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Important Update 6th Grade Parents

Sep26

On Friday, your sixth grade child should have brought home a copy of the intent to attend the 6th grade field trip to Alliance Redwoods.   This information was initially provided to 6th grade students and their families on Thursday, September 3rd during our first meeting.   The date on the paper stated it needed to be returned September 25th.  Because of my own oversight, I sent it home on the day it needed to be returned.

If you intend for your child to attend the field trip, please return this form at your earliest convenience.   Please note, the individual contribution, which includes transportation to and from California, meals and accommodations, is $200.  This payment is due November 20th.

If you are personally interested in attending the trip as a chaperone, please email your interest to Stephanie Speicher no later than October 1st.   All details included in the information your child is bringing home can be found at this link:

6th-grade-letter-official-on-letterhead-15

Cemetery Field Trip

Sep22

Thanks to those of you who have offered to volunteer.  We have found several parents who can help out and do not have a need for more at this time.   Stay tuned for more opportunities to help in (and out) of the classroom.

 

 

Chaperones Wanted

Sep21

Good afternoon.

I am looking for 1 or 2 parents who would like to join us on our walking field trip to the Cemetery this coming Friday, September 25.  We will leave the school at 9 to walk to the cemetery.  Weather permitting we will return to the school by 11:30, in time for lunch and recess.

Please let me know if you are interested in helping out on this trip.

 

Weekly Update – September 14

Sep16

Here we are mid-September already and it feels like school just started!  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the time passes.

This week we have our student council elections.  With two students running from our own class, your children are being immersed in the election process.  With Constitution Day tomorrow, we are beginning to get a picture of what it means to be a good citizen.

Our afternoons are filled with Geography at the moment.

Level 4 students are studying the basics of navigation on maps using latitude and longitude.  We were even lucky enough to find a beautiful copy of Ptolemy’s world map.  I love maps and seeing the origins of our maps today is always exciting.

Level 5 students are also looking at maps, but in a slightly different way.  Last week they learned basic compass skills and created their own indoor “orienteering” maps for each other.   This week they are learning about topography by studying Mt. Everest through a beautiful topographical map.  We discussed George Mallory’s contribution, and consequently his sad demise as well.

Level 6 students are beginning to study early explorers of N. America.  By creating their own US maps and tracking the routes of early explorers such as de Soto, Cartier and others they are getting a sense of the difficulties encountered by early explorers.  This study will lead to our focus of US history this year.

As an aside, several field trip permission slips (3 to be exact) have come home with your students the last week.  Although 2 of the trips are not scheduled for at least another month, please return those with your children at your earliest convenience.   I will send reminders several days before the field trip so you and your children are prepared, but I wanted to try and get all of the paper work settled well ahead of time.

Our first field trip is next Friday, September 25, with Ms. Holly’s class.  This has been a nice walking trip for us the past two years.

Don’t forget, IXL homework is mandatory, if your student was absent the day new homework assignments were given, they can always be found on the blog at the top of the page where is says IXL homework.  Please be sure your children are spending time each night practicing these skills.

Have a wonderful week!

Weekly Update and IXL Homework

Sep8

Good Evening!  I hope you all had a fantastic three day weekend!

We have a lot of things happening in our classroom this week, the first of which is your child’s first IXL homework assignment.

Each week your child will be given an assignment in IXL.  The assignments have several purposes: to review previously learned material (from 3rd or perhaps even 2nd grade), to practice newly taught material in a format different from that they see in the classroom, and to practice skills using language that they will see on end of year testing.  This homework is by no means “teaching to the test” nor is it meant to drill your children to death.

IXL homework should take, on average, 20 minutes each night.  If your student is not able to earn the “badge” at the end of each session, or score a minimum of 80,  within that amount of time, I have asked them write a note in their planners letting me know that they may need more help with a particular concept.

IXL logins are in the back of your child’s planner (along with Utah Compose and SAGE which we have not accessed yet).  The link to login can be found here as well as at the top of the page under IXL.   Please do not allow your child to reset or change their passwords.  If they are unable to login, please let me know and we will troubleshoot from school.

In addition to being written in your child’s planner, the IXL homework will be posted at the IXL page weekly.  This week, because of the holiday, students will have until next Monday evening to complete their homework.  Typically homework will be given Monday and is due Sunday evening.   As discussed in class, this homework is not optional.  The school has purchased a license for each student to be able to practice and it is an expectation that they are following through.  As will all homework and home projects, any that are not completed on time, will receive a pink slip notifying you they are not complete and asking your child to create a plan for completion.

If you do not have internet access at home, please let me know either with a note in your child’s planner or an email and we will make arrangements for your child to practice IXL during class time.

Tomorrow, Gary Hogge, a local children’s author, will be visiting our school to do an assembly.  Each grade level will then have their own break-out session either tomorrow or Thursday for further writing instruction.  He has come to our school several times in the past, is a fantastic educator, and the students learn so much from him.

Stay tuned for more updates coming later this week.