Hey Parents!

It is so nice to see you at school again. In-person conferences, presentations, coffee gatherings, and even vaccine clinics are happening at TCS…yay! We truly appreciated having the opportunity to connect with you this week. Being able to meet in person to celebrate your children’s work and brainstorm ways to support them truly will help us navigate the rest of the school year. Because you know your sons and daughters better than anyone, learning more about them straight from you is so helpful for us to guide their learning.

Thank you for your transparency, stories, support, and great company!

Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:

What’s happening in Social Studies:
This week, historians learned about the fall of the Roman Empire and life during the Medieval time period. Historians researched some of the Roman Empire’s major accomplishments and presented their findings to the class. They studied the map of Medieval Europe and how it is different from modern day Europe. Historians have started working on realistic fiction stories about daily life during the Medieval time period. We have read about an array of characters, such as knights, jesters, cooks, young families, and so much more! They also had their first Harkness Discussion and did a wonderful job!

What’s up in Math?
This week, mathematicians started Unit 3! Unit 3 covers fractions and decimals. We started the unit by exploring quotients of different sizes, the students analyzed division problems and categorized them based on the sizes of the dividend and divisor. After our initial exploration, we began using tape diagrams in order to determine how many groups and how many in each group. The tape diagrams have been helpful to the students’ visualization of what division is. Next week, we will continue to push farther by attaching situations to division problems and real-life scenarios to help us find the solution. Toward the end of next week, we will begin to re-introduce ratios and rates with the inclusion of fractions. I am enjoying watching the students’ brains stretch as they are uncovering their conceptual understanding of what a fraction is. I am hopeful that this deep work will translate into comfortability with fractions as they move through their math careers.

What’s happening in ELA?
Hello, parents!

I hope you are enjoying the cooler weather that we’re having here in Charleston.

Many of your middle schoolers completed their first trimester successfully and I am so proud of them. Now that I have gotten to know your students and what they’re capable of, and they’ve gotten to know me and my expectations, I expect them to be even more responsible during this 2nd trimester.

Your middle schoolers are expected to follow the “Three Rs” introduced to them in the first trimester of ELA class: respectful, responsible, and resourceful. Students are expected to come to class prepared and complete all class and homework assignments. Homework assignments are to be written down in their planners and can also be found on their Google Classroom.

Students will be completing their vocabulary lessons this week and starting grammar next week. We alternate between grammar and vocabulary every two weeks. The skills they learn throughout their grammar and vocabulary lessons are expected to be applied in all their ELA writings.

Sixth graders are reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963. Please make sure you ask your students to share with you about their novel. Feel free to ask them questions about characters, setting, and problems encountered.



Important Dates:

November 19: Harvest Festival (10am)- 11:30 Dismissal
November 22-26: Thanksgiving Break – No School