6th Grade Newsletter: Week of 10/8/07

 

 

Important Dates

Ø     Wednesday, October 10th: Social Studies test

Ø     Thursday, October 11th: Signed progress reports due back (see page 2)

Ø     Friday, October 12th: No school for students, teachers at the Archdiocesan Theological update at St. Mary Magdalene

Ø     Monday, October 15th: Final draft of Role Model paper due

 

Subject Update

Language Arts: Due to the short week, and our busy schedule on the remaining days, we will not be doing spelling this week.  The majority of the week will be spent finishing up our Role Model essays.  The students will be participating in peer (and teacher) conferences and then revising their drafts to a final product.  Mrs. White and I will be meeting with students to further help them make necessary revisions.  The final draft will be due next Monday.  It does not need to be typed.

 

Literature:  Last week we started reading the story Dragon Dragon.  The students are really enjoying it because it has lots of humor and we are using the story as a script for performing reader’s theater in class.  Everyone is certainly getting into their roles!  We will continue reading it this week and begin working on the comprehension questions.  Today I handed back the students’ scores for their September independent reading goals.  Please help your student to remember that they should be reading 20 minutes each night to stay on top of their goal. 

 

Math: I would like to thank everyone for signing and returning the math progress reports.  The next reports will be sent out on October 17.

 

This week in math we will be working on the following:

·        Writing equations

·        Chapter review

·        Multiplying by a one-digit multiplier

 

Religion: Today in Religion, we talked about how the students can do a better job of participating in Mass (something the whole school is working on).  I asked them to tell me what I would see/observe if they were participating?  Several things brought up and discussed were: singing along, facing the ambo during the readings, listening and contemplating the readings and Homily, looking attentive, praying, and overall just being reverent.  We also reviewed how to properly receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  On Thursday, we will have our first cross-grade family meeting.  During this meeting, the 6th graders will be making a short presentation to the other students about our class service project.  We will be coordinating the school-wide food drive this year for St. Vincent De Paul.  This will begin in November and continue until the end of the year.  The 6th graders will be responsible for going into the other classes to promote the project and to collect the food on the first Friday of every month.  Each grade will be asked to focus on a particular type of food related donation, which will change for the following month.  The 6th graders will be encouraging every student to donate 1-2 items per month.  We will be spending this week planning out the details to this project.  Be sure to inquire with your child to find out how they will be participating.   

 

Science: This week we will continue to monitor and record the growth and development of our specimens in the Brine Shrimp Lab. We will also begin looking at the difference between fully aquatic and semi aquatic organisms including the advantages and disadvantages of each.

 

Social Studies: The chapter two test will be on Wednesday since the sixth graders are scheduled for a health screening during part of our class time on Tuesday.  On Thursday we will preview chapter three (Ancient Egypt) and do the vocabulary assignment for the chapter.

 

***Please note:  Tomorrow (Tuesday) the students will receive a progress report for Literature, Language Arts, and Religion.  This will give you (and them) an idea of where they are at this point in the trimester.  You will see that Language Arts only has one recorded assignment so far.  This is because we do most of our English work in class and I generally don’t give them a grade for it (just practice).  After this week, they will also have a grade for their Role Model papers which will be factored into the overall Language Arts grade.  We will also be having our first English test (Unit 1) in the next couple of weeks. 

 

When reading the report, if there is an assignment with no score, it means that your student has not turned it in.  Any assignment with ‘CR’ written in it means that your student received credit for doing it (was not a graded assignment).  Please remember, we don’t have a lot of grades at this point.  So any low scores will have a bigger affect on the student’s grade.  This is even more evident if the student is missing an assignment.  Please sign each of the 4 reports and return them with your student by Thursday. 

 

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  Have a great week!        

 

Pam Schwartz  =)