September 26, 2013

Homework:
Math - sheet #12
Reading  -  Log
Today's Highlights:
Icky foods!!!!! They looked at food labels and learned what Citric Acid, Cellulose, Red Dye 40, etc. are! We started our solar system unit. They will start looking at the moon each night and drawing what it looks like (only if it is clear) I gave them the option of doing it for tonight since we ran out of time and didn't really get through the instructions!
Reminders:
No school on Monday.
NECAP testing next week and the following week.
Student led conferences October 15, 16, and 17. No school on the 18th.

September 25, 2013

Homework
Math-sheet #11
Reading-Everyone has homework for their novels.  This should be in the assignment books!!!!!!!!!
Reading Log is due every Tuesday.
Today's Highlights

Today we made apple crisp and enjoyed it with some vanilla ice cream.  We also had Apple TV installed so we can share the ipads on the projector!  Exciting Day!!!!!!!!!!
Reminders
No school on Monday due to teacher in-service.  Conferences are October 15, 16, and 17.  October 5th is the community celebration for Fairfield turns 250!  The band will be playing and our kids will be helping with composting. I plan on being there!

September 24, 2013

Homework
Math: Sheet #10
Reading Log
Kindness unit novels if you were assigned homework.

Today's Highlights:
We talked about exponents in math.  They showed up on homework last night and morning math!  Ask your child about my remote mouse!
Tomorrow we will make apple crisp again!

Reminders:
In-service next Monday, no school for students!  NECAP testing starts next week.

September 23, 2013

Homework:
Math-sheet #9
Reading Log due tomorrow.
-We started our kindness novels today.  Different groups have different homework.  They were to write it down in their assignment books.
-Some students need to turn in permission slips that went home last week.
Today's Highlights:

We did a blind taste test today.  They had a dorito first and then a vegie chip.  We then talked about the taste and which chip was closer to the soil.  We were impressed with how many kids wanted more vegie chips (and of course doritos!).  We also added a really cool google app to Chrome.  Read and Write allows the computer to read to you what you have written in a google doc. This will be helpful when they want to hear how their writing sounds.
Reminders:
No school on September 30th due to teacher in-service. Conferences on October 15, 16, and 17 ~ all after school until 7:00.  NECAP testing is the first 2 weeks of October.

September 20, 2013

No Homework on the weekends unless reading needs to be done for reading logs!
Today's Highlights:
Ms. Bailey, our school counselor, (while Mrs. Sargent is on maternity leave) visited us today. She will be in for guidance lessons every Friday.  She is working with the students on how to manage stress.  We officially started our Tolerance, Kindness, and Acceptance unit today.  We have 4 groups reading the 4 books in the picture.  All books share a theme of our unit title. We will work in book groups and discussion groups to compare examples of kindness, tolerance, and acceptance.  Today was our first middle school reward day.  Every month we will take the end of one Friday and have activities for the students whom are caught up on their work and consistently do their homework.
Reminders: No school on September 30th due to teacher in-service.  Student led conferences on October 15th, 16th, and 17th.  These are after school and evening.  NECAP testing is the first 2 weeks of October.  We test on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Thank You!!!! For such a great turn out last night for open house.  It was great to meet all the families and eat the apple crisp the students made.  Due to running out of apple crisp, we will be making another pan of it next week so all of us can enjoy some!

September 19, 2013

Homework
Math-sheet 8
Reading-log

Today's Highlights

APPLE CRISP!!!!!! We made a pan of apple crisp for tonight's open house. The students did really well with the knives, apple peelers, and apple corers.  The next picture shows a great reading strategy of following along with your pencil while someone is reading aloud.  We were reading an article about chemicals that are put in food to make the food taste better.

Reminders

Open House tonight.  Student led conference sign ups will be available.  No school on 9/30/13 due to teacher in-service.

September 18,2013

Homework
Math-sheet #7
Reading-Log
Handouts from office and Young Writers' Project permission slip
Today's Highlights
Today was picture day!!  We discussed packaging of food today.  Our theme for social studies this year is, "How to be a steward to our land"  We will learn this through learning about natural resources.  We will do a lot of reading and a lot of doing.  So far we have learned about composting and will be learning more about recycling.
Reminders
Open House is tomorrow night. Please stop by anytime from 6-7 to have some apple crisp and visit our classroom.  Students will need to help with composting.

