Parent Newsletter

March 28, 2014 Dear Families, I hope this finds you well in these early spring days. I sent home a paper copy of the parent teacher conference times in your child’s Friday Folder. I look forward to seeing you all next week for conferences. MIDDLE AGES UNIT: Both 6th grade classes are studying the Middle Ages. Mr. Q and I are each working with our own classrooms on this social studies unit. It is an exciting time period to study. This week students were given a castle project assignment that is due May 16. Yes, that is correct, May 16th. Students were given the assignment and a rubric for the project. Please ask your child about the project. This kind of project can’t wait until the last week. Some planning is required beforehand. Please try to use items around the house for the project. Coffee cans or Pringle cans make great towers. Cardboard is a great material to use as well. We began with an introduction to the Middle Ages by reading non-fiction text and taking notes. Studnets also worked on an illuminated letter of thier first name initial. These beautiful letters decorate the wall around our door. Also, studnets chose a Middle Ages name. We looked at common first names and discussed how people's last names came about. Ask your child what thier name is! Some of them are quite interesting. We are now investigating castles and learning about defenses. If you have any questions about the project, I can answer them at Parent Teacher Conferences. MATH: We are working on area and perimeter. Many students have trouble remembering the formulas for both and working with both area and perimeter at one time. Very often, it is the area of triangles that is difficult for them. WRITING: We are starting our opinion writing unit. This is technically called Research-Based Argument Writing. Students were give a pre-assessment on this writing form. I wasn’t surprised that these students have many opinions about a whole lot of things! LITERACY: We are reading two Middle Ages related books. One is, The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite di Angeli. All students are reading this and have reading responses for the chapters. This started on Thursday and the first chapter and written responses is due on Monday. We also are reading Crispen, by Avi. Both books give a great description about the life of those in the Middle Ages. It is hard to believe that April is next week. Have a great weekend. Ellen

3-D Human Body Projects!

Outstanding!  Incredible!  Awesome!  Informative!  Creative!  Educational!  Impressive!  These are just a few words to describe the 3-D Human Body Projects.  Here are a few samples!  The projects are also on display in the hallway and in the classroom.  Stop by to see them.  You will be amazed!

Molli's heart cake!

Famous People Visit Mrs. Knoedler's Math Class

On Wednesday January 15th, two incredibly famous students, Eric and Patrick, from Mr. Q's room, visited our math class to share and to teach us the fraction game they created. Thanks Eric and Patrick!

Eric and Patrick explain their game.

Body Systems: Worm Dissection

Monday, January 13, 2014
Part of our Human Body Unit was to take a closer look at at another body system.  We spent the afternoon dissecting worms.  Why worms?  Well, even though they don't have a skeleton and can't walk upright, worms do have many of the same things people do to survive.  Worms move around, eat, breathe, reproduce and defend themselves. They are sensitive to temperature, moisture, light and vibrations.  

The cuticle is the worm's outermost body wall. Beneath the cuticle are:  the epidermis, which is like our skin; a layer of nerve tissue which performs like our sense of touch; and circular and longitudinal muscles for locomotion.  

                                                            Goodbye Kate 

Last Friday we said, "See you later", but not goodbye, to our classmate, Kate!  We wish her all the best at her new school.  Here are some last group photos before she left!

Ghost Books with our First Grade Buddies

On Monday our first grade buddies visited us to make ghost books.  We helped our buddies cut out the ghosts and put the book pages together.  All that was left to do was to add some ghost faces and some Halloween words.

OPEN HOUSE TUESDAY OCTOBER 1, 2013
I hope to see you all at Open House on Tuesday evening from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.  The grade 6 Open House will begin in my classroom with a presentation about PBIS from Mr. Sherwin.  After this, we will break into the two classrooms.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE SIGN-UP:  I will have a sign-up sheet for parent teacher conferences at the Open House.  Parent Teacher Conference day is Monday November 11, 2013.