Friday, January 18, 2013

The Week of 1-21-13

On Monday, we will not have school in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Please make arrangements if needed for your child on this day.  The card marking has ended as of today, January 18th.  All late, missing, and corrected work needed to be into me by this day to count on the report cards.  Report cards will come out on January 28th.  We will be having an Honor Roll Open house for kids who were on the Honor Roll.  Their names will be on display in one of our showcases in the main hallway, and they will receive a certificate of appreciation for their hard work.  Parents are welcome to attend and join their students for refreshments.  More on this will come out soon.  The late work policy for the third card marking is that students have one week from the time late work is given to get it done and turned into me.  Students have two days from receiving the progress report to turn it back into me with a parent/ guardian's signature to receive late work.  Any late work turned in beyond this point will not be counted.  We want to instill in the students accountability and responsibility so that they will be successful at the next level.  I know this is a jump from the past two quarters, so please remind your child to show you the progress reports and to turn in work on time.  Next week, the weather is supposed to be extremely cold.  We will not have outdoor recess during the cold stretches where temps are below 30 degrees and wind chills even worse.  Still, please be sure your child is wearing appropriate outdoor wear to school as they walk to the building or wait at the bus stop.  Being the end of the first semester, I will be attaching a supply list your child will need for the rest of the year.  Most students have used up their notebooks, pencils, crayons, glue, and other items.  Please restock your child over the next week.  for the classroom, we need Kleenex, loose leaf paper, anti-bacteria wipes, hand sanitizer, pencils, and dry erase markers if you would like to donate any thing.

Reading News
This week the students were placed into their new reading groups and received a new group book.  I want to stress with parents the need to turn in reading logs on time.  Reading logs are available on the class web site to the right, in the event your child has lost it.  No reading logs will be accepted beyond a week late in the third quarter.  This was a major reason why many kids were failing reading, please make sure your child reads every night for 20 minutes.  I am also noticing many kids not coming to class with a book for reading.  If you could take your child to the library over the weekend to check out a book, that would be great.

Math News
Due to the writing test and the stock market game, we fell a little behind this week.  Next week, the students will be doing least common multiple, adding and subtracting fractions, and multiplying fractions and mixed numbers.  We are also starting the Stock Market Game.  Students will look up companies that sell stock and purchase the stock with a mock $100,000.  To be sure they diversify their stock portfolio, students will have to purchase stock from 2 Michigan Companies, 2 Alternative Energy Companies, 2 Technology/ Science Companies,  2 Commodities, and 4 companies of their choice.  The objective is to compete against other other 6th grade classrooms to see who can make the most money.

Writing News
We are starting to write nonfiction pieces which include biographies, argumentative/ opinion papers, and how to/ explanatory pieces.  We will also take a strong look at verbs, verb phrases, linking verbs, and helping verbs.

Science News
We will be wrapping up our units on the Earth Sciences, and soon will be moving into the study of Force and Motion.  For this new unit, we will be creating balloon cars and having competitions with them, studying Newton's Laws of Motion, and use these activities to help us develop a roller coaster for a contest out of K'NEX Toys.

S. Studies News
We are beginning our study of Latin America with a brief unit on the geography and the Native Americans of the region.  We need your child to bring in a shoe box for some of the activities we will be doing as we study these cultures.  The primary Native American empires of the region we will study are the Aztecs, the Incans, and the Mayans and Olmec.  After this unit, we will move onto to the study of Mexico.

Have a nice weekend, rest up, stay warm, and Go Wings!

No comments:

Post a Comment