This page will be used to inform families of what skills and learning activities are happening in the classroom each week!
Wow! I have really fallen off the wagon of updating our website! Hopefully you have felt that the weekly emails have been sufficient to keep you updated on our classroom happenings! I will try to do better for the last few months of the year!
Curriculum Review
In reading, we have been learning about the benefits of recess and exploring what recess looks like in different parts of the world. Last week, we discovered that only 8 states require recess as part of their school days and that, according to a study completed in 2009, almost 30% of students in the United States enjoy less than 15 minutes of recess per day! We have also learned that play increases cognitive function, improves social skills and encourages creative thinking and problem solving. This week, we will focus on designing "ideal recess" proposals that use all of our research about the benefits of recess.
In writing, students are strongly encouraged to finish the rough draft of their short stories by Friday. I hate to assign work over school breaks, but in order to have the stories published by the middle of May, we need the rough drafts to be finished by March 20th if at all possible.
In Science, we are working with DBQs, document based questions. Mrs. Fank and I have received feedback from our middle schoolers that they complete several DBQs in 7th grade and weren't quite sure how to approach them. We did two guided DBQs around Keystone Species and Otters as Keystone Species. Next week, students will complete a DBQ with less teacher support. We are asking students to put themselves in the shoes of the 2020 Colorado voters who voted on Proposition 114 regarding the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado. Students will investigate both sides of the issue and ultimately decide how they would have voted and turn that into a research based response. We have already had some great conversations on the subject.
Pi Day!
Since Pi Day occurs while we are on Spring Break, the 5th and 6th grade Discovery classes will be celebrating Pi Day a few days early, on Friday, March 10th! During our math block, students will move between Ms. Nelan's room and mine to complete a variety of activities centered around our favorite irrational number, Pi! To celebrate Pi Day, we would like to serve the students pie before specials. I have created a sign up genius and linked it below for the items we need. This sign up will be shared with Ms. Nelan's class as well.
Ms. McFarland's and Ms. Nelan's Pi Day Celebration
A Long Walk to Water Simulation
We have almost collected enough gallon jugs (we only need 3 more!) for our Long Walk to Water simulation. In the novel, Nya, an eleven year old girl, walks two miles one way to gather water for her family. She completes this journey twice per day for a total of 8 miles. For our simulation, the students will "walk a mile in Nya's shoes." We will have our simulation, snow or shine, on the afternoon of Friday, March 10th. If the weather does not cooperate, which it is looking like it might not, we will do our walk around the inner loop of the building. Each student will fill and carry two gallon jugs with water and walk for one mile. Then, we will come back to the classroom to discuss the experience. Thank you to everyone who has been collecting the jugs for us!
CMAS and Parent Volunteers
Once we return from Spring Break, we will use the week of March 20th to review skills and test taking strategies for CMAS. Our students will take CMAS on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the following week, March 28th-30th. We will take the ELA tests in the mornings and Math tests in the afternoons.
Due to CMAS testing in the building, we will not be able to have parent volunteers from the week after Spring Break through the week of April 17th. Parent volunteers can rejoin us the week of April 24th. I will send a separate email to our math volunteers with this information as well.
Algebra Readiness Testing - April 18th
Students who have been working on the 7th and 8th grade curriculum will have an opportunity to test for placement in Algebra I for next year. This test will be given during the normal math block on Tuesday, April 18th. This is a timed test and students will not have access to calculators. The test will cover the 6th and 7th grade math standards and a few of the 8th grade standards. The test will assess students' understanding of beginning algebra skills such as solving multiple step equations and inequalities, solving basic linear equations. They will also be tested on their ability to apply operation skills with rational numbers including fractions and decimals and apply geometric knowledge to solve perimeter, area, surface area, volume of shapes and solids. A sound understanding of ratios, proportional relationships, percents, probability and measures of central tendencies (mean, median, mode, range, interquartile range, and mean absolute deviation) will be needed.
All students who are eligible to take this test have been assigned a series of Delta Math assignments to allow students to practice and reinforce these skills. Additionally, students have been practicing in class. After Spring Break, I will send home some additional study materials. The Delta Math and additional practice assignments will not be graded. They are simply there to provide your student with additional practice material to feel prepared for the exam.
In order to be considered for Algebra I placement, students must score in the 90th percentile or higher. We will have the scores by the end of April.
We have a very successful first quarter in the books! The students have transitioned to 6th grade very well and I absolutely love this group of students! It took a bit of time for some of their personalities to emerge, but everyone seems pretty comfortable and happy now! I loved that I had the opportunity to meet with so many parents face to face for fall conferences! Virtual meetings are convenient, but I really enjoy the ability to engage with you in person!
