Picture Day

This is a reminder that Fall Pictures will be taken this Thursday, September 24th.  If you would like to purchase school photos, please either put through your order to Lifetouch online, or have your child bring in payment to school on the 24th.  If for some reason your child is absent on Thursday, or you are not happy with the photos, picture retake day is scheduled for November 5th.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Back to School Night and 6-word Memoirs

For a mini-writing project, students created 6-word memoirs in class.  This is a piece where writers use 6 words to sum up their philosophy about life, an event that happened to them, or their ideas about the world.  Our 6th grades did a fantastic job with this project, and a few examples of their work have been posted in the Gallery section of this blog.   The rest are on display in class, and you can see them this evening at Back to School Night.

Back to School Night begins at 7:00 pm, with classroom presentations at 7:20 pm and 7:50 pm sharp.  The purpose of these presentations is to let you know what your child will be learning this year, and what the expectations are for class.  We will talk about field trips and other school events as well.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to answer specific questions about your child at Back to School Night, both because of time constraints and because of confidentiality concerns - there will be many other families present in the classroom.  However, if you would like to discuss your child's progress so far, feel free to e-mail me or set up an appointment either before or after school.

I look forward to meeting you all in person this evening!

Hitting the Ground Running

The school year is definitely in full-swing now with students getting back into the routines of classwork, homework, and group projects.  Our first unit theme in Language Arts is "Our Stories."  During this unit, we learn about how and why people share their stories.

Our 6th graders seems to be adapting well to the new math curriculum, and we are making steady progress in working with decimals.  Some of this is review from last year, but other skills are new.  We are adding to our interactive notebooks on a regular basis and working to make sure all students feel confident mastering these new skills.

In Social Studies, we did a quick unit on World Geography, and are now jumping into Early Humans. This is a fascinating unit, showing how human civilizations developed from prehistoric times.  To provide some hands on learning for this unit, students will participate in a short simulated learning experience, and we will look at images from the archaeological record.  In this way, students are not only learning, but working cooperatively and teaching each other.   We will do several simulations and group projects this year with both an emphasis on learning the subject matter and learning to work effectively with others.  This is a huge part of the Common Core State Standards and will help students grow into adults who can collaborate effectively with coworkers and colleagues.

A reminder that Back To School Night is Tuesday, September 15th at 7:00 pm.  I look forward to meeting many of you and giving you information about what we will be doing in 6th grade this year.

Welcome to 6th Grade!

Hello, and welcome to our class blog!  This is the space where I will write brief posts and generally keep you updated about what is going on in class.  Be sure to check the tabs above for more information.  Upcoming Events provides a list of important dates throughout the school year.  Current Units will tell you what we are studying each week.  Under the Gallery tab, student work will be displayed.  Probably the most important tab is the Homework tab.  Each day, I will post the homework for the night on this page.  If your child is anything like my kids, then he/she may "forget" to write down homework occasionally.  I find that this system helps keep parents in the loop about what assignments and projects their child should be working on at home, and when those long-term assignments are due.   In the sidebar, you will see links to some educational sites and resources, as well as a banner for Scholastic Books.  Clicking on this banner will take you directly to the sign-in page for our class orders.

Since this blog is public, I make sure to keep all posts anonymous, and will never post a picture of your child's face online.  The privacy and safety of your child are extremely important!

If you have any questions about the blog, or have difficulty accessing it, please feel free to email me directly at my school address, which is listed at the bottom right of our class newsletter.  I look forward to working with both you and your child this year!

Back To School!

It's nearing that time again... the time when Summer Vacation is over and a new school year begins!  I know for me, this also means a lot of back to school shopping.  To help you out when selecting items your child may need for school, I have compiled the list below.  We do a lot of interactive notebooking in my class, so spiral notebooks, colored pencils, and glue sticks are a must!

1. Water bottle that closes tightly - I discourage my students from getting up for drinks during the instructional day, so having a water bottle nearby is handy.
2. 4 single-subject, college ruled spiral notebooks
3. 2 pocket folders - one for homework and one for classroom "work in progress."  You may want to get a separate folder for each subject if your child's organizational skills could use some help.
4. 3 boxes of Kleenex - you would be amazed how quickly we go through this!
5. 1 dozen #2 pencils - regular or mechanical are fine
6. 2" binder for science
7. 1 pair of scissors
8. 1 box of colored pencils
9. 1 ruler
10. 2 packages of binder paper - college ruled
11. 2 highlighters
12. 3 glue sticks
13. 1 package cleaning wipes
14. 1 box band-aids - we ran out of these last year
15. Pencil pouch - I prefer a soft pencil carrier to the hard boxes because they take up less space and are quieter.

I look forward to meeting you all on August 26th!