SMS 6th Grade Team Lopez Newsletter
GENERAL REMINDERS/HIGHLIGHTS:
· Signed Progress Report cover sheets are now overdue to Core teachers. Please return them ASAP.
MATH: (Mr. Finlay)
Mr. Finlay: [email protected]
Content Overview: We are practicing and reviewing operations with fractions. As we look more in-depth at what that means, and how it works, ask your student to describe the steps of adding fractions with unlike denominators. They should be mentioning how you need to find a common denominator, make equivalent fractions, and then add the numerators, simplifying the fraction when possible.
Learning Targets:
- I can compare fractions to the benchmarks of 0, ½ and 1.
- I can compare the relative size of fractions using the greater than, less than or equal to signs.
- I can find equivalent fractions.
- I can continue to track my own progress through the Parts of Numbers unit using the color-coded unit cover sheet (to be assigned).
- I can convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and vice-versa.
- I can do all four operations (add, subtract, multiply and divide) with fractions.
- I can practice and memorize all multiplication facts and division facts 1-12 (see website http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-6 for helpful drills).
-
Talking Points:
One important function of students’ academic planners is to strengthen school-home awareness and communication. Ask to see your student’s planner every weeknight. Please initial the space for parent signature so I can know you’ve checked the planner. Thank you.
We are continuing two new “flavors” for our Daily Math Review: Word Problems, and problems with Time, Rate and Distance.
Look for the blue or red “checkmark” stamp in your student’s planner. This indicates whether the homework was completed to standard.
LANGUAGE ARTS and SOCIAL STUDIES:
Mrs. Strow: [email protected]
This week in Mrs. Strow's Core:
LANGUAGE ARTS
REMINDER
Scholastic Book Orders are due Wednesday, December 4. Did you know you can order Scholastic Books online and our classroom still benefits? Just visit: www.scholastic.com/readingclub and use our classroom code: HH7XR. Of course you can still just send your student to school with their order and payment in an envelope (checks made out to "Scholastic Book Orders" are preferred, but not required). Thank you for supporting our classroom library in this important way. Books will be delivered to the school prior to Winter Break.
LANGUAGE ARTS
TODAY:
-Vocabulary Lesson 18 was due in class today, Lesson 19 is due on Wednesday. The entire vocabulary packet is due on Monday, December 2 and students will take their 4th vocabulary quiz this week.
THIS WEEK:
-Please ensure your student is reading five nights per week for at least 30 minutes and recording their reading on their "Weekly At-Home DPL Reading Log #11" which is due tomorrow, Tuesday, November 26. Students will not receive a new reading log tomorrow, they will have a week off from tracking their reading, however, I hope they will continue reading each night. If your student wants to make up for a missing reading log this is the week to do it! Reading Logs will resume on December 3.
-Encourage your student to gather visuals and photos that help show who they are and what is important. We will be using these visuals to cover our writing journal as an extension of our “Where I’m From” poem.
-We will continue reading our class novel, Wonder, and deepen our understanding of point of view and perspective as Via, Auggie’s sister, takes over the narration of the story.
SOCIAL STUDIES
TODAY:
-Students participated in their last Bullyproofing lesson with one of our Shuksan counselors, Ms. Cowan. Ask your student how they can respond to bullying if they see it or experience it.
THIS WEEK:
-Students will explore how geographical features impact their choice of living location and the impact these features have on quality of life.
-Help point out geographical/geological features around your neighborhood, city or on your travels to see friends and families for the Thanksgiving holiday. Better yet, challenge your child to point out and explain as many examples of geography or culture as they can in five or ten minutes.
Ms. Jurgensen: [email protected]
www.jurg6.weebly.com
This week in Ms. Jurgensen’s Core:
This month’s Scholastic Book Orders are out in the hands of your students! They will be due December 3. You can view the catalog and order online at www.scholastic.com/readingclub with our class code, GNP2Y or fill out the order form in the catalog and send it to school along with payment with your student. Thank you for supporting our classroom library in this important way. Books will be delivered to the school prior to Winter Break.
-Students participated in their last Bullyproofing lesson with one of our Shuksan counselors, Ms. Cowan. Ask your student how they can respond to bullying if they see it or experience it.
Language Arts:
We will continue Writing Workshop this week and will be working on our drafts of our Personal Narrative Embedded Assessment.
Learning Targets:
-I can respond to a quick write prompt.
-I can follow the guidelines of Writing Workshop.
Talking Points:
-Ask your student about their personal narrative. We are drafting these in Writing Workshop!
-Ask your student about the different kinds of characters!
