Syllabus

A syllabus is a document that outlines the subjects and expectations of a class. Middle school, high school, and college teachers will give you a syllabus for each class.  Treat the syllabus as a guide to what to expect in the class.  This is great practice for referring to a syllabus.  It's easy now because you only have one teacher and one syllabus! 
Next year you'll have multiple teachers, classes, and syllabi. 

___________

I hope you're ready to be successful in 6th grade! We will be learning a lot and will have several projects throughout the year. As your teacher, I will support you every step of the way. You need to take the initiative to be responsible and accountable for your own learning. As long as you ask for help, you will get all the help you need!  I will do my best to identify where you need help, but the easiest way to get help is to ask for it.  

Social Emotional Learning
I am the Social Emotional Coordinator at Foulks Ranch. I've created lessons and encourage all staff on campus to teach the necessary social-emotional skills to be successful. I strongly believe SEL creates a foundation for a successful classroom community. SEL lessons will be taught each week. Assignments in SEL will use reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills and will go towards those subject grades. 

• • Falcon Five Lessons (Be Accountable, Respectful, Kind, Responsible, and Make Good Choices) 

  • Morning Meetings held daily to create and maintain a classroom community 

  • Toolbox lessons to refresh and use the 12 tools for success

  • New Second Step curriculum lessons each week

Reading
I like to teach the reading standards in an accessible format that students can reuse with different texts. All the reading strategies I teach come straight from the California Common Core State Standards and are used repetitively for each novel study.  

• Wonders ELA Curriculum

• Novel Studies 

• • • Fish in a Tree

    • Bud not Buddy

    • Out of My Mind

    • Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

• Literature Circles - students get to choose their book, complete assignments, and share their findings with their group

• Apply reading standards to the science and history curriculum 

Writing
Writing will always be graded using a checklist style rubric. I teach and expect MLA format for all essays. Students will use text evidence and site their sources. 

• • • Informative paragraphs and essays

    • Persuasive  paragraphs and essays 

    • Narrative stories 

    • Daily Journal writing 

Math
I closely follow the Envisions 2.0 curriculum for teaching math.

• Daily lesson & note-taking 

• Daily in-class practice (Text Book)

• Homework Assignment (Practice Book) 

• Quiz the following day 

• Small group instruction in the afternoon for unsatisfactory quizzes 

Science
I closely follow the STEMscopes science curriculum.

• Earth & the Solar System

• The History of Planet Earth

• Earth's Materials, Systems, and Natural Hazards

• The Role of Water in the Earth's Surface, and Weather and Climate

• Natural Resources and Human Impacts on Earth Systems

History
I work closely with Mrs. Silva (B-track 6th Grade Teacher) to implement the Impact social studies curriculum.

• Early Humans and the Agricultural Revolution

• Mesopotamia

• Ancient Egypt and Kush

• The Israelites

• The Ancient Greeks & Civilization 

• Ancient India

• Early China

• Rome Republic, Empire, & Civilization

• The Rise of Christianity

• The Americas

Art
I teach art on Fridays. If we don't have an art docent, I create projects aligning with our history and science units. 

I'm looking for an Art Docent, want to be one? An art docent prepares art lessons for the class and guides the students through each lesson with the Teacher's support. 

Computers
Students attend computers one time each week for 40-minute sessions. During this time, Mrs. Bedal instructs students around computer knowledge, programming, and internet safety. 

In my classroom we will use computers to create slide presentations, MLA formatted essays, and some graphic design.

Computer grades are primarily based off of Mrs. Bedal's scores. 

PE
We run the track with Mrs. Silva's class every Monday to earn our personal best mile times. Our goal is to improve our mile time throughout the year. Students attend PE twice per week with Mr. Popham or Mr. Shroeder for 40-minute sessions.  We will occasionally play fun games with the other sixth grade classes such as Capture the Flag and Noodle Tag.  

Routines

• Students are expected to take their Chromebook home each night and return every day with a full charge.

• Students are required to maintain an agenda, check off completed tasks, and take it to and from school daily. Parents do not need to sign it, but students are required to have it filled out and organized so parents can view it at any time.  

Grading
Every assignment is graded based on the standard knowledge. Every standard is out of 10 points. Students can improve their knowledge of the standard to improve their grades throughout the trimester. Assignments and quizzes assessing the same standard are graded together to provide one score for the overall standard. This helps identify what I need to reteach and what students have already mastered. If the assignment is not out of 10 points it will be converted to 10 points for grading purposes.

0.........Missing
1-5......F
6.........D
7.........C
8.........B
9-10....A 

Homework
Students are given daily assignments. They will be given work time to complete all assignments in class. Any assignments incomplete after the given time in class become homework. Due dates will be clear for each assignment. If students are absent, they should expect to have homework in order to catch up on what they've missed.

Students are expected to read up to 30 minutes each night.