We had a BLAST sledding. Lots of fun moments. We also had a chance to connect and share compliments with one another, play board games, and watch one of my favorite movies.

Happy holidays to all.

Today in ELA, we read and took notes on our biography. In Social Studies, we looked at Chapter 8 in our TCI book focusing on, "What did the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt accomplish and how did they do it?"

Tomorrow Kruger/Duffield's classes are going sledding 1st hour. If you can, please send a sled with your child to school as we only have a few at school. Also, dress in layers because we will be outside for about an hour. 

Homework:

ELA: Bring your biography to class
Reading: Mrs D- none
Mr K- Finish Book Club book by end of break
SS: none
Math: Mr K 6- none
Mr K 6/7- none

Today in ELA, we came up with questions that might drive our subtopics for our biography research paper. The students were asked to write 3-4 subtopics in their composition book and this will set the purpose for their reading. They will also take notes on these pages so they are organized when we are ready to create our body paragraphs. In SS, students presented their Egypt Brochures to the class.

Homework:

ELA: No homework except bring your biography
SS: None
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 13- 12/15/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz #10 12/19/16
Math ; Mr K 6- 4.2.2 R & P pg 198 # 58-62
Mr K 6/7- Closure Chapter 4/5

Today we had an assembly showcasing the Mindful Artist JusTme. JusTme (Timothy Scott Jr.) is a mindful hip-hop artist and mindfulness instructor from California's Bay Area. Since 2012, he has been spreading self-care and love in the field of mindfulness and well being. Bringing students and their families positivity, mindfulness practices, and well-being through his coined term, "Mindful Hip-Hop." JusTme started in the mindful arena working with K-12 students in the West Contra Costa Unified School District of Richmond, CA. In 2015, JusTme and Breathe For Change joined forces, where he now continues to bring mindfulness to the world in a culturally relevant and accessible way through his mindful hip-hop song lyrics and practices on a much wider scale.

In ELA, we created some questions to help us form subtopics for our biography. Egypt Brochure presentations are tomorrow in class. 

Homework:
See above for some:

ELA: Bring biography to class!
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Quiz 13 on 12/19/16
SS: Egypt Brochures due tomorrow

In ELA, the students shared their co-written Literary Essays. It was lovely to see the themes and stories the students chose to focus their writing on. In SS, we had work time for our Egypt research.

Homework:

ELA: BRING biography to class every day until further notice please
Reading: Mr D- Latin Stem Quiz 13- 12/19/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz 10-12/10/16 AND Journal #3 due 12/15
Science: Experiment Lab report due 12/15/16 And corrections due 12/16/16
Math: Mr K 6- 5.3.3 R & P pg 247 #91-95
Mr K 6/7- none
SS: Egypt Brochure due 12/15/16

In ELA, we went to the LMC to check out biographies. We will use them to write 5 paragraphs essays. We continued to work on our Ancient Egypt project during Social Studies.

Homework:

ELA: Co-written Literary Essays brochure- due tomorrow (most done in class)
SS: Egypt Writing- due 12/15/16
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem 13 Quiz- 12/19/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz- 12/19/16
Science: Lab report due 12/15/16 & Corrections due 12/16/16
Math: Mr K 6-none
Mr K 6/7- none

Above are some of the co-written literary essays the students created with their writing partners.

Homework:

ELA: NONE or find a biography this weekend IF you have a specific one in mind. Otherwise we are going to the LMC on Monday to pick one out.
SS: NONE
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz on Monday
Mr. K- Latin Stem quiz on Monday
Science: None
Math: Mr K 6- None
Mr K 6/7- None

In ELA, students continued to work on their co-written literary essays using theme to drive their essay. In SS, we focused on turning notes into cohesive paragraphs with a topic sentence.

Homework:

ELA- none
SS- none
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 12- 12/12/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz on 12/12/16 And Journal #2- 12/7/16

Science- none

Math: Mr K 6-none

Mr K 6/7- # 76 Shapes

Some examples of co-written theme-based essays are seen above. Students need to provide one sentence that shows evidence of their theme along with a picture of the same scene.

Homework:
ELA: none
SS: None
Science- Quiz tomorrow
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 12- 12/12/16
Mr K- Latin Quiz on 12/12/16 And Journal #2- 12/7/16
Math: Mr K 6- R & P 4.1.2 pg 174-175 #16-20
Mr K 6/7- R & P 5.3.1 pg 237-238 #71-75

Students have written literary essays individually based on a short story read in class. The essays were five paragraph essays with the following format: opening paragraph containing a summary of short story and a claim/thesis about the protagonist’s main character trait, three body paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph starting to hint at the lesson learned in the story. The opening paragraph’s claim states the reasons/ideas/evidence that is shown in the text.

