week for math as we have a test on Monday and math portfolios will be due on that same day. The exam is on our last two chapters and features a good amount of algebraic thinking. I hope to have it returned to kids by Wednesday. The portfolios will take longer for me to grade but you should see the grade slip by the end of the week. Meanwhile, we continue to work with understanding and using data and we have begun to work with and graph linear functions.
Science: Our work with Natural Disasters is now complete. You should see a grade slip for that work early this week. An outline is due on Tuesday and the science portfolio will be due on Friday. We will continue to learn about environmental science.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
Another prep week without the traditional test, vocabulary, spelling test etc.
We've been finishing up publishing Greek myths and will this week draft and send out pen pal letters to Kiryat Motzkin, Haifa, Israel.
We'll practice another type of MCAS test on Wednesday with the written response done in class. This is on narrative writing.
In History, students will discuss the original Olympics with questions due on Friday.
We continue with reading fluency in class with Massachusetts Book Award books and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Reading, ELA and History notebooks will be checked next week. All papers should be bound into the notebook, in order, and completed for this quiz grade.
Math: It is a big week for math as we have a test on Monday and math portfolios will be due on that same day. The exam is on our last two chapters and features a good amount of algebraic thinking. I hope to have it returned to kids by Wednesday. The portfolios will take longer for me to grade but you should see the grade slip by the end of the week. Meanwhile, we continue to work with understanding and using data and we have begun to work with and graph linear functions.
Science: Our work with Natural Disasters is now complete. You should see a grade slip for that work early this week. An outline is due on Tuesday and the science portfolio will be due on Friday. We will continue to learn about environmental science.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
Another prep week without the traditional test, vocabulary, spelling test etc.
We've been finishing up publishing Greek myths and will this week draft and send out pen pal letters to Kiryat Motzkin, Haifa, Israel.
We'll practice another type of MCAS test on Wednesday with the written response done in class. This is on narrative writing.
In History, students will discuss the original Olympics with questions due on Friday.
We continue with reading fluency in class with Massachusetts Book Award books and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Reading, ELA and History notebooks will be checked next week. All papers should be bound into the notebook, in order, and completed for this quiz grade.
March 27, 2017
We are in that homestretch of the marking period so students will be reminded often of what is coming and what needs to be done to finish the quarter successfully.
Math: The overall performance on the recent exam was outstanding. There will one more exam this quarter but it won't be this week. It will, however, occur some time next week. I'll announce it in the tonight's homework section as soon as I determine when it will be. There is no extra help session for math this week. We continue to work with problems involving equations and are learning about analyzing data. Math portfolios will be due next Monday.
Science: The natural disaster presentations are surely not disasters. They continue through this week and I have begun grading the final papers. You should see a grade slip for all this work at the start of next week. Our next outline on environmental science will be due next Tuesday.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We've been practicing the writing that goes along with non-fiction or informational text. Some students are finishing up work done on the Vikings from last week. The focus this week will be on sequence and cause and effect as we read "Exploring the Titanic" in the Treasures book. Students will not do vocabulary or the traditional test and instead work on an event timeline and a cause and effect writing assignment.
Spelling homework 105/106 is due on Friday when we have the test
Reading slips are due on Wednesday
Grammar concerns Subject and Object pronouns and will be done in class.
We continue in Tom Sawyer.
We are in that homestretch of the marking period so students will be reminded often of what is coming and what needs to be done to finish the quarter successfully.
Math: The overall performance on the recent exam was outstanding. There will one more exam this quarter but it won't be this week. It will, however, occur some time next week. I'll announce it in the tonight's homework section as soon as I determine when it will be. There is no extra help session for math this week. We continue to work with problems involving equations and are learning about analyzing data. Math portfolios will be due next Monday.
Science: The natural disaster presentations are surely not disasters. They continue through this week and I have begun grading the final papers. You should see a grade slip for all this work at the start of next week. Our next outline on environmental science will be due next Tuesday.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We've been practicing the writing that goes along with non-fiction or informational text. Some students are finishing up work done on the Vikings from last week. The focus this week will be on sequence and cause and effect as we read "Exploring the Titanic" in the Treasures book. Students will not do vocabulary or the traditional test and instead work on an event timeline and a cause and effect writing assignment.
Spelling homework 105/106 is due on Friday when we have the test
Reading slips are due on Wednesday
Grammar concerns Subject and Object pronouns and will be done in class.
We continue in Tom Sawyer.
March 20, 2017
Math: There will not be an extra help session for math this Wednesday. The practice has continued to be valuable for several students and will be revisited in the coming weeks. Last Friday's exam will be handed back to students on Tuesday. Please sign it. Note, also, that the test was on unit 5 and not units 5 and 6 as reported in last week's newsletter. Our next exam, in a couple of weeks, will be one that covers units 6 and 7. We continue to learn about algebraic concepts and solve problems involving expressions and equations. We also are beginning to do test prep for May's MCAS exams, part of the unavoidable landscape.
Science: It is an important week for the natural disasters work we have been doing for the last several weeks. The final report, 500 or more words, is due on Tuesday. Presentations will begin on Wednesday. An outline from our textbook is also due on Tuesday. Students have a good deal of time in class to complete much of that work.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We seem to have a lot of odds and ends to catch up with because of last week's weather, so there will not be a new story, test, vocabulary and spelling this week:
finish typing myths into our Google Docs and printing them for writing folders.
review linking verbs and commence predicate nouns and predicate adjectives
study the Parthenon, and contributions to world architecture from Greece
read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
prepare and write our first pen pal letter responding to the letter from Israel expected this week. I thought it might be a fun
idea to attach a small package of wrapped candy or a Heshey kiss to each letter we send back. I will be glad to provide
candy for anyone who forgets.
collect reading slips on Wednesday
Math: There will not be an extra help session for math this Wednesday. The practice has continued to be valuable for several students and will be revisited in the coming weeks. Last Friday's exam will be handed back to students on Tuesday. Please sign it. Note, also, that the test was on unit 5 and not units 5 and 6 as reported in last week's newsletter. Our next exam, in a couple of weeks, will be one that covers units 6 and 7. We continue to learn about algebraic concepts and solve problems involving expressions and equations. We also are beginning to do test prep for May's MCAS exams, part of the unavoidable landscape.
Science: It is an important week for the natural disasters work we have been doing for the last several weeks. The final report, 500 or more words, is due on Tuesday. Presentations will begin on Wednesday. An outline from our textbook is also due on Tuesday. Students have a good deal of time in class to complete much of that work.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We seem to have a lot of odds and ends to catch up with because of last week's weather, so there will not be a new story, test, vocabulary and spelling this week:
finish typing myths into our Google Docs and printing them for writing folders.
review linking verbs and commence predicate nouns and predicate adjectives
study the Parthenon, and contributions to world architecture from Greece
read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
prepare and write our first pen pal letter responding to the letter from Israel expected this week. I thought it might be a fun
idea to attach a small package of wrapped candy or a Heshey kiss to each letter we send back. I will be glad to provide
candy for anyone who forgets.
collect reading slips on Wednesday
March 13, 2017
Spring is coming and so, of course, a winter storm may hit us this week. Please note, my 90 year old father seems to be in his final days and so I may be out several days this week or next.
Math: The second part of testing from the Middle School to see if students qualify for their honors' math program is slated to conclude on Monday. I am not sure when they will notify students of the results. I have one of my own tests scheduled for this Thursday. It will be on the 5th and 6th units and will feature algebraic concepts and thinking. I will conduct an extra help session on Wednesday after school to help students prepare for it. We have begun the next unit, one that centers on solving more complex equations.
Science: There are two important due dates this week for our Natural Disaster work. The first draft of the 500 or more word report is due on Tuesday. The poster should be completed by Thursday. Students will also receive an outline that will need to be completed by next Monday.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We continue our focus on writing informational text with an assignment based on a class role play on Democracy in Ancient Athens due on Tuesday. Students will have a compare and contrast assignment on Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta due on Friday.
Students will be using laptops this week to publish the Greek myths assignments.
Grammar this week focuses on reviewing linking verbs and identifying predicate nouns and predicate adjectives.
We continue in Tom Sawyer.
Spring is coming and so, of course, a winter storm may hit us this week. Please note, my 90 year old father seems to be in his final days and so I may be out several days this week or next.
Math: The second part of testing from the Middle School to see if students qualify for their honors' math program is slated to conclude on Monday. I am not sure when they will notify students of the results. I have one of my own tests scheduled for this Thursday. It will be on the 5th and 6th units and will feature algebraic concepts and thinking. I will conduct an extra help session on Wednesday after school to help students prepare for it. We have begun the next unit, one that centers on solving more complex equations.
Science: There are two important due dates this week for our Natural Disaster work. The first draft of the 500 or more word report is due on Tuesday. The poster should be completed by Thursday. Students will also receive an outline that will need to be completed by next Monday.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We continue our focus on writing informational text with an assignment based on a class role play on Democracy in Ancient Athens due on Tuesday. Students will have a compare and contrast assignment on Ancient Athens and Ancient Sparta due on Friday.
Students will be using laptops this week to publish the Greek myths assignments.
Grammar this week focuses on reviewing linking verbs and identifying predicate nouns and predicate adjectives.
We continue in Tom Sawyer.
March 5, 2017
Math: Some students will be taking two tests to determine if they qualify for honors math in 7th grade at Jabish Brook. You should have seen the permission slip last week. Those tests will be administered in math class this week on Wednesday and Thursday. I am certainly not a fan of ability grouping in math at the 6th grade level but I do recognize that it has real merit as students move to more challenging courses in mathematics. This week we continue to work with evaluating expressions and learning basic concepts and properties of algebra. There will be another extra help session after school on Wednesday. Any student who would like to attend should bring in a note from home. We remain about two weeks from our exam on the fifth and sixth units of our math book.
Science: We are working on our Natural Disaster unit. Students are part of a group of three students and each student is assigned different aspects of a natural disaster. Two important deadlines occur this week. First, on Tuesday students should have all their notes completed. These notes will be used to write their first draft of the paper and make their poster. Later, students will use this information during their presentation. On Thursday, students should bring in their partially completed poster. By far the most challenging aspect of this work is compiling the notes. Students need to find sources of information and read those sources looking to answer specific questions. This is not an easy task and it does take time.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We learn about Ancient China and the terracotta warriors in "The Emperor's Silent Army". Focus skills are understanding informational non-fiction and summarizing. Vocabulary and the test on the story is due on Thursday.
We continue in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and in reading groups to practice fluency.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling homework and test are on Friday.
Students have been writing a myth in class. This has been to understand the characteistics of a myth and the elements of a story plot. We're almost ready to revise and edit.
We continue discussing the principal parts of verbs.
By the end of the week, we will discuss democracy in ancient Athens.
Math: Some students will be taking two tests to determine if they qualify for honors math in 7th grade at Jabish Brook. You should have seen the permission slip last week. Those tests will be administered in math class this week on Wednesday and Thursday. I am certainly not a fan of ability grouping in math at the 6th grade level but I do recognize that it has real merit as students move to more challenging courses in mathematics. This week we continue to work with evaluating expressions and learning basic concepts and properties of algebra. There will be another extra help session after school on Wednesday. Any student who would like to attend should bring in a note from home. We remain about two weeks from our exam on the fifth and sixth units of our math book.
