Parent Letter 

September 2022


Dear Parents/Guardians of Sixth Graders:


We know this is a long letter, but we want you to be thoroughly informed about the upcoming school year.  Please fill out and sign the back page and have your child bring it back to school ASAP.  

We are looking forward to a new year with your AWESOME 6th grade students! We want to partner with you to make this a great year for the students. Your student will have 2 core teachers this year, Ms. Anderson and Mrs. Lundquist. Ms. Anderson will be teaching Language Arts and Social Studies. Mrs. Lundquist will be teaching Math and Science. 


DAILY HOMEWORK PLANNERS 

Each student will receive a Homework Planner.  This year the cost of planners is $5. Please contact the office if this fee is a hardship for your family. We will encourage students to record their daily assignments and fill in other information needed to bring home every night.  Please check their Planners daily.  Each day provides plenty of space for parent and teacher comments along with daily assignments.  We may write notes to you in this section, and we encourage you to communicate with us through the Homework Planner.  However, the students will be responsible to show us the notes you write.  They must have their Planner back in school every day.  If a student loses or severely damages their planner, they will need to purchase another one. 

All students have a right to learn.  A student who chooses not to follow class rules interferes with his/her own learning and the rights of other students.  We will be using a “Passport” system located in the front section of the planner to communicate information about misbehavior, incomplete work, and missing materials (ie: no pencils). 

A student’s Passport will be signed or initialed by a teacher for incomplete work,  forgotten/lost, or “eaten by the dog'' homework, not having materials for class, or inappropriate behavior.  If a student continually has trouble with study habits or classroom behavior, we will develop an individual plan to help that student.   We also love signing Passports for positive behaviors in class too!  Blank passports indicate your child is doing well in class.

A PARENT SIGNATURE IS REQUIRED ON THE PASSPORT in the front of the Planner EVERY WEEKEND.  (At the bottom of each monthly passport we have already written in the dates.  Please sign with your first and last name in ink.)  This will keep you informed weekly about how your student is progressing in their study habits or/classroom behaviors.  It will be your child’s responsibility to ask you for your signature.  Thank you for helping us with this routine. 


HOMEWORK

*Homework needs to be completed BEFORE the next school day begins.

* Any student NOT COMPLETING HOMEWORK consistently will potentially result in a DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL

* If your child says he/she doesn’t have any homework, encourage him/her to study any notes that have been taken or read ahead in AR.

*After school homework help in math is available Monday-Thursday until 4:00.


BEING PREPARED FOR EACH CLASS INCREASES STUDENTS’ SUCCESS!




MAKE-UP WORK

The guidelines in the Student Handbook specify that students have one day more than the number of days absent to make up work.  Work must be turned in according to the guidelines.  If you would like to pick up your child’s make-up work you need to call by noon so that we have time to organize it. It will be ready for you at the end of the day.  We will send the work to the elementary office.  Attendance is very important for student achievement.  What they miss in class cannot be replaced.


GRADES

Our philosophy is that teachers don’t give grades; students earn grades.  There are no surprises.  The grading scale is in the Student Handbook.  Class expectations and grading guidelines are explained in each class.  Our program is geared for student success and with reasonable student effort, every student can succeed.  Your child is working on mastery of the State of Minnesota Standards outlined for each subject.  You will receive a midterm report after nine weeks of each semester and a report card after 18 weeks, but please check grades often online using Infinite Campus. If you are not set up in this yet, the office staff will help you.  Also, please feel free to contact us about your child’s grades at any time. 

6th GRADE SCIENCE (Mrs. Lundquist)

Students should have little homework in science if they work hard in class. Students will need to study for tests. The test will be on the information from the chapters in the Science textbook, CK12 assignments in Google classroom and projects/experiments. Even though students will not have much homework they will need to review their notes often. The students will also be creating small booklets for each chapter to help them study for the chapter tests.  Tests will make up 60% of their grade and daily work/homework/booklets/ experiments account for 40% of their grade. Students are responsible for turning their homework in on time. If a student does not turn in their work he/she may not be able to participate in the experiment or activity for the lesson until the other work is done. Then the experiment will need to be made up at a different time.      

Retaking a test in which a student received a grade lower than 60% will be possible. Students will be expected to make test corrections and study before they can retake a similar test. When students are absent, they may miss presentations, class discussion, demonstrations or hands-on activities that can really help them to understand concepts, so attendance is very important.


