October 12, 2012

Hello Penguin Families,

With eight weeks of school under our belts, the Penguins are shaping up into an awesome team.  We have already cultivated a strong and supportive community.  As 21st century learners, we are using a variety of modes of communication including this blog and Edmodo, an educational social network.  

 

The end of the first quarter, October 26,  is soon approaching.  At that time the first quarter report card will be sent home in the mail.  Expect it to arrive during the first week of November.  Our grade books will close for the quarter on Wednesday, October 24.  Please make sure to have any make-up or missing work completed and turned in no later than that date.  It is important to keep in mind that the first quarter can be a challenging adjustment period for many sixth graders.  This might be evident in the first grading period.  As students become acclimated to the middle school environment, the goal should be continual improvement.  With the beginning of a new quarter, grades will also begin anew.  

 

In Language Arts, we are embarking on a journey to become great persuasive essayists. We are using academic conversations and power words to argue and debate our positions on things that we really care about. This year the Penguins are fortunate enough to pilot a new academic vocabulary program with links to the sixth grade curriculum.  We just finished our first unit. The words are challenging, but we are using a variety of engaging activities to learn them. Ask your child to show you the web site and challenge them to a game of Hangman. Good luck!

 

As writers, it's important to find and share our passion and voice. One way we are doing this in Mrs. Adelman's class is through our graffiti wall. Our current focus is courage and what it means to each individual. Ask your child to tell you about everyday and awesome courage. You will be amazed at how sophisticated and articulate they are in their thinking.

 

In Mrs. Adelman's class we have kicked off our Reading Response Logs. Your child is expected to log his/her independent daily reading and write a personal response weekly. The logs will be collected biweekly and Mrs. Adelman will respond to the entries. This will provide us with an opportunity to make connections and share our thoughts and feelings about literature. 

 

In math, we have just finished our study of integers.  This is a challenging concept that will provide a foundation for higher level math.  Some students are still struggling, but we will continue to revisit this concept all year.  The flipped classroom model has been well received by the students.  They like the fact that they are "doing" the math at school with the support of their peers and teacher.  As we finish the first quarter, students will take the district-wide benchmark exam.  Our next unit of study is on fraction concepts.

 

In social studies, the children are continuing to work on their large world maps at home.  The due dates are October 19 (for Mrs. Shimamoto) and October 26 (for Mr. Small).   We have begun our study of ancient humans and the beginning of the agricultural revolution.

 

Sixth graders will celebrate the end of the first quarter with our first sixth grade social.  It will take place on Friday, October 26, from 3:00 to 4:30.  This after-school celebration  will include games, music, dancing, crafts, food, and plain old-fashioned fun.  In order to make this much anticipated event happen we need your support.  Please visit our wikispace to sign up for donations or to volunteer your time.  

 

If you find this form of communication useful, please leave a comment below or send us an email (it's worth 5 invaluable Penguin Points!). In the right hand margin of this page, you can subscribe to the blog and receive email notifications of new posts.  Thank you for your continuing support. We love our Penguins!

 

Mrs. Adelman

Mrs. Shimamoto

Mr. Small