OCTOBER NEWSLETTER
Sign up for Parent-Teacher Conferences:
Parent-Teacher conferences are this month! To help organize the sign-up process, I am using VolunteerSpot, the leading time-saving online coordination tool. Please click the link below to learn more and sign up.
Please note, I have made conferences 15 minutes long, however that does not mean it will take the whole time. Additionally, if you are not available at any of the times listed, please e-mail me and I will work with you to arrange a time that works for both of our schedules.
If you have any questions or concerns about your student, or what is happening in the classroom, please e-mail me and let me know before Parent-Teacher conferences. This way we can work to clarify and solve any situations as soon as possible.
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you one-on-one to discuss your student's progress towards mastery!
If you have any questions or concerns about your student, or what is happening in the classroom, please e-mail me and let me know before Parent-Teacher conferences. This way we can work to clarify and solve any situations as soon as possible.
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you one-on-one to discuss your student's progress towards mastery!
What's Happening in the Classroom: November begins with students creating their own Hero's Journey Narratives based on "The Key Elements of Mythology" and "The Hero's Journey" texts we read throughout the first Module. Students have been following the writing process and are currently writing and illustrating their stories into individual books to be published by StudenTreasures.
November also brings the beginnings of Module 2 in Language Arts as well as Unit 2 of Math. Students will begin a unit of study on "Rules to Live By" through reading the book Bud, Not Buddy about a 10 year old orphan named Bud living in the Great Depression. The novel will be supplemented with Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, President Barak Obama's Back-to-School Speech, the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling, and informational research texts. Through these texts, students will discuss how people formulate and use "rules" to improve their lives and how people communicate these "rules" to others. Additionally, students will be focusing on the use of figurative language and word choice throughout this unit. In math, students have progressed from thinking and working with relating pieces to one another (ratios, fractions, decimals and percents), and are now focusing on the division of fractions by fractions. Throughout this unit students will gain a strong mathematic vocabulary as they create their own measurement and partitive division problems, focus on finding multiple methods and models to solve division problems as well as learn and explain why multiplicative inverses and the use of the reciprocal work as a means of solving for a quotient. Moreover students will relate the division of fractions by fractions to that of decimals and percents. Students completed their work on Mesopotamia and have moved into a unit on the Earth's atmosphere and structure of the lakes, rivers and oceans. Students will be moving forward into a unit on Egypt in Social Studies. As a class we will be focusing our learning through project based learning. |
Important Upcoming Dates:October
3 Ratios in the Store Due 7 Middle School Assembly PTA Fall Fundraiser Kickoff 1:50 - 2:10pm 9 Model UN History Report Due 9 - 10 Independent Project Presentations 13-17 NO SCHOOL - Fall Break 20-24 Parent-Teacher Conferences 23-24 Early Release (12:30pm) 24 Current Event #3 31 6th grade Character Counts Assembly Student Council AnnouncementsJeans days are every Friday. Students wishing to wear jeans should bring $1 in cash. Students may not pay for jeans days in advance.
Popsicles are sold every Friday at dismissal in both the cafeteria and on the North side of campus. Popsicles are $1. All proceeds go to Student Council, which uses the money to help support Calibre Academy's students, teachers, class projects and the community at large. |
Time Management Advice:
Working to master time management skills allows students to feel in control of their lives, happier, and healthier due to the decrease of stress. Below are two helpful tips you can help your student with this month to help them reach these goals:
1. Be Organized
- Stop wasting time looking for items by keeping a clean work space and knowing where everything is
- Use one time saving tool (such as your agenda, calendar etc.) for keeping track of all assignments, projects, small goals, and study time.
- Make a "to do" list which lists all long-term assignments/projects as well as smaller chinks of time
2. Prioritize Tasks
- Use a rating system to rank the importance of each item on your "to do" list (A-B-C or 1-2-3).
- look over your "to do" list and predict the amount of time necessary to complete the task. Additionally, write down if there are any further materials or resources needed to complete the task. Small tasks can become huge tasks if forgotten until the last minute.
1. Be Organized
- Stop wasting time looking for items by keeping a clean work space and knowing where everything is
- Use one time saving tool (such as your agenda, calendar etc.) for keeping track of all assignments, projects, small goals, and study time.
- Make a "to do" list which lists all long-term assignments/projects as well as smaller chinks of time
2. Prioritize Tasks
- Use a rating system to rank the importance of each item on your "to do" list (A-B-C or 1-2-3).
- look over your "to do" list and predict the amount of time necessary to complete the task. Additionally, write down if there are any further materials or resources needed to complete the task. Small tasks can become huge tasks if forgotten until the last minute.