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.