TGIF!

We saw a great movie today: African Cats!  So awesome!
Then we had a fabulous assembly put on by the Student Council!  It was soooooo fun!!!!

Have a great vacation!

Thursday

We went to Harold Martin School today to work with our buddies.  The second graders LOVE their sixth grade buddies.  All of the sixth graders have been so great with them. I love seeing my students in such a nurturing role.  It truly warms the heart!

We had time to switch for math today.  I took 6S for reading and we did some work with vocabulary.  I took some of the Word Power sheets from Reader's Digest and we worked with those words.  We will be doing more vocabulary building exercises when we come back to school after the break.

This afternoon 6F had computers and then we did some writing, spelling and reading.  I did a CBM for writing with them.  We also read for the remainder of our time for the reading logs.  We finished with Scrabble.

Wednesday

It was a quiet start to the day today with students in band and in chorus.  Those not in either of these activities stayed and worked on various assignments.

In reading, we had another "read all class" class.  I was able to finish reading with every student in 6S and I will finish the conferences with my class sometime this week.  The students did exceptionally well staying on task during this time.

In writing, we finished up a short exercise using precise nouns.  Students wrote a short piece and then went in search of all of the nouns.  We finished class with a "Word Power" exercise from Reader's Digest.  We are trying to expand our vocabularies so that our writing will have better word choice.

In science, we went over the heredity scavenger hunt to begin our discussion of genetics.  I also read a book called Grandfather's Nose.  We took notes on key vocabulary words in our notebooks.

Reading tests went home today.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Tuesday

Students did so well reading for 60 minutes today!  I was so proud of them!  I was able to confer with half of the students today and will do the other half tomorrow.  I am having the students record the time that they are reading in class on the log.  There is no vocabulary for this log.

In writing today, we finished up with helping verbs and have moved on to nouns.  We looked at some fun vocabulary words and discussed them as well.

In science, 6S did the same thing as 6F did yesterday. Please check that blog. 

All science stations are due by Friday.   Please don't forget the permission slips! Thank you!

Monday

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I'm sure people are counting the days until vacation.  We continue to stay busy in 6F.

I went to a conference on Friday with Dr. Richard Allington.  He is a leader in the area of struggling readers and writers.  Currently, he is a professor in Tennessee.  After a lot of research, his message was clear:  the one thing that will help struggling readers become better readers is TIME to read.  That being said, I collected reading logs this morning and cut a deal with my sixth graders.  They will need to do another reading log for this week, however, I am going to give them the time in class to do this.  I am excusing of the vocabulary section but will give them 60 minutes of uninterrupted reading time tomorrow morning.  They may log this time.  I will do the same for them on Wednesday.  This will allow them 45 more minutes to read.  That's my end of the bargain.  Their ends of the bargain consists of this:  they must come with reading material, having gone to the bathroom and gotten drinks prior to the time I start my class.  The 60 minutes tomorrow will be just that....60 minutes of pure reading time.  I will be pulling students to confer with them.  My goal is to sit and check in with each child between Tuesday and Wednesday.  If there is misbehavior (off task behavior) during this reading time, students will owe me time at recess.  I'm really looking forward to how this will turn out.  If it is successful, then I may consider it in the future. I know that students are busy in the spring with activities and would like to allot them time for reading in class.

The time spent in reading will not be a "read-a-thon".  They will be required to read appropriate material for independent reading.  The students have all been prepped knowing that they must choose their books ahead of class time and come with enough reading material to last one hour.  Choosing "just right" books is a very important skill that we've worked on all year long.  I'm hoping this work will pay off for them.

In writing today, we worked on a Helping Verb sheet, some vocabulary development as well as a practice picture prompt.  Students revised based on what a peer gave them for feedback.  All of this work supports our work with word choice.

In science, we read a book called Why You Look Like You Whereas I Tend to Look Like Me.  This sparked much discussion about the topic of genetics.  I fielded questions as best I could and then we went over the Heredity Scavenger Hunt.  We did not finish with this activity.  Genetics is a complicated subject and we will only scratch the surface over the next few weeks.  It is my favorite science unit to teach!

Please remember to send in the permission slips for HMS and the movie.  Both require no money!