Science: We are working on our Natural Disaster unit. Students are part of a group of three students and each student is assigned different aspects of a natural disaster. Two important deadlines occur this week. First, on Tuesday students should have all their notes completed. These notes will be used to write their first draft of the paper and make their poster. Later, students will use this information during their presentation. On Thursday, students should bring in their partially completed poster. By far the most challenging aspect of this work is compiling the notes. Students need to find sources of information and read those sources looking to answer specific questions. This is not an easy task and it does take time.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
We learn about Ancient China and the terracotta warriors in "The Emperor's Silent Army". Focus skills are understanding informational non-fiction and summarizing. Vocabulary and the test on the story is due on Thursday.
We continue in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and in reading groups to practice fluency.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling homework and test are on Friday.
Students have been writing a myth in class. This has been to understand the characteistics of a myth and the elements of a story plot. We're almost ready to revise and edit.
We continue discussing the principal parts of verbs.
By the end of the week, we will discuss democracy in ancient Athens.
February 27, 2017
Math: We have broken ground on Volume 2 of our math series. This unit features evaluating expressions and solving equations. There was no exam given on the last unit as that one will be combined with this material and tested in a few weeks time. There will be a Math extra help session this Wednesday. I recognize their value and hope to have them as often as I can arrange them. That session will end at 4 PM. Send in a note if your child will be attending.
Science: We have begun our work on natural disasters. Ask your child about the schedule of "tasks". That schedule will be announced on Monday.
English Language Arts and Reading
Reading: We'll practice with some informational non-fiction and learn about alternative energy in Building Green.
Instead of a tradional vocabulary and test this week, students will be applying the text information and
drawing their own Green Home
2 reading slips are due on Wednesday
We continue in Tom Sawyer
English Language Arts: Last week's "My Neighborhood" essays were wonderful! I hope you had some fun helping your child
make such detailed observations! We start our next class essay by writing a myth. A graphic organizer begun in class
will be due on Tuesday, but then the rest of the work will be done in class.
Spelling homework and spelling test are due on Friday.
We begin structuring the Principal Parts of Verbs in class
History: Students will participate in a role play of Ancient Athens on Thursday of this week.
Math: We have broken ground on Volume 2 of our math series. This unit features evaluating expressions and solving equations. There was no exam given on the last unit as that one will be combined with this material and tested in a few weeks time. There will be a Math extra help session this Wednesday. I recognize their value and hope to have them as often as I can arrange them. That session will end at 4 PM. Send in a note if your child will be attending.
Science: We have begun our work on natural disasters. Ask your child about the schedule of "tasks". That schedule will be announced on Monday.
English Language Arts and Reading
Reading: We'll practice with some informational non-fiction and learn about alternative energy in Building Green.
Instead of a tradional vocabulary and test this week, students will be applying the text information and
drawing their own Green Home
2 reading slips are due on Wednesday
We continue in Tom Sawyer
English Language Arts: Last week's "My Neighborhood" essays were wonderful! I hope you had some fun helping your child
make such detailed observations! We start our next class essay by writing a myth. A graphic organizer begun in class
will be due on Tuesday, but then the rest of the work will be done in class.
Spelling homework and spelling test are due on Friday.
We begin structuring the Principal Parts of Verbs in class
History: Students will participate in a role play of Ancient Athens on Thursday of this week.
,February 13, 2017
It is difficult to establish momentum with so many days off due to bad weather but we are trying our best to keep the learning going strong. Students are expected to plan ahead and bring work home to do on questionable weather days. Yes, they are no doubt eager to help you with shoveling snow and doing chores around the house on snow days, but after all that fun, homework should be done.
Math: There is no after school, extra help session on Wednesday. I'll start those up again after February vacation. No, these snow days do not count as February vacation. The Star Renaissance test has been rescheduled for this Tuesday. It is a measure we use here at school and is not part of a student's grade. We will continue to work on plotting points and shapes on the coordinate plane. We will also be receiving Volume 2 of our math series after we finish up the fifth unit. There won't be an exam on this unit just yet for its material will be combined with Unit Six on the next test. That remains several weeks away.
Science: The science outline that was originally due last Friday has been pushed back to this Monday, or Tuesday if the snow keeps falling. We continue to learn about environmental science and will focus first on habitat and how it impacts the life residing there. Students will begin a group project on natural disasters soon. Again, the weather has wreaked havoc with my original plans.
English Language Arts and Reading:
We are going to work on the elements of poetry, literary elements,and figurative language and study some of the poets of the Harlem Renaissance in class this week, skipping the traditonal story, vocabulary, test...
This will all be done in class. For writing, an assignment called My Neighborhood is due on Friday. "Write about what you know" is the most basic writing you can do and everyone can describe the details of their neighborhoods in terms of people, activities, houses, buildings, sounds and landscape. I'm expecting several paragraphs, in ink, due on Friday.
We have talked about this in class.
Reading slips are due on Wedesday.
We continue in Tom Sawyer, having just passed the inciting incident of the graveyard.
History:
We will wrap up the real story of the Iliad and a map of Greece which will be due on Thursday.
It is difficult to establish momentum with so many days off due to bad weather but we are trying our best to keep the learning going strong. Students are expected to plan ahead and bring work home to do on questionable weather days. Yes, they are no doubt eager to help you with shoveling snow and doing chores around the house on snow days, but after all that fun, homework should be done.
Math: There is no after school, extra help session on Wednesday. I'll start those up again after February vacation. No, these snow days do not count as February vacation. The Star Renaissance test has been rescheduled for this Tuesday. It is a measure we use here at school and is not part of a student's grade. We will continue to work on plotting points and shapes on the coordinate plane. We will also be receiving Volume 2 of our math series after we finish up the fifth unit. There won't be an exam on this unit just yet for its material will be combined with Unit Six on the next test. That remains several weeks away.
Science: The science outline that was originally due last Friday has been pushed back to this Monday, or Tuesday if the snow keeps falling. We continue to learn about environmental science and will focus first on habitat and how it impacts the life residing there. Students will begin a group project on natural disasters soon. Again, the weather has wreaked havoc with my original plans.
English Language Arts and Reading:
We are going to work on the elements of poetry, literary elements,and figurative language and study some of the poets of the Harlem Renaissance in class this week, skipping the traditonal story, vocabulary, test...
This will all be done in class. For writing, an assignment called My Neighborhood is due on Friday. "Write about what you know" is the most basic writing you can do and everyone can describe the details of their neighborhoods in terms of people, activities, houses, buildings, sounds and landscape. I'm expecting several paragraphs, in ink, due on Friday.
We have talked about this in class.
Reading slips are due on Wedesday.
We continue in Tom Sawyer, having just passed the inciting incident of the graveyard.
History:
We will wrap up the real story of the Iliad and a map of Greece which will be due on Thursday.
February 6, 2017
Report cards went home last Friday. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's performance, please contact us.
Math: There will not be an extra help session this Wednesday. My father has been quite ill and the play is heating up and so it is becoming more difficult for me to schedule these days. I know that by not having them on a regular basis, the attendance at them when I do have them is impacted. I will use these newsletters to announce when they will occur. I recognize their helpfulness and do intend on continuing the practice.
Students will be taking the Star Renaissance math test this Tuesday. It is a short "check" done three times during the year and is used by us to gauge the progress of learning and the effectiveness of our instruction. It is nothing that any student should worry about. We will be working with graphing on the coordinate plane this week and continue our work with surface area and other geometric formulas.
Science: Students have received a textbook on Environmental Science. Our first outline from that book will be due at the end of this week. We will also begin to research natural disasters this week.
English Language Arts and Reading
We're learning the elements of the plot of a story in "Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street"
Vocabulary from pgs. 276-277 # 1,2,5,7,11,12 is due on Thursday, when we have the test.
Spelling p. 53 is due on Friday when we have the test.
We're also following up Ms. Hanson's Library lesson on social media with Tom Sawyer.
Reading slips are collected on Wednesday.
History
We continue information about Greek gods and goddesses and some factual information about the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Report cards went home last Friday. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's performance, please contact us.
Math: There will not be an extra help session this Wednesday. My father has been quite ill and the play is heating up and so it is becoming more difficult for me to schedule these days. I know that by not having them on a regular basis, the attendance at them when I do have them is impacted. I will use these newsletters to announce when they will occur. I recognize their helpfulness and do intend on continuing the practice.
Students will be taking the Star Renaissance math test this Tuesday. It is a short "check" done three times during the year and is used by us to gauge the progress of learning and the effectiveness of our instruction. It is nothing that any student should worry about. We will be working with graphing on the coordinate plane this week and continue our work with surface area and other geometric formulas.
Science: Students have received a textbook on Environmental Science. Our first outline from that book will be due at the end of this week. We will also begin to research natural disasters this week.
English Language Arts and Reading
We're learning the elements of the plot of a story in "Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street"
Vocabulary from pgs. 276-277 # 1,2,5,7,11,12 is due on Thursday, when we have the test.
Spelling p. 53 is due on Friday when we have the test.
We're also following up Ms. Hanson's Library lesson on social media with Tom Sawyer.
Reading slips are collected on Wednesday.
History
We continue information about Greek gods and goddesses and some factual information about the Iliad and the Odyssey.
January 30, 2017
We start the third quarter of the year this week. Report cards will be going home soon.
Math: There will be an after school, extra help session in math this Wednesday. If you would like your child to attend, please send in a note. Students are progressing well as we are now in the final unit of Volume 1 of our math series. Students will receive the second volume in a few weeks. We continue to work with positive and negative integers and finding the circumference and area of circles. We will also learn how to find surface area and review how to effectively answer open response questions. Yes, standardized testing looms in the spring and we will be ready for that challenge.
Science: We are nearing the end of our work with cells and heredity. An outline is due this Wednesday. We will begin working on researching natural disasters this week.
English Language Arts and Reading
We continue classwork at processing informational reading with a piece about the Brooklyn Bridge. This will take the place of
the traditional story from the Treasures book.
Students learn about the Perfect tenses with an assignment due later this week.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue reading the classic novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".
History
We begin the study of Greece with designing an Ilustrated Timeline of some of the important events of Ancient Greece.
Typically, I have broken the larger project into shorter due dates but the overview of the entire assignment is to find the required dates from the textbook by Tuesday, write the dates out as a rough draft due Wednesday and the completed final copy on oak tag is due on Friday. I will have the assignment paper posted in the Downloads section.
We start the third quarter of the year this week. Report cards will be going home soon.
Math: There will be an after school, extra help session in math this Wednesday. If you would like your child to attend, please send in a note. Students are progressing well as we are now in the final unit of Volume 1 of our math series. Students will receive the second volume in a few weeks. We continue to work with positive and negative integers and finding the circumference and area of circles. We will also learn how to find surface area and review how to effectively answer open response questions. Yes, standardized testing looms in the spring and we will be ready for that challenge.
Science: We are nearing the end of our work with cells and heredity. An outline is due this Wednesday. We will begin working on researching natural disasters this week.
English Language Arts and Reading
We continue classwork at processing informational reading with a piece about the Brooklyn Bridge. This will take the place of
the traditional story from the Treasures book.
Students learn about the Perfect tenses with an assignment due later this week.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue reading the classic novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".
