6th Grade Newsletter: Week of November 5, 2007

 

Hi Parents,

 

It’s a short week for the students, due to conferences and the observance of Veteran’s Day on Friday.  Last week I asked each student to bring 2 paper sacks to school by tomorrow so that we can empty our desks and move them out of the way for the craft fair this weekend.  Please remember that your student needs to attend his/her conference with you, as they play a vital role in the process.  I look forward to meeting with all of you!

 

Important Dates

Ø     Tuesday, November 6th: Social Studies test

Ø     Wednesday-Thursday November 7 & 8th: No school, parent/student/teacher conferences. 

Ø     Friday, November 9th: No school, Veteran’s Day holiday, Happy Birthday Jessica R.!

Ø     Monday-Friday, November 12-16th: ITBS testing all this week.  Please do not schedule any appointments for your child during this week.  Students will be testing both in the morning and afternoon.  It is difficult for them to make up any missed tests. 

 

*** Please note: There is homework that will be assigned on Tuesday night (see below).  These assignments will be due next Monday when the students return.

 

Subject Update

Language Arts: Last week the students received their scores for the Role Model essay and Halloween story.  Each student received feedback about their strengths and necessary areas of focus within these papers.  After reading them, I decided that the students could use some more instruction on how to elaborate and give detailed explanations within their writing.  So instead of covering Introductions and Conclusions, I’m going to put that on the back burner for a couple of weeks and focus on the concept of elaboration.  Today and tomorrow, I will be sharing some examples of student work (not ours) that really illustrate elaboration in writing.  Using the 6 Traits writing checklist, we will discuss what these papers do well.  There will be no spelling or Word of the Day activities this week.  There will be a short English assignment (from text) that students will be assigned on Tuesday, which needs to be completed by next Monday.

 

Literature:  Due to the short week, and computer lab on Tuesday, we will only be able to start our next short story, The King of Mazy May.  Part of their homework from Tuesday will be to finish reading this story.  In addition, students need to be sure to read at least 20 minutes of their own material Tuesday-Friday.  

 

Math: On Monday and Tuesday, the 6th grade math class will be working on multiplying decimals by powers of ten.

 

If you have any questions about math, after your 6th grade conference, feel free to email me.

Mary Riley

maryr@saintbrendan.org

 

Religion:  We are in the midst of Chapter 3 this week.  Tuesday night’s homework will be to finish reading the chapter and completing the activities.  This will be due on Monday. 

 

Science: Since this week is only two days we are spending the time in review of the information we have covered so far this year.

 

Social Studies: Today the students had a study period to prepare for tomorrow’s test.  Tomorrow sixth graders will take the test on chapter three.