Friday, September 21, 2018

Today in 6A!

AR reading time - Students were given a full hour today to make up missed tests, meet reading or math goals, or work on homework.

ENGLISH: In applying some of our vocabulary today, students completed a 15 minute quick-write in response to one of 2 prompts, and were asked to include as many of our vocabulary words as they could. The purpose of this exercise is to simply allow students to write as a stream of consciousness. To practice getting words down on a page in their original thought. Students then shared their writing with a peer and revised each others' work. If time allowed, they would work on a second draft immediately below their original.

RELIGION: We held our Session 3 test today.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Today we started a new chapter, exploring some of the most significant moment in human history, the choice to colonize and create stationary settlements. Everything we know and have today stems from this great revolution, the Agricultural Revolution. Homework: p.37 #1, 2, 4, 5


Thursday, September 20, 2018

Today in 6A & 6B

RELIGION: Today was review for our session test tomorrow. The test will be open-book.

ENGLISH: Today students were given the key words and asked to provide the definition. This can be tricky because some of our words have multiple Noun, Verb, and/or Adjective definitions. This serves as a tougher challenge as we root our vocabulary in our regular use. From here students practiced their writing in a timed essay.

LITERATURE: Continuing with our "Crash" read, students learned that Crash is reeling from his grandfather's stroke and that he is recognizing a change in himself. He no longer finds the same cruel behaviors appealing and is losing touch with his best friend, Mike, all the while feeling a bit ore sympathetic towards Penn Webb. The students have had some pretty great insights and predictions for the final installment that we are set to read on Monday.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We held our Chapter 1 test today and all students managed to complete it well within the allotted time frame.

MATH (8:00 class) pg 36 1-48  (9:00 class) pg 47 1-38

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: Today's activity was possibly the most difficult of the week, identifying sentence errors. Given several options students chose which part of a sentence they would change. In our discussion, we worked together to help identify why we would change certain sections and what we might change them to. This was a particularly challenging task that the students took on willingly.

RELIGION: Today lesson spoke about Cain and Abel and how God's actions are merciful. In fact, much of God's interactions with people in the Old testament, while seemingly harsh, can be interpreted as merciful as He guides us toward the correct path.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Today was Chapter Review for tomorrow's Chapter test. Students were told about the structure of the test  and were assigned a bunch of work that will best prepare them for this test. This is not homework in the sense that it will be checked and will count toward the "classwork" section of their grade, but it is wise to do a thorough job of the assigned pieces to be best prepared for the test tomorrow. Test prep: p. 24 - follow the instructions in the left column under "Learn the Skill" and review any passage in the text between pages 2 and 23. This skill is an element of the test. p.25 read the chapter summary. p.26 "Comprehension and Critical Thinking" #1-4. p. 27 "Test yourself" 1-6.

MATH  Both Math classes need to work on their Accelerated Math Practices

**Students were sent home with 2 reminders**
1) picture day is this coming Monday, September 24. 
2) our first field trip is Friday, September 28. We still need at least 3 Chaperones. Please email Mr. VanRuyven if interested in joining us.


Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: We started the day reviewing our vocabulary words using flash cards. Then we performed two tasks on the Sadlier site; Vocabulary in Context and Passage-based reading. Both of these activities offer a "grade" at the end of the assignment, however I do not record these for our records. These grade should inform your children of how they are doing in each task, where they should study more, and help to inform me in my test writing.

LITERATURE: we continued with "Crash" today and our predictions failed miserably. The story took a sorrowful turn that no-one saw coming. This gave us an excellent moment to discuss life and loss and how we might recognize when someone is being selfless.

RELIGION: Today we held a press conference for Adam, Eve, the snake and God. Each told the story of the Garden of Eden from their own perspective and our enthusiastic pool of reporters had a lot of great questions.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Today we wrapped up our Stadium Showdown as the last few presenters read their speeches and the Mayor, along with the President of the City Council, rendered their decision. Students explored the moral aspect of the debate and were posed with the question of, "Why might we consider building over an Indian burial ground and not at a site like Arlington Cemetery?"

MATH (8:00 class) pg 33 18-26  (9:00 class) pg 38-39 1-16 + 26-30

SCIENCE pg 29 Q's 1-4

***A note to all parents: Your children are being sent home with a form from our Room Moms. They need some contact information (emails) so that they might coordinate support for our in-class activities and celebrations. Please read, fill out, and return these as soon as possible.***


Monday, September 17, 2018

Today in 6A & 6B

RELIGION: Today we spoke in brief about the story of Adam and Eve and the expressed instructions of our Lord to them, their mistrust in God's instructions, and their choice to disobey.

ENGLISH: Turning back to our vocabulary lessons, we now have introduced 20 Unit 2 words. In grading last week's test, I noticed that there was a lot of confusion about the meaning of some words. It is quite important that students spend some time studying their vocabulary words prior to their tests. Please rest assured that these tests only make up a portion of each student's grade and that over the long run, these scores will average out, however this should serve as a bell-weather to inform students on what amount of studying they will need to do in order to achieve the level of success they desire.

ART: Meet the Masters program started today - Van Gogh

LITERATURE: We continued the story of "Crash" today where we see an escalation in the behaviors of Crash and his peers as they bully Penn Webb. This lead to an interesting sideline about the "#MeToo" movement and the damage that harassment can do to victims. Students are acutely aware of the proper way to respond to unwanted advances.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Students performed their prepared speeches to persuade the Mayor and President of the City Council to make a strong and informed decision. Tomorrow as we conclude our presentations, the Mayor and City Council President will render their decision together.

MATH (8:00 class)  worked on two Metric worsheets due tomorrow  (9:00 class) Homework Worksheet 1-6


Today in 6A! Since the academics of our year have officially ended, this week will largely be about embracing our community in different w...