History
We begin the study of Greece with designing an Ilustrated Timeline of some of the important events of Ancient Greece.
Typically, I have broken the larger project into shorter due dates but the overview of the entire assignment is to find the required dates from the textbook by Tuesday, write the dates out as a rough draft due Wednesday and the completed final copy on oak tag is due on Friday. I will have the assignment paper posted in the Downloads section.
January 23, 2017
This is the final week of the second marking period. It is hard to believe that we are coming up on the midway point of the school year. Let's keep the fun and learning going strong.
Math: Last Thursday's exam on our Fractions Unit has been graded and will be handed back on Monday. Please sign it and have your child bring it to school on Tuesday. We have begun our next unit, which is one on positive and negative integers and features more algebra. We are also learning how to find the circumference and area of circles. We have been doing that by investing PI, the relationship between a circle's diameter and its circumference. We are also evaluating algebraic expressions and solving basic one and two step equations.
Science: I moved the due date for Science Portfolios from last Friday to Monday. It will take me several days to grade them but you should see the grade slip by the end of the week. Students will receive their next outline, this one on Meiosis. It will be due the following week.
English Language Arts and Reading
We are learning the origins of the Iditarod race in "The Great Serum Race". We will be practicing sequencing main ideas and details in this Historical Fiction story. Students will receive the test on Tuesday and will be completing it as a take home test due on Friday. In class students require anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes to do well. We have been practicing a new technique on writing out open responses and I have been grading them for these new skills recently. The system is called RACE which trains students to Restate the question, Answer the question, Cite details to support the answer and Explain how those details answer the question.
There is no Vocabulary or spelling this week.
We've been doing more grammar in class- this week we discuss the present and past perfect tenses.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
History
On Monday we will be demonstrating the steps of Egyptian mummification. In this project, students will be in charge of performing the sequence in small groups. This has been a lesson in sequencing and summarizing as well as learning the gruesome job of getting ready for the Underworld. Following the performance, students will get a study guide and take a test on the sequence on Thursday.
This is the final week of the second marking period. It is hard to believe that we are coming up on the midway point of the school year. Let's keep the fun and learning going strong.
Math: Last Thursday's exam on our Fractions Unit has been graded and will be handed back on Monday. Please sign it and have your child bring it to school on Tuesday. We have begun our next unit, which is one on positive and negative integers and features more algebra. We are also learning how to find the circumference and area of circles. We have been doing that by investing PI, the relationship between a circle's diameter and its circumference. We are also evaluating algebraic expressions and solving basic one and two step equations.
Science: I moved the due date for Science Portfolios from last Friday to Monday. It will take me several days to grade them but you should see the grade slip by the end of the week. Students will receive their next outline, this one on Meiosis. It will be due the following week.
English Language Arts and Reading
We are learning the origins of the Iditarod race in "The Great Serum Race". We will be practicing sequencing main ideas and details in this Historical Fiction story. Students will receive the test on Tuesday and will be completing it as a take home test due on Friday. In class students require anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes to do well. We have been practicing a new technique on writing out open responses and I have been grading them for these new skills recently. The system is called RACE which trains students to Restate the question, Answer the question, Cite details to support the answer and Explain how those details answer the question.
There is no Vocabulary or spelling this week.
We've been doing more grammar in class- this week we discuss the present and past perfect tenses.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
History
On Monday we will be demonstrating the steps of Egyptian mummification. In this project, students will be in charge of performing the sequence in small groups. This has been a lesson in sequencing and summarizing as well as learning the gruesome job of getting ready for the Underworld. Following the performance, students will get a study guide and take a test on the sequence on Thursday.
January 17, 2017
Math: We are in the final two weeks of the marking period. I graded the important math portfolios this past weekend and handed back the grade slips on Tuesday. Please sign it. Students will be able to utilize those portfolios this Thursday when we will take our second exam of the quarter. That test will focus on fractions and solving problems with fractions. I will hold an after school, extra help session on Wednesday for any student wanting some extra preparation for Thursday's test. Our next unit will begin at the end of this week. In that unit, we will be seeing more and more algebra. It's exciting stuff.
Science: Our work on evolving animals is complete. You should have by now seen the grade slip on the paper, the poster and the presentation. I was pleased with how seriously most of the kids regarded that work. We have an outline on Photosynthesis due on Wednesday of this week. Science portfolios will be collected on Friday and graded over next weekend.
English Language Arts and Reading
No new story this week. We concentrate on the important skills of understanding sequence and main ideas in history this week
We continue with the Massachusetts Book Award books during reading groups.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling p. 58 is due on Friday when we have a spelling test.
As time permits, we begin verb tenses.
We have completed drafting, revising, and editing some excellent persuasive writing pieces and are just waiting for to print. Students worked very hard on this writing! Evaluated papers will be in writing folders soon.
We also practiced keyboarding skills with most students improving scores of words per minute.
There will be a notebook check next week. All papers should be organized into the binder, completed and in order.
Students have been reading Tom Sawyer. We've read the whitewashing chapter, met Becky Thatcher and are just about to meet Huckleberry Finn. Stay tuned.
History
We will be demonstrating the steps of Egyptian mummification. In this project, students will be in charge of performing the sequence in small groups. This has been a lesson in sequencing and summarizing as well as learning the gruesome job of getting ready for the Underworld. The Mummification Ritual will be on Thursday, after much practice in class. Following the performance, students will get a study guide and take a test on the sequence next Wednesday.
January 8, 2017
Math: Now in the final weeks of the marking period and fully back from our holiday break, we have a lot to do. The unit test on fractions remains about two weeks away and we have begun to look at the operation of division with fractions. With so many different algorithms involved in working with fractions and with a need to be able to work accurately with numbers, there surely are challenges for our students. I stress "thinking about what we are thinking about", not an easy thing to do for sixth graders, but a key approach to learning mathematics and everything really. I am providing plenty of opportunities for practice in class and for homework so a student who is engaged and cares and works hard at it, can make strong gains. I am offering another after school, extra help session this Wednesday. We will focus on preparing our math portfolios for grading. Those portfolios will be due on Thursday.
Science: We are well into the presentations of our Evolving Animals unit. I have been impressed by how the students are embracing the challenge and really trying to use the techniques we've been stressing during their presentations. We should finish those presentations in the next two days and then you will see a grade slip for the paper, the poster and the presentation. Science portfolios will be due at the end of next week.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
I have 2 main goals this week: to use the laptops to publish student persuasive writing and to really work on student understanding of how to identify the main ideas and supporting details in an informational text.
In addition, students will have a take-home quiz on identifying action verbs, direct objects and indirect objects due on Tuesday. To supplement instruction on informational text there will be an assignment on Egyptian pyramids due on Thursday.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We’re also beginning a new novel this week which is part of our CoreStandards. We’ll be reading “Tom Sawyer” as a class activity. This book, although difficult, has traditionally been really popular because of the universal theme of growing up. I love this book and I will be throwing all my enthusiasm for Mark Twain at 12 year-olds who don’t yet know they will love it too! Besides, they will be reading the sequel “Huckleberry Finn” in 8th grade.
Math: Now in the final weeks of the marking period and fully back from our holiday break, we have a lot to do. The unit test on fractions remains about two weeks away and we have begun to look at the operation of division with fractions. With so many different algorithms involved in working with fractions and with a need to be able to work accurately with numbers, there surely are challenges for our students. I stress "thinking about what we are thinking about", not an easy thing to do for sixth graders, but a key approach to learning mathematics and everything really. I am providing plenty of opportunities for practice in class and for homework so a student who is engaged and cares and works hard at it, can make strong gains. I am offering another after school, extra help session this Wednesday. We will focus on preparing our math portfolios for grading. Those portfolios will be due on Thursday.
Science: We are well into the presentations of our Evolving Animals unit. I have been impressed by how the students are embracing the challenge and really trying to use the techniques we've been stressing during their presentations. We should finish those presentations in the next two days and then you will see a grade slip for the paper, the poster and the presentation. Science portfolios will be due at the end of next week.
English Language Arts, Reading and History
I have 2 main goals this week: to use the laptops to publish student persuasive writing and to really work on student understanding of how to identify the main ideas and supporting details in an informational text.
In addition, students will have a take-home quiz on identifying action verbs, direct objects and indirect objects due on Tuesday. To supplement instruction on informational text there will be an assignment on Egyptian pyramids due on Thursday.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We’re also beginning a new novel this week which is part of our CoreStandards. We’ll be reading “Tom Sawyer” as a class activity. This book, although difficult, has traditionally been really popular because of the universal theme of growing up. I love this book and I will be throwing all my enthusiasm for Mark Twain at 12 year-olds who don’t yet know they will love it too! Besides, they will be reading the sequel “Huckleberry Finn” in 8th grade.
January 3, 2017
Math: We have a bit less than a month left in this marking period and are now about two weeks away from our second test of the quarter. We continue to solve problems involving fractions and will soon learn how to divide with fractions. This unit on fractions is stocked with multi-step sequential algoritms and that can be very challenging for sixth graders. We will continue to get lots of practice with them. There will be an extra help, after school session on Wednesday of this week. I will collect and grade math portfolios a week from this Friday.
Science: I have graded the Evolving Animal research papers and posters. We will be presenting our information later this week. You will see the grade slip by the end of this week. We remain a few weeks from having our science portfolios checked and graded.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading: We are learning about parody and problem solving in the fairy tale “Rumpelstilskin’s Daughter”.
New vocabulary is due on Thursday when we have the test.
Reading slips(2) are due on Wednesday.
Students should have a personal reading book with them at all times.
We continue with Massachusetts Book Award books in reading groups as students practice fluency.
There will not be spelling homework or test this week.
Writing: Our opinion writing piece was our main focus for writing before Christmas.
Students have been practicing writing good sentences, supporting opinions with reasons
and examples. This week we will be revising and editing to prepare for publishing on laptops.
Grammar: We review direct and indirect objects for an assignment due on Friday
Students will receive graded papers for notebooks Thursday. All papers must go home as we do not allow students to throw papers away at school.
Non-notebook papers should be recycled at home.
We finished the Lightning Thief before vacation and will begin our next read a loud next week.
HISTORY
The Nile River maps were wonderful. Students will receive grades on Thursday for notebooks.
Photos will be on this website.
We will be discussing pyramids later this week with an assignment due next week.
Math: We have a bit less than a month left in this marking period and are now about two weeks away from our second test of the quarter. We continue to solve problems involving fractions and will soon learn how to divide with fractions. This unit on fractions is stocked with multi-step sequential algoritms and that can be very challenging for sixth graders. We will continue to get lots of practice with them. There will be an extra help, after school session on Wednesday of this week. I will collect and grade math portfolios a week from this Friday.
Science: I have graded the Evolving Animal research papers and posters. We will be presenting our information later this week. You will see the grade slip by the end of this week. We remain a few weeks from having our science portfolios checked and graded.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading: We are learning about parody and problem solving in the fairy tale “Rumpelstilskin’s Daughter”.
New vocabulary is due on Thursday when we have the test.
Reading slips(2) are due on Wednesday.
Students should have a personal reading book with them at all times.
We continue with Massachusetts Book Award books in reading groups as students practice fluency.
There will not be spelling homework or test this week.
