10/19/26 - 10/23/26

We hope everyone had a great time at the Ninja Run!  Thank you for everything you did to make this fundraiser a success!

This week we are still raising money for Eblen.  It is also a spirt week!  All are invited to dress up - no donation necessary.  See the graphic above for more information.  We teachers are particularly excited for Tuesday!

Field Trip - permission and payment due!

On October 28th, our team will travel to Camp Tekoa in Hendersonville to participate in team-building and problem-solving challenges.  We will leave shortly after arrival and return shortly before dismissal.  We are still missing forms from a number of students.  You can print new paperwork here.  If the $20 is a financial hardship, there is a place to indicate that on the form.  We must receive your paperwork ASAP if your child is planning to attend.  If they are not attending, please communicate that with us as well.  

Conferences

Our conferences start this week!

10/19, 10/29, 10/30 - Please log into our Class Dojo and look under "Calendar" to sign up.  You can expect to sit down with your student and see some examples of their work and their data.  Students will talk with you about how they view their current abilities, and they will share goals and action steps that they have set for themselves.  You will be able to briefly speak 1:1 with each teacher as we visit during the conference. If you have concerns that may warrant a longer conversation, please reach out to us and we can schedule a private conference.

Other Important Dates


Language Arts:

Homework:  Weekly Work 5  Students must mark and write annotations on their text as well as answer in complete sentences for full credit.  Due Friday 10/23.

We are approaching the end of the first grading period.  If there is any incomplete work or test corrections that still need to be done, please have those in by this Friday, 10/23.

In Class:

We are finishing Bud, Not Buddy  this week!  Students will reflect on our essential question of how enduring hardship has been transformative for Bud.  

This week we are also starting a fun project in the media center.  Students will each be assigned a NC Legend.  They will practice summarizing skills by identifying the most important information in their legends. They will then work with a group to creatively craft the information into a script for a news cast.  Next week, students will use Canva to create, edit, and add special effects to their news casts.  My hope is that we can have a fun early release day on 10/30 by having a class showing of the final products.  I would appreciate your help in making the day special - please reach out to me (Mrs. Hesson) via email or Dojo if you are willing to send in popped popcorn, juice, napkins, or plates.  🍿📽️🍿

This week we will also be doing a final test on our 1st growth goal of citing text evidence - This will be on Thursday.  If students want to do corrections on this before the end of the grading period, then I can take those before Tuesday 10/27.

Math:

Week 9 homework is due on Friday, October 23. 

What we're learning - Please click on the MATH tab for the parent information about our next unit. This is our Introduction to Ratios unit. We will be learning how quantities relate to each other, how to spot ratios that mean the same thing, and how to use ratios to solve real problems. You’ll see ratios in cooking, comparing prices, reading maps, mixing ingredients, and figuring out speed.

How can students raise their math grade? While late homework is not accepted (except for 1 free pass each quarter), students may do the following to help raise their grades in math:

*Please note that I do not offer extra credit assignments. Students are expected to complete the regular assignments.

Science

Students will participate in the electric currents lab with Mr. Shimer on Monday. We are going to review heat energy on Tuesday and complete the  study guide to prepare for the test on Wednesday. Our next unit is energy waves starting with wave properties using a PhET simulation.

Please talk to your kiddos about missing assignments, marked by a zero in Infinite Campus. I will update their grade after the assignment is turned in.


10/12/26 - 10/16/26

Ninja Run

We have one more week to collect donations for the Ninja Run!  We have an incredible PTO here at the Ridge, and we teachers feel so supported by them.  They provide so many materials and opportunities for our students that other districts may not get.  This fundraiser is incredibly important to what our PTO is able to provide for our students and school throughout the year.  Click here to register your student and spread the word!  Our team is currently in 4th place for the school!  Great job, everyone!

 10/16 - The day of the Ninja Run!  

10/16 - Friday is the day of the Ninja Run!  Our team will run the obstacle course at 12:30 pm.  Click here for information about how you can volunteer.  This is a really fun and memorable day for students.  We will provide a free Ninja Run shirt to all students.  Students should be dressed in comfy clothes that will be suitable for being active outside.   A water bottle would be great as well.

Conferences

10/19, 10/29, 10/30 - Sign-Ups are now available for Student-Led Conferences.  Please log into our Class Dojo and look under "Calendar" to sign up.  You can expect to sit down with your student and see some examples of their work and their data.  Students will talk with you about how they view their current abilities, and they will share goals and action steps that they have set for themselves.  You will be able to briefly speak 1:1 with each teacher as we visit during the conference. If you have concerns that may warrant a longer conversation, please reach out to us and we can schedule a private conference.

Field Trip

On October 28th, our team will travel to Camp Tekoa in Hendersonville to participate in team-building and problem-solving challenges.  We will leave shortly after arrival and return shortly before dismissal.  Please see the information in your child's red folder (sent home last Friday.)  Please return signed forms/waivers/payments as soon as possible.  You can cut off the bottom of the front page and return it along with the other two pages, so that you can keep the information about the day.

Other Important Dates

10/30 - 2 Hour Early Release

11/03 - No School for Students


Language Arts:

Homework:  Stems List 3 Definitions - These will still be the homework this week.  A lot of students are close to finished and I hope this gives them a reprieve from homework in the afternoon for this week.  These will be due Friday, the 16th, and we will also have our quiz this day.   Students choose 2 words to define for each stem. They must include the meaning of each stem in each definitions.  For example, if the stem is Equi="Equal" then the word "equal" must be in each definition.

This week we will spend some time in class reflecting individually on our ELA skills and setting goals that we will share with families during student-led conferences.