During the first quarter, we focused on setting expectations, building relationships and creating strong foundations for each of the content areas. Our math groups are established and running smoothly, we have read our first novel and completed a variety of writing pieces. We completed our first social studies unit and are in the midst of learning about the periodic table and the basics of chemistry.
As we enter the second quarter, the pace and expectations will kick up a notch. Students will have weekly homework and the course load will be a little bit heavier. Please make sure to read through the updates on our Homework page so you can support your student with their weekly homework expectations,.
In ELA, we will begin our lessons about the Hero's Journey and the five basic character archetypes. Through this unit, students will begin to notice how these concepts are overarching ideas present in our own lives, books, and movies. I love teaching this unit and seeing all of the wonderful connections that students make with literature and the world around them! We will also focus on expository writing during this quarter. Students will continue to focus on using text evidence to support their reasoning. By the end of the semester, students will be able to write a character analysis essay, complete with an introduction paragraph, a thesis statement, body paragraphs that include specific text evidence that is properly cited and a conclusion paragraph.
In Math, students will continue to work in small groups to further their understanding of advanced mathematical topics. During this quarter, The Order of the Monke group will focus on ratios, unit rates, proportions and percents. The Evil Calculators and Snackers will focus on increasingly complex algebraic equations and inequalities, proportions, percent change and beginning linear equations.
In Science, we will continue our exploration of chemistry as we take a deeper dive into how molecules are formed, the differences between mixtures and solutions and balancing basic chemical equations to show what happens during a chemical reaction.
In Social Studies, we will continue with our study of ancient civilizations with a quick unit on Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology. Students will work in small groups to compete against other teams to gain points on their journey to Mount Olympus. Teams earn points for collaboration, creativity, and time management as they work through tasks learning about famous Greek myths. This unit is always a student favorite and ends with a fun toga party!
We leave for Outdoor Ed in less than 24 hours! The weather is not looking great, but if everyone has the right gear for rain, we will still have a fun and memorable trip!
In ELA, we wrapped up our first unit in StudySync and have begun our first novel for the year. The students had their first discussion group for Full Tilt and I was impressed by their levels of questioning and how much foreshadowing they picked up on! We have also finished the rough draft of our first narrative piece. During the week of October 10th, we will work on our final drafts with edits and revisions.
In Math, we will have been working through our curriculum at a quick pace. After Outdoor Ed, we will be shuffling the math groups and will go from four groups to five to accommodate different learning styles and pacing.
In Science, we have been learning about the structure of atoms and how the periodic table is organized.
The students did a great job drafting goals for their Advanced Learning Plans. These plans will go home in weekly folders on October 7th. Once you review your student's ALP, please let me know if you see anything that you would like changed or if you have any questions. ALPs will be one of the focus points for our fall conferences during the week of October 10th.
Thank you for returning your student's paperwork for Outdoor Ed. We are busy organizing and coordinating with Snow Mountain Ranch to make this a memorable and exciting adventure for your student! As we begin to confirm classes, groups and schedules, we will update the Outdoor Ed portions of our websites and send you an update via email. In the meantime, start looking over the packing list to ensure that your student has all of the necessary items.
In ELA, our class has been learning about the events of 9/11 and watched a presentation from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Friday. We will wrap up this short unit on Monday by listening to some country western songs that were released after the tragedy including "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" by Alan Jackson. We will also read the picture book, "September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right."
In Science, we have continued to work on measuring with accuracy and precision to determine the mass, volume and density of matter. Next week, we will take a quiz over these concepts and the matter vocabulary. The students have flashcards to help them study the vocabulary. The quiz will be on Friday.
In Social Studies, we wrapped up our unit on the hallmarks of ancient civilizations. This was a challenging but fun unit that we completed with Mrs. Fank's social studies class. In our final activator lesson, students discovered "trade routes" to other civilizations and traded resources such as spices from India, cotton cloth from North Africa and iron from Persia. It was such fun to see their "marketplace" in full swing. It sounds like they were traders on Wall Street! From here, we will begin our study of several ancient civilizations including Greece, the Maya, the Incas and the Aztecs.
In our weekly "Big Thoughts Sessions with Ms. Nicole" (our SEL lessons), we have been talking about the complexities of emotions and how our emotions affect our decision making and interpretation of events. We have also been learning about the behavior attributes measured in our Emergenetics questionnaire. The three behavioral attributes are expressiveness, assertiveness, and flexibility. The students have enjoyed guessing what their results will look like based on our note-taking about each attribute. Next week, we will focus on the four thinking preferences and students will receive copies of their student reports. A copy of their reports will come home in next week's weekly folder.