Writing: Our opinion writing piece was our main focus for writing before Christmas.
Students have been practicing writing good sentences, supporting opinions with reasons
and examples. This week we will be revising and editing to prepare for publishing on laptops.
Grammar: We review direct and indirect objects for an assignment due on Friday
Students will receive graded papers for notebooks Thursday. All papers must go home as we do not allow students to throw papers away at school.
Non-notebook papers should be recycled at home.
We finished the Lightning Thief before vacation and will begin our next read a loud next week.
HISTORY
The Nile River maps were wonderful. Students will receive grades on Thursday for notebooks.
Photos will be on this website.
We will be discussing pyramids later this week with an assignment due next week.
December 19, 2016
Happy Holidays!
Math: We have begun a unit on fractions and are learning how to multiply and divide with fractions. I won't be checking Math Portfolios until 2017 but that is coming fast. There's no after school, extra help session this week but I will start that practice up after the vacation.
Science: Our poster and paper on our evolving animal is due on Tuesday of this week. It is important to work to meet this deadline. We have had more than 3 weeks to complete these assignments and have spent a good deal of class time in those pursuits. We will do presentations on that work in 2017.
English Language Arts and Reading
Students have been practicing the skill of writing historical narratives as they prepare short plays of famous Egyptians. This classwork has been about identifying a protagonist, antagonist, setting and plot using the historical facts of significant Egyptian pharoahs. The movies will be filmed on Thursday. There may be work on props and costumes in progress at home.
We are ready to revise and edit our persuasive essays done as class writing when we return from vacation.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We will finish The Lightning Thief before Christmas vacation.
History
In addition to the famous Egyptian plays, the completed Nile River maps are due on Wednesday. The weekly deadlines have been helpful for students to understand the big project can be broken into smaller parts. Each week I have been evaluating the progress and offering suggestions for improvements. Students will be assembling all the completed pieces on the Nile River map that was drawn before Thanksgiving. They will have time to see each other's maps and I will be posting a photo of each map online.
We will discuss hieroglyhics, papyrus and the Rosetta Stone with a "holiday gift list in hieroglyphics" due on Tuesday.
Happy Holidays!
Math: We have begun a unit on fractions and are learning how to multiply and divide with fractions. I won't be checking Math Portfolios until 2017 but that is coming fast. There's no after school, extra help session this week but I will start that practice up after the vacation.
Science: Our poster and paper on our evolving animal is due on Tuesday of this week. It is important to work to meet this deadline. We have had more than 3 weeks to complete these assignments and have spent a good deal of class time in those pursuits. We will do presentations on that work in 2017.
English Language Arts and Reading
Students have been practicing the skill of writing historical narratives as they prepare short plays of famous Egyptians. This classwork has been about identifying a protagonist, antagonist, setting and plot using the historical facts of significant Egyptian pharoahs. The movies will be filmed on Thursday. There may be work on props and costumes in progress at home.
We are ready to revise and edit our persuasive essays done as class writing when we return from vacation.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We will finish The Lightning Thief before Christmas vacation.
History
In addition to the famous Egyptian plays, the completed Nile River maps are due on Wednesday. The weekly deadlines have been helpful for students to understand the big project can be broken into smaller parts. Each week I have been evaluating the progress and offering suggestions for improvements. Students will be assembling all the completed pieces on the Nile River map that was drawn before Thanksgiving. They will have time to see each other's maps and I will be posting a photo of each map online.
We will discuss hieroglyhics, papyrus and the Rosetta Stone with a "holiday gift list in hieroglyphics" due on Tuesday.
December 12, 2016
I want to take a moment to applaud these kids for how they have come together as a coomunity of learners, as a communtiy of good citizens. I am having fun working with them and learning with them and I appreciate that this is a reflection on you as well. Indeed, this is a special community.
Math: Last Friday's math exam will be handed back at the start of this week. I am quite pleased with our overall performance on that test, one focusing primarily on working with decimal numbers. We are now working on the fourth unit, one dealing with fractions. We will also be working on both geometric and algebraic concepts during these next weeks. We remain a few weeks away from having our math portfolios graded.
Science: We continue to work on our Evolving Animals Project. December 20 is the due date for both the poster and the paper. I'll start talking about presentations at that time. There are four important questions that students need to answer on both the paper and the poster. They are: What is your animal's habitat?; What are your animal's predecessors?: What are the adaptations that have allowed your animal to survive?: and What does the future hold for your animal?
English Language Arts and Reading
We continue a writing week with finishing up rough drafts of persuasive essays and an outline for a story project begun in school.
Grammar this week, due Tuesday, is on Direct Objects.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue in Reading Groups, for fluency.
We continue in Lightning Thief.
History
The last stage of the Nile River project is due on Friday. All the pieces of the project have been completed or all nearly completed. We've talked in class about how to make the illustrations and captions clear with ink outlines. We've been checking spelling.
By the time next Wednesday arrives for the final map evaluation, everyone should pretty much have a perfect map.
Thank you for any hard work you may have done for this project including running to hobby stores for get clay.
During class time, we will be creating "stories" about the most Famous Egyptians, for videos next week.
I want to take a moment to applaud these kids for how they have come together as a coomunity of learners, as a communtiy of good citizens. I am having fun working with them and learning with them and I appreciate that this is a reflection on you as well. Indeed, this is a special community.
Math: Last Friday's math exam will be handed back at the start of this week. I am quite pleased with our overall performance on that test, one focusing primarily on working with decimal numbers. We are now working on the fourth unit, one dealing with fractions. We will also be working on both geometric and algebraic concepts during these next weeks. We remain a few weeks away from having our math portfolios graded.
Science: We continue to work on our Evolving Animals Project. December 20 is the due date for both the poster and the paper. I'll start talking about presentations at that time. There are four important questions that students need to answer on both the paper and the poster. They are: What is your animal's habitat?; What are your animal's predecessors?: What are the adaptations that have allowed your animal to survive?: and What does the future hold for your animal?
English Language Arts and Reading
We continue a writing week with finishing up rough drafts of persuasive essays and an outline for a story project begun in school.
Grammar this week, due Tuesday, is on Direct Objects.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue in Reading Groups, for fluency.
We continue in Lightning Thief.
History
The last stage of the Nile River project is due on Friday. All the pieces of the project have been completed or all nearly completed. We've talked in class about how to make the illustrations and captions clear with ink outlines. We've been checking spelling.
By the time next Wednesday arrives for the final map evaluation, everyone should pretty much have a perfect map.
Thank you for any hard work you may have done for this project including running to hobby stores for get clay.
During class time, we will be creating "stories" about the most Famous Egyptians, for videos next week.
December 5, 2016
Math: A math exam on our current unit is on tap for this Friday. I will hold an after school, extra help session on Wednesday for any student wishing to get some extra attention. That exam will center on decimals and solving problems involving the four operations with decimals. We seem very ready for it. Our next unit will be on multiplying and dividing fractions. We will also add several concepts of algebra and geometry. The year of learning math is going well.
Science: We have begun work on our Evolving Animals poster, paper and presentation. Last week students selected an animal and began researching it to answer four big questions. I supplied books to help but students may need to augment that work with more research on their own. This week we will begin the posters displaying their main ideas. No final due dates have been set yet but they will be decided upon this week. We will also be working with the concept of probability and the role it plays in heredity. An outline will be due at the end of this week. The work on probability will tie in nicely with some of the math we have already learned. This connection between science and mathematics is a "fun" one.
English Language Arts and Reading
This will be a writing week to complete the rough drafts for our persuasive essays so there will not be a new story, new vocabulary, new spelling or any tests. You're welcome. Students have been practicing writing opinions with supporting reasons and examples in class.
Students continure reading the Massachusetts Book Award books and practice fluency.
We will have a homework assignment on reading a table of contents and index for information.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday. We continue reading The Lightning Thief.
History
Great job on the Nile River plants and animals due last Friday. Many students have opted to store their drawings here at school. Due this Friday are the quarries/ mines ( even 1-D and 2-D students can have rocks to represent thesr quarries) and the Egyptian boats. The reference sheet mentions many different minerals important to Egypt, as well as give examples of royal boats, fishing boats, and funeral boats. We saw examples of fishing boats, barges and stone barges in class.
Math: A math exam on our current unit is on tap for this Friday. I will hold an after school, extra help session on Wednesday for any student wishing to get some extra attention. That exam will center on decimals and solving problems involving the four operations with decimals. We seem very ready for it. Our next unit will be on multiplying and dividing fractions. We will also add several concepts of algebra and geometry. The year of learning math is going well.
Science: We have begun work on our Evolving Animals poster, paper and presentation. Last week students selected an animal and began researching it to answer four big questions. I supplied books to help but students may need to augment that work with more research on their own. This week we will begin the posters displaying their main ideas. No final due dates have been set yet but they will be decided upon this week. We will also be working with the concept of probability and the role it plays in heredity. An outline will be due at the end of this week. The work on probability will tie in nicely with some of the math we have already learned. This connection between science and mathematics is a "fun" one.
English Language Arts and Reading
This will be a writing week to complete the rough drafts for our persuasive essays so there will not be a new story, new vocabulary, new spelling or any tests. You're welcome. Students have been practicing writing opinions with supporting reasons and examples in class.
Students continure reading the Massachusetts Book Award books and practice fluency.
We will have a homework assignment on reading a table of contents and index for information.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday. We continue reading The Lightning Thief.
History
Great job on the Nile River plants and animals due last Friday. Many students have opted to store their drawings here at school. Due this Friday are the quarries/ mines ( even 1-D and 2-D students can have rocks to represent thesr quarries) and the Egyptian boats. The reference sheet mentions many different minerals important to Egypt, as well as give examples of royal boats, fishing boats, and funeral boats. We saw examples of fishing boats, barges and stone barges in class.
November 28, 2016
Math: There will be an after school, extra help session in math on Tuesday of this week. It will end at 4 PM. Any student who stays for it will get their math homework done in school and receive extra help with any questions they have about what we are learning. Usually I have them on Wednesday afternoons but I will be out of school on Wednesday to attend a funeral. We continue to work with decimal numbers and solve problems involving decimals. This week we learn how to divide decimals by decimal divisors. Our next exam will come in the middle of next week. We are also looking at basic geometry formulas such as how to find area, perimeter and volume of some shapes and figures.
Science: Our next outline assignment is due tomorrow. We have begun to learn about genetics and the work of Gregor Mendel. This week students will find out about a project, paper and presentation on an evolving animal. It should be fun.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, READING, and HISTORY
Reading: We are learning about the effects of natural disasters in “Zoo Story”.
Our reading skill is on generalizations and making summary statements.
Classwork includes an assignment on reading graphs and tables and we work on reading fluency.
New vocabulary will be due on Thursday when we have a test on the story
from pages 182 - 185. Assginment numbers are 1,2,5,11
2 Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Students should have a personal reading book with them at all times.
Grammar: We continue with appositives in class.
Spelling: There is a spelling test on Friday. I thought I would experiment and have the spelling pages (46/47)
be voluntary as a way to study. The proof if this works will be successful tests on Friday...
Writing: We have been organizing and preparing an essay on persuasive writing in class.
HIstory: Students should be working on making the plants and animals of the Nile River which are due on Friday.