Friday

I'm out at a conference today.  The schedule goes as follows:
1.  WIN groups based on language arts skills
2. Reading Test on the Story Elements
3. Science Quiz on Cell Parts and Heredity Scavenger Hunt
4. Assembly at the end of the day

Have a great weekend!

Thursday

In writing, we had some quality time with our writers' notebooks this morning.  Students have 5 pages due on Monday.  We went over our work with action and linking verbs.  Students then had a chance to practice writing a description of a picture prompt. 


I read aloud the short story "Eleven" which is the story that we took a pretest on to begin our unit on Story Elements.  I went over all of the story elements of this story. Students will be taking a test tomorrow to end this unit.  We then continued with Day 5 activities.  Respond to Reading about theme is due tomorrow.

In science, we took a quiz on the cell parts and then did a scavenger hunt with our textbooks to begin the Heredity part of this unit.

We had our Student Council rep. share the news about next week's spirit week.  Monday is "Movie Day"; Tuesday is "Crazy Hair/Hat" day; Wednesday is "Red Carpet" Day; Thursday is "Sports" Day; and Friday is "Twin/Multiplicity" Day.   Please remember the dress code when dressing for these days.

Permission slips for the movie African Cats went home yesterday.  Please send them back as soon as possible.  There is no cost for this trip.  I'm also sending home a permission slip for us to go to HMS for our second grade buddies on  Thursday of next week.  There is no cost for this trip either.  Thank you!

Wednesday

Today was a soggy day of indoor recess.  Just a quick note that papers are going home today.  Included in those papers is a permission slip to go to the movie African Cats on April 22.  Due to the awesome fundraiser, nobody needs to pay money for the trip!  Woo Hoo!  Please send back the permission slip as soon as possible.

In reading today, we worked on Day 4 activities.  I did a short lesson on theme.  Tomorrow is the last day of this 5 day rotation and we will conclude the unit on Story Elements on Friday with a test.

Writing today was a hodge-podge of things. We began with time to write in our writers' notebooks.  We then did a CBM (timed writing to a prompt) and proceeded into a lesson on helping verbs.

Science class brought us time to work on the four stations about cells.  I would like these to be done by April 22.  Students should use the extra Guided Study times to work on them if they don't finish today.

Tuesday: Cell Cakes in 6S/B!

The smell is a sweet one around here!  We had another round of cell cakes that were assembled in 6S/B today.  Yum and Fun!  There will be a quiz on the cell parts Thursday for 6F and Friday for 6S.

In reading, we read aloud a different picture book and talked about its theme.  Students worked on their independent Day 3 activities.

In writing, we went over What Makes Good Descriptive Writing? activity that we did last week with picture books.  I also read aloud Toad, which has excellent word choice.

In spelling today, we went over the homework from last week as well as the Word Ladders from yesterday.  Students then tried to make their own Word Ladders.

We ended our day with Guided Study.

Cell Cake Day for 6F!

I'm sure your child will tell you the highlight of his/her day was science class. Today we got to assemble the cell cakes and EAT them!  Each group put their cakes together, shared what ingredient represented which organelle and then ate them.  Mrs. Christie's class even came over to share the sugar.  It was fun!  I'll post pictures after 6S's class tomorrow.  There will be a quiz on the parts of the cell Thursday for 6F and Friday for 6S.

In reading today, we continued our discussion about theme.  We read a picture book (a different one for each class) and then discussed its theme.  Students were encouraged to take parts of the book that lead them to the theme.  We then worked on Day Two activities in small groups.  I collected reading log #26 and handed out #27, due on Monday.

In writing, we talked about verbs.  In order to have good word choice, one must use appropriate verbs.  We discussed today the difference between linking and action verbs.  We also did some Word Ladders to practice vocabulary this morning.

We had 2 art classes and no health.  We also ended the day with Guided Study. 

Thursday and Friday all in one!

I had the opportunity to go to UNH in Durham to talk with juniors and seniors who are studying to become teachers.  It's hard for me to believe that it was 20 years ago that I was there in their places!  I was able to show them some student portfolios and share what we do in the sixth grade.  It was fun!