In the weeks ahead...
In ELA, we have been reading stories centered around the essential question: "What does one do when life becomes challenging?" We will continue with short stories around this theme of challenges and how to overcome them in the coming weeks. Before Fall Break (how can we already be talking about Fall Break!!), the class will read their first novel, which also fits into this theme.
In Science, we will move further into our study of chemistry through an investigation into how the atomic model has evolved over the centuries. We will then focus on the periodic table and the attributes of physical and chemical changes, atoms and molecules. This is our main science unit for the first semester and is always a favorite with the students.
In Social Studies, we will continue our study of ancient civilizations by beginning with a study of ancient Greece. This will connect to our upcoming unit on mythology, as well as the study of the Hero's Journey after Fall Break.
ALP Development
In middle and high school, students on ALPs often are responsible for writing their own advanced learning plans each year. This can be difficult to do, especially if you have never really looked at your own ALP. So, in 6th grade, we spend a week learning how to analyze our i-Ready scores and read the Colorado Academic Standards in order to draft our own goals. I guide them through this process and we develop the goals together. In the September 11th weekly email, you will receive a link to a parent survey regarding your student's ALP. It is important that parents have input into the goal writing process as well. I will send our ALP drafts home by September 30th for review.
Math Tests and Error Analysis Policy
All math groups took their first math test last week and I am so impressed with how hard they worked and their scores. We also had the opportunity to discuss my test corrections policy and I want to share that with you as well. If a student scores below an 80 on a math test, which is the equivalent of a 1 or a 2, they are required to complete a test error analysis and make their test corrections. I will sit with them and guide them through the questions to provide additional support as needed. If a student scores between an 80 and an 89, they have a 3 on the assessment. These students have the option to complete the error analysis, but it is not required. Any student who receives above a 90%, has received a 4 and is not eligible for test corrections.
Test error analysis must be completed at school within 3 days of the test being returned. Students will return the error analysis and original test to me. For every missed question, a student can receive half of the credit back for a corrected answer, thus hopefully raising their grade to an 80 or higher.
If you have any questions about this policy or your student's first test, please let me know.
This week, students worked hard to complete their i-Ready Reading and Math beginning of year assessments. These assessments help me to pinpoint what the class needs as a whole, as well as what specific students need in the different subcategories of the tests. In the coming weeks, I will provide lessons to the students on how to read and use their score reports to develop year long goals for their advanced learning plans. We had a few students absent this week and a few who did not finish their assessments yet. Once everyone is finished, I will send copies of the score reports home in our weekly folders.
Students were excited to take their Emergenetics questionnaire on Friday. Over the next few weeks, we will go over the four thinking preferences (Analytical, Structural, Conceptual and Social/Relational) and the three behavior attributes (expressiveness, assertiveness and flexibility). After we have had a chance to explore all seven concepts, students will receive their student reports and bring home a copy to share with their families.
I was very happy to start math groups this week. Due to our small class size and the needs of some math students in other Discovery classrooms, we added ten additional third through fifth grade students to our class for math. Our first two days of math groups went beautifully and everyone is off and running with getting the level of instruction they need. I am sure that we will need to make some adjustments to groups once I get a feel for each student's pace, computational skills and ability to thinking critically.
This week, we wrapped up our Adapt Interact unit with Mrs. Fank's social studies class. Each group of five to six students used a variety of maps to determine the best place for their hunting and gathering tribe to inhabit on the newly discovered continent of Schluckland. Groups considered the climate, vegetation, wildlife, minerals and landforms of the areas before making their final decisions. On Thursday, we had our group presentations. While there was no right or wrong answer to the exploration, we found it interesting that all nine groups chose the same basic area of the continent for their settlements. There was lots of great discussions, debates, research and critical thinking going on! I also loved that our students were building relationships with other students from our grade level.
In Science, we reviewed the three states of matter, physical properties and how to use rulers and graduated cylinders to measure length and volume respectively. These skills were important to review before we begin our first science lab next week.
In ELA, students worked hard to continue to practice the skills of identifying the conflict, the climax and the theme of various short works. We read a couple of picture books and watched several Pixar short films as part of our practice. On Friday, we took a story elements quiz. These are skills that can be difficult to master, so we will continue to focus on them throughout the semester.
