The holidays are upon us, and students will have several breaks from school. Many parents want to make sure that their children are reading, even when they are not in school. I recently ran across a Scholastic Parents Blog titled, How to Choose Just-Right Books According to Teachers. You may find it interesting to read. Feel free to click on the link below the five recommendations to read the entire article.

Here are five things teachers recommend when you’re selecting new books:

1. Establish a strong starting point.

2. Look for books that inspire self-discovery.

3. Choose books that motivate and interest your child.

4. Give your child the power of choice.

5. Find a series they love.

How to Choose Just-Right Books According to Teachers

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

What’s happening in Science?

Sixth graders contemplated the benefits and trade-offs of technology this week. They considered and discussed the way machines and technology have made our lives easier, however they have also led some people to be lazy and cause climate change. The sixth graders continued to work on their TedTalks diligently and enthusiastically! They began to peer review each other’s presentations to make sure they included compelling information accurately and professionally. They will finish them up next week and they are getting excited about their final presentations for you! 

What’s up in ELA?

Sixth graders have identified subject openers, prepositional openers, and adverbs. They have also practiced using commas correctly in sentences. Students also worked faithfully on their writings this week. They are at the revision and final copy stages of their personal narrative papers. I am looking forward to seeing their final draft. Sixth graders will not have a grammar or vocabulary quiz this week, so they will not have a grammar/vocabulary rubric sent home for this week. Their reading logs and rubric for their reading logs will be returned on 10/19/22.

What’s going on in Math?

This is a long unit – have I mentioned that before? But I expect we’ll be picking up the pace a little because there’s not a lot of new information left to present. We’ll quickly finish up the lessons related to unit rate and equivalent fractions & ratios, and begin the one big topic remaining in this unit: Percentage. We toss around terms and estimations based on percentages all the time without a second thought, but it’s another thing altogether to try to learn about percentages for the first time. It also marks a  transition for the sixth graders in that learning Percents will require them to work with decimals much more often in the future, and become more comfortable multiplying, dividing, and rounding them.

What’s happening in Social Studies?

This week the sixth graders learned about Ancient Egypt and were challenged! The students were challenged to create their own pyramids using popsicle sticks. They quickly realized how difficult it must have been to create these pyramids in remembrance of the Pharaohs. 

Next week the students will be starting their first official paper in my class. This paper will focus on how the environment affected the Ancient Egyptians and Kush. We will take this paper step by step and it will be done in class. 

Important Dates:

• October 17-18 – Fall Break (No School)
• October 31st- Halloween Carnival (11:30 Dismissal) 
• November 1st- Teacher Work Day (No School)