Using the reference sheet I gave them would be helpful in drawing the plants and animals for the map (1-D or 2-D pop up
pictures) or making them as 3-D sculptures. We'll also talk about the Phase III and Phase IV due next week-
Minerals, boats and farms
As assignment on Egyptian mythology is due on Wednesday.
Math: There will be an after school, extra help session in math on Tuesday of this week. It will end at 4 PM. Any student who stays for it will get their math homework done in school and receive extra help with any questions they have about what we are learning. Usually I have them on Wednesday afternoons but I will be out of school on Wednesday to attend a funeral. We continue to work with decimal numbers and solve problems involving decimals. This week we learn how to divide decimals by decimal divisors. Our next exam will come in the middle of next week. We are also looking at basic geometry formulas such as how to find area, perimeter and volume of some shapes and figures.
Science: Our next outline assignment is due tomorrow. We have begun to learn about genetics and the work of Gregor Mendel. This week students will find out about a project, paper and presentation on an evolving animal. It should be fun.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, READING, and HISTORY
Reading: We are learning about the effects of natural disasters in “Zoo Story”.
Our reading skill is on generalizations and making summary statements.
Classwork includes an assignment on reading graphs and tables and we work on reading fluency.
New vocabulary will be due on Thursday when we have a test on the story
from pages 182 - 185. Assginment numbers are 1,2,5,11
2 Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Students should have a personal reading book with them at all times.
Grammar: We continue with appositives in class.
Spelling: There is a spelling test on Friday. I thought I would experiment and have the spelling pages (46/47)
be voluntary as a way to study. The proof if this works will be successful tests on Friday...
Writing: We have been organizing and preparing an essay on persuasive writing in class.
HIstory: Students should be working on making the plants and animals of the Nile River which are due on Friday.
Using the reference sheet I gave them would be helpful in drawing the plants and animals for the map (1-D or 2-D pop up
pictures) or making them as 3-D sculptures. We'll also talk about the Phase III and Phase IV due next week-
Minerals, boats and farms
As assignment on Egyptian mythology is due on Wednesday.
November 21, 2016
Math: One thing that came through during the conferences was that the after school, extra help sessions in math are helpful and appreciated. I will start those back up the week after Thanksgiving. This week we continue to work with and solve problems involving decimals. We will be learning how to divide with decimals this week and the one after the holiday. We remain a few weeks away from an exam on this unit. We are also looking at the concepts of area and perimeter. These seem simple but are often confused by sixth graders. We will be looking to further investigate more advanced geometry during the school year.
Science: It also came through during conferences that many of your kids appreciate having more time with science this year. Although we continue to face limitations with time and materials, the 30 minutes per day do allow us to cover more material and learn more science. We have begun to look at evolution and how organisms adapt to their environment. A drawing of "future man" is due on Tuesday of this week. This week we begin to look at the work of Mendel and the science of genetics. We have raised some money in nickels, dimes and quarters and will be adopting a penguin with that charitable contribution.
English Language Arts, Reading and History:
For English Language Arts we will continue, and hopefully finish, the graphic organizer for our next big writing project on persuasive writing.
Students will have 2 reading slips due on the Wednesday we get back from Thanksgiving vacation.
We have started our next History project in class. Phase 1 ( drawing, coloring and labeling the Nile River) is due today, after having 3 class periods to work on this. Phase II is due on the Friday we return from vacation. Students will receive a reference sheet for designing plants and animals to fit on the map here at school.
This week we will talk about the Egyptian gods with an assignment due on Tuesday.
Math: One thing that came through during the conferences was that the after school, extra help sessions in math are helpful and appreciated. I will start those back up the week after Thanksgiving. This week we continue to work with and solve problems involving decimals. We will be learning how to divide with decimals this week and the one after the holiday. We remain a few weeks away from an exam on this unit. We are also looking at the concepts of area and perimeter. These seem simple but are often confused by sixth graders. We will be looking to further investigate more advanced geometry during the school year.
Science: It also came through during conferences that many of your kids appreciate having more time with science this year. Although we continue to face limitations with time and materials, the 30 minutes per day do allow us to cover more material and learn more science. We have begun to look at evolution and how organisms adapt to their environment. A drawing of "future man" is due on Tuesday of this week. This week we begin to look at the work of Mendel and the science of genetics. We have raised some money in nickels, dimes and quarters and will be adopting a penguin with that charitable contribution.
English Language Arts, Reading and History:
For English Language Arts we will continue, and hopefully finish, the graphic organizer for our next big writing project on persuasive writing.
Students will have 2 reading slips due on the Wednesday we get back from Thanksgiving vacation.
We have started our next History project in class. Phase 1 ( drawing, coloring and labeling the Nile River) is due today, after having 3 class periods to work on this. Phase II is due on the Friday we return from vacation. Students will receive a reference sheet for designing plants and animals to fit on the map here at school.
This week we will talk about the Egyptian gods with an assignment due on Tuesday.
November 14, 2016
Math: We continue to learn how to add, subtract and multiply decimal numbers. We are also looking at data we compiled about our "screen time". That should be interesting. This week we will review concepts of geometry such as perimeter and area.
Science: We have finished our unit on cells and cell theory and will be starting a new unit on genetics. This week we will learn about the work of Charles Darwin and his theories of natural selection.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, READING, and HISTORY
Reading: We are learning about the solar system and doing projects at the last minute in
“The Night of the Pomegranate” and the focus skill is on inferences.
The vocabulary from the story will be collected on Thursday when we have the test.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We finished up a class assignment on making inferences using photos
Grammar: We continue the important work of understanding sentence structure with appositives
Spelling: Our spelling test is on Friday. Pages 41/42 are also due then.
Writing: As we begin our next class writing assignment on persuasive writing, students will be having writing conferences with me and
setting new writing goals for this term.
History: We will begin Phase I of a map of the Nile River in class this week. The completed map will be due on December 22, but I've
broken down the big project into weekly sections. This assignment will be in homework folders and posted
in the downloads section by Friday.
Students will receive graded papers for notebooks on Thursday. All papers must go home as we do not allow students to throw papers away at school.
Non-notebook papers should be recycled at home.
We continue with the Lightning Thief and Reading Book Groups for the Massachusetts Book Awards.
Math: We continue to learn how to add, subtract and multiply decimal numbers. We are also looking at data we compiled about our "screen time". That should be interesting. This week we will review concepts of geometry such as perimeter and area.
Science: We have finished our unit on cells and cell theory and will be starting a new unit on genetics. This week we will learn about the work of Charles Darwin and his theories of natural selection.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, READING, and HISTORY
Reading: We are learning about the solar system and doing projects at the last minute in
“The Night of the Pomegranate” and the focus skill is on inferences.
The vocabulary from the story will be collected on Thursday when we have the test.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We finished up a class assignment on making inferences using photos
Grammar: We continue the important work of understanding sentence structure with appositives
Spelling: Our spelling test is on Friday. Pages 41/42 are also due then.
Writing: As we begin our next class writing assignment on persuasive writing, students will be having writing conferences with me and
setting new writing goals for this term.
History: We will begin Phase I of a map of the Nile River in class this week. The completed map will be due on December 22, but I've
broken down the big project into weekly sections. This assignment will be in homework folders and posted
in the downloads section by Friday.
Students will receive graded papers for notebooks on Thursday. All papers must go home as we do not allow students to throw papers away at school.
Non-notebook papers should be recycled at home.
We continue with the Lightning Thief and Reading Book Groups for the Massachusetts Book Awards.
November 7. 2016
Math: The first quarter is complete and except for a few loose ends, the grading has been closed out. I am very pleased with how the students are advancing with challenging material and the grades reflect this. Last Friday's test has been graded and you should see it on Monday. It was not an "easy" test and some students struggled with it. These struggles are necessary as mistakes and problems often lead to learning and the finding of answers. The math your kids is encountering is rich and complex in language, concepts and skills and it will take time for some of us to feel comfortable with all of it. The journey continues. This week we will look at decimals and how to add and subtract them. Remember that it is a "short" week with only 3 days of school. There will not be an after school, extra help session this week. Kids will be charting their "screen time" this week. Screen time is the amount of time they spend watching television and using computers, tablets, cell phones and video games. We will then graph this data in various ways and analyze it.
Science: Science portfolios have been graded. You should see a grade slip on Monday. We are completing our unit on cell theory this week and will soon begin a unit on genetics. This will begin with a look at Charles Darwin's ideas about natural selection.
English Language Arts and Reading
This short week is perfect for working more on the important reading skill of making inferences and not beginning a new story with new vocabulary, spelling and grammar.
We'll have an assignment on inferences due on Thursday. Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue with reading fluency in the classroom.
History
We'll focus on primary and secondary sources in a classroom assignment examining photographs to practice making inferences. A homework assignment on the artists of Mesopotamia is due today, Monday.
Math: The first quarter is complete and except for a few loose ends, the grading has been closed out. I am very pleased with how the students are advancing with challenging material and the grades reflect this. Last Friday's test has been graded and you should see it on Monday. It was not an "easy" test and some students struggled with it. These struggles are necessary as mistakes and problems often lead to learning and the finding of answers. The math your kids is encountering is rich and complex in language, concepts and skills and it will take time for some of us to feel comfortable with all of it. The journey continues. This week we will look at decimals and how to add and subtract them. Remember that it is a "short" week with only 3 days of school. There will not be an after school, extra help session this week. Kids will be charting their "screen time" this week. Screen time is the amount of time they spend watching television and using computers, tablets, cell phones and video games. We will then graph this data in various ways and analyze it.
Science: Science portfolios have been graded. You should see a grade slip on Monday. We are completing our unit on cell theory this week and will soon begin a unit on genetics. This will begin with a look at Charles Darwin's ideas about natural selection.
English Language Arts and Reading
This short week is perfect for working more on the important reading skill of making inferences and not beginning a new story with new vocabulary, spelling and grammar.
We'll have an assignment on inferences due on Thursday. Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
We continue with reading fluency in the classroom.
History
We'll focus on primary and secondary sources in a classroom assignment examining photographs to practice making inferences. A homework assignment on the artists of Mesopotamia is due today, Monday.
October 31, 2016
Math: Math portfolios have been graded. You should see the grade slip and sign it on Monday. This group of kids has done a phenomenal job with organizing their portfolios, organizing their work. We will set up a new portfolio for the second quarter and continue to utilize it as a learning tool. There is an important exam on tap for this Friday. That test will focus on fractions, decimals and percents and their shared relationships. You will see it next week. There will be another after school, extra help session this Wednesday. We will spend some more time getting prepared for Friday's exam. We are making strong progress with difficult concepts and skills. Let's keep it up!
Science: The cell models have been presented and graded. You should see that grade slip and sign it on Monday. I was pleased with how seriously the students approached and carried out this project. Science portfolios will be due this Friday. Just as I did with the math portfolios, I will grade them over the weekend. We will look at diffusion and osmosis this week and continue to learn how cells work.
English Language Arts and Reading
Our focus is to work on class assignments this week: Work done in class include writing about character traits, words and verbs that are for weak writing, and a continuation of a new evaluation plan for open response:RACE
There is no new spelling.
I've been busy reading our first big essay: Things You May Not Know About Me. Great job, so far!
There is no new story, test and grammar this week.