6th GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS (Ms. Anderson)

We will use our  Reading curriculum Wonders part of the time and studying novels part of the time.  When we are reading a novel, we will work on reading skills that go along with the novels. Accelerated Reader (AR) is also a part of the Reading curriculum. Because we have only 85 minutes for  Reading, English and Spelling, students will not have a daily scheduled AR time. They can read when they finish their work, but most of the reading for AR will need to be done at home. Each 6th grade student is expected to read at least 100 pages a week. We will be giving your child monthly point goals, which are based on what AR estimates they should be able to read at their level in 30 minutes a day, 5 days per week. It is also based on your student and what they perceive themselves to be capable of. Their goal will be written in their planner on the first week of each month. Working together to make sure your student is reading and progressing is crucial. Please help ensure they have read their 20 pages each day. If you wish to know if your student is on track for their monthly goal, have them log onto renaissance at home and they can show you. The school website is http://www.battlelake.k12.mn.us .  You can check this to find the list of AR books and quizzes.  The public library also has this list specifically for Battle Lake School.  If your student is constantly not making their goal, they will be placed on a watch program and sent home with a daily AR Log for you, the guardian to sign. 


Spelling skills (phonics and spelling patterns) are part of the Reading curriculum. Students will receive their spelling lists for the week on Friday. This ensures they have plenty of time to study over the weekend as well as the week. They will be required to write them in cursive in their planners, and will then always have a spelling list with them. Students will take a pretest on Monday, and a post test on Fridays. After the post test they will receive their new list for the following week. If a student misses that day or is not certain, they can always find the current spelling list on my school website. Students may not retake spelling tests. However, their worst test will be dropped each quarter. 


How your student earns their language arts grade is as follows:

        10% AR (quizzes, comprehension, goal achievement.)           30% Tests              20% Quizzes  

                                   10% Spelling tests               30% Writing (process and final papers)


6TH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES (MS. ANDERSON)

Students should have little homework in social studies if they work hard in class. Students will need to study for tests. The test will be on the information from the chapters in the textbook as well as notes we take in class. A key to doing well in social studies is to review their notes often. Tests will make up 40% of their grade and projects will make up 30%. Quizzes will be given as 20% of their grade, and are usually short and students should be able to complete them easily as long as they have been paying attention in class. 10% of their grade comes from an interview process, in which they explain what they know to the teacher with their voice instead of on paper. Students will be offered to retake a social studies test, as long as they complete test corrections, which prove that they have studied. Retakes will not be the same test. Students are responsible for turning their homework in on time. If work is not completed, students may be kept in from playtime to ensure it does.      

When students are absent, they may miss presentations, class discussion, demonstrations or hands-on activities that can really help them to understand concepts, so attendance is very important.



6TH GRADE MATH (MRS. LUNDQUIST)

I am looking forward to working with your child.  My goals include preparing your child for a successful year and future using math.  After all, math is everywhere!  In 6th grade we are wrapping up a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of math, focusing on the four basic operations (multiplication, division, addition & subtraction), number sense, noticing patterns, beginning functions and other topics-in algebra, data analysis, probability, spatial sense, geometry and measurement.  These topics have been selected based on the recommendations of the State of Minnesota.  The State of Minnesota has developed standards emphasizing algebraic thinking throughout elementary grades in preparation for all students taking algebra I in 8th grade.  The incorporation and mastery of algebraic thinking will propel Minnesota students beyond national leaders into world class leaders in education.

While we will be preparing to meet state requirements; I personally feel helping students understand the connection between everyday life and math is extremely important.  We will be using additional programs like Prodigy and EverFi this year to manage your child’s individual progress along with the Everyday Math Series.   Current research emphasizes the importance of also connecting math to real life situations while improving academic achievement.  Parental support is essential in creating a successful partnership between school and home. 




*ALL 6th Graders must demonstrate automatic recall of multiplication basic facts 2-12

This means your child should be able to produce or recognize the answers to basic fact problems in a reasonable amount of time.  It is NOT a speed race!  However, the recall of facts is very important.  Please practice basic multiplication facts during the first 3 weeks of school.  Students will be tested to see which facts they know.





Math Highlight Facts. 


Math GRADES- Students' grades are based on the following: Tests/Quizzes 40%, Daily Homework 20%, Review 20% and Writing in math and STEM projects 20%.


SIXTH GRADE State Capitol Trip - To be determined - but keep an eye out for a fundraiser save the date!  

COMMUNICATION

Please make sure your contact information (phone and email) is up-to-date on Infinite Campus.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns during the year.  Be sure to contact the teacher of the subject for which you have questions or concerns.  The number for the elementary office is 218-864-5217.  The best time to reach us is from 2:40-3:05 or after school.  Emails may not be read until late in the day, so if it is urgent please call the office.  


Our email addresses are: sanderson@isd542.org            slundquist@isd542.org

Thanks for your time.  We look forward to partnering with you to make this a successful year for your children!

Sincerely,

Sara Anderson - Stacy Lundquist  


PLEASE RETURN THIS SHEET TO SCHOOL ASAP.



Student name (printed): ______________________________________________


I have read the letter attached and am aware that I will need to check and sign my child’s Monthly Passport in the front of the Homework Planner every weekend.


Parent Signature: ______________________________________________


(Please sign your full name.)



Future Student Conferences:

We prefer a conference time


afternoon_______________  


evening________________