Now that their individual literary essays are complete, the students will get together with their writing partner this week. We will focus on the lessons learned/theme across two of the short stories we have read in class. With their writing partner, they will co-create an introduction paragraph that includes a summary of both short stories and a claim/thesis statement. They will create three topic sentences for their body paragraphs (again showing evidence of backing up their claim).  On a tri-fold piece of paper, they will write their topic sentences and create a visual showing the evidence from the text, in place of writing out the rest of the body paragraph. 

See above for an example of the work that the students completed today as they sorted through stories and tried to figure out common themes. 

Homework:

ELA: None

SS: None

Reading- Mrs D- Latin Quiz 12/12/16

Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz- 12/12 AND Journal #2- 12/7/16

Science: Quiz on Thursday- Scientific Method

Math: Mr K 6/7- 5.2.2 pg 234- R & P- #61-65

Mr K 6- Signed Test and Math Corrections- due 12/9/16

SCIENCE:  Students have been working on learning the Scientific Method and then applying the Scientific Method to designing their own experiment to investigate friction.  Thursday will be a quiz on the Scientific Method.  Notes were taken in class and are located in the 1st link.  Eventually students will carry out their experiment and do a final copy write-up of the lab.  Link 2 is the rubric used and link 3 an example that will be shared with the kids.

1.  Link to Notes on the Sci Method Notes:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1s8qtDvoK0tTmBq_Fk82tn07TkH0NLnLQYrA6aNeBdvw/edit#slide=id.g6f1e30211_0_53

2.  Link to Rubric used to grade Friction Experiment:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YTPQAE41Q8eRkX9DXhyLX8KykEpZElHSPW6laKioA_c/edit

3.  Link to Lab Write Up Example:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DCTfg7IqxCp3G01-rVbiySAty_BxXJgNAWXpYxXm6bU/edit 

Today was our last day to work on Literary Essays in ELA class. Both Home and School Essays are due at the beginning of class on Monday. In SS, we looked at the Egyptian Creation Myth.

Homework: 

ELA: HOME and SCHOOL Essay due on Monday
SS: none
Science: Think about your experiment
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz on Monday
Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz & Journal # 2 due 12/7/16
Math- Mr K 6- Get your test signed and corrections due 12/9
Mr K 6/7- none

Today was a work day for our Literary Essays- they are due on Monday. In SS, we took a quiz on the geography of Egypt, Kush and Canaan.

Homework:

ELA- Literary Essays due MONDAY
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Quiz on Monday
Mr K- Latni Stem 9 Quiz- 12/2
Science- NONE
SS- NONE
Math: Mr k 6- none
Mr k 6/7- none

Completed our study of physical & environmental features of Egypt, Kush and Canaan, chapter 7 in TCI book. Students were given the chance to look at the assessment today in class. There are three sections:  multiple choice, short answer and Venn Diagram. The short answer & Venn Diagram information is below. Quiz is tomorrow. 

    Write a paragraph about the physical features of Egypt and Kush.

    Write a paragraph about the physical features of Canaan.

    Make a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the environmental features of Egypt & Kush versus environmental features of Canaan. 

H  Homework: 

    ELA: Literary Home and School Essays due 12/5/16

    Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 12/5/16 

  MR K-  Latin Stem Quiz 9- 12/2 AND Journal #1 due 11/30

   Math: Mr K 6/7- R & P 5.1.3 pg 219 #24-28

   Mr K 6- TEST Thursday & Closure #133-142

   SS- QUIZ tomorrow

   Science- none

ELA: Home and School Literary Essays due Monday, December 5
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem 11 Quiz- 12/5/16
Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz 9- 12/2 AND Journal #1 due 11/30

Math: Mr K 6- R & P 3.2.4 pg #128-132

Mr K 6/7- NONE

Today in ELA we completed more editing and revising of our literary essays. In Social Studies we examined how geography affected settlements in Egypt, Kush and Canaan.