History
A short assignment done while in the graveyard is due on Monday afternoon. By Friday, we will have discussed primary sources and secondary sources. An assignment of looking at primary sources using art from Mesopotamia is due on Friday.
The Mesopotamian myth is due on Wednesday. Students have to incororate as much as possible from the slip they have choses. It should be a basic story (beginnning, middle and end) and shouldn't be much more that a paragraph. This doesn't have to be genuine and, in fact, I'm encouraging students to write be creative and funny, it they would like some fun stuff for the reader.
Math: Math portfolios have been graded. You should see the grade slip and sign it on Monday. This group of kids has done a phenomenal job with organizing their portfolios, organizing their work. We will set up a new portfolio for the second quarter and continue to utilize it as a learning tool. There is an important exam on tap for this Friday. That test will focus on fractions, decimals and percents and their shared relationships. You will see it next week. There will be another after school, extra help session this Wednesday. We will spend some more time getting prepared for Friday's exam. We are making strong progress with difficult concepts and skills. Let's keep it up!
Science: The cell models have been presented and graded. You should see that grade slip and sign it on Monday. I was pleased with how seriously the students approached and carried out this project. Science portfolios will be due this Friday. Just as I did with the math portfolios, I will grade them over the weekend. We will look at diffusion and osmosis this week and continue to learn how cells work.
English Language Arts and Reading
Our focus is to work on class assignments this week: Work done in class include writing about character traits, words and verbs that are for weak writing, and a continuation of a new evaluation plan for open response:RACE
There is no new spelling.
I've been busy reading our first big essay: Things You May Not Know About Me. Great job, so far!
There is no new story, test and grammar this week.
History
A short assignment done while in the graveyard is due on Monday afternoon. By Friday, we will have discussed primary sources and secondary sources. An assignment of looking at primary sources using art from Mesopotamia is due on Friday.
The Mesopotamian myth is due on Wednesday. Students have to incororate as much as possible from the slip they have choses. It should be a basic story (beginnning, middle and end) and shouldn't be much more that a paragraph. This doesn't have to be genuine and, in fact, I'm encouraging students to write be creative and funny, it they would like some fun stuff for the reader.
October 25, 2016:
Math: There will be an after school, extra help session this Wednesday. Again, remember to bring a note to school that day if you will be staying after with me. Math Portfolios will be due on Friday and I will grade them this weekend. This will be a very important grade. We will spend some extra time in class preparing for that check. We will also continue to learn about fractions, decimals and percents and the relationships they share. We remain a few weeks from our next exam.
Science: The cell models look awesome. Students will do a brief presentation of their project this week and you should see the grade slip for the project by the end of the week. Science portfolios will be due in about a week and a half. This week we will learn about diffusion and osmosis.
English Language Arts and Reading
We are wrapping up the big first term essay, Things You May Not Know About Me, in class this week. Byt Tuesday, all papers should be typed. The essays will be in writing folders for parent conferences.
We read the story "How Tia Lola Came to Stay" to understand realistic fictions and making inferences.
Vocabulary 1,2,5 and 11 is due on Thursday when we have the test
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling homework 25/26 is due on Friday when we have a test.
History
Terrific job on the last history quiz for Mesopotamia. We look at the Gilgamesh epic to learn about Mesopotamian mythology. A written myth is due next Wednesday based on some of the Mesopotamian gods we'll learn about. This is just a paragraph long and will tell a basic and creative story about an event in this god's life. Each student will receive a god and some descriptors. I'm pushing for this to be creative with made up details, as long as the basic idea from the original slip is part of the story, so no need to make this an authentic Mesopotamia myth!
Students will receive graded papers on Tuesday. Students are not allowed to throw corrected papers away at school but, of course, the papers can be recycled at home.
Math: There will be an after school, extra help session this Wednesday. Again, remember to bring a note to school that day if you will be staying after with me. Math Portfolios will be due on Friday and I will grade them this weekend. This will be a very important grade. We will spend some extra time in class preparing for that check. We will also continue to learn about fractions, decimals and percents and the relationships they share. We remain a few weeks from our next exam.
Science: The cell models look awesome. Students will do a brief presentation of their project this week and you should see the grade slip for the project by the end of the week. Science portfolios will be due in about a week and a half. This week we will learn about diffusion and osmosis.
English Language Arts and Reading
We are wrapping up the big first term essay, Things You May Not Know About Me, in class this week. Byt Tuesday, all papers should be typed. The essays will be in writing folders for parent conferences.
We read the story "How Tia Lola Came to Stay" to understand realistic fictions and making inferences.
Vocabulary 1,2,5 and 11 is due on Thursday when we have the test
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling homework 25/26 is due on Friday when we have a test.
History
Terrific job on the last history quiz for Mesopotamia. We look at the Gilgamesh epic to learn about Mesopotamian mythology. A written myth is due next Wednesday based on some of the Mesopotamian gods we'll learn about. This is just a paragraph long and will tell a basic and creative story about an event in this god's life. Each student will receive a god and some descriptors. I'm pushing for this to be creative with made up details, as long as the basic idea from the original slip is part of the story, so no need to make this an authentic Mesopotamia myth!
Students will receive graded papers on Tuesday. Students are not allowed to throw corrected papers away at school but, of course, the papers can be recycled at home.
Monday, October 17, 2016:
Math: There won't be an after school math group this week. We have an audition for the play and an after school meeting so it is a busy week for me. We will also be busy in math class. We continue to work with fractions, decimals and percents and will learn how to convert from one to the others. We are now just a couple of weeks from having our math portfolios graded and will spend some time organizing them for that important grade. Our Mancala tournament moves into the elimination round.
Science: The cell model is due this Friday. This project has been on tap for the last several weeks and it will be very important for kids to get the work done on time. Students do have a worksheet that outlines directions for this model. We will also learn about chemical compounds.
English Language Arts and Reading
We are using laptops this week to type and print our 5 paragraph essays "Things You May Not Know About Me". So far, I have been very impressed with the quality of writing which will only be more impressive following the revision, editing and typing this week.
We are going to read "Interrupted Journey" to practice analyzing informational non-fiction, and finding main ideas and details.
Vocabulary and test are due on Thursday.
I am giving spelling homework this week but, honestly, this is another difficult test that I find hard to justify in giving.
It has to do with knowing the difference between hypehnated, compound and separated words. So, students will have homework but NO SPELLING TEST!
I will be slipping in some grammar work on run one sentences which will be done in class.
Reading groups for the Massachusetts Book Awards continues. We have been practicing fluency and identifying characters and settings.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday. We continue in Lightning Thief
HIstory
Students were History phenoms last week on the Quiz #2. There were 26 100%s but, even better, no one received lower than 80%!
Quiz #3 is this Friday. Students have had time to work on flashcards in class. Today we will go over the Flashfacts.
Math: There won't be an after school math group this week. We have an audition for the play and an after school meeting so it is a busy week for me. We will also be busy in math class. We continue to work with fractions, decimals and percents and will learn how to convert from one to the others. We are now just a couple of weeks from having our math portfolios graded and will spend some time organizing them for that important grade. Our Mancala tournament moves into the elimination round.
Science: The cell model is due this Friday. This project has been on tap for the last several weeks and it will be very important for kids to get the work done on time. Students do have a worksheet that outlines directions for this model. We will also learn about chemical compounds.
English Language Arts and Reading
We are using laptops this week to type and print our 5 paragraph essays "Things You May Not Know About Me". So far, I have been very impressed with the quality of writing which will only be more impressive following the revision, editing and typing this week.
We are going to read "Interrupted Journey" to practice analyzing informational non-fiction, and finding main ideas and details.
Vocabulary and test are due on Thursday.
I am giving spelling homework this week but, honestly, this is another difficult test that I find hard to justify in giving.
It has to do with knowing the difference between hypehnated, compound and separated words. So, students will have homework but NO SPELLING TEST!
I will be slipping in some grammar work on run one sentences which will be done in class.
Reading groups for the Massachusetts Book Awards continues. We have been practicing fluency and identifying characters and settings.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday. We continue in Lightning Thief
HIstory
Students were History phenoms last week on the Quiz #2. There were 26 100%s but, even better, no one received lower than 80%!
Quiz #3 is this Friday. Students have had time to work on flashcards in class. Today we will go over the Flashfacts.
Tuesday, October 11:
Math: Last week's after school, extra help session was well attended and, I hope, useful for the kids who gave up their free time. There is another one slated for this Wednesday. If your child will attend, please send in a note on that day. I will do my best to arrange these sessions as often as I can but I also am working on our school musical after school and there will be some weeks that won't work for me. This week we begin working with fractions and decimals. A review of our decimal number system and how fractions and decimals are alike and different is part of that work. Last Friday's exam on proportional thinking has been graded and sent home. Please sign that exam and have your child return it to their math portfolio here at school.
Science: A bar graph on 10 Hurricanes is due this Wednesday. Much of the work on it was done in class but it does need to be completed for homework. It involves proportional thinking and so serves as a terrific connection with our math work. A packet on the functions of cell organelles is due this Friday. We continue to learn about cells and cell function. Students should begin working on their cell models this week.
English Language Arts and Reading:
We continue writing our first big essay in class:"Some Things You May Not Know About Me". The main paragraphs are done and students will write the introduction/conclusion,revise, and edit this week. Writing skills focus on topic sentences and making transitions. As a result, there will not be a new story, new vocabulary, or new spelling this week.
Grammar will review complex sentences and run ons.
Reading slips will be due on Wednesday.
History:
The first Fertile Crescent Quiz was wildly successful! Most students achieved a 80% or above, with 27 students with 100%! Wow!
The second quiz is on Thursday. Students started flashcards last Thursday in class.
An assignment on discerning facts, beliefs and opinions is due on Friday.
Math: Last week's after school, extra help session was well attended and, I hope, useful for the kids who gave up their free time. There is another one slated for this Wednesday. If your child will attend, please send in a note on that day. I will do my best to arrange these sessions as often as I can but I also am working on our school musical after school and there will be some weeks that won't work for me. This week we begin working with fractions and decimals. A review of our decimal number system and how fractions and decimals are alike and different is part of that work. Last Friday's exam on proportional thinking has been graded and sent home. Please sign that exam and have your child return it to their math portfolio here at school.
Science: A bar graph on 10 Hurricanes is due this Wednesday. Much of the work on it was done in class but it does need to be completed for homework. It involves proportional thinking and so serves as a terrific connection with our math work. A packet on the functions of cell organelles is due this Friday. We continue to learn about cells and cell function. Students should begin working on their cell models this week.
English Language Arts and Reading:
We continue writing our first big essay in class:"Some Things You May Not Know About Me". The main paragraphs are done and students will write the introduction/conclusion,revise, and edit this week. Writing skills focus on topic sentences and making transitions. As a result, there will not be a new story, new vocabulary, or new spelling this week.
Grammar will review complex sentences and run ons.
Reading slips will be due on Wednesday.
History:
The first Fertile Crescent Quiz was wildly successful! Most students achieved a 80% or above, with 27 students with 100%! Wow!
The second quiz is on Thursday. Students started flashcards last Thursday in class.
An assignment on discerning facts, beliefs and opinions is due on Friday.