Important Dates This Week
August 30th: Cold Stone Creamery NRE Fundraiser from 4 to 7 pm. - Ms. McFarland will be scooping ice cream from 4:00 to 4:30
August 31st: NRE Fun Run! Our 6th graders will be participating from 9:35 to 10:25 am.
September 2nd: First Popcorn Friday of the year! Make sure to join Kernel Klub via MySchoolBucks before Friday!
September 5th: Labor Day! No School!
A Peek Into the Coming Weeks
Next week, we will begin a reading unit using our new StudySync curriculum. With any new curriculum, there will be pieces of the program that we love and other parts that may not match the needs of the class. We will try out this first unit and I will make adjustments as needed to ensure that the unit is rigorous and challenging enough for our students.
Due to the nature of having three to six math groups at any given time, I won't usually provide a math update, unless it is something that relates to all groups. Just know that all groups are up and working hard on various skills in the 6th and 7th grade curricula. I will say that all of the students seem to appreciate (as do I) the spacing of the questions in the Math in Focus workbooks. I keep hearing things like "There is so much empty space on the page!" and "I don't have to write super tiny anymore to get my work in the space!" Yay for a workbook that encourages and allows for the space needed to show your work!
In Science, we will continue to work on a review of the scientific process, ways to measure mass, volume and density and properties of matter. We will also begin to work on writing CERs to provide conclusions in science. CER stands for Claim, Evidence, Reasoning and is a way that our middle school and high school students provide findings for scientific investigations and defend their opinions on topics related to social studies. In 6th grade, we focus on introducing the structure and practicing writing CERs throughout the year in preparation for middle school. (On a side note, my son, Seth, has already written two CERs in his first three weeks of middle school!)
In Social Studies, we will move into exploring what needed to happen to our prehistoric ancestors in order for ancient civilizations to emerge from their hunting and gathering societies. We will build up our knowledge through a series of Ancient Civilization "Activators" over the next few weeks.
We had a great week and the students are really starting to settle into the routines of the year! On Tuesday, we had our first SEL (Social Emotional Learning) with Ms. Nicole. She left saying that it was the most enjoyable and successful session she has had with this group since they were in 4th grade. She told me that it was refreshing to see how open and happy the kids were with each other and how much they were willing to share in the first week! I absolutely love working with Ms. Nicole and know that it is going to be a wonderful year of learning and growing, both academically and socially!
In ELA this week, we finished taking note on the basics of story elements and plot. We practiced finding conflicts, rising action, the climax and denouements in several stories including Mr. Peabody's Apples and The Ghost in the Lagoon. Next week, we will focus on solidifying these skills using fractured fairy tales and Pixar short films. These skills are crucial to master so that we can move into more challenging texts and units of study.
In Math, we did lots of testing, but I am so proud of how hard everyone worked! Some kids took tests from three different math levels and did so with smiles on their faces. Between a new math program, Math in Focus, and summer learning, it can be challenging to find the exact right place for each student to start the year, but I think we are in a good place for math moving forward! We will begin math groups next week. If you are interested in helping with math, please let me know. I will have four to five math groups spanning from 6th grade math to Algebra I, so I could certainly use another adult each day to help facilitate learning!
In Social Studies, we began our study of civilizations that are from the pre-agricultural age. We talked about hunter and gatherer societies and how living on the land really impacted their ability to establish permanent homes and affected the size of the society that could be supported. On Friday, we started a unit called Adapt with Mrs. Fank's social studies class. Due to our small numbers, Mrs. Fank and I thought it would be more beneficial to combine the classes. In the next week or so, groups will be deciding the best area of an undiscovered continent for their hunting and gathering tribe. They will be using a combination of maps, data sets and research tasks to make their determinations and will then defend their placements to the class later in the unit. I am excited to try out this new unit, purchased by the DBC -- thank you!, for our launch into Social Studies!
Important Dates Next Week
Next week will be a jammed pack week of learning, special events and finishing up required beginning of year testing!
Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting - We will hold a virtual parent meeting from 5 to 6 pm on Monday to go over important details for our Outdoor Ed trip in early October. This week's 6th Grade Weekly Update will have a link to the Zoom meeting. We ask that only one device per family log into the meeting so that we have enough space for all families to attend.
i-Ready Testing -- Students will take their i-Ready Math test on Tuesday and their i-Ready Reading assessment on Thursday.
Picture Day - Picture Day is Tuesday, August 23rd. We will take individual pictures and class pictures. Order forms for both went home in the weekly folder. If your student is absent on Tuesday, they will not be in the class photo, but will have the ability for an individual photo on our picture retake day. Sixth graders will take another set of individual pictures in spring for graduation. They wear a school provided cap and gown for these pictures and these are the pictures used for the yearbook.
