6th Grade Newsletter
Parent Teacher Conferences
Conference dates:
Tuesday, Feb. 10th and Wednesday Feb. 11th
Start and end times:
4:00 p.m. - 7:15 p.m.
Format:
Tuesday is VIRTUALWednesday is in person
Parent Sign-Up Dates:
Scheduled to open to Parents on Monday, Jan 26th at 8am / Scheduled to close to parents on Monday, February 9th at 8pm.
🎠Auditions for the School Play: Holes
Interested in acting in our school play?
Auditions will take place in the auditorium on Tuesday, January 20 and Wednesday, January 21, from 3:10–5:00 PM.
There is nothing to prepare ahead of time. Students should attend one day only and must be able to stay for the entire audition time.
Rehearsals will begin after school on January 27. We encourage all interested students to give it a try!
We celebrate the MLK Day of Service to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of equality, justice, and service by transforming his birthday into a national day of action, where Americans volunteer in their communities to create positive change, embodying his dream of a united, just society through hands-on community improvement and nonviolent activism. It's framed as "A Day On, Not a Day Off" to continue King's work for civil rights and community betterment.
As we prepare for our next close reading, students will take their learning a step further by identifying a shared theme across three texts: The Circuit, “That Day,” and “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long.”
Looking Ahead in ELA:
Next week, all classes will finish reading “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long” and begin writing their close-read responses.
Toward the end of the week, students will begin their Unit 2 formal assessment. To support your student in preparing, below is an overview of the skills taught during this unit, along with a practice text they can use to review and build confidence. - Click here
During this week, students practiced using the present tense. In preparation for our upcoming poetry reading by Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén, students completed a short research activity about Cuba and participated in a gallery walk. During the gallery walk, they analyzed photographs and had the opportunity to ask questions and share their thinking.
Looking Ahead in SLA:
Next week, students will read “El Bongo” and “El Apellido” by Nicolás Guillén.
As part of our learning, students will have a short homework assignment asking them to talk with their parents or guardians about the origin of their last name and why they were given their first name. Please expect your child to ask you about this—it’s meant to spark meaningful family conversations.
The links to the Google Slides notes were shared last week, and I am including them again for your convenience. As a reminder, if your child is absent, all notes are available in Google Classroom so they can easily catch up. Students have been encouraged to spend about 10 minutes each day reviewing these verbs to reinforce their learning.
📆 Please note: There will be a quiz on January 23rd covering this material.
This week we wrapped up our unit on fraction division and began our new unit on decimal arithmetic. In our new unit, students will be developing and using different strategies to operate with decimals. Students have begun to explore strategies for adding and subtracting with decimals.
Looking Ahead in Math:
Next week we will continue to develop and use strategies to add, subtract, and multiply with decimals. Multiplication strategies will include area models and the distributive property as well as rewriting decimals as fractions.
This week, students completed their GRAPES analysis for Egypt and began comparing Egypt and Mesopotamia by creating a Venn diagram poster. This work connects directly to ELA, as students are practicing how to analyze and compare themes across texts—an important skill they are developing in both history and literature.
Looking Ahead in S.S.:
Students will complete their Venn diagram posters comparing Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Once finished, they will begin their Egypt DBQ writing assignment, which focuses on how the Nile River influenced Ancient Egyptian civilization. This writing project will continue into the following week.
Just a reminder!
All field trip permission forms for The Field Museum, along with the $5 fee, are due by January 30th. A copy of the form is included here for your convenience.
On the day of the trip (February 20th), students will need to bring a lunch and a drink. If you would like the school to provide lunch for your child, please be sure to complete the back side of the permission form.
At this time, 94 of our 163 sixth-grade students have turned in their permission forms, and about 80 students have submitted their payment. If the cost of the trip is a concern for your family, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mr. Sommer or Ms. Stone about scholarship support.
Mr. Sommer's Class
In class, students began working on insulation labs, testing how materials like aluminum foil and plastic wrap affect water temperature.
Looking Ahead in Mr. Sommer's Science Class:
This week, students will continue testing how different insulators help keep water hot or cold. Their new insulator materials include felt and foam.
Ms. Stone's Class
This week, students continued building their skills with digital thermometers as they learned to read temperatures in degrees Celsius. They are using these skills to begin collecting data for the Super Cup Challenge, a design project in which teams create a “Super Cup” that keeps liquids hot or cold longer than a standard cup.
Homework: Students may begin or finish their notes from the Bill Nye: Thermal Energy video.
In AVID this week students completed their Career Exploration of their “Dream Job.”
Next week, Friday, we will host a Parent Showcase where students will share their presentations with their families via Google Meets! Ms. Stone will share the link on Monday, January 19th.
Students have begun one of the core components of AVID, known as Tutorials, or Collaborative Study Groups (CSG) at the sixth-grade level. During these sessions, students work together to collaborate and address points of confusion in Math, ELA, Science, and Social Studies. Students present their thinking, share strategies, and support one another as they work toward clearer understanding.
Next week is the last week of Fine Arts Rotation 2!
Rotation 3 begins on Tuesday, January 20th.
- Art → Drama
- Drama → Media Arts
- Media Arts → Music
- Music → Art
ACCESS Testing
ACCESS testing this year for all Multilingual Students (EB/EL) will take place January 21st-30th, with makeups taking place February 2nd-6th. Similar to last year, we are testing each grade in all four domains (reading, writing, speaking, listening) over the course of 4 days.
WHO & WHY: The ACCESS test is a state-mandated assessment that measures the English proficiency of our multilingual students (EL/EB) who receive bilingual services.
WHERE: All ACCESS testing will take place in the cafeteria this year.
WHEN:
- Multilingual students will be testing during periods 1-4 and 8-10.
- They will not test during periods 5, 6, 7 and will go to their classes and their lunch/recess during these periods.
- If students finish before the end of the day, they will be sent back to class with a pass.