We hope everyone is as excited as us for the Valentine’s Day Book Fair, Bake Sale, and Bingo event! This is going to be taking place at 1:15 on Tuesday, February 14th. This week the Middle School had quite a busy week between Cooper Clusters, Middle School Meeting, and beginning their self-assessments. The middle schoolers have had to have good time management skills to make sure they are getting all their work completed, which they have all done. Their self-assessments will be presented to you, the parents, in order for them to show off the content they learned and projects they are most proud of from this school year. 

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

What’s happening in Science?

Sixth graders were true scientists this week! They questioned where they think the most bacteria and fungi could be found in the school, then made a prediction they will observe over the next couple of weeks. Sixth graders swabbed all over the school! Students’ computers, students’ tables, even the bathroom handles have been swabbed and are incubating right now! Next week, we will start to observe the colonies growing using the microscopes, as well as work on self-assessment.

What’s up in ELA?

Literary essays have been completed! You are going to be very proud of your sixth graders. They worked really hard on this writing project. Next week your students will begin week thirteen of grammar and get started on their nonfiction unit. Please make sure your students have nonfiction texts to read by Monday, February 13, 2023. Students may read texts about the following: famous people, historical events, current events, plagues/illnesses/viruses, tools/inventions, ideas (MLK’s dream of people not being judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character), interesting places, etc. Realistic fiction is not nonfiction.

What’s going on in Math?

Hello sixth grade parents. This week we’ve been continuing our work on linear and

proportional relationships. Remember from last week that a linear relationship is one where

something happens over and over again at the same rate. That’s our constant, our slope, our

rate of change. It becomes proportional when the line it creates crosses through the point (0,0),

which is when nothing is input, so nothing is output. This week has been tricky because we’re

not starting at the bottom or beginning. Instead we’re starting to look at data somewhere within

the process and see if it is increasing or decreasing at a constant rate. Easy enough. But would

that constant rate eventually take you to (0,0) if you worked backwards? Like, let’s say you buy

a pizza. (Why is it always pizza with me?) They charge you $1.50 for 1 topping; $3 for 2; $4.50

for 3 toppings, and so on. We now have a constant, a rate of change: $1.50 per each item. But

what if you get 0 toppings? Does that mean the pizza costs $0? No, they’re still gonna charge

you $8 or so for a topless pizza. So we have (0,8) and not (0,0). Linear, but not proportional.

And why would anyone get 0 toppings? No wonder some kids struggle so much with Math. No

toppings on your pizza….that’s just crazy talk.

What’s happening in Social Studies?

Students finished learning about the Roman Empire and jumped right into the Byzantine Empire. Students worked on their comparing and contrasting skills as they were asked to make Venn Diagrams comparing the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Empires. 

Next week, the students will be creating a song about the three different empires as their assessment for this unit. These songs will come with QR codes, and I will definitely be sending them out to the parents for their viewing! 

Important Dates:

• February 14 – Valentine’s Day Bake Sale, Book Fair, and Bingo! (1:15 – 2:45)
• February 20-21 – February Break (No School)
• February 28- Middle School Social (3pm-4pm)