Parent Volunteers Needed!
If you are interested in volunteering as our homeroom parent, Weekly Folder Parent (on Fridays) or as a math volunteer, please reach out to me. While this is a small class, these volunteer positions are still crucial!
For math, it is looking like I will have about 20 students across four math books. Math volunteers are one way that I can ensure that each student is getting the math knowledge and skills that they need in a timely and effective manner. You can volunteer any day, once per week or once every other week -- whatever works better into your schedule. Our math block is from 8:45 to 9:45.
If you have questions or want to volunteer for one of these spots, please let me know!
We made it through the first week of school! I loved how much laughter, critical thinking and collaboration was happening!
English Language Arts
In ELA, we began reviewing story elements such as types of characterization, points of view and literary techniques such as flashback and suspense. Next week, we will finish our guided note taking and practice finding these elements in picture books before applying them to complex short stories.
Math
In math, we have been exploring how the brain works. Through the use of some Inspirational Math activities from youcubed.org, we learned about the importance of trial and error and how the brain grows when we make mistakes. We used the Four 4s activity to review basic operations, the order of operations, square roots, decimals and fractions. We even learned about factorials! We also began our quick checks to review basic computational skills. These quick checks will help to guide our first few days of small group instruction and provide additional data for placement in math groups.
Science
We are beginning the year with a review of what science is and how we use science in our everyday lives. In the coming weeks, we will focus on how use a variety of science instruments such as triple beam balances, digital scales and graduated cylinders to help us measure mass, volume and density.
Social Studies
We have begun our study of social studies with a dive into the five branches of social studies: History, Culture, Geography, Economics, and Civics. We are using a cooperative learning strategy known as "Jigsaw" to break down each branch and share our learning with one another.
Team building and Critical Thinking!
In between all of our learning this week, we took time to complete an escape room about class expectations, figure out how to survive after a plane crash in the desert (ask your student if they were in favor of eating the pilot or using his body as bait to lure the coyotes!), play some board games and work together to flip a tarp while standing on it! I have been very impressed with how well the class works together and how quickly they are able to solve seemingly impossible tasks! I am so excited to continue to build on these strengths as we move into more complicated tasks and learning activities!
Next Week...
Next week, we will begin a series of assessments to help me determine the needs of each student in a variety of subject areas. We will take our math benchmark assessments on Tuesday and Thursday. Students will be taking a benchmark over the first few chapters of either the 6th or 7th grade Math in Focus curriculum. This information, along with end of year data, i-Ready data, quick checks and teacher observations will help in the development of their beginning of year math groups. Please know that my math groups are FLEXIBLE! This means that your student's math group membership is fluid and may change from week to week, based on their needs for differentiation of skills, practice and pacing.
Students will also write their beginning of year personal narrative this week, on Wednesday. This writing will give me a baseline on which to develop writing lessons for our narrative writing unit.
I-Ready testing will begin the week of August 22nd. Once I have decided on which tests will be given on which days, I will let you know. I typically give the math test during the first week of testing and the reading test the following week.
These next few weeks will be busy at NRE!
Back to School Carnival
Next week, we have our annual Back to School Carnival on Friday, from 5 to 7 pm. There will be games, booths for the different school clubs, a dunking booth, pizza and much more! If you are interested in helping with the event, please take a look at this sign up link.
Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting
The 6th grade team will host a virtual parent meeting on Monday, August 22nd from 5 to 6 pm to discuss our Outdoor Education trip. We will give an overview of the trip objectives, schedule, cost, etc., as well as go over the paperwork that parents will need to complete for the trip. Parents are encouraged to ask questions throughout the presentation. If you are unable to attend, we will post a recording of the meeting later that week.
Picture Day!
Picture Day is August 23rd. We take our pictures at the end of the day, so you might to send a brush for your student's hair. Students are also welcome to bring "picture day clothes" to change into and wear normal clothes the rest of the day if they would be more comfortable. The link for order pictures can be found in this week's Weekly Blast.
Cold Stone Creamery Teacher Scoop
Join us on Tuesday, August 30th at Cold Stone Creamery in the Highlands Ranch Town Center as teachers scoop ice cream for our school. A portion of the profits will benefit Northridge and it is fun to try to stump the teachers with complicated (and sometimes not so complicated!) orders! I will be scooping from 4:00 to 4:30!
Fun Run!
Our annual Fun Run is scheduled for August 31st! Our class will run from 10:30 to 11:00. I will post more information as I receive it.