Monthly Update 4/24/24

I decided to change the title to "Monthly" because I have been slacking lately.  It has been such a busy month.  We came back from Spring Break and hit the ground running.  OUr math units ahve been very short lately, so we have had 3 assessments just this month.  We are two units away from finishing the book!  In reading we excitedly moved into our long-awaited Titanic Collection.  This has been a blast.  Each student took on the role of a passenger on the ship, wrote a letter from their perspective, role-played as their passenger, and discovered their fate!  This was awesome!  We have moved into  our final science unit: Earth Science and have been focusing on the phases of the moon. Ask your child about Waxing and Waning and how the moon affects the tides!

All of this, and we still have had time for many Shrek Jr. rehearsals.  We will be moving into the gym for rehearsals on Monday.  The show is getting close!  Kids should be gathering their costume items and getting ready!

Please check the "Important Dates" tab for most upcoming events.  This changes often.

As always, thanks for always being supportive of myself and your children.

Yours in education,

Mrs. Ventresca 

Weekly Update 3/18/24

March is underway and spring is in the air.  We are wrapping up a unit on area of shapes at the beginning of next week.  We created life-size shape people and will be finding the composite area.  Pictures are uploaded to the "Photo" page.  We are also finishing our 3rd unit in Amplify: The Chocolate Collection.  We ahve been researching how chocolate can be good for you and bad, how slavery is a problem in chocolate production, and how chocolate can affect your mood.  We are now writing either an argumentative or informational piece of writing (student's choice).  In SS, we are studying Hammurabi's Code.  It's an interesting thing to learn about, so if you hear your kids saying "an eye for an eye", you know why!

Next week is all half days with Thursday a 12:00 dismissal and the last day before break.  We will resume school on April 8th.  It is also conferences next week.  If you did not sign up please do so in Parent Square.

If you would like to send in a treat for the class on Thursday you are more than welcome to!

Yours in Education,

Mrs. Ventresca

Weekly Update 3/4/24

It has been a busy past few weeks.  We have started our new unit in Amplify: The Chocolate Collection. We began with a chocolate tasting lesson and are now working on researching a question we have about chocolate.  This unit dives into lessons on how to research and find the best sources.  We hope to be done with this unit by Spring Break.  In math we are learning about geometry and graphing.  We have moved back to Social Studies for the time being and are studying Mesopotamia.

Oficer Sanzari has started our 6th Grade D.A.R.E. lessons on Friday mornings.  We also had a performance by Pinelands Regional's theater program who performed songs from The Little Mermaid.  If you can get over to see it, it is amazing!

Conferences are coming up soon so look for the sign-ups to come through Parent Square.

Weekly Update 2/12/24

We had a great week last week.  Our 6th grade social event with Eagleswood Elementary School's 6th grade was a wonderful event and a good chance for the students to meet new people.🧑‍🤝‍🧑 👭 We wrapped up our Mysteries and Investigations unit with our final essay and will be assessing this coming week.  We also wrapped up a math module and moved into a new one :).  The students have been enjoying their DARE lessons with Officer Sanzari and asking some great questions.  

Looking into this week, Valentine's Day is Wednesday.  Feel free to send in a snack or treat!  I know some of the students are bringing Valentine's cards.  This is their last elementary V-Day event. 😭  Thursday is our 100th day of school as well!! Anddd Friday is the start of a 4-day weekend for the students.  Busy, Busy!!

As always, thank you for always being there for the students and our class.  I appreciate all of you!

Have a great week!!

Weekly Update 1/29/24

Can you believe this is the final week of January?  This week we will be finishing up our next Sherlock Holmes story: The Red-Headed League.  This will lead us into our final writing piece of the unit. All of the students' grades are recorded into Oncourse, but if you want to see their Amplify work just ask them to log in and they can show you :). They should be really proud of how they have been doing! We will also be finishing, reviewing and testing on Module 8.  This was a hard unit for many, which makes the review very important.  In Science we have been learning about forces, friction, and the laws of gravity.

February 9th we will be having a dance/games with Eagleswood school.  This happens during the school day.  We provide lunch, snacks and drinks that day.  This is a great chance for the two smaller school districts to get together in hopes to ease the stress of joining into a big group next year in middle school.

As always thank you for all of the support you give at home to help with the success of your child.

~Mrs. Ventresca

Weekly Update 1/8/24

This week we are wrapping up some of our ELA and Math content.  We are approaching the end of the Yellow Fever study and are moving into a Sherlock Holmes mystery.  We are also learning about percents in math.  This is a quick chapter and we will be testing as soon as we return from the 3-day weekend.

We also have the awesome opportunity a new benchmark assessment program, LinkIt, this week.  My class and Mrs. Mahr's class have been chosen to pilot this new assessment program.  We will be taking the ELA and Math assessments on Thursday and Friday.  No prep for this is needed.  Each test should take about an hour.

Another exciting thing this week is that we are starting our DARE program with Officer Sanzari.  This will take place every Friday morning.

Lots happening in 6V this week. :)

Weekly Update 1/2/24

This week we are just getting back into the swing of things.  We are continuing our Yellow Fever unit in ELA, reviewing measurement conversions ad circle graphs, moving into learning about percents, and beginning a unit on "Force and Motion".

Shrek Jr. is scheduled for May, so although it seems like plenty of time, there is a LOT to do to be ready!  Practicing scenes and lines is a good start.  We will start reading through the script in class for emotion and clarity.

Clothing Fundraiser!!  Our first fundraiser for our 6th grade class trip is this Saturday the 6th. from 9:30-12:30 in the school parking lot.  Thank you to all parents who offered to help. Spread the Word!!!