Hello Parents,
Phew! We made it through the first week of
school! We had fun getting to know each
other last week and began easing into the year.
We are off and running and ready to start our first full week. Here is what you need to know to make it a
smooth transition for your student:
Important Dates
Ø
Thursday,
September 12th: Individual student pictures (non-uniform day)
Ø
Friday, September
14th: Curriculum Night; Homeroom Session 1:
Subject Update
Language Arts: We will begin our weekly Spelling routine
with a pretest on Monday, homework due on Wednesday, and a test on Friday. This week will also see the start of our Word
of the Day exercises. Each student has
been assigned a day for which it is their job to teach a new and interesting
word to the class. They received
handouts last week and I demonstrated how they will be instructing the other
students on their chosen word. Periodically,
we will have a quiz over these vocabulary terms. Later this week we will be setting up our
writer’s notebooks, taking a writing survey, and beginning our first writing
assignment. Be sure to look over the
handout which describes this assignment (they will probably receive it
Wednesday or Thursday).
Literature: Last week the students received 2 handouts
explaining the independent reading requirement for each month. Students had an opportunity to check out
books from our class library and begin reading.
This week, I will be conferencing with each student to check on their
progress and verify that they have set up a reading schedule for the
month. Please be sure to take a moment
to read over these requirements. We will
also be reviewing the elements of a story and discussing the strategies good
readers use to help them comprehend the text.
Math: My
name is Mary Riley and I am the new math teacher. I enjoyed meeting all the students last week
and look forward to working with them throughout the year.
The students will begin
working out of the book this week, completing the first four sections. This
year, there will be a quiz every Friday, and I will be sending home a progress
report every two weeks. The first one will be sent the week of September 23rd.
I look forward to meeting all
the parents this Friday, at curriculum night.
Mary Riley
Religion: Today the 6th graders found out
who their Kindergarten buddy will be for the year and we started preparing for
our first meeting (Thursday). We are
making teddy bear cards to present to our buddies. Also in Religion this week, we are beginning
our daily prayer with the Rosary. Each
student is required to have his/her own Rosary (it was on the supply
list). I extended the deadline to Monday
(today), but there are still several students without one. I told them I’d give them until this
Wednesday to have one at school. Students can’t participate in the Rosary
if they don’t have one. After Wednesday,
I’ll need to hold students in for recess until they bring one in. Thank you for your support! Finally, we will be starting in our Religion
text with the activity ‘A Great Bible Expedition,’ which reviews key information
about the bible.
Science: In
sixth grade we will be reviewing the classification system of Arthropods. After
our review we will focus upon the life cycle of a specific arthropod, Brine
Shrimp. We will conduct several tests involving environmental differences
influencing rate of growth in an organism.
Social Studies:
Here we go, another school year!
Sixth graders will be finishing up their map projects this week, they are due
on Thursday. Please check their progress against the orange project sheet
handed out last week. We will also be discussing hunters and gatherers
vs. early farmers. We will read selected lessons out of chapter one this
week.
In Christ,
Have a great week
everyone!! See you Friday night!
Pam Schwartz