Homework:

ELA: BOTH school and home literary essays are due Monday, December 5th.
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 11- 12/5
Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz 9- 12/2 AND Journal #1 due 11/30
Science: none
SS: none
Math:
Mr K 6- none
Mr K 6/7- 3.2.3 R & P pg 150-151 # 118-122

In ELA, we thought about universal statements or themes we could use in our introductory paragraphs for our Literary Essays. Your intro paragraph should include: Thesis Statement, Universal Statement, 2 sentence story summary.   In SS, we look at the science of happiness:)

Homework: 

ELA: Introductory paragraph for HOME literary essay due 11/28

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 10- 11/28

Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz- 11/22 AND Journal #1 due 11/30

SS- Read your letter to the person you chose!

Science: none

Math: 

Mr K 6- none

Mr K 6/7- none

Today in ELA, we wrote all 3 body paragraphs for our literary essays. Tomorrow, we will write our introductory paragraphs which include our thesis statements. In SS, we took part in the Geography Bee.

Homework:

ELA: Reread home short story and write your 2nd and 3rd body paragraph.
SS- NONE
Science: NONE
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz- 11/22/16
Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz- 11/22 AND Journal #1 due 11/30
Math:
Mr K 6- Optional Closure Problems- Quiz chapter 4
Mr K 6/7- 3.2.2 pg 143-144 #106-110

In Language Arts, we rewrote our thesis statement to be THE BEST statement. See the example above. The statement should help to structure your 3 body paragraphs. We took a quiz in SS.

Homework:
ELA: reread home story AND rewrite thesis statement AND write 1st body paragraph- Due 11/21/16

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Quiz on 11/28/16
Mr K- none

SS- none
Science- none

Math 6- 4.2.3 R & P #70-74 (pg 196-197)
Math 6/7- 3.2.1 R & P #94-98

Today in ELA, we wrote 5 different thesis statements about our protagonist. We want the students to try different statements and look at the protagonist in different ways. Tomorrow, we will rewrite a STRONG thesis statement that will be used to drive our literary essay. In SS, we had time to study for the chapter 6 quiz.

Homework:

ELA: 1. reread your HOME essay and 2. write four or five new thesis statements using the list above (it is also in your composition book)

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz- 11/28/16 AND non-fiction article summary and questions due tomorrow

SS- Quiz on chapter 6

Science- none

Math: 

Mr K 6- none

Mr K 6/7- none

Today we worked on writing thesis statements for the protagonist in the short story Raymond's Run. The thesis is something that should be seen throughout the entire text and be supported by evidence.

OUR CO-CREATED THESIS STATEMENT:
Squeaky, the protagonist in the short story Raymond's Run by Toni Cade Bambara, is determined to win races, protect her brother Raymond, and uphold her reputation. 


Homework:

NEARPOD- Parent/teacher conference feedback- Code: SIWPZ

Language Arts: 1. Reread home short story 2. Make a chart showing character traits of your main character with evidence from text 3. Write a THESIS statement for your main character

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Quiz 10- 11/28/16 AND nonfiction article summary and questions due Friday, Nov 18
Mr K-

SS- Quiz on Friday, 11/18/16 on chapter 6 in TCI textbook

Science: none

Math: Mr K 6- R & P 4.2.2 pg 192 # 58-62
Mr K 6/7- R & P pg 133-134 #84-88

Today in Language Arts, we spoke about the protagonist's motivations in the short story, Raymond's Run. We then wrote to those motivations using the prompts above. In Social Studies, we had our practice Spelling Bee.

Homework:

ELA: Read your HOME short story
Reading:
Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 10- 11/28/16
Mr K- NONE
Science: NONE
SS- NONE
Math:
Mr K 6- R & P 4-47 to 4-51
Mr K 6/7 R & P 3-73 to 3-77

Language Arts: Our current unit of study is Literary Essays. Naming the protagonists' character traits in our short stories, will help develop our thesis statements for our essays. Homework during this unit will be to write at home and try out the same strategy that we worked on during the day. During our day, we will use a shared text to try out our writing strategies and for homework students will work with a different short story of their choosing. This homework will not be checked on a daily basis BUT students will be required to produce an in-school literary essay as well as an at-home literary essay. Our goal is finish both prior to Winter Break. There will be daily posts here to display what writing strategies were taught that day. We have access to all of the short stories in class (and the students will all have their own copies) and most can be found online in PDF form.

In Social Studies we were scribes and created our clay tablets with the data we collected. 

