October Newsletter

Dear Team Keystone Families,

It is hard to believe a month has come and gone! Students are settling into their routines now and are aware of the expectations of middle school. They seem to have a solid grasp of their schedules and are able to navigate the building like pros. We have truly enjoyed getting to know our students better as individuals and coming together to form our Team Keystone community over the last few weeks!

Home-School Connection

We know how important it is that we build a partnership between home and school in order for students to be successful. We wanted to thank the many parents and guardians who have taken the time to write to us to share your perspectives about your children. If you would still like to complete this Google Form, please feel free to do so at any time! We would love to know what you, as a family member, feel is important for us to know about your child and their interests, strengths, and areas for growth. 

Over the last month, we have spent a lot of time building routines in our classrooms and beginning to work on organizational skills. Students can use Compass Block time for organizing binders and backpacks, and we designate time during each of our classes to ensure that students have time to record nightly homework and upcoming assessments. We invite you at home to check in with your student and take a look at our weekly Homework Grid.and team webpage together to stay up to date on important class information. We also encourage you to check your child's grades with them via the Aspen portal, as teachers update grades in Aspen at least every two weeks. Students are realizing how important it is to thoughtfully complete their assignments, as this has a direct impact on their learning.

Additionally, we wanted to enlist your help in reminding students that they should be charging their chromebooks every night, and bringing their chargers to school each day.

Keystones Positive Behavior Recognition System

We believe that students learn best when they feel comfortable in their environment. In order to create a quality environment for learning, we rely on a positive behavior management system that uses “Keystones” as a way for students to monitor their behavior and earn “Keystone Tickets” to spend on a variety of rewards (see the Amazon wishlist section below).

• Each student was given three Keystones (on laminated pink paper)  with their name on them

• The goal is to hold on to the Keystones until payday (once every 6 school days)

• Students earn “tickets” based on the number of Keystones that they have left after 6 school days (one cycle of the schedule)

• 3 Keystones = 3 tickets, 2 Keystones = 2 tickets, 1 Keystone = 1 ticket

Keystones may be taken away for not following our behavioral expectations, such as violating the physical space of another student, not using technology appropriately, or not showing respect to teachers or peers. Keystones and tickets are not tied to homework completion or academic performance. In order to keep this as a positive system and foster a growth mindset, all Keystones that were taken the previous cycle are returned to their owner on payday for a fresh start! 

Students should always have their Keystones in their backpack, so please feel free to ask them to see how many they have as a way to check in.

Amazon Wishlist

The students are working diligently to earn Keystone Tickets to spend on items we are hoping to have generously donated by families.  The success of this system will depend on the amount of items donated.  We have been talking with the students about prizes they would like to see in the prize box and we are ready to start collecting donations.  We have linked our Amazon Wishlist here.  We have also included a few supplies on the list that would help our classes run smoothly.

If you would like to donate something else to the prize box, please send it in with your student and have them turn it into Mrs. Foster.  Below are some other ideas for donations. Please refrain from donating candy and other foods. Thank you in advance for your kind support.

Donation Ideas: 

Gift cards, notebooks, pens/pencils, magnets, posters, baseball cards, markers/colored pencils, stickers, key chains, highlighters, water bottles, lotion/hand sanitizer (Note: If your 6th grader would like it, chances are others would, too!)

Admirable Attributes

As a part of our Admirable Attribute program, Team Keystone recognizes two students each month who exemplify the characteristics of a positive role model and team member. The attribute for October is: Curious. We encourage students to be curious about the world around them, as intellectual curiosity often serves as motivation to achieve goals and can make learning much more interesting and fulfilling! We ask students to take some time this month to explore topics that interest them and ask questions about what they are learning in sixth grade.

Current Class Concepts

Applied Literacy: Pre-Reading and Active Reading Strategies

-What can we do as readers to make our academic reading more effective? 

-Preview, Activate Prior Knowledge, Predict, Ask questions

-Predict, Visualize, Question, Connect, Clarify, Evaluate

English Language Arts: Characters who Change and Grow

-How are people changed through their relationships and experiences?

-Analyzing character growth and change in short stories

-Applying active reading strategies

-Supporting ideas with text evidence

Focus Vocab:

-Burden

-Despair

-Dignity

-Reluctant

-Reputation

-Trait

-Transform

Math: Problem Solving with Factors and Multiples

-Why is it important to know number characteristics?

Focus Vocab:

-factor

-factor pairs

-factor rainbows

-multiple

-greatest common factor

-least common multiple

-prime

-relatively prime

Science: Light Unit

--How do light waves travel?

-How can a material be a mirror on one side and a window on the other?

-Absorb

-Reflect

-Transmit

-Transparent

-Translucent

-Opaque

Social Studies: Early Humans:
–How do archaeologists identify and explain current theories of the origins of modern human beings?

Vocab: 

-migrate

-habitation

-technology

-culture

-evolution

Important Dates 

• Thursday, October 2nd - No School (Yom Kippur)

• Thursday, October 9th - Back to School Night 

• Monday, October 13th - No School (Indigenous Peoples' Day)

• Wednesday, October 15th - Half Day for Students

We truly feel that the success of our students depends on clear communication between school and home. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child's progress.

Best Regards,

The Team Keystone Teachers