TWIS 9/6-9/9

Parents,

   What a week we had!  I do want to say, after getting to know you a little better, and after talking with your students- what a great bunch we have!  Thank you for sending your student to me everyday.  I know that as a parent, our children represent the best of our hopes and dreams- I'll do my best to honor those hopes and build worth into your child every time I interact with them.  This is part of my mission statement.

   Speaking of mission statements, here's This Week in Switzer:

We worked on 3 big things last week, and those are coming due this coming week:

1- Classroom Contracts- We brainstormed and played games to figure out what kind of classroom culture we wanted this year, what we expect from Mr. Switzer, and what we expect from ourselves.  Our ideas have been drawn into a contract, which should've come home this weekend.  Please review the contract with your student, sign, and return it by Friday, September 9th.  The contract is designed for us to have a common language of expectations and procedures that we agree to uphold.

2- Acrostic Name Mission Statements- Students began working on their Mission Statements- and turned them into an acrostic with their name.  These Mission Statements will be due by Friday as well.

3- Symbol Slides- Students are creating a Google Slide full of symbols and colors that represent who they are and who they aspire to be.  We'll use the slides to learn more about each other and begin conversations about symbolism in writing and literature.

Math: We've jumped into Topic 1 in math; there are two new 6th grade skills covered in this chapter that we'll assess for the report card: Exponents and Multiplying with 10's, 100's, and 1000's.  

   Students have been moved into math classrooms based on what they know about the Topic- we are supporting students who are seeing Topic 1 for the first time in Mrs. Braley's and Mrs. Brunsen's classrooms, and for students who understand much of the Topic already, we are diving deeper into the concepts in Mr. Switzer's math class.  We'll adjust classrooms again before the each new topic/ chapter.  To us, we want to support the students where they are at- we don't want to make students do work they already know how to do, and we don't want to move too quickly for students who aren't ready to move yet.  Our goal is to make sure every student can score at least 80% or higher on math tests this year- and we'll continue to work with your student to make sure that happens.

Social Studies: Students are working with Mrs. Brunsen on Landforms in North America.  Look for study guides to come home this week.

Writing: Mrs. Braley is working with our class on a summer vacation writing project.

Reader's Workshop: We took some time this week to set ambitious goals as readers for the year.  I've had time to confer with your student and guide them in their goal writing, and I will email your student's goals to you ASAP.  I'll also share a Google Doc with you showing your student's progress towards their goals.  This doc will be updated in real-time, so keep it bookmarked or saved.