Dear Parents and Guardians,
This week will be a very busy week at school. Starting this week, students will likely have some additional homework from our PBL project. In addition to the 6th graders Achieve 3000 and IXL requirements, it will be necessary for them to begin completing homework on a regular basis. Please be sure to read through each class's description below to know specifically what is expected of your student.
Also, if you are looking at your student's grades in Echo and notice an assignment has been marked LATE (yellow), please ignore this for now. For whatever reason, when students submit work the program sometimes automatically marks the assignments as late, and we have to manually change each one. Don't worry; more than likely your student's work has been submitted on time!
Here's a look at what's happing in each class this week...
6th Grade Math: Students will begin working on Topic 2 in Digits, covering Equivalent Expressions. Students will have related vocabulary terms that need to be completed and turned in on Friday. Additionally, any student needing to retake the Common Assessment over Expressions will be done on Friday.
HW: Work on vocabulary, complete 60 minutes (per week) of IXL
7th Grade Math: Students will begin working on Topic 2 in Digits, covering Proportional Relationships. Students will have related vocabulary terms that need to be completed and turned in on Friday. Additionally, any student needing to retake the Common Assessment over Expressions will be done on Friday.
HW: Work on vocabulary, complete 60 minutes (per week) of IXL
Language Arts: Students will continue to read Brian's Winter this week. As they read, students will continue to identify and analyze elements of plot, and take part in class writings and discussions. We will be finishing the book byThursday and will begin examining possible themes of the book.
This week's assigned Achieve 3000 article is titled "How to Save the Tiger." Not only does this have the students practice their summary writing we've been working on in Language Arts, but this will also begin to tie in to our new PBL project!
HW: Read 30 minutes each night, Complete two Achieve 3000 articles with well-written thought questions
PBL Work Time: As we begin delving into our new project this week, students will find this is our first very content-heavy project. In order to be successful in this project, students will need to put forth their best effort and use their class time wisely!
On Monday and Tuesday, students will use the entry event video, article about garlic mustard weed, and their observations from walking the Greenway Trail to create their list of what they Know and Need to Know. As a whole team, we will create a problem statement for the project. Students will also have to work in their groups to create a Group Contract in order to help them work well as a team. I've attached the Group Contract template if you are curious as to what it will look like. Once the groups have submitted their completed Group Contracts in Echo, you will be able to view their work in the Science course.
Late in the week, students will begin the bulk of the learning for this project's content. Students will use DiscoveryEd, our online science textbook to complete the first of three sets of notes about Energy in Ecosystems. Students will use articles, videos, and hands-on activities to learn both vocabulary and deeper concepts about Ecosystems. We will model and discuss effective ways to take notes, as this likely their first time taking notes from multiple sources on their own. However, students will not have unlimited time to work on these notes. Some of their note taking will need to be completed at home. As we are aware that some homes do not have Internet access, we will provide students with alternative options for note taking at home. It will be their responsibility to utilize these resources if needed. Eventually, the students will take a Common Assessment over the content learned about Ecosystems. Please take a look at the START of our PROJECT CALENDAR, but be aware these dates and activities may change based on students' needs.
HW: Continue work on DiscoveryEd notes about "Energy in Ecosystems" (due next week!)
Other Important Dates and Events:
*September 23-26: Students will be taking the ACT Aspire Assessment. This replaces our Acuity Assessments which is a predictive test for ISTEP. They will take one test each day for Math, Language Arts, and Science
*September 26: Red and White School Spirit Day!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email or call us at your convenience.
Have a fantastic week,
6th Grade PBL Facilitators
This week will be a very busy week at school. Starting this week, students will likely have some additional homework from our PBL project. In addition to the 6th graders Achieve 3000 and IXL requirements, it will be necessary for them to begin completing homework on a regular basis. Please be sure to read through each class's description below to know specifically what is expected of your student.
Also, if you are looking at your student's grades in Echo and notice an assignment has been marked LATE (yellow), please ignore this for now. For whatever reason, when students submit work the program sometimes automatically marks the assignments as late, and we have to manually change each one. Don't worry; more than likely your student's work has been submitted on time!
Here's a look at what's happing in each class this week...
6th Grade Math: Students will begin working on Topic 2 in Digits, covering Equivalent Expressions. Students will have related vocabulary terms that need to be completed and turned in on Friday. Additionally, any student needing to retake the Common Assessment over Expressions will be done on Friday.
HW: Work on vocabulary, complete 60 minutes (per week) of IXL
7th Grade Math: Students will begin working on Topic 2 in Digits, covering Proportional Relationships. Students will have related vocabulary terms that need to be completed and turned in on Friday. Additionally, any student needing to retake the Common Assessment over Expressions will be done on Friday.
HW: Work on vocabulary, complete 60 minutes (per week) of IXL
Language Arts: Students will continue to read Brian's Winter this week. As they read, students will continue to identify and analyze elements of plot, and take part in class writings and discussions. We will be finishing the book byThursday and will begin examining possible themes of the book.
This week's assigned Achieve 3000 article is titled "How to Save the Tiger." Not only does this have the students practice their summary writing we've been working on in Language Arts, but this will also begin to tie in to our new PBL project!
HW: Read 30 minutes each night, Complete two Achieve 3000 articles with well-written thought questions
PBL Work Time: As we begin delving into our new project this week, students will find this is our first very content-heavy project. In order to be successful in this project, students will need to put forth their best effort and use their class time wisely!
On Monday and Tuesday, students will use the entry event video, article about garlic mustard weed, and their observations from walking the Greenway Trail to create their list of what they Know and Need to Know. As a whole team, we will create a problem statement for the project. Students will also have to work in their groups to create a Group Contract in order to help them work well as a team. I've attached the Group Contract template if you are curious as to what it will look like. Once the groups have submitted their completed Group Contracts in Echo, you will be able to view their work in the Science course.
Late in the week, students will begin the bulk of the learning for this project's content. Students will use DiscoveryEd, our online science textbook to complete the first of three sets of notes about Energy in Ecosystems. Students will use articles, videos, and hands-on activities to learn both vocabulary and deeper concepts about Ecosystems. We will model and discuss effective ways to take notes, as this likely their first time taking notes from multiple sources on their own. However, students will not have unlimited time to work on these notes. Some of their note taking will need to be completed at home. As we are aware that some homes do not have Internet access, we will provide students with alternative options for note taking at home. It will be their responsibility to utilize these resources if needed. Eventually, the students will take a Common Assessment over the content learned about Ecosystems. Please take a look at the START of our PROJECT CALENDAR, but be aware these dates and activities may change based on students' needs.
HW: Continue work on DiscoveryEd notes about "Energy in Ecosystems" (due next week!)
Other Important Dates and Events:
*September 23-26: Students will be taking the ACT Aspire Assessment. This replaces our Acuity Assessments which is a predictive test for ISTEP. They will take one test each day for Math, Language Arts, and Science
*September 26: Red and White School Spirit Day!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email or call us at your convenience.
Have a fantastic week,
6th Grade PBL Facilitators
2014-2015ecosystemsprojectcalendar.pdf |
ecosystemsprojectgroupcontract.pdf |