Welcome to 6th Grade

Getting to know each other, means sharing our stories. Where do each of us come from? What have our lives and experiences taught us? What do we really CARE about?

One of your first assignments this year will be to locate a baby photo of yourself to bring to school. We will be guessing who is who, so keep your photo a secret; just write your name on the back and bring it to school the first week.

We will use those photos to begin a discussion of our early memories and storytelling skills. Telling a good story is a skill that supports many types of learning and can be a lot of fun.

I hope you and your family enjoy your photo search. If you are able to do it together, I am sure the early memory stories will start to flow. I wish you fond memories and a few chuckles along the way.

As our class gets to know each other better, we can learn to support each other, work well together, and become a true team of learners.

Our Grinchy Reader's Theater

We hope you enjoy our reader's theater presentation, which includes some of the Informance explanations that the students wrote about the value and elements of good oral interpretation.

Number the Stars

This week and next, we are reading a excerpt from the novel Number the Stars. It is an historical fiction story about the Danish resistance during World War II. It is not a harsh story, but one that clearly expresses the emotions and fears of the characters. However, the theme is actually one of friendship and hope.

To fully understand the background of this story, we had a discussion of the Nazi political party, the Danish resistance effort, concentration camps, treatment of Jews and other people considered "undesirable" by the Nazi's, and the US Holocaust Museum. We discussed how fear and ignorance can cause people to do things they are later ashamed of. We drew correlations to bullying and voting; noting that each person has the responsibility to act responsibly, intelligently, and in good conscience.

I asked students to discuss this story with you; I hope they have had time to do this. I consider this a perfect "coming of age" story. While not being too graphic, it does expose students to a harsher side of our reality. War and terrorism do exist in our every-day world.

Your children are sensitive and wise, but their fantasy world of gaming, TV, and movies can sometimes shape their belief system more than you'd like. Power struggles exist on all levels of society, from sibling rivalries to countries at war. In a sense those struggles are natural, but compassion and compromise need to be a part of the process.

I thought you'd like to know about this discussion and hope it can be a springboard for a family discussion.

The following video clip is a trailer for the movie Number the Stars

October 12, 2012

This is our current Homework Hotline board. Please praise your students if they are completing this every day. It is a wonderful habit to develop. Remember, if you click on the photo, you can make it larger, so easier to see the details.

Our Tuesday of this week, our homeroom accepted the challenge to come up with a performance for today's 5-6 Citizenship Assembly. I am so proud of their work! Students who wanted to perform, choreographed the movements and created a cute Lip Sync. I will attach it to this post for a the next few days, then will need to delete it, so we avoid any copyright issues. I enjoyed watching their organization skills, creativity, and ability to poke fun at themselves as they are working cooperatively. Enjoy.

 

Important notes:

• Home Reading for September needs to be handed in ASAP. Not turning in home reading minutes does serious damage to the language arts grade.
• End of term is October 23rd. That only gives you a few days to get missing assignments done.
• The gradebook in SIS will be current as of Friday evening.
• Egyptian Wax Museum is Oct. 31st
• 3D book Reports and October Home Reading minutes are due by Nov. 2nd
• Science Protists poster due on Monday

Math: Today we learned an interesting technique for finding Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple. Click to see the video.

 

I will be at school on Monday, but our class will have a sub next Tuesday and Wednesday. There is no school next Thursday and Friday, as it is Fall Break.

 

 



October 6, 2012

• It was nice to see so many of you during conferences. I appreciate that you took the time to come and touch base with me. It helps me to learn about your priorities and goals for your student. It also assures your student that we are all on the same team, working to help ensure their success.

• This is the Homework Hotline board in our classroom. Students should be copying assignments in their planner each day. By the way, if you CLICK on the photo of the Homework Hotline board, you will see a larger version, which may be easier to read.

• Students should be reading 20 minutes a day. Keep track of the minutes and book titles. At the end of the month, return the reading log... or write a note... or send an email with the titles and minutes. A parent signature is required for the reading log or note. 

•  Students should be practicing math facts on ReflexMath or practicing math skills on IXL every day. We will practice at school for some of the time. Please help this effort by making practice at home a daily, regular part of your routine. 10-15 minutes is plenty of time. Research says that daily, short practice is the best way to do this.

• Students have a 3D Book Report due Nov. 2nd. They received a handout on Thursday of this week. This project will be done in stages; part at school and part at home. Next Friday, students need to have a plan for what book and scene they want to focus on, and they should have practiced drawing characters. On Friday, I will give them the card stock paper to begin their 3D book report project. They will have about 20 minutes in class to work on the project.

• I am collecting the bottom section of clean egg cartons and water bottle caps for math manipulatives. If you have any, please send them to school. Thanks.

•  In language art we are learning about figurative language, such as: similes, metaphors, personification, and onomatopoeia.

• In science we are learning about microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, etc.

• In social studies we are learning about culture, family history, and beginning the transition to ancient civilizations. As a heads-up, there will be an Egyptian Wax Museum project at the end of October. Be looking for this assignment soon.

• Currently, we are studying decimal operations in math, focusing on decimal division. For example:  123.56 divided by .005  Division by a decimal requires that the decimal point of the divisor move behind the last digit (.005 needs to become 005. or just 5)  The decimal point has to move the same number of positions in both terms (so both terms need to be multiplied by 1000)  The result is the problem:  123560 divided by 5  which is a much easier problem to deal with. Students who are still having issues with regular division would benefit from practice with the IXL program.

• The entire sixth grade class is beginning a service project to give support to cancer patients at Primary Children's Hospital. We are planning to collect small, new toys and write letters to help encourage these children. Our goal is to let them know we care and that we are thinking of them.

First Week of School

Welcome to Mrs. McGuire's Homeroom and the new school year. We have an amazing class of eager learners, who worked very hard this week to demonstrate that they are concerned citizens, caring teammates, considerate friends, and developing leaders.
Concerned Citizens help make our school a better place by re-establishing the 6th grade paper recycling program at SAA. For the last four years we have made a positive difference at the school by reducing the amount of waste in our school's trash, in our community by making sure the massive amounts of paper we use are recycled, and in our students as they learn the rewards of "being of service to others."
Caring Teammates and Considerate Friends help new students feel at home in our school, follow school and class rules, and give their best efforts in every task. New friendships are forming and students are beginning to learn the benefits and challenges of teamwork. We spent part of two days working through a scooter challenge outside. Ask your student to tell you about it.

Developing Leaders are organized, caring, and responsible. This week we began the process of using planners and organizing binders, helped each other learn to open lockers, and learned how to gently and politely remind others to follow rules. You can help support this organization process by asking your student to show you his/her planner and homework folder every night. Thank you.
 
You have some fabulous children and I am enjoying getting to know them better each day.