Homework:

NONE!!! Except:

Mrs Duffield Reading- Book report due 11/14/16 and Latin Stem Quiz 11/21/16

Today in Language Arts, we read 9 short stories, one of which will drive our Literary Essays for the next unit. In Social Studies we examined Cuneiform and created our own topic to collect data one. Wednesday, we will create a tablet which will display our own Cuneiform and table of information.

Homework:

ELA: none
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem 9 quiz 11/21/16 AND Book Report due 11/14/16
Mr K- none
Science- none
SS- none
Math:
Mr K 6- 4-7 to 4-11
Mr K 6/7- 3-45 to 3-49

Today in ELA we finished our oral presentations on BOTPC. They were so well-written. In Social Studies, we listened to a PODCAST from Science Friday on Early Hominid Groups.

Homework:

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 7- 11/7/16 AND book Report 11/14/16

NO OTHER HOMEWORK! Enjoy the weekend.

In Language Arts, students started to read their Chapter 19 out loud to the class. What a joy to hear how all students took a different angle on what happens next for Tao and Ram. We jigsawed chapter 5 in the Social Studies text focusing on the essential question: Why do historians classify ancient Sumer as a civilization? Today, small groups taught their characteristic of a civilization to the rest of the class. 

ELA: none
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 7- 11/7/16 AND book Report 11/14/16
Mr K- Vermeer pg 27-30 chapters 19-23 due 11/4/16
Science- none
Math-
Mr K 6- TEST of Friday
Mr K 6/7- 3.1.2 #3-31 to 3-35
SS- none

Boy of the Painted Cave Envelopes were handed in today. Above are some examples of the lovely work students completed. I am looking forward to reading the Home Personal Narratives AND the Boy of the Painted Cave work. Home Personal Narratives will be scored for 1st quarter and BOTPC written work will be counted for 2nd quarter. Our Socratic Seminar, based on a the common text was fascinating. Some students that do not always contribute to conversations, made a huge effort to share their thinking. All voices were heard. Ask your child about the process. We jigsawed chapter 5 in the Social Studies text focusing on the essential question: Why do historians classify ancient Sumer as a civilization? The groups will present tomorrow in class.

Homework:
ELA: none
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 7- 11/7/16 AND book Report 11/14/16
Mr K- Vermeer pg 27-30 chapters 19-23 due 11/4/16
Science- none
Math-
Mr K 6- 3.2.2  106-110 TEST of Friday
Mr K 6/7- 3.1.1  3-12 to 3-16
SS- none

Today we discussed the components of a Socratic Seminar. The purpose is for students to engage in a higher level discussion based on the ideas of a complex text or topic without much teacher interference. We will hold a seminar tomorrow in ELA using the text Boy of the Painted Cave to drive our conversations. 

Homework:
ELA: BOTPC Envelope AND Home personal narrative due TOMORROW! 
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz- 11/7/16 AND Book Report due 11/14/16
Mr K-  Vermeer packet due 11/4- pg 27-30 Read chapters 19-23
Science: none
Social Studies: none
Math:
Mr K 6- 3.1.6 # 94-98
Mr K 6/7- none

What a great day to go to the park as a 6th grade team. It was a tad cooler than anticipated, but we had a lovely time.

REPORT CARD and IC note: First quarter ends on 11/1. With that being said, teachers are able to add grades, comments and information into IC starting today. Please keep in mind that IC is "live," and that you will be able to view some of the information we add. Not until 11/7 will the grades, comments and information be FINALIZED.

Homework: 

ELA: BOTPC Envelope AND Home Personal Narrative- both due 11/2/16
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 7 11/7/16 AND Book Report due 11/14/16
Mr K-  Vermeer packet due 11/4- pg 27-30 Read chapters 19-23
Science: None
SS- None
Math:
Mr K 6- 3.1.5 R & P pg 73-77
Mr K 6/7- Chapter 2 test tomorrow

The BOTPC envelopes look great! They are due on Wednesday and there is no more class time to work on them. We will start our literary essay unit on Monday. We took a quiz in Social Studies today. 

** Monday, after 3rd hour, we are walking to Rennebohm Park to play group games and be social with the whole 6th grade team. We will be gone during lunch, 4th and 5th hour. We will be back at school to attend 6th & 7th hour UA classes. Lunches were ordered for those kids that requested them, otherwise students need to bring a sack lunch. Dress in layers! **

Homework: 

ELA: Home Personal Narrative- 11/2/16 AND BOTPC Envelope Project- 11/2/16

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 10/31/16 AND Book Report- 11/14/16

Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz 5- 11/1/16 AND Vermeer Packet pg 27-30 Read chapters 19-23 Due FRIDAY 11/4/16

Social Studies: none

Science: none

Math: 

Mr K 6- none

Mr K 6/7- Chapter 2 test Tuesday

Today was another work day in ELA. The last in school work day is tomorrow. Our next genre we will focus on is the literary essay. In Social Studies, we did a review of our essential question: How did geographic challenges led to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia?

