August 29th-Sept. 1st

Week 3 of 6th grade is off to a great start with the demonstration of our cell projects. Today, all middle school classes participated in a "gallery walk" so that students could observe everyone's cell model. Some project models included: a house as a cell, a movie theater as a cell, a shopping mall as a cell, and even a rodeo arena as a cell. Our students did a great job thinking outside the box and describing the analogies made between cell structures and their models. 

Projects: We will have our final exam on cells tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30th. We will have a quick review session. Then, our students will move on to learning about body systems. Our focus will be on how cells build tissue, then organs, and finally systems that help the body survive and function. Our final project will be a group poster illustrating and describing each body system. 

6th and 8th Writing: Students will be typing their final drafts of "3 things that represent me" essays. I've asked students to bring in these items if possible. If not they can bring in a picture or print something. These essays/friendly letters will be on display in our hallway. We will then begin our next informational writing piece which is a report on the electoral college. Students will learn how to analyze a prompt, create a clear thesis statement, and elaborate on ideas through quotes from a text and explanations in their own words. 

6th reading: We've extended our practice with main idea and key details to summarizing. Students are working on using the main idea and key details to help them write summaries of non-fiction text. This week, students will be summarizing sub-sections of an informational text about the economic differences of northern and southern states in Antebellum America. Also, students will be illustrating a setting/event from the story The Paper Bag Princess in addition to the written responses they created the first two weeks of school. 

HOMEWORK:
Students need to read 20 min. per night. They need to be reading the same book each night and summarizing what they read that night. 

Please remember that students finish their books at different times. It depends on the length, vocabulary, and complexity of their books. 

NO READING HOMEWORK ON THURSDAYS. I will have students complete the reading log summary for Thursday in class. This way I can collect them right away and we can all move on with our weekends! 

GRADES: 

I will be entering grades into Infinite Campus this week. Parents still do not have access to Infinite Campus so I will look into sending a hard-copy of grades, like a progress report. 

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.  

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