While I was gone, students worked on word choice activities involving the book Toad as well as another verb activity in writing.  In reading they looked at some picture books and thought about their themes.  Today, I picked up with that activity and gave them some common themes in literature.  Then, they categorized the books they read into these themes.  I'm attacking theme a little differently this year in hopes of making it more concrete for students.  We are looking at the picture books because they have simpler plots and it makes talking about theme easier.  I'm really trying to get my students to go back into the literature, quote passages that made them infer and make a conclusion based on these inferences.  This is what the small guided reading groups are working on as well during this five day cycle.

In science, we're working on stations having to do with cell parts and their jobs.  I'm looking to give a quiz on this material next week, perhaps Wednesdays.  None of these stations are homework.

During the extra 30 minutes of class time, we are instilling a Guided Study Hall on Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays.  During this time, we are hoping to let students get help on material that they have questions about as well as work on their homework.  We hope to cut down on the homework load to make up for the extra time spent in school.  Please let us know how you see this working for your children.

Wednesday

Just a reminder, tomorrow we start school at 7:45 and end at 3:00!

Today in reading, we had a housekeeping day.  We organized reading logs, filled in new calendars and learned about our next 5 day rotation about theme.  I also handed out a study sheet for the story elements test that will be on Friday, April 15. Students should know what each element is and be able to apply it to a short story that they will need to read.

In writing today, we worked on reading picture books that had good word choice and determining what made them have good word choice (strong verbs, using the five senses, using similes and metaphors as well as showing and not telling). 

Today in science, I had both classes.  We looked at images of plant and animal cells on the LCD projector and labeled their parts. We also learned some cool facts about cells.  Next, students filled in their own diagrams labeling the parts of an animal and a plant cell.

Typical Tuesday

We are getting ready to begin 12 days of longer school.  Please remember that starting on Thursday, school will begin 15 minutes earlier and end 15 minutes later.

In reading today, I read a picture book called Teammates.  We discussed its theme.  Some students had heard the book before.  It is an informational book about Jackie Robinson.  Students were able to pick up on the message about racial prejudice in the book.  We finished up our lessons on point of view with a story that was written in the camera point of view.  We then went into Day 5 activities.  Respond to Reading is due tomorrow.

In writing, we shared our Burning Barn descriptions.  Then, we worked on an activity with verbs. Students worked in table groups to change the dull verbs in sentences to lively ones.  We then shared those at the end of class.

In 6S science, we finished the graphic organizer about the cell and its parts, their jobs and descriptions.  Next, we worked on determining who will bring what for the Edible Cell project.  Please ask your child about this and let me know if there is a problem with what he/she needs to bring.  6S will assemble the cakes on Tuesday of next week.

Monday

Busy, busy, busy!  Today in writing we worked on our Avatar descriptions from last week.  Students had an adult build them and based on feedback, they needed to revise their writing.  This is a fun activity. I am hoping the students enjoyed it as much as me.  We also wrote a description of a burning barn with exactly 100 words.  We will share those tomorrow.

In reading, it was Day 4 since we missed Friday's class.  I showed an example of a passage that was written in  third person omniscient point of view.  Students seem to be understanding this.  We've worked a lot in small groups as well as whole group with how to determine point of view.  I also read aloud a book called The Big Box.  I'm looking ahead to the next five day cycle which will focus on theme.  I will be reading a bunch of picture books that have various themes.  Theme is a difficult topic so I will guide students as best I can.  That five day rotation will begin on Friday.  Students are working on picking out from which point of view that their independent reading book is told.  This is the Respond to Reading this week.  It will be due Wednesday.

In science today, 6F worked in small groups to talk about cell cakes.  Each small group will be making Edible Cells.  Students have determined who is responsible for bringing which ingredient.  The idea is for them to recreate an animal or plant cell with the cake as the medium.  6F will assemble their cakes  next Monday in class and 6C will join the class for the presentation and to eat it!  Please let me know if you have any questions about this project.  I warned the students NOT to wait until Sunday night to tell you what they signed up to bring! This was a big hit last year and I hope it will go as well this year!

In spelling, I handed out a homework assignment that is due on Thursday.  I called it Take Home Task, but what I did was put together some of the Proofreading Tests from units that we won't get to for the students to complete.  This is the part of each spelling test with which most students have the hardest time.  Maybe it will improve with practice.