Homework:

ELA: BOTPC Envelope Project- 11/2/16 AND Home Personal Narrative- 11/2/16

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 7- 10/31/15 AND Book Report- 11/14/16

Mr K- Latin Stem Quiz 5- 11/1/16 AND Vermeer Packet pg 27-30 Read chapters 19-23 Due FRIDAY 11/4/16

Social Studies: Quiz tomorrow regarding chapter 4 and the vocabulary words: Domesticate, Nomads, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Agriculture, and Fertile Crescent

Science- Test corrections due Friday

Math: Mr K- NONE

In Language Arts, students used time in class to work on their Boy of the Painted Cave Envelope Project. Seen above are some of the projects in the making.

Homework: 

ELA: BOTPC Envelope Project- 11/2/16 AND Home Personal Narrative- 11/2/16
Social Studies: Quiz on Friday regarding chapter 4 and the vocabulary words: Domesticate, Nomads, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Agriculture, and Fertile Crescent
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz 7- 10/31/15 AND Book Report- 11/14/16
Mr K-
Science- Test corrections due Friday
Math:
Mr K 6- 3.1.2 R & P pg 31-35
Mr K 6/7- 2.3.3 R & P pg 84-85 #75-79 TEST FRIDAY

Language time was used to continue with our Boy of the Painted Cave projects. As seen above, the envelope will contain much information on the front.

Homework:
ELA- BOTPC envelope project- due 11/2 AND home narrative due 11/2
SS- Vocabulary quiz on Friday, 10/28/16. Words are from chapter 3- Domesticate, Nomads, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Agriculture and Fertile Crescent 
Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem 7 Quiz- 10/31/16
Math:
Mr K 6- 3.1.1 R & P pg 104-105 #14-17 #21
Mr K 6/7-2.3.2 R & P pg 82 #65-69 AND test Friday
Science: Quiz corrections due Friday

Final project for BOTPC was given in ELA today. Students have an envelope and all of the information. We will work in class Tuesday - Friday this week and the projects are due on Wednesday, November 2nd! The graphic/picture above is extra credit for the BOTPC project. The essential question: How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia?- will drive our conversation for the next couple of days. 

Homework: 

ELA: BOTPC Envelope due 11/2/16 AND Home narrative due 11/2/16.

Reading: Mrs D- Latin Stem Quiz- 10/31/16

Mrs K- Latin Stem Quiz # 5-  11/1/16 AND Vermeer chapter 15 pg 22-24 due TOMORROW

SS- none

Science: none

Math:

Mr K 6- none

Mr K 6/7- none

Finished up BOTPC today and we will continue to work on a number of ELA standards next week. In Social Studies, we took a chapter 3 quiz as a group.

Homework:

ELA: BOTPC pg 50 & 51 questions 11-22 AND home narrative due 11/4/16 AND Nearpod code YMCPA
SS: None
Science: Test corrections due 10/28
Reading:
Mrs D- Latin Stem quiz 10/24/16 
Mr K: Steam quiz 4- 10/24 & vermeer pg 22-24 chapters 15-18 due 10/25
Math: 
Mr K 6- none
Mr K 6/7- R & P 2.3.1 pg 78 # 55

In Language Arts, we will finish Boy of the Painted Cave tomorrow in class. We will have all of our work in about a week and a half and I will go over this next week!  In Social Studies, we are studying From Hunters and Gatherers to Farmers (Agriculture) and how this affected daily life.

HOMEWORK:
ELA: home narratives due 11/4/16 AND NEARPOD code YMCPA due 10/24 AND BOTPC pages 44-45 questions 17-20 AND pages 49-50 Questions 1-10.
SS- TCI student book pg 20,21,22
Science: Test corrections due 10/28
Reading:
Mrs D- Latin Stem quiz 10/24/16 AND Family poster and worksheet due 10/21/16
Mr K: Steam quiz 4- 10/24 & vermeer pg 22-24 chapters 15-18 due 10/25