December Newsletter

Dear Team Keystone Families,

The first term of 6th grade seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye, and we have a lot to celebrate! We are so proud of all that our students have accomplished during these first few months of school. From navigating their schedules and managing their classes and assignments, to meeting new teammates and making new friends, they have a lot to be proud of! Term One report cards will be posted in Aspen on Tuesday, December 9th . Students will begin their Term Two unified arts classes on Thursday, December 4th.

Home-School Connection

As we enter Term Two, our goal is to support students in taking a greater responsibility for their own learning. We are increasing our academic expectations and providing students with more challenging learning opportunities as the curriculum becomes more rigorous. Students have been working on building strategies to increase their independence with completing their assignments, such as:

• Using a paper planner or the online homework grid to make sure they are aware of upcoming assignments and assessments

• Checking what they have for homework while packing at the end of the day

• Utilizing notes, rubrics, and resources provided in class

• Contacting a classmate with questions about an assignment

• Checking Aspen regularly and following up with teachers if necessary

• Checking Google Classroom or sending a teacher an email if they need clarification or are missing an assignment

We are still finding that many students are needing reminders to come to school with a charged chromebook and necessary materials (pencils). Any help you can provide at home to remind students to make sure they have pencils and to charge their chromebooks at night would be greatly appreciated!

Helpful Links:

Our weekly Homework Grid

Our team webpage

 Aspen 

Amazon Wishlist

The Compass Store has been a huge success thus far! Thank you to all of the families who have generously donated to help make this positive behavior system meaningful for students. For anyone who would still like to donate, 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 Attributes program, Team Keystone  recognizes two students on our team who exemplify positive team attributes. The Admirable Attribute for the month of December is: Perseverant. We know that as we begin the second term in the weeks leading up to winter break, staying focused and maintaining strong habits of work and learning can become more challenging. We want to help students to think about strategies to use when they feel stuck or frustrated, and to make sure they don't lose sight of their goals. We encourage students to notice peers on the team who demonstrate a positive attitude when faced with an obstacle and who are able to persevere and consistently put forth their best effort, despite challenges.

Current Class Concepts

Applied Literacy

In Applied Literacy, we are focusing on annotating and summary writing. Students are getting into the habit of interacting with a text in a way that helps deepen their understanding. Once they are done, they are using a top-down web to write a summary. This ensures they include essential details from the beginning, middle, and end of the text, without going on a side quest with all the interesting details from the story! Once we get a little more comfortable with this, we will move on to studying text structures. 

During Free Read Fridays, we are working on building our reading stamina. As students continue through their academic careers, it’s important that they be able to sustain focus on a text. Students should be reading for at least 20 minutes each night to help practice this skill. 

English Language Arts

In ELA, we are starting our first novel unit on The Giver by Lois Lowry. Before reading, we will spend time previewing the dystopian fiction genre, as well as some important discussion topics to help guide our understanding as we read.

Essential Question: Which matters more: safety or freedom?

Focus Skills:

• Identify main ideas and details by reading actively

• Analyze how an author develops point of view

• Gather evidence from across a novel to support an idea

• Determine how specific details reveal a theme

Focus Vocabulary:

-Accustomed             -Conceivable        -Defy             -Diminish           -Disquiet

-Exempt                       -Haste                  -Relish            -Solemn             -Transmit

Math

In MATH, we are studying Geometry.

Essential Question: -Where in the world is geometry and how do we use it in our everyday lives?

 Current focus areas:

• Finding surface area of . . .

  • Polyhedra with sides that are either rectangles or triangles

  • From both 3-d figures and from nets of figures

• Finding volume of . . 

  • Rectangular prisms and triangular prisms

    • Packing with cubes

    • Using a formula

Science

Sound Unit

We are currently wrapping up our Sound Unit and will soon be starting a new unit called Forces at a Distance. Students will be exploring different factors that affect the magnetic force and field. 

My notebook is available for all students on Google Classroom.  By mid December there will be a blooket posted on Google Classroom to help the students study and become confident with the vocabulary and concepts.  I suggest about 10 minutes review, using blooket, each night.

 Important Vocab:

-Attractive Forces                - Potential Energy

-Repulsive Forces                - Electromagnetic

-Magnetic Field

Social Studies

In Social Studies, we are in our  “Sumer/Mesopotamia” unit. 

Mesopotamia was the first civilization to emerge on Earth, so the focus will be on what defines it as a civilization, how it was influenced by the local geography, and how Sumer rose to become a city-state.

Essential Question: 

-How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of a city-state in Mesopotamia?

- Why do Historians classify ancient Sumer as a civilization?

Important Vocabulary: 

• Civilization - social structure -technology

• Irrigation - city-state - levee & canal

• culture

Important Dates 

Tuesday, December 2: Picture Make Up Day

• Wednesday, December 3: End of Term 1

• Thursday, December 4: Term 2 Begins

• Tuesday, December 9: Report Cards posted

• Wednesday, December 17:  Half Day for Students (Teacher PDD)

• Wednesday, December 24-Friday, January 2: Holiday Break

Exciting News!

Mrs. Ketterer would like to share with families now that the students know that she is expecting her second child due in early January. She will be out temporarily, but returning in the spring! 

We truly believe that the success of our students depends on clear communication between school and home. We enjoyed meeting many of you at November conferences. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns.

Best Regards,

The Team Keystone Teachers