September 17, 2013

Homework
Math-sheet #6
Reading-Log
Social Studies-Please bring in packaging from a food item.
Today's Highlights
Yesterday Mrs. Wilkins did a Pledge of Allegiance activity with the students to kick off Constitution Day, which is today.  They continued to learn more about the constitution during social studies class.

Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Hill visited us today to explain our foreign language program.  This is an online, self-paced computer program.  The students get to choose what language they want to learn.  French, Spanish, Chinese, Latin, and German are the options.
Reminders
Pictures are tomorrow.  Open house is Thursday  night at 6:00 pm.  September 30th is an in-service for teachers, so no school for the kids. Student led conferences are October 15th, 16th, and 17th.  NECAP testing is the first 2 weeks of October. (We test on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays)    

September 16, 2013

Homework
Math - sheet #5
Reading - Log due tomorrow with all columns completed; Share your name sign with your parents and explain today's lesson.
Today's Highlights
Last week we made name signs that we were really proud of.  They are colorful and pretty.  Then we crumpled them up and jumped on them.  We tried to get the wrinkles out, but couldn't. Laminating them didn't even get the wrinkles out.  Ask your child what the wrinkles represent.
We started learning about factors today.  Our first math unit is about multiples and factors.
Reminders
Picture day is Wednesday, the 18th. Open house is Thursday, the 19th.  No school on September 30th.   Sign up for parent teacher conferences will be available at open house.

September 13, 2013

Homework:
Reading Logs are due on Tuesday.
Today's Highlights
Meadowbrook Farm Fundraisers are being sent home today.  Do  not stress about these!  I know you just came off of the magazine drive.  I'm a parent too and understand the craziness of fundraisers.  I do like to buy my wrapping paper through this though!
Every day we watch CNN student news.  Asking your child about the day's program  is a great thing to do at dinner or in the car.

Reminders:

Open House is next Thursday night.  We are making apple crisp on Wednesday for this event.  The students will educate the community on our composting program.

Student led conferences on October 15, 16, and 17.  These are after school and evening.  A sign up will be available at open house.  No school on October 18th.

No school on September 30th for teacher inservice.

Picture forms went home today.  Pictures are on the 18th.

September 12, 2013

Homework
Math - sheet #4
Reading - reading logs due on Tuesdays, flip books are due tomorrow.
Today's Highlights
We continue to learn about composting.  The students diagrammed their lunches on how all the food they eat starts with soil.  The less steps away from soil, the better the food.  We learned a new site for math.  illuminations.nctm.org

Reminders: Next Thursday is Open House.
No school on September 30th due to teacher inservice.  Student led conferences are on October 15th, 16th, and 17th in the afternoon and evening.  There will be a sign up at open house.

September 11, 2013

Homework
Math-sheet #3
Reading-Reading log, flip book due Friday
Today's Highlights

The students got on Reflex Math and Khan Academy today.  These are 2 sites for math practice.  They can access these sites at home.

Reminders!!! Open house is next Thursday 9/19.  A reminder sheet about important dates went home with youngest and only today.

September 10, 2013

Homework
Math- sheet #2, use your resources to help you with any problems that may be hard for you.  Remember to * them if you don't understand them.
Reading- Reading Log, flip books are due Friday.
A few of you still owe Technology Acceptable Use forms.
Today's Highlights

Self-correcting math homework

This morning we self corrected our math homework in small groups.  This allows the students to share and learn with one another. 
We organized our math binder to have a section of resources and received our first math book, "Prime Time". Ask your child what this unit will be about.
Every morning we will watch CNN Student News. This is a 10 minute, student friendly news program.  They will start to have cnn homework on Tuesday nights.

September 9, 2013

Homework
Math- Sheet #1 12 problems. Some you may know and some you may not. Use Math At Hand (which you should have brought home) for a resource if you need it.  Also, you may look things up on the internet.  If you have trouble with a problem, TRY something and then * it so we know to talk about it in the morning.
Reading- Your reading log is due tomorrow.  All columns should be completed or it will not be accepted.
Highlights from today
We had fun with the eye color, fish, washing machine, and canoe game today. Share it with your family!!!!!! Share the composting visits you did today!

September 8, 2013

On Friday, 9/6, Tom Reynolds, from Northwest Solid Waste District visited our school to teach us about school composting.  The 6th graders will be composting monitors during lunch to be sure the students and staff are composting the correct things. We will continue to learn more about composting and recycling.  I hope to take a field trip to Chittenden Solid Waste District to see recycling in action.
This is a picture of some of the composting material that was pulled out of our lunch garbage from last week.