Mrs. Knoedler’s 6^th Grade Classroom

December 5, 2014

Dear Families,

December is here and it is going to be a busy month.  Next week students will travel to Starbase on Wednesday and Friday. This is a wonderful science based program.  Please be sure your child is at school by 9:00 am.  The bus will leave promptly at 9:00 and a little sooner if we are all here.   Please talk to your child about appropriate bus behavior and the expectations for being a representative of the East Montpelier Elementary School at Starbase. 

Literacy:  We are finishing our all class read, Freak the Mighty.  I would like to show the movie next week, The Mighty, when we finish the book.  The movie is a wonderful adaptation of the book.  It is rated PG-13.  If you have any concerns about the movie and do not want your child to watch the movie, please email me at eknoedler@u32.org or call me at 223-7936 extension 324 by Tuesday morning, December 9^th.  If you are fine with it, no need to respond. 

Social Studies:  Students had a test on Ancient Greece on Thursday as we are wrapping up that portion in our study of Ancient Civilizations.  We will begin Rome next week.  Most did well on the test.  There is an opportunity for students who want to improve their grade to retake the test.  Students must see me about retaking the test.

Math:  Students are becoming more adept at using fractions in all the operations.  Adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators seem to cause the greatest trouble.  We have been working on problems like, 90 is ¾ of what number or find 2/3 of 24.  These kinds of problems make us look at fractions from different perspectives. 

Writing:  Today students worked on the information writing pre-assessment.  Students wrote about a topic they thought were an expert in or a topic that they could teach someone else about.  Information writing will be our next writing focus. 

Have a wonderful weekend.    Ellen M. Knoedler