6^th Grade Newsletter

August 31-September 13

Religion—Mr. Walt Tabory

In religion class students have been learning the root meaning of religion, from the Latin word religare.  It means to tie together.  We have had interesting discussions about doing our best to avoid breaking ties to God, our families, and our friends by trying to be helpful and kind.  We're studying the gift of faith in our lives and learning about each others' church backgrounds.  We will be using graphic organizers to help structure some of the teachings of the Catholic church as well as other religions.  Students are currently making and presenting character maps of people in their lives who are faithful to the Gospel. 

Language Arts—Mrs. Patti Dearth

Welcome, parents, to sixth grade Language Arts! I am excited to be working with your child this year. As many of you know, I am also a St. Peter’s parent, as I have a daughter currently in sixth grade. My two sons have both gone through the ranks at SPS and are now in their freshman and senior years of high school. This is my third year of teaching here at St. Peter’s after working in the North Kansas City and Shawnee Mission school districts. I truly love being a part of this vibrant parish and school community.

These first two weeks of school have found your children learning classroom procedures and expectations, homework policies, exploring their new textbooks, and of course, how to manage their lockers. Most of them are doing fine, although it can be a bit overwhelming at first. Please support your son or daughter by encouraging organization of their materials, providing structured homework time, and making sure they get plenty of sleep. The students have been given their own copy of “Survival Strategies for the Savvy Sixth Grader” that goes into great detail about classroom procedures and expectations. This would be in their Language Arts notebook if you would like to see it. Occasionally students struggle with turning in late or incomplete assignments. Late work is given half credit. Exceptions are made, of course, for family emergencies and for excused absences. Whenever a student does not have an assignment, they are required to make a diary entry in the Homework Diary in our classroom. This helps me tremendously in keeping track of late work, as well as a source students can refer to themselves. It also allows you as parents to see what your child is missing. I post the Language Arts homework each day by 4:00, and you and/or your child can check that by going to http://assignaday.4teachers.org . Ms. Ginder also posts Social Studies and Science homework.

Our classroom expectations regarding behavior have been discussed with the students. Students are expected to be prepared, be productive, be prompt, and be polite. If students are repeatedly talking out and disrupting our learning, they will be given a detention. Parents will be notified and the detention will be served after school

In Reading, we have been studying the five strategies for becoming active readers. Students demonstrated their knowledge of these by planning and performing a skit, or a song, or a combination of both, giving us a great opportunity to discuss guidelines for effective group work. Your student should be able to name the strategies on the five fingers of one hand: Question, Visualize, Predict, Connect, and Respond. We will be reading a few short stories from our anthology before we start our first novel study. Additionally, as students complete their board work (called Smart Start) in the first five minutes or so of class, I am reading aloud to them. Currently we are reading The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli. Ask them about Mongoose and Weasel. Students will be allowed to take AR tests over any read aloud books. The first quarter deadline for AR tests or pre-approved projects to be completed is Wednesday, October l7th. If students find a book that is not on the AR list, but would like to read it and have it count toward their AR goal, they may do so after they meet with me and it is approved. There are several alternate projects from which they can choose. We also studied the figurative language device of alliteration, specifically how it is used in poetry. Students created and illustrated alliterative sentences and read a two person poem with their partner to the class. This class has quite the flair for drama and did a fabulous job!

Vocabulary finds us studying prefixes. This week we are studying ten words with the prefix “mono”. The test will be on Friday.

In English, students have been exploring their Writing textbook and telling me how they view themselves as writers. Their first assignment was to write me a letter telling me what I needed to know about them in order to teach them well. What great insight into their own learning many of these children have, and I will reread them periodically through the year.

Lastly, we send a big thank you to all who responded to our request for a “million words or less” about your child. I laughed out loud while reading several of them, while others actually moved me to tears. Thank you so much for sharing as you did. Please know we cherish your children as well. If you haven’t had a chance to send yours in, we would still love to receive one from you.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I will do my best to get back to you within 24 hours. My email address is pdearth@stpeterskc.org or I can be reached by phone at school at 523-4899 ex. 323. I am looking forward to a terrific year with your child.

Math

Ms. Mary DiGiovanna

After establishing the guidelines for the classroom, the students started their journey in sixth grade math. Already half-way through the first chapter, we are moving along nicely in Chapter 1. Students have been studying operations with whole numbers: computing, estimating, evaluating powers, and using the order of operations. The chapter test is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 6.

Mrs. Diane Marrin dmarrin@stpeters.kc.org Voice Mail X 326

Sixth graders are learning behaviors and procedures expected in this math class. If you read the syllabus, you can see how many skills they will be expected to master this year. St. Peter’s middle school math courses are quite rigorous. In my experience, students need to spend 30 to 45 minutes studying math every night. It would be a great benefit to your child if you would monitor his/her time management. Please discuss your student’s first quiz when he/she brings it home to be signed. The Chapter 1 test will be Sept. 5. In this chapter students compute and estimate with whole numbers. They evaluate powers and use the order of operations to evaluate expressions. Students also solve equations using mental math and learn a problem-solving plan. All student notes and graded papers are kept in the student’s math binder.

Mr. Walt Tabory

We had fun practicing our knowledge of exponents (powers), volume, and cubic measurement by building a Kleenex box tower. Length, width, and height, are important to our number sense and ability to eyeball and estimate how big something is in relation to another object. Next week we will be solving problems with mental math and learning other strategies for problem solving.  Please practice measuring with your child since Chapter 2 focuses on developing skills with measurement and statistics.  Because sixth graders are not usually used to measuring things outside of school, please encourage cooking from recipes, simple carpentry projects, and counting with coins as ways to help your child get used to measuring skills.  We'll also be working on making tables, changing margins and formatting Word documents on our computers.  The Chapter 1 test is set for Thursday, 9/6/07.

Science & Social Studies—Ms. Laura Ginder

I would first like to start by telling you how excited I am to be teaching your child science and social studies this year. This is a fantastic class and each student has so much to offer with their many different talents. I look forward to getting to know your child better throughout the year. They have made the first few weeks great!

On the first day of school your child received a class information sheet which we discussed and went over any questions. We discussed that part of their homework assignment is to turn it in on time. If their work is late, they will receive half credit and will fill out an incomplete assignment sheet for you to sign that night. They will be responsible for bringing the late work and signed assignment sheet back the next day. We also talked about the importance of showing respect in and out of the classroom toward peers and teachers. As a class we took time to give examples of how they should be acting while in the classroom. We agreed that part of being respectful is not talking out of turn. The sixth graders are aware of the negative effect it has on their classmates, teachers, and themselves. Because talking during class disrupts the learning for everyone in the room, Mrs. Dearth and I believe that once they are warned of their inappropriate behavior, it should stop. If the behavior continues they will be given a detention. This class is wonderful, so I am sure we will not have any problems. J

Throughout the year your child will be studying about ancient civilizations in social studies class and learning about matter, cells, atoms, biomes, and motion in science. I have a lot of fun activities planned, some which include designing a balloon powered car, making models of cells and atoms, chemistry labs, learning how to use microscopes, creating a cave painting, Greek gods and goddess posters, and presentations.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call or email. I will do my best to return your message within 24 hrs. Thank you for all of your help, and again I am looking forward to another wonderful year at St. Peter’s with your child.