Welcome back! Our school year is off to a great start in 6th grade! We hope everyone had a fun and relaxing holiday weekend! The newsletter blog will be updated weekly on Mondays and an email reminder will be sent so you know when to check it. The newsletter will contain information for the upcoming week, as well as special notes and important dates to remember. You can view your child’s nightly homework assignments on the homepage of the blog on the right-hand side of the page.
This year we will be setting a daily goal as a class. This goal will always be written in your child’s assignment notebook and is generated at the end of each day by a student-led discussion. Talk with your child about what he/she is doing at school to help the class achieve this goal!
Reading
This week in reading we will be establishing our daily reading routine. We will be practicing our daily rituals in reading and learning more about ourselves as readers. Each week we will have mentor texts that we read aloud together to learn more about our focus for the week.
Our mentor texts this week include:
Writing
Our first writing unit this year is personal narrative writing. Last week we spent many days creating lists of different things in our lives that are important to us. This week we will be looking at our pre-assessments and setting a goal for ourselves. Students will chose to either work on focusing on one topic and adding details, OR using dialogue to convey meaning and emotion. A newsletter for Unit 1 can be found by clicking here and a copy of it has gone home with your child (if you were unable to attend curriculum night).
Math
Our first unit in math has started this week and we are learning about rational numbers. This week, our primary focus is on understanding how positive and negative integers (numbers) are used in the real world. We will also begin to learn about absolute value. There will a quiz over this material next week on Tuesday! A newsletter for Unit 1 can be found by clicking here and a copy of it has gone home with your child (if you were unable to attend curriculum night). This is a great resource with vocabulary, videos, and examples for you and your child.
Homework Policy
Students should dedicate one hour of their afternoon/evening for learning. On average, students should expect about 30 minutes of homework plus the 30 minutes of reading time. Of course, there are exceptions where there are some children who may seem to have less or more than this average time.
All homework is due at the beginning of the school day on the due date. Any homework that is turned in late or incomplete will result in a Homework Alert. This assignment must be completed and turned in by the next day with the Homework Alert. If the assignment and/or the Homework Alert is not turned in on the following day, a second Homework Alert will be given. After two Homework Alerts, an academic detention will need to be served.
Because we all make mistakes, all students receive one “Eraser Pass” each quarter. This pass allows each student to make up a missing assignment without any consequences or alerts.
Important Dates
This year we will be setting a daily goal as a class. This goal will always be written in your child’s assignment notebook and is generated at the end of each day by a student-led discussion. Talk with your child about what he/she is doing at school to help the class achieve this goal!
Reading
This week in reading we will be establishing our daily reading routine. We will be practicing our daily rituals in reading and learning more about ourselves as readers. Each week we will have mentor texts that we read aloud together to learn more about our focus for the week.
Our mentor texts this week include:
- Richard Wright & the Library Card by William Miller
- Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies
- Sad Underwear and Other Complications by Judith Viorst
- Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco
Writing
Our first writing unit this year is personal narrative writing. Last week we spent many days creating lists of different things in our lives that are important to us. This week we will be looking at our pre-assessments and setting a goal for ourselves. Students will chose to either work on focusing on one topic and adding details, OR using dialogue to convey meaning and emotion. A newsletter for Unit 1 can be found by clicking here and a copy of it has gone home with your child (if you were unable to attend curriculum night).
Math
Our first unit in math has started this week and we are learning about rational numbers. This week, our primary focus is on understanding how positive and negative integers (numbers) are used in the real world. We will also begin to learn about absolute value. There will a quiz over this material next week on Tuesday! A newsletter for Unit 1 can be found by clicking here and a copy of it has gone home with your child (if you were unable to attend curriculum night). This is a great resource with vocabulary, videos, and examples for you and your child.
Homework Policy
Students should dedicate one hour of their afternoon/evening for learning. On average, students should expect about 30 minutes of homework plus the 30 minutes of reading time. Of course, there are exceptions where there are some children who may seem to have less or more than this average time.
All homework is due at the beginning of the school day on the due date. Any homework that is turned in late or incomplete will result in a Homework Alert. This assignment must be completed and turned in by the next day with the Homework Alert. If the assignment and/or the Homework Alert is not turned in on the following day, a second Homework Alert will be given. After two Homework Alerts, an academic detention will need to be served.
Because we all make mistakes, all students receive one “Eraser Pass” each quarter. This pass allows each student to make up a missing assignment without any consequences or alerts.
Important Dates
- Tuesday, September 8, 2015 - Curriculum Night at 6:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, September 15, 2015 – 6S/6K Math Quiz
- Friday, September 18, 2015 – NO SCHOOL