Hall 6th Grade

October 18, 2024

The SPARKtober Participation Challenge ends Tuesday, October 29, and we need your support! Without SPARK, many of the programs our Hall students love—like Music Exploratory, Band, STEM, Leadership, Spanish, Counseling, and Wellness—wouldn’t exist. These programs are funded by SPARK, not by state or local revenue. Your contribution helps keep these enriching opportunities alive for every student. Let’s aim for 100% family participation and ensure our schools continue to thrive. Teachers count on SPARK, and SPARK counts on you!

Math

Hi Cougar families! Last week, we wrapped up our statistics unit with a project and presentations. Students explored a statistical question of their own choosing, collected data, and calculated measures of central tendency and variability. They displayed and analyzed their findings using dot plots, histograms, and box plots.

This week, we've shifted gears to focus on number theory. Students have been learning about prime factorization, greatest common factor (GCF), and least common multiple (LCM).

I've reminded students that my classroom will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays at lunch for small group reteaches and/or retakes. Students have until November 1 to complete retakes and turn in any missing assignments.

Language Arts

We started off our week with a Grand Conversation about the novel Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. Students wrote questions last week in preparation for this conversation. Strong listening skills were on display. Students will have more public speaking opportunities in the coming months.

Skills we have focused on:

Finding our VOICE as writers through emotional reactions and precise description
Grammar with 8 Parts of Grammar and Quill Diagnostic

Dinner Table Questions to ask your 6th grader:

What object did you choose for your 'Finding My Voice' diary entry?
How did the Seedfolks Grand Conversation go? Did you pose a question or share your thinking with the inner circle?

Science

Students are halfway through the Zero Waste October Challenge. They should be keeping plastic that they used in a well-marked bag at home. All trash should be cleaned and dried before putting in. Any plastic with dairy or meat should be recorded and discarded. They should also be encouraged to look in the trash can and record things they benefited from. For example, if Halloween decorations were purchased some of the plastic packaging is theirs.

There was a lot of moving pieces this week between me being out on Monday and the Internet being out other days. You may want to check in with your child to make sure the following assignments are completed by Friday:

Google Classroom: Anticipation Guide "Thermal Insulation" - After reading the article on p. 31, they will identify if they agree or disagree with the claims and where the author stated the information confirming or refuting the claim. This is done on a Google Form on Google Classroom.
Google Classroom: Graphic Notes "Thermal Insulation" - After reading the article, they will write a 4-5 sentence summary of the article on the Google document provided on Google Classroom. Only the summary needs to be done.
ISN: Finish drawing on p. 30. After reading "Thermal Insulation", students did an original model in class about something from the reading. It should have a title, be colored, have at least on modeling tool, and have a 1-2 sentence caption. This is not being turned in.

Social Studies

The students had a great time creating their caves and replicating cave art from the Cro Magnon Era. The room has transformed partially into a cave with their beautiful painting on the walls. They are now researching their chosen hominid to create an Infographic Essay using the mentor text, Who Would Win. Look for these to be posted to the class website by the end of next week.

Physical Education

Mr Rembrandt: We are continuing to work through our first round of fitness testing this week, completing our first push ups check and timed mile run over the past week. We will be moving on to the turf field next week as we move into our Track & Field unit. We will practice several events, such as: 50 meter dash, high jump, relay race, shot put, long jump, and other whole class field games.

Music

Band - The students are making great progress this week. We're playing all the way through the Concert Bb major scale. The biggest challenges I'm hearing with the scale are the top two notes for the clarinets, trumpets and trombones. These notes are extremely difficult on those instruments, so it's to be expected. On either Thur or Fri, students will complete a rhythm quiz. Last week, they all took a test on the first 6 notes. I'm going to start doing a weekly assessment to keep everyone on their toes, making sure they're practicing at home and it also gives me a chance to hear the kids individually and give individualized feedback for their improvement. We're about to start our first big song in the Standard of Excellence, "Jingle Bells." Who doesn't love christmas in october!?!

Music Exploratory - In the past week, the choir has completed Hamilton and Blackbird. Hamilton took up a bunch of our time, but Blackbird was quite easy and we learned it rather quickly. My intention was to spend the next two days listening to new songs that they'd like me to order and sing, but we ran into a bit of a hiccup. Long story short, I'm going to put some work in on my end to give students quality tune choices so that I can order for next week.