HOMEWORK
-No weekly reading homework this week! Enjoy your break! Missing a week? Complete a log for a make-up score!
Social Studies:
Content Objectives: We will be reviewing our Big Ideas of the geography unit for the next two weeks. This week we will focus on the Five Themes of Geography and the 7 Elements of Culture.
Talking Points:
-What are the elements that all cultures have? (Geography, Religion, Art, Customs and Traditions, Economy, Social Organization, and Language. This week we will be learning the acronym Grace’s Language to remember these!)
-What is a culture that you are interested in learning more about? (We will begin an research adventure into a culture in December and some brainstorming now would be good!)
SCIENCE:
Mr. Robinson: [email protected]
Content Overview: We are continuing our study of populations and ecosystems by constructing a food web poster for Bellingham Bay.
Learning Targets:
· I can record scientific observations of milkweed bugs and organisms in the mini-ecosystems.
· I can make a complete food web for an ecosystem.
Talking Points:
· Ask about some of the organisms that are part of the Bellingham Bay food web.
No homework this week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break. :)
READING: (Ms. Strommer) [email protected]
6th GRADE RESOURCE TEACHER:
Ms. Bartz: [email protected]
ELECTIVE COURSES:
Ms. Larson: [email protected]
Content Overview
Students will be making a Vocabulary Review game using PowerPoint. Their game should be engaging for other students and have at least 10 questions. We will spend Monday and Wednesday this week working on the games in class.
Learning Targets
· I can create an innovative and interactive review game using PowerPoint.
Talking Points
· Ask your student about the game template they chose and how they plan to modify the existing game to fit their content.
Coming Up
· Next week students will present their games to the class.
Mrs. Heywood: [email protected]
Physical Education: [email protected]
Mrs. Diaz: [email protected]
ORCHESTRA:
Mr. Stanage: [email protected]
Reading Support
GENERAL REMINDERS/HIGHLIGHTS:
· Signed Progress Report cover sheets are now overdue to Core teachers. Please return them ASAP.
- Early releases this month: Wednesday November 27 (12:15).
- No School Thursday, November 28 or Friday, November 29.
- PTSA: Please join our PTSA. You DO NOT need to commit to any volunteering or extra time to be a member of our PTSA. $10.00 for an individual, $18.00 for a family. Contact our front office for details.
- Stamps: Please check your child’s planner every night. A blue stamp means they met expectations for completed work or student success attributes in class. A red stamp means they did not meet expectations. If there is no stamp, it means the teacher did not stamp planners in class that day. You should have seen stamps for all classes this week.
- Late Night Open Swim: The Arne Hanna Aquatic Center is hosting an open swim for middle-schoolers! Friday nights from 8:00pm – 10:00pm a safe and supervised setting for your child to spend their Friday evening with friends. FREE!
- Art Club: Art club takes place every Wednesday from 8:00AM – 9:00AM. Students can still join! Sign up in the front office.
- Social Action Club: Wednesday at 8:00 am and Thursday after school in Mrs. Strow’s room!
- Sports: Floor Exercise & Dance: November 7th – January 17th
MATH: (Mr. Finlay)
Mr. Finlay: [email protected]
Content Overview: We are practicing and reviewing operations with fractions. As we look more in-depth at what that means, and how it works, ask your student to describe the steps of adding fractions with unlike denominators. They should be mentioning how you need to find a common denominator, make equivalent fractions, and then add the numerators, simplifying the fraction when possible.
Learning Targets:
- I can compare fractions to the benchmarks of 0, ½ and 1.
- I can compare the relative size of fractions using the greater than, less than or equal to signs.
- I can find equivalent fractions.
- I can continue to track my own progress through the Parts of Numbers unit using the color-coded unit cover sheet (to be assigned).
- I can convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and vice-versa.
- I can do all four operations (add, subtract, multiply and divide) with fractions.
- I can practice and memorize all multiplication facts and division facts 1-12 (see website http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-6 for helpful drills).
-
Talking Points:
One important function of students’ academic planners is to strengthen school-home awareness and communication. Ask to see your student’s planner every weeknight. Please initial the space for parent signature so I can know you’ve checked the planner. Thank you.
We are continuing two new “flavors” for our Daily Math Review: Word Problems, and problems with Time, Rate and Distance.
Look for the blue or red “checkmark” stamp in your student’s planner. This indicates whether the homework was completed to standard.