Monday, October 3:
Math: Our first math exam is tentatively scheduled for this Friday. If I don't feel that we are adequately prepared for it, we will push the exam day into next week. You can follow that question in our "Tonight's Homework" page of this website. I will offer an after school, extra help session this Wednesday. It will end at 4 PM. If you would like your child to attend, please send in a note that tells me they have your permission. We will go over many of the skills and concepts that will be tested on the exam. The school's late bus will be running on that day. The exam will center on proportional thinking. It will also include the number theory work we've done and the material on the collection, organization and analysis of data. Our next unit will begin our work on decimals and fractions.
Science: Science assignments are different from our math homework. First, there is no 20 minute rule for this work. It needs to be completed. These assignments are almost always begun in science class and then finished for homework. There is always a time period of at least several days to finish the work. It offers a very different challenge. Two diagrams of cells are due this Wednesday. We will also learn about a Cell Project and begin that work this week. Ask your child about it. We continue to learn about cells and how they function.
English Language Arts and Reading
This week will be a writing week, so there is no new story, vocabulary or test on Thursday.
Our first formal writing assignment begins this week and is a personal narrative called “What You May Not Know About Me.” We’ll begin with organizing ideas (like “what do you love to do?”) on a graphic organizer and work on the remaining 3 paragraphs of a rough draft for the rest of the week in class. There is no homework associated with this assignment. It is completely done in class.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday. We'll continue reviewing dependent and independent clauses as part of improving written expression. Spelling homework and test are still due on Friday.
We will begin Reading Groups in class today. In these sessions, students will work on fluency, discuss and write about different components of literature. In PowerSchool, the journal grade is shown as classwork and done individually, although the group will often discuss the question together.
History
The map of a Mesopotamian city is due on Tuesday.
Our first quiz on Mesopotamia is on Thursday. The questions are based on the first 10 FlashFacts sheet. We made flash cards to study for this quiz.
I will plan on returning grades for the History Presentations to notebooks on Friday. Students get 3 separate grades for this 3 week assignment. There are 2 group grades for the presentation and the poster. The individual grade is what each student has done for the project, including how they have taken research notes.
Math: Our first math exam is tentatively scheduled for this Friday. If I don't feel that we are adequately prepared for it, we will push the exam day into next week. You can follow that question in our "Tonight's Homework" page of this website. I will offer an after school, extra help session this Wednesday. It will end at 4 PM. If you would like your child to attend, please send in a note that tells me they have your permission. We will go over many of the skills and concepts that will be tested on the exam. The school's late bus will be running on that day. The exam will center on proportional thinking. It will also include the number theory work we've done and the material on the collection, organization and analysis of data. Our next unit will begin our work on decimals and fractions.
Science: Science assignments are different from our math homework. First, there is no 20 minute rule for this work. It needs to be completed. These assignments are almost always begun in science class and then finished for homework. There is always a time period of at least several days to finish the work. It offers a very different challenge. Two diagrams of cells are due this Wednesday. We will also learn about a Cell Project and begin that work this week. Ask your child about it. We continue to learn about cells and how they function.
English Language Arts and Reading
This week will be a writing week, so there is no new story, vocabulary or test on Thursday.
Our first formal writing assignment begins this week and is a personal narrative called “What You May Not Know About Me.” We’ll begin with organizing ideas (like “what do you love to do?”) on a graphic organizer and work on the remaining 3 paragraphs of a rough draft for the rest of the week in class. There is no homework associated with this assignment. It is completely done in class.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday. We'll continue reviewing dependent and independent clauses as part of improving written expression. Spelling homework and test are still due on Friday.
We will begin Reading Groups in class today. In these sessions, students will work on fluency, discuss and write about different components of literature. In PowerSchool, the journal grade is shown as classwork and done individually, although the group will often discuss the question together.
History
The map of a Mesopotamian city is due on Tuesday.
Our first quiz on Mesopotamia is on Thursday. The questions are based on the first 10 FlashFacts sheet. We made flash cards to study for this quiz.
I will plan on returning grades for the History Presentations to notebooks on Friday. Students get 3 separate grades for this 3 week assignment. There are 2 group grades for the presentation and the poster. The individual grade is what each student has done for the project, including how they have taken research notes.
Monday, September 26:
Math: The unit on proportional thinking continues. This is a challenging unit and one that takes a good, long time to address as we combine it with another unit on collecting, organizing and analyzing data. We remain about two weeks from our first major exam in math. I want to tell you about my voluntary, after school, extra help math sessions. I generally coordinate them with the start of our late bus program so kids have a way to get home if no ride is available. I am hoping that we can begin this one day a week program in the next few weeks. During one of those after school sessions, we complete our homework, organize our portfolios and get help with any topics or issues we have been struggling with. The sessions end at 4 PM. You will read more about them as we get closer to their commencement.
Science: Students have brought in specimens to view with microscopes. We will do that on Monday. I have passed out science books and ask that kids cover them. We don't use those books often; however, they will be good for reference and do provide us with good background material from time to time. Our next topic is on cell theory. We will conduct experiments with eggs and students will be asked draw diagrams of plant and animal cells. They will also find out soon about our cell project.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS and READING
Reading: We are learning about non-fiction in “Gecko Glue””.
Skills include identifying the main idea of a story and the supporting details.
Vocabulary is due on Thursday when we have a test on the story from pages 70 - 73.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Students should have a reading book with them at all times. I will require this for small reading groups in class.
Grammar: We discuss complex sentences with dependent and independent clauses.
Spelling: Pages 15, 16, are due on Friday. Spelling test on Friday as well.
Students received graded papers for notebooks on Friday. All papers must go home as we do not allow students to throw papers away at school.
Non-notebook papers should be recycled at home.
HISTORY
We have been preparing a group/peer teaching unit on the ancient civilizations of the Middle East : Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Mesopotamians. This has been an example of learning to read for the main ideas and summarizing. This has been class work. Presentations have begun and have been interesting. There will be 3 grades for reading - one on the group collaboration, the quality of the poster and individual participation.
A map of a Mesopotamian city will be due next Tuesday.
We continue with the Lightning Thief.
A Note About Power School: You will now find several grades on the Power School program. I hope that you will find it a helpful way to monitor your child's progress; however, I also hope that it won't cause tension or confusion. Sometimes one grade can impact the overall grade. This happens more in the early stages of a marking period before other factors, assignments and projects are included in the grading program. Don't panic. Don't hesitate to contact us either, if you have questions or concerns. Grades in the 6th grade should be kept in some perspective. It is more important to learn how to get good grades and we seem to learn best when we make mistakes. So, let's work together in this area and help your child learn those valuable lessons.
Math: The unit on proportional thinking continues. This is a challenging unit and one that takes a good, long time to address as we combine it with another unit on collecting, organizing and analyzing data. We remain about two weeks from our first major exam in math. I want to tell you about my voluntary, after school, extra help math sessions. I generally coordinate them with the start of our late bus program so kids have a way to get home if no ride is available. I am hoping that we can begin this one day a week program in the next few weeks. During one of those after school sessions, we complete our homework, organize our portfolios and get help with any topics or issues we have been struggling with. The sessions end at 4 PM. You will read more about them as we get closer to their commencement.
Science: Students have brought in specimens to view with microscopes. We will do that on Monday. I have passed out science books and ask that kids cover them. We don't use those books often; however, they will be good for reference and do provide us with good background material from time to time. Our next topic is on cell theory. We will conduct experiments with eggs and students will be asked draw diagrams of plant and animal cells. They will also find out soon about our cell project.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS and READING
Reading: We are learning about non-fiction in “Gecko Glue””.
Skills include identifying the main idea of a story and the supporting details.
Vocabulary is due on Thursday when we have a test on the story from pages 70 - 73.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Students should have a reading book with them at all times. I will require this for small reading groups in class.
Grammar: We discuss complex sentences with dependent and independent clauses.
Spelling: Pages 15, 16, are due on Friday. Spelling test on Friday as well.
Students received graded papers for notebooks on Friday. All papers must go home as we do not allow students to throw papers away at school.
Non-notebook papers should be recycled at home.
HISTORY
We have been preparing a group/peer teaching unit on the ancient civilizations of the Middle East : Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Mesopotamians. This has been an example of learning to read for the main ideas and summarizing. This has been class work. Presentations have begun and have been interesting. There will be 3 grades for reading - one on the group collaboration, the quality of the poster and individual participation.
A map of a Mesopotamian city will be due next Tuesday.
We continue with the Lightning Thief.
A Note About Power School: You will now find several grades on the Power School program. I hope that you will find it a helpful way to monitor your child's progress; however, I also hope that it won't cause tension or confusion. Sometimes one grade can impact the overall grade. This happens more in the early stages of a marking period before other factors, assignments and projects are included in the grading program. Don't panic. Don't hesitate to contact us either, if you have questions or concerns. Grades in the 6th grade should be kept in some perspective. It is more important to learn how to get good grades and we seem to learn best when we make mistakes. So, let's work together in this area and help your child learn those valuable lessons.
Wednesday, September 21
As a reminder: students who are planning to take the bus to the Belchertown Fair must turn in the purple permission slip to us by tomorrow morning.
Monday, September 19 #3:
Math: We are now well into our first unit on proportional thinking. We remain a couple of weeks from our first exam but have taken two, small quizzes. One was during the class and was on number theory, the background material important to our first unit. The other was a homework quiz, a graded assignment. You can see the results listed in Power School. All exams and some future quizzes will go home and require a parent signature. The unit on proportional thinking is an interesting one and is actually a bit more difficult than the next two units. Understanding that ratios can sometimes be fractions and sometimes not be fractions is tricky and learning how to form and solve proportions is challenging. We are also working with unit rates; creating algebraic expressions and equations; and gathering, displaying and analyzing data. Fun stuff. One activity that the students really enjoy is our "jump lab". That will happen later in the week. Ask your child about it.
Science: We start looking at and looking through microscopes this week. An assignment on bananas and the scientific method is due on Monday, September 19. Students will be asked to collect and bring in a specimen of some type to view in our microscopes later this week. We will conduct formal observations of our collected material and draw pictures and answer questions about them. Later in the week we will begin to learn about cell theory.
English Language Arts, Reading, and History:
This week students will be digesting the material in the second chapter of the history book in small groups in preparation for teaching the material to the class. This exercise focuses on the content of the Ancient Middle East and skills such as notetaking, paraphrasing, public speaking and preparing a visual presentation. All this prep work will be done in class but there will be an assignment on taking notes which will be due mid-week.
An assignment on the characteristics of civilization is due on Tueseay.
Students will be reviewing compound sentences as a way to improve writing.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling homework 9/10 is due on Friday when we have our first spelling test.
Students received corrected papers for notebooks last Friday. Some papers will just be brought home for you to see and then get recycled. A list will be posted on each Friday for the papers to save and what to remove. Students will not be throwing any graded papers away here at school.
As a reminder: students who are planning to take the bus to the Belchertown Fair must turn in the purple permission slip to us by tomorrow morning.
