What a nice break we've had and now we have exciting things to look forward to in January as we return to school.
Last Friday, we celebrated our 15th team PBIS ticket with a pizza party luncheon. It was a great chance to spend time together as we celebrated the respectful learning we've done as a team. Starting this week, January 10th-January 14th, we have some great learning experiences ahead of us. Here are some important events and dates for students:
~Monday, January 10th: SouthEast Junior High counselors will be visiting to talk to 6th graders about what they expect as they arrive at SouthEast for 7th grade. They will be coming after lunch to give a presentation. You can talk to your student about what they found interesting, surprising or exciting from the presentation. As a former SouthEast teacher, I have wonderful memories of my time with the staff and students who make learning a positive experience. Students at Hoover have much to bring to SouthEast and will be a big part of sharing their ideas and experiences with other students next year.
**6th grade students will be bringing home registration forms and a course guide. There will be a parent meeting on February 1st and forms need to be returned to Hoover by February 4th.
~Science presentations continue! Students have wrapped up their inquiry projects and some groups have already presented their projects. Mrs. Brownlee's and Mr. Kosier's classes have been sharing their projects with Mrs. Whittington and Ms. Dobyns' classes and have traded roles being audience members and presenters. Some students have used PowerPoint presentations to display content. Others have used posters, skits, or demonstrations to communicate findings. I am impressed with the interest level in these projects and am looking forward to more presentations this week!
~ 5th grade math test - Students will take the Chapter 5 math test this Thursday. You can expect your student to come home with a review this week to prepare for the test.
~6th grade math (from Mrs. Whittington's blog):
One item that needs to be completed is the Math placement. Students may be in one of 5 different levels of math. Your sixth grade student will be taking a math placement test tomorrow and Wednesday to help assess which placement might be best. Whatever recommendation is made, does NOT mean that is the placement you must choose. Our recommendation is based on how past students have fared based on particular scores. Every student is different and other placements can be made. The recommendations and the criteria for the recommendations will be provided to you in the next week to 10 days.
Sixth graders have begun a new unit on number systems and algebra concepts. Things like dividing fractions, equivalent equations, positive and negative numbers as well as order of operations will be studied. Students seemed to have the most growth opportunity as a class in the area of dividing fractions and order of operations. Last wee your student should have brought home the family letter with an overview of the unit.
Tomorrow and Wednesday are the annual 6th grade math placement tests. These tests are administered over two days and provide a useful guideline for parents and teachers as you decide what kind of math placement to take in junior high.
~A special visitor: Our Peace Corps Pal, Eliza, will be visiting this week! Eliza, or Ms. Stemmler, is a teacher in La Pavana, Nicaragua. She is also a certified ELL and elementary teacher in Iowa and will be a visiting teacher on Wednesday and Thursday. We will be incorporating Nicaraguan culture, language and geography into our literacy activities in the afternoon this week.
A look ahead at homework (the day it will be assigned):
Mon.: Math homework, RRJ (Reader's response journal) response, Grammar worksheet
Tues.: Math review, homework, RRJ response, Spanish worksheet
Wed.: Math review, RRJ response, grammar worksheet, writing response
Thurs.: writing assignment, Spanish or grammar worksheet
Fri.: Reading assignment, 5th grade parent letter
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