6^th Grade Newsletter: Week of February 11, 2008

Hello Parents,

As you know, this week and next are both short school weeks. Many things are going on between now and then. Here is our plan for the week:

Important Dates

Ø Wednesday, February 15^th: Religion test (see below), Social Studies test

Ø Thursday, February 14^th: Happy Valentines Day! If your student chooses to bring Valentines, please ensure that he/she brings one for every student in the class. Our room parents are planning a great party for us! 6^th Grade will be attending daily Mass in the morning.

Ø Friday, February 15^th- Tuesday, February 19^th: No School! Presidents’ Weekend!

Subject Update

Language Arts: Last week students met in peer conferences (Mrs. White and I also met with many students) to get feedback on their descriptive essays. Tonight, they need to finish making revisions to their rough drafts. Tomorrow we will type these up in the lab. Once the students turn these drafts in, I will evaluate each paper and offer suggestions for improvement. The students will then be asked to make additional revisions based on my suggestions, for a final writing grade. Due to the short school weeks, there will be no spelling this week or next. This will give us time to catch up on some other things.

Literature: Today I introduced our new literature unit to the students. For the next few weeks, we will be reading the novel Tuck Everlasting. Each week the students will be reading designated chapters and completing related assignments. They received a packet today that lays out the reading and assignment schedule. Please take a moment to look it over. I’ve asked that students NOT read ahead of this schedule so that everyone remains at the same place in the book. This makes planning for lessons and discussions much easier.

Math: This week, the sixth graders will be working on greatest common factor, least common multiple and common denominators.

Progress reports will be sent home on Wednesday.  They need to be signed and returned by Wednesday, February 20.

Religion: Today the students began the Chapter 5 review and were given the study guide for Wednesday’s test. On Tuesday, we will correct the review and they will get the rest of the period to study for the test. It’s a very short test with not a lot of content. We will be meeting with our Kindergarten buddies to exchange Valentines on Wednesday, then attending daily Mass on Thursday. On another note, you will be receiving a letter this week in the Wednesday envelope regarding the family life program in 6^th grade. We will be starting this unit in March and each student will need a completed permission slip to participate. The letter should address any questions you have, but if not, drop me and email. Thanks!

Science: I didn’t get a chance to get an update from Mr. Fairbank before he left today. I do know that there are some students who still need to turn in their permission slips.

Social Studies: We will review chapter five in class on Monday and Tuesday.  Students will take the chapter test on Wednesday.

Have a good week everyone!

Pam Schwartz J