Monday, September 19 #3:
Math: We are now well into our first unit on proportional thinking. We remain a couple of weeks from our first exam but have taken two, small quizzes. One was during the class and was on number theory, the background material important to our first unit. The other was a homework quiz, a graded assignment. You can see the results listed in Power School. All exams and some future quizzes will go home and require a parent signature. The unit on proportional thinking is an interesting one and is actually a bit more difficult than the next two units. Understanding that ratios can sometimes be fractions and sometimes not be fractions is tricky and learning how to form and solve proportions is challenging. We are also working with unit rates; creating algebraic expressions and equations; and gathering, displaying and analyzing data. Fun stuff. One activity that the students really enjoy is our "jump lab". That will happen later in the week. Ask your child about it.
Science: We start looking at and looking through microscopes this week. An assignment on bananas and the scientific method is due on Monday, September 19. Students will be asked to collect and bring in a specimen of some type to view in our microscopes later this week. We will conduct formal observations of our collected material and draw pictures and answer questions about them. Later in the week we will begin to learn about cell theory.
English Language Arts, Reading, and History:
This week students will be digesting the material in the second chapter of the history book in small groups in preparation for teaching the material to the class. This exercise focuses on the content of the Ancient Middle East and skills such as notetaking, paraphrasing, public speaking and preparing a visual presentation. All this prep work will be done in class but there will be an assignment on taking notes which will be due mid-week.
An assignment on the characteristics of civilization is due on Tueseay.
Students will be reviewing compound sentences as a way to improve writing.
Reading slips are due on Wednesday.
Spelling homework 9/10 is due on Friday when we have our first spelling test.
Students received corrected papers for notebooks last Friday. Some papers will just be brought home for you to see and then get recycled. A list will be posted on each Friday for the papers to save and what to remove. Students will not be throwing any graded papers away here at school.
Monday, September 12 #2:
Math: We begin the first unit of our book this week. That unit is on ratios, rates and proportional thinking. We continue to work with number theory: factors, multiples, primes, composite numbers, prime factorization, divisibility rules, the associative property and short division. These are all elements that will allow us to succeed with the work on proportional thinking. We will also work with data and graphing data. This week we will review stem plots and learn how to construct and analyze box and whisker plots. Power School will be up and running for me soon so you will be able to access this helpful tool. Although I do believe it is helpful, it should not be blown out of proportion. That is not an intentional pun to accompany our first unit. Grades do matter but this is sixth grade; and our primary goal with grading is to learn how to achieve the best grades possible in the future. Often we learn best when we make mistakes. I know this because I am making many mistakes as I try to learn the new features to Power School.
Science: Sixth graders love "hands on" activities and so I am going to do my best to have them experience science that way. We have been learning about the scientific method by conducting simple but fun experiments. This week we look at our class and height and its relationship to foot size. We are also working with a banana experiment. Ask your child about it. This week we begin to learn about the microscope and how it works. We will soon collect samples, make our own slides and analyse what we have found after examining it with the microscope.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS and READING
Grammar : We review types of verbs this week. .
Reading: The reading selection is “Lost City”, an historical fiction piece on Machu Picchu
Skills this week focus on historical fiction, character, setting, plot.
Our test is on Thursday.
Vocabulary is begun during class and based on pages 43 - 44 of the Treasures Book.
Students will use words from the story in different ways based on a notebook sheet referred to
as the Vocabulary Station. The requirements will vary from week to week ranging in skills of
using a dictionary, phonetics, word origins, etc.
Often, students may complete the assignment as homework which is usually due on test day but because of Open House
will be due on Friday.
Reading slips will be due on Wednesday
Writing: Most students completed the rough draft of "Something I'll Never Forget" in class on Friday. The final draft with rough draft
attached is due on Wednesday
For Reading Groups: Students have to carry a reading book with them at all academic times. The book should represent a story the student is interested in and should be on his or her reading level. It should not have more pictures than words.
HISTORY
We build on understanding the characteristics of civilization in class.
Math: We begin the first unit of our book this week. That unit is on ratios, rates and proportional thinking. We continue to work with number theory: factors, multiples, primes, composite numbers, prime factorization, divisibility rules, the associative property and short division. These are all elements that will allow us to succeed with the work on proportional thinking. We will also work with data and graphing data. This week we will review stem plots and learn how to construct and analyze box and whisker plots. Power School will be up and running for me soon so you will be able to access this helpful tool. Although I do believe it is helpful, it should not be blown out of proportion. That is not an intentional pun to accompany our first unit. Grades do matter but this is sixth grade; and our primary goal with grading is to learn how to achieve the best grades possible in the future. Often we learn best when we make mistakes. I know this because I am making many mistakes as I try to learn the new features to Power School.
Science: Sixth graders love "hands on" activities and so I am going to do my best to have them experience science that way. We have been learning about the scientific method by conducting simple but fun experiments. This week we look at our class and height and its relationship to foot size. We are also working with a banana experiment. Ask your child about it. This week we begin to learn about the microscope and how it works. We will soon collect samples, make our own slides and analyse what we have found after examining it with the microscope.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS and READING
Grammar : We review types of verbs this week. .
Reading: The reading selection is “Lost City”, an historical fiction piece on Machu Picchu
Skills this week focus on historical fiction, character, setting, plot.
Our test is on Thursday.
Vocabulary is begun during class and based on pages 43 - 44 of the Treasures Book.
Students will use words from the story in different ways based on a notebook sheet referred to
as the Vocabulary Station. The requirements will vary from week to week ranging in skills of
using a dictionary, phonetics, word origins, etc.
Often, students may complete the assignment as homework which is usually due on test day but because of Open House
will be due on Friday.
Reading slips will be due on Wednesday
Writing: Most students completed the rough draft of "Something I'll Never Forget" in class on Friday. The final draft with rough draft
attached is due on Wednesday
For Reading Groups: Students have to carry a reading book with them at all academic times. The book should represent a story the student is interested in and should be on his or her reading level. It should not have more pictures than words.
HISTORY
We build on understanding the characteristics of civilization in class.
Tuesday, September 6 #1:
Math: The first thing I want you to know about is my 20 minute rule for math homework. My math classes are heterogeneously grouped, that is, they are not grouped by ability levels. In my 38 years of teaching math, I have worked with homogeneously grouped and heterogeneously grouped classes and I find this way preferable. In my opinion, a classroom with a diverse group of learners and learning styles works best for 6th graders. Because I teach students of varying ability and styles, I try to challenge all learners and I hope to help all students avoid frustration. Homework is vital! I am surely "old school" in this regard and my students will receive homework in math most every night. That practice will be essential for us to achieve our goals this year but I do not want any student to become frustrated by math homework. This is where the 20 minute rule comes in. If a student works diligently on a math assignment for 20 or 25 minutes and has not completed it, he may get a parent to sign the assignment and receive full credit for it. The signature is key here. Students do not have to stop doing work after this time but no student should be forced to endure the frustration of spending a very long time struggling with math homework. I'll talk more about this policy at our upcoming Open House.
Math textbooks have been handed out but it will be a few more days before we begin working in them. Right now we are receiving background in whole number theory that will help us better understand the first section of the book. We are working with prime and composite numbers, factors and multiples, the divisibility rules, the associative properties of addition and multiplication and learning how to do short division as a way to help us with prime factorization. This is not the 6th grade math I had way back in 1966, the year I was a sixth grader.
Science: It is my intention to link science and the things we are learning in science with math as much as possible. Clearly, there is a natural connection between the two subjects. We are discussing what science is and our first independent assignment on that material is due this Friday. This week we will learn about the scientific method and do a few simple experiments to illustrate how the scientific method works and is used to solve problems. I will try to make our year of science as "hands on" as possible. It will be a fun challenge. For one thing, we are still developing our science curriculum to meet the evolving, national frameworks and standards. A positive development is that more time will be dedicated to science this year.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS and READING
If your child has been in the CHCS, this English Language Arts program will be familiar. Students will have spelling workbooks and a hardcover book referred to as “Treasures”.
Grammar : We review subjects and predicates this week.
Writing: Students introduced each other in short interviews and papers due on Wednesday.
We will begin our next piece on a autobiographical incident in class on Friday.
Reading: We completed a reading assessment test last week.
Students have to carry a reading book with them at all academic times. The book should represent a story the
student is interested in and should be on his or her reading level. It should not have more pictures than words.
To promote silent sustained reading, I’m asking that each week students must read for 30 uninterrupted minutes, 3 different days per week as an ongoing homework assignment. These signed reading slips are always due on Wednesday. So, for a total of an hour and a half, your child must read and I would like you to sign off on the reading. Students can read books, magazines, newspapers or but should not be reading for another subject.
History: We begin by reviewing how time is arranged with an outdooor timeline and with a follow up assignment due at the
end of the week.
We are reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan as our class read aloud.
Math: The first thing I want you to know about is my 20 minute rule for math homework. My math classes are heterogeneously grouped, that is, they are not grouped by ability levels. In my 38 years of teaching math, I have worked with homogeneously grouped and heterogeneously grouped classes and I find this way preferable. In my opinion, a classroom with a diverse group of learners and learning styles works best for 6th graders. Because I teach students of varying ability and styles, I try to challenge all learners and I hope to help all students avoid frustration. Homework is vital! I am surely "old school" in this regard and my students will receive homework in math most every night. That practice will be essential for us to achieve our goals this year but I do not want any student to become frustrated by math homework. This is where the 20 minute rule comes in. If a student works diligently on a math assignment for 20 or 25 minutes and has not completed it, he may get a parent to sign the assignment and receive full credit for it. The signature is key here. Students do not have to stop doing work after this time but no student should be forced to endure the frustration of spending a very long time struggling with math homework. I'll talk more about this policy at our upcoming Open House.
Math textbooks have been handed out but it will be a few more days before we begin working in them. Right now we are receiving background in whole number theory that will help us better understand the first section of the book. We are working with prime and composite numbers, factors and multiples, the divisibility rules, the associative properties of addition and multiplication and learning how to do short division as a way to help us with prime factorization. This is not the 6th grade math I had way back in 1966, the year I was a sixth grader.
Science: It is my intention to link science and the things we are learning in science with math as much as possible. Clearly, there is a natural connection between the two subjects. We are discussing what science is and our first independent assignment on that material is due this Friday. This week we will learn about the scientific method and do a few simple experiments to illustrate how the scientific method works and is used to solve problems. I will try to make our year of science as "hands on" as possible. It will be a fun challenge. For one thing, we are still developing our science curriculum to meet the evolving, national frameworks and standards. A positive development is that more time will be dedicated to science this year.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS and READING
If your child has been in the CHCS, this English Language Arts program will be familiar. Students will have spelling workbooks and a hardcover book referred to as “Treasures”.
Grammar : We review subjects and predicates this week.
Writing: Students introduced each other in short interviews and papers due on Wednesday.
We will begin our next piece on a autobiographical incident in class on Friday.
Reading: We completed a reading assessment test last week.
Students have to carry a reading book with them at all academic times. The book should represent a story the
student is interested in and should be on his or her reading level. It should not have more pictures than words.
To promote silent sustained reading, I’m asking that each week students must read for 30 uninterrupted minutes, 3 different days per week as an ongoing homework assignment. These signed reading slips are always due on Wednesday. So, for a total of an hour and a half, your child must read and I would like you to sign off on the reading. Students can read books, magazines, newspapers or but should not be reading for another subject.
History: We begin by reviewing how time is arranged with an outdooor timeline and with a follow up assignment due at the
end of the week.
We are reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan as our class read aloud.