LANGUAGE ARTS and SOCIAL STUDIES:
Mrs. Strow: [email protected]
This week in Mrs. Strow's Core:
LANGUAGE ARTS
REMINDER
Scholastic Book Orders are due Wednesday, December 4. Did you know you can order Scholastic Books online and our classroom still benefits? Just visit: www.scholastic.com/readingclub and use our classroom code: HH7XR. Of course you can still just send your student to school with their order and payment in an envelope (checks made out to "Scholastic Book Orders" are preferred, but not required). Thank you for supporting our classroom library in this important way. Books will be delivered to the school prior to Winter Break.
LANGUAGE ARTS
TODAY:
-Vocabulary Lesson 18 was due in class today, Lesson 19 is due on Wednesday. The entire vocabulary packet is due on Monday, December 2 and students will take their 4th vocabulary quiz this week.
THIS WEEK:
-Please ensure your student is reading five nights per week for at least 30 minutes and recording their reading on their "Weekly At-Home DPL Reading Log #11" which is due tomorrow, Tuesday, November 26. Students will not receive a new reading log tomorrow, they will have a week off from tracking their reading, however, I hope they will continue reading each night. If your student wants to make up for a missing reading log this is the week to do it! Reading Logs will resume on December 3.
-Encourage your student to gather visuals and photos that help show who they are and what is important. We will be using these visuals to cover our writing journal as an extension of our “Where I’m From” poem.
-We will continue reading our class novel, Wonder, and deepen our understanding of point of view and perspective as Via, Auggie’s sister, takes over the narration of the story.
SOCIAL STUDIES
TODAY:
-Students participated in their last Bullyproofing lesson with one of our Shuksan counselors, Ms. Cowan. Ask your student how they can respond to bullying if they see it or experience it.
THIS WEEK:
-Students will explore how geographical features impact their choice of living location and the impact these features have on quality of life.
-Help point out geographical/geological features around your neighborhood, city or on your travels to see friends and families for the Thanksgiving holiday. Better yet, challenge your child to point out and explain as many examples of geography or culture as they can in five or ten minutes.
Ms. Jurgensen: [email protected]
www.jurg6.weebly.com
This week in Ms. Jurgensen’s Core:
This month’s Scholastic Book Orders are out in the hands of your students! They will be due December 3. You can view the catalog and order online at www.scholastic.com/readingclub with our class code, GNP2Y or fill out the order form in the catalog and send it to school along with payment with your student. Thank you for supporting our classroom library in this important way. Books will be delivered to the school prior to Winter Break.
-Students participated in their last Bullyproofing lesson with one of our Shuksan counselors, Ms. Cowan. Ask your student how they can respond to bullying if they see it or experience it.
Language Arts:
We will continue Writing Workshop this week and will be working on our drafts of our Personal Narrative Embedded Assessment.
Learning Targets:
-I can respond to a quick write prompt.
-I can follow the guidelines of Writing Workshop.
Talking Points:
-Ask your student about their personal narrative. We are drafting these in Writing Workshop!
-Ask your student about the different kinds of characters!
HOMEWORK
-No weekly reading homework this week! Enjoy your break! Missing a week? Complete a log for a make-up score!
Social Studies:
Content Objectives: We will be reviewing our Big Ideas of the geography unit for the next two weeks. This week we will focus on the Five Themes of Geography and the 7 Elements of Culture.
Talking Points:
-What are the elements that all cultures have? (Geography, Religion, Art, Customs and Traditions, Economy, Social Organization, and Language. This week we will be learning the acronym Grace’s Language to remember these!)
-What is a culture that you are interested in learning more about? (We will begin an research adventure into a culture in December and some brainstorming now would be good!)
SCIENCE:
Mr. Robinson: [email protected]
Content Overview: We are continuing our study of populations and ecosystems by constructing a food web poster for Bellingham Bay.
Learning Targets:
· I can record scientific observations of milkweed bugs and organisms in the mini-ecosystems.
· I can make a complete food web for an ecosystem.
Talking Points:
· Ask about some of the organisms that are part of the Bellingham Bay food web.
No homework this week. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break. :)
READING: (Ms. Strommer) [email protected]
6th GRADE RESOURCE TEACHER:
Ms. Bartz: [email protected]
ELECTIVE COURSES:
Ms. Larson: [email protected]
Content Overview
Students will be making a Vocabulary Review game using PowerPoint. Their game should be engaging for other students and have at least 10 questions. We will spend Monday and Wednesday this week working on the games in class.
Learning Targets
· I can create an innovative and interactive review game using PowerPoint.
Talking Points
· Ask your student about the game template they chose and how they plan to modify the existing game to fit their content.
Coming Up
· Next week students will present their games to the class.
Mrs. Heywood: [email protected]
Physical Education: [email protected]
Mrs. Diaz: [email protected]
ORCHESTRA:
Mr. Stanage: [email protected]
Reading Support