Today in 6A

ENGLISH: Today we started each class with the make-up grammar quiz, focusing on Subjects, Predicates and Direct Objects. We then drilled our flash cards as I provided the word and asked students to supply the definition. Many of our words have multiple definitions, so it is important to understand each's connotations. We then practiced free writing in a Write Around activity. Students had 3 minutes to write a story of their choosing. They then passed their work to another student to continue the story. This is repeated 3-4 times. When students finally get to see where their story went, it has vastly changed.

RELIGION: Our session test was issued today.

AR READING/MATH: While students are free to work on homework and their reading/math goals, I got a lot of questions today about our Literature assignment (6A). Students seem to be a little stuck on what sort of voice to employ. Students should shy away from simply retelling the story, but rather should focus on the impressions the story left on them. A sample opening sentence would be:
   "In John Gardner's short story, "Dragon Dragon," an unnamed young hero is pitted against a fierce and bold dragon."
In my opening line I have introduced the title, author, main characters and conflict of the story. This gives me a launch point for my summary and analysis. Why do I describe the dragon as "bold" and "fierce?" How is it that this young boy was set against a dragon? What is the setting? Why do I think this? What evidence informs this idea I have?
In writing this piece, students should be reflecting on the story and asking how they feel about certain details, and why they feel that way. Answering those questions repeatedly for different examples will lead them to a strong plot summary.

!!!!!ITS FESTIVAL WEEKEND!!!!!

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: Continuing with our vocabulary, we now use flash cards without our word lists demanding the word from the definition. We then practiced identifying sentence errors. For this exercise, it is essential that students understand WHY a sentence is incorrect, not just that it is or isn't correct. We then watched a short section of a video that describes how a direct object interacts with a subject and verb. This should help students prepare for tomorrow's make up quiz.

LITERATURE: In 6A we listened to an audio recording from our texts for the story "Dragon Dragon". Students were assigned a writing composition that requires them to summarize the plot of the story. The details of this graded assignment are posted on Google Classroom and are due next Literature class (Tuesday).

RELIGION: Today was our session review for tomorrow's test about Ordinary Time in the Catholic Church.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Today we took the patterns we explored for the shared features of early civilizations and applied them to our exploration into the Maya people. I ask a lot of inference questions, demanding that students read between the lines and make connections to things we have already seen. For example: How might the location of the Mayan temples in the city's center, reflect on the role of religion in their society? This is an example of the type of thinking that students are being guided towards. For homework: p. 51 #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 will help students root these concepts in their memory. Our next Chapter test will be this upcoming Wednesday.

MATH (8:00 class) pg 64 1-33 all Chapter 1 Test Tomorrow  (9:00 class) Accelerated Math

SCIENCE pg 59 1-3

Today in 6A & 6B

ENGLISH: Today we worked on some of our vocabulary repetition by using flash cards. Students kept their word lists in front of them as they were presented with definitions and had to guess the words. We worked on our passage-based reading and then reviewed Subjects and Predicates via the Khan Academy website. You can find the video and practice questions at this website here: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/syntax-sentences-and-clauses/subjects-and-predicates/v/subjects-and-predicates-syntax-khan-academy

RELIGION: We continued our lesson on Ordinary time and discussed both "evangelists" as well as symbols within the church. Students chose a symbol that was most meaningful to them and explained why.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We completed our Jigsaw activity today as students took what they learned in their small group study and taught their peers. The 6 graphic organizers that students now have will serve as the foundation of our historical units moving forward the rest of the year.

MATH  (8:00 class) Ws 1-8 + questions from the board Chp 1 test Friday (9:00 class) WS 2-1 & 2-2

SCIENCE Chp 2 worksheets

Today in 6A!

ENGLISH: Results from yesterday's English test were not as favorable as I had hoped. Across the board students communicated a strong misunderstanding for subjects, predicates and direct objects. I've decided to OMIT these sections from the test and students will write a short make-up quiz this Friday after some remedial instruction. I understand that these are some pretty abstract subjects and that my test was asking quite a lot from my students, that is entirely on me. We will do better this Friday. We started our Unit 3 Vocabulary today studying our iWords and creating associations.

LITERATURE: Today we (6A) collected the "Crash" comic strips and students presented their work to the class. Additionally we took time to celebrate each others' work, creating a "positive vibes only" environment.

RELIGION: Today we started our Unit 1 Session 5 lesson that explores Ordinary Time in the Catholic Church and what that means.

SOCIAL STUDIES: In conjunction with our work yesterday, students today created groups where they would share what they learned out their civilization with their group members. Here students become the teachers themselves. They downloaded a lot of information yesterday and distilled it into a graphic organizer. Today they taught their peers. We will continue with this tomorrow.

Today in 6A and 6B

ENGLISH: Today we had our Unit 2 vocabulary and Chapter 6 grammar test. It was a long period and all students finished early, meaning they had extra time to read their AR books, work on their comic strips, or do some AR math.

LITERATURE: Today was a working period for the comic strips. In 6A these are due tomorrow and expectations are high for quality. Early glimpses at student work show some impressive artwork. 6B will be submitting their work on Wednesday.

RELIGION: Students wrote their Unit 1, Session 4 quizzes today.

SOCIAL STUDIES: To reinforce our learning about early civilizations and their shared features, students broke off into small groups where their filled out graphic organizers regarding the 7 shared features of early civilizations. Each of these groups will become experts on their assigned civilization while tomorrow they will share their knowledge with some slightly larger groups. If this work was not completed in class, it is homework. It is essential that all students complete this work for tomorrow's lesson to work.

MATH: Homework: 8:00 class pg. 47-48 #1-32 + 44-49, 9:00 class pg. 67 #1-39

SCIENCE: Homework: pg. 51 #1-3

Friday with the 6th Grade!

I apologize for not uploading these on Friday but here we go anyways!. We had a wonderful time at the La Brea Tar Pits. You children were well behaved and engaged with the experience to come away with some solid hands-on learning. Enjoy these images of our day!