Middle Schoolers dove headfirst into content in each of their core and special area classes this week. They learned how to organize their materials, their planners, and their lockers. Organization is a skill that is so important to explicitly teach in Middle School, as it doesn’t always come naturally. So, here are some things that we introduced this week that you can help support at home:
- Executive Functioning (daily block after third period right, before lunch) is a time where homework is written in planners, plans are made for studying, and materials are organized in binders, book bags, and lockers.
- Planners are to be used to help keep track of important dates, deadlines, and daily homework. They are to be taken home and brought back to school everyday.
- Google Classroom is our lifeline! Here, they’ll find study guides, rubrics, extra math practice, etc. Your child has access to everything they need for school all on one Google Classroom page – which they can access from home (computer, tablet, phone, etc) using their school Google Account. Reach out to your child’s advisory teacher if you need help getting logged in at home!
- Linked via Google Classroom, students can access their grade level Google Calendar to see their daily homework assignments, test/quiz dates, and due dates. These Google Calendars will be linked in the weekly newsletter for parents to access, as well! It will be updated frequently with important dates and assignments. Students copy their assignments for the week in their planners during Executive Functioning! Teachers will also send reminder emails about big dates like tests and projects when the time comes.
- Graded tests, permission slips, and other handouts will come home in your child’s blue take home folder.
Utilizing these organizational skills and tools will not only ensure a successful academic middle schooler, but also guarantee that your child feels calm, collected, and prepared for school!
-AG
ELA- This week in ELA, 6th graders considered the power of annotating to power deeper connection and understanding of a story. We sampled many annotation techniques from color coding emotional moments, sketching scenes, noting confusion, and sticky-noting new vocabulary! We cracked open Roald Dahl’s memoir Boy in hopes of making meaningful marks right in our novels. Students’ annotated novels and comprehension packets for this study will be due 9/10. We also began unit 1 of vocabulary and greek/latin roots this week!
Next week, we will continue to dive deep into Dahl’s early life using annotations! Be sure to encourage your 6th grader to begin studying their vocabulary + greek and latin roots for next week’s test on 8/28.
Science- In science, 6th graders started their investigation into weather and water by having a timely conversation about types of weather, including severe weather. We discussed tornadoes and hurricanes – taking a peak at satellite images of Hurricane Erin just off the coast. Students have started a weather journal in class to observe trends throughout the month. Our weather conversation led us into an investigation of the properties of air using syringes, tubing, and binder clips to discover air pressure. Next week we explore Earth’s atmosphere and dig deeper into what air pressure affects us.
Social Studies- Sixth grade has begun our work on ancient civilizations and how humans have gone from hunter-gatherers to living in civilized societies. This is an interesting unit as students take a look into the past and see how humanity lived and survived in those earlier time periods. We will be moving into our first project in which they will be creating their own civilization and city-state, which will teach them proper city planning and using deep thought to understand the complexities of building a community and city.
Math- This week in math, 6th grade mathematicians explored different ways to identify the area of two-dimensional figures like rectangles, irregular parallelograms, and triangles using strategies like decomposition, tiling, and eventually, generating formulas we can use to algebraically identify the areas of these polygons.
Next week, students will build on this knowledge of area to find the surface area of three-dimensional objects by breaking the figure down to its net, identifying the different faces, using our area formulas, and adding them together to find the amount of space on a prism. They’ll also receive a study guide on Tuesday for their test on Wednesday, September 3!