In Bud, Not Buddy we will read through chapter 19.  This week our focus is on analyzing how Bud’s reactions reveal change in the way he copes with challenging situations, and on how people and events have impacted Bud so far in the text.  

We will also learn about the parts of an introduction paragraph (hook, bridge, thesis), and we will practice labeling them in examples.

Math:

Homework: Week #8 homework will resume this week and is due on Friday. 

We will be wrapping up our Area unit with practice and review this week. Students will take the unit test on Thursday. You should be seeing review work in addition to the homework which focuses heavily on geometry. Unit 2 is our introduction to Ratios. A major focus in 6th grade math is the study of ratios which includes unit rates and percentages. I will be updating the math page with family materials and background information for our next unit next week.

IXL Skills for Unit 1 are due on Wednesday. These skills provide crucial practice for the content we are studying in class.

Science

We will have 2 labs this week. Heat transfer on Monday and electric currents with Mr. Shimer on Friday. Please remind your kiddo to wear close toed shoes and bring a hair tie to put their hair up. 


10/5/26 - 10/9/26

Our Ninja Run fundraiser is underway!  This event is so important in supporting our school activities, and the actual Ninja Run is a wonderful memory for our kids.  They have a great time!  Please stay tuned to our Ninja Run updates through Class Dojo!

10/5 -10/6 - No School for Students

10/19, 10/29, 10/30 - Sign-Ups are now available for Student-Led Conferences.  Please log into our Class Dojo and look under "Calendar" to sign up.  You can expect to sit down with your student and see some examples of their work and their data.  Students will talk with you about how they view their current abilities, and they will share goals and action steps that they have set for themselves.  You will be able to briefly speak 1:1 with each teacher as we visit during the conference.  We are really looking forward to sitting down with the families of the kids who have already become so special to us.  Please let us know if you don't see a time that works for you.  

Language Arts:

Homework:  Stems List 3 Definitions - Because of the short week, these will be due next Friday, the 16th.  Students do not need to work on these for homework this week.  This will be next week's homework if they do not finish in class.  Students choose 2 words to define for each stem. They must include the meaning of each stem in each definitions.  For example, if the stem is Equi="Equal" then the word "equal" must be in each definition.

I will be out on Wednesday and Thursday, as I am traveling to care for my mother who is having a major surgery.  It is really important that I be there, and I appreciate your understanding this week.  I am so fortunate that two of NWR's regular substitutes are available.  Classes will be covered by Ms. Miller and Ms. Styers.  These ladies keep class running smoothly, and students will proceed with their normal curriculum.

Students will proceed with reading Bud, Not Buddy, and this week we will supplement their knowledge by reading a short article about the Flint GM sit-down strike of 1936.  

Math:

Homework: There will be NO HOMEWORK this week. Students should use this extra time to complete any test corrections, missing assignments and outstanding IXL skills. 

We will continue our work with area, focusing on using the area formulas for parallelograms and triangles and identifying bases and heights of these figures. We will also use what we know about the areas of these shapes to determine the area of trapezoids and other compound shapes. Our focus in 6th grade is to decompose (break apart) trapezoids and other compound shapes into familiar shapes such as parallelograms and triangles. The areas of the decomposed shapes is added together to find the combined area.

Science

It is a short week. We will start heat transfer this week with a lab on Friday. Please remind your kiddo to wear close toed shoes and bring a hair tie tom put their hair up.


9/28/26 - 10/2/26

10/2 - Ninja Run Kick Off!  

10/5 -10/6 - No School for Students

TBD - We are planning on student-led conferences happening during the last 2 weeks of October.  We will finalize dates and send out sign ups soon!

Please help students remove any graded or stamped papers from the "Leave at Home" side of the red Soar Folder.  The papers living in this folder should be very minimal - just current homework for each class.

Midterm grade reports will go home on Monday.  Please ask your child for these and review the information with them.

Language Arts:

Homework:  Weekly Work 4  Students must mark and write annotations on their text as well as answer

in complete sentences for full credit.

This week we read Ch. 9 - 11 in Bud, Not Buddy.  As students read the first time, they take notes on different things like new characters, setting, or questions they may have.  Our whole-class lessons guide students through deeply analyzing parts of what they have read, and these lessons prepare them for chapter tests.  Our next one is coming up when we finish Ch. 12 next week.  This week our focus in  Bud, Not Buddy is on figurative language - finding it and analyzing it for what it is trying to communicate.  (Bud is a great character, and I'm enjoying seeing the kids falling in love with him.  He uses some really great and hilarious figurative language.)  Bud will also meet a character this week who is a labor union organizer.  We will pull in some short nonfiction reading to supplement our understanding of labor unions.

We will review parts of an informational paragraph, and students will work with peers to revise their work from last week.

Math:

Homework Week #6 is due on Friday, October 2. We have adjusted our mathematical language to use the terms base and height when referring to the dimensions of parallelograms, which will continue as we move into exploring the area of triangles this week. Students identify these base and height measures in order to find the area of figures. Students are also learning to decompose figures and recompose/rearrange them into familiar shapes in order to determine areas. While I am still encouraging the practice of math facts to increase student fluency, the area unit IS calculator active. I want students to focus on finding areas and not get bogged down with multiplication and division with these type of problems. 

Our weekly quiz will be on Thursday, October 1 covering the area of parallelograms. Any quiz where a student earns less than 70%, I put a sticker on for a signature to make sure that parents and guardians are informed of the  low grade. All students can make up any missed questions for half credit back.

Looking forward to another great week on the Ridge!

Science:

We will complete our Element Hero or Villain project tomorrow. We will spend the rest of the week reviewing for our quiz on the properties of matter, Friday. Please encourage your student to look for answers in their notebook. This supports the ELA skill of text evidence. Next week we will start heat energy.