Parents,
First and foremost, I hope you and your families are safe and secure during this flood. Our class had a great discussion on Thursday afternoon about how we can be leaders in the community in many different ways during our canceled school day Friday- one of our values in the 6th grade is volunteering and looking for opportunities to assist in our communities. Look for more information along those lines as we progress through the school year.
I am in the process of figuring out what kind of reader your student is- their likes, interests, reading levels, and habits. We'll be diving into Book Clubs this week- continue to plan for your student to have 30 minutes of reading homework (and journaling) every night. It's an ambitious goal; but I fully believe a powerful reading base will give our students the best opportunities to succeed in Junior High/ High school. With that, here's This Week in Switzer:
#TLDR: New Book clubs, plenty of writing, Landform Test, and Science experiments. I'm looking to add STEM and WIN groups this week.
Math: Switzer Math is half-way through Topic 2- we take a daily quiz over the previous night's lesson. Students in Switzer's class are in charge of deciding their own homework for the night- homework is self checked and is not worth any points towards the grade. Quizzes (and CFA's), however, are worth points and are directly related to Mastery on the report cards. We took a CFA over Exponents last week, and will most likely take another CFA over Mental Math Properties and Order of Operations soon (possibly Tuesday or Wednesday). I've included links for both of these concepts in Khan Academy (Click here for Mental Math Properties, Here for Order of Operations) and IXL (Mental Math, Order of Operations) if you feel your student needs some extra practice.
Math WIN: Win is a time for students to have more opportunities to prove they know the content on a Math CFA. This week is Exponents- we'll continue to teach the kids that don't know it yet, and give some opportunities for other students to explore math-related concepts. WIN groups change weekly.
Social Studies: Students have a test over Landforms in the United States on Monday.
Writing: Students are working on their Personal Narrative Drafts in class.
Science: We are talking about Claims and Evidence, and how good scientists make Claims on how the world works after collecting and observing Evidence (We did a mystery activity on Google Classroom with Mario and his Missing Super Star). Later in the week, I'll ask students to make an observation about something very important to me: why my coffee gets cold so quickly, and what we can do about it. Make sure to ask your students about claims and evidence.
Reader's Workshop: We've spent the first month of school practicing reading, picking "just right books," reading with our minds awake, and journaling our ideas (great reading involves great writing). We'll begin Book Clubs on Monday, where your student will read a book with another couple of group members, talk and write their ideas, and encourage each other in the process. Like I said above, plan for your student to have 30 minutes of reading and writing every night. I've intentionally cut down on assigned homework in other subjects with the intent that we focus on the most important stuff at home- reading and thinking. If you're curious about the number of pages your student has read (and logged), please click here and look for your student's name across the top of the page. Your student should be around 250 total pages by the end of the weekend.
Iowa Youth Survey- Our 6th graders will participate in the Iowa Youth Survey this week- CLICK HERE for more information.
School Pictures for 1st through 6th graders is on Thursday this week. Pre-K and Kinders will have pictures on Friday.
From the Office:
The District continues to work to get the online lunch payment system up and running as soon as possible. Although the online payment system for meal accounts is currently unavailable; cash, check, and credit card payments are accepted at all buildings. You or your child can bring cash or a check to the office or you are able to call your building secretary to make credit card payments over the phone.
Have a great week and stay safe!
Matthew Switzer
6th Grade Teacher,
Southdale Elementary
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