Hello Parents and Guardians,
We are officially half-way through the first nine week of 6th grade. We can't believe how quickly time is passing! Students will be bringing home progress reports in their Red Monday Folders; please be sure to chat with your student about their progress so far. Please sign and return the progress report so we know that you were able to see their grades and percentages for each of the learning outcomes. If you need a quick reminder what each of the learning outcomes entails, you can read through short descriptions HERE. Feel free to add any comments or questions to the signed progress report and we'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Overall, we are very pleased with the 6th graders progress, growth, and hard work so far!
Here's a look at what's going on at school this week...
6th Grade Math: Students will be finishing up their Birthday Party Planning Project this week. Benchmark #1 (finalized theme, prices, and planning information) will be due on Tuesday at the end of math class. Students will then have Wednesday and Thursday to prepare their persuasive presentation. Final party pitches/presentations will take place on Friday. There will NOT be a quiz this week, however students will need to be sure all aspects of their project are complete and ready to go for Friday.
Math HW: 60 minutes of IXL
Language Arts: On Tuesday, students will complete their 1st quarter writing prompt. The prompt will be a narrative essay; we know the students will do well as they have already written a narrative essay this year (Their "Who Am I?" essays)! In order to prepare, we'll review elements of a narrative essay, read some examples, and the students will practice scoring the essays using the rubrics we will be grading their essays with.
This week in Language Arts, we will also begin learning about effective written arguments. As the students are going to have to create an argument for their Ancient Civilizations PBL project, we will begin teaching the necessary vocabulary, elements, and how to really persuade an audience. Sorry parents, it's possible your student will become a better negotiator! We'll be reading numerous different articles, practice creating a strong written claim, and then supporting it with evidence. Our class will even have a mini "argument" debate on Friday. Middle schoolers love to argue, do they not? Grammar-wise, they'll be learning and practicing proper nouns.
Langauge Arts HW: Read 30 minutes every night for Riverside Reads (only 4 more weeks to complete their TicTacToe!), complete 2 Achieve 3000 articles at 75% or higher
PBL Project Time: We are very excited for our project time this week! Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons we have speakers either coming into school or Skyping with us to talk about their travel experiences to some of the locations of Ancient Civilizations. We're hoping the students will be able to make more concrete connections and realize these places truly did exist and there are remnants still today.
As of now, their second outline for their second ancient civilization research is due on Wednesday, October 2. On Friday we noticed many of the students were close to being done, as they knew how to better go about their research. We may adjust this due date if all students have progressed in their work.
The next benchmark will be to complete an argumentative outline with their group, persuading a modern-day traveler to choose their location above others.
The work in Language Arts will come in quite handy. There is not a set due date for this yet, as we're not quite sure how long it will take students to form these arguments. As soon as a date is set, we'll let you know.
PBL HW: Finish second research outline if needed (due Wednesday at the end of class!)
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email anyone of us. We love hearing from you!
Have a superb week,6th Grade PBL Facilitators
We are officially half-way through the first nine week of 6th grade. We can't believe how quickly time is passing! Students will be bringing home progress reports in their Red Monday Folders; please be sure to chat with your student about their progress so far. Please sign and return the progress report so we know that you were able to see their grades and percentages for each of the learning outcomes. If you need a quick reminder what each of the learning outcomes entails, you can read through short descriptions HERE. Feel free to add any comments or questions to the signed progress report and we'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Overall, we are very pleased with the 6th graders progress, growth, and hard work so far!
Here's a look at what's going on at school this week...
6th Grade Math: Students will be finishing up their Birthday Party Planning Project this week. Benchmark #1 (finalized theme, prices, and planning information) will be due on Tuesday at the end of math class. Students will then have Wednesday and Thursday to prepare their persuasive presentation. Final party pitches/presentations will take place on Friday. There will NOT be a quiz this week, however students will need to be sure all aspects of their project are complete and ready to go for Friday.
Math HW: 60 minutes of IXL
Language Arts: On Tuesday, students will complete their 1st quarter writing prompt. The prompt will be a narrative essay; we know the students will do well as they have already written a narrative essay this year (Their "Who Am I?" essays)! In order to prepare, we'll review elements of a narrative essay, read some examples, and the students will practice scoring the essays using the rubrics we will be grading their essays with.
This week in Language Arts, we will also begin learning about effective written arguments. As the students are going to have to create an argument for their Ancient Civilizations PBL project, we will begin teaching the necessary vocabulary, elements, and how to really persuade an audience. Sorry parents, it's possible your student will become a better negotiator! We'll be reading numerous different articles, practice creating a strong written claim, and then supporting it with evidence. Our class will even have a mini "argument" debate on Friday. Middle schoolers love to argue, do they not? Grammar-wise, they'll be learning and practicing proper nouns.
Langauge Arts HW: Read 30 minutes every night for Riverside Reads (only 4 more weeks to complete their TicTacToe!), complete 2 Achieve 3000 articles at 75% or higher
PBL Project Time: We are very excited for our project time this week! Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons we have speakers either coming into school or Skyping with us to talk about their travel experiences to some of the locations of Ancient Civilizations. We're hoping the students will be able to make more concrete connections and realize these places truly did exist and there are remnants still today.
As of now, their second outline for their second ancient civilization research is due on Wednesday, October 2. On Friday we noticed many of the students were close to being done, as they knew how to better go about their research. We may adjust this due date if all students have progressed in their work.
The next benchmark will be to complete an argumentative outline with their group, persuading a modern-day traveler to choose their location above others.
The work in Language Arts will come in quite handy. There is not a set due date for this yet, as we're not quite sure how long it will take students to form these arguments. As soon as a date is set, we'll let you know.
PBL HW: Finish second research outline if needed (due Wednesday at the end of class!)
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email anyone of us. We love hearing from you!
Have a superb week,6th Grade PBL Facilitators