Science and Stenfjord's Students

This week, the sixth grade began our second rotation in the afternoon class cycle. My class will be taking Social Studies from Mr. Dalasta for the next few week's. Ms. Stenfjord's class will be in my science class for that same period of time. Welcome, Ms. Stenfjord's students! It was nice to get to know you a bit better today. Below, I'm posting the same information I posted for my class when we began this unit.

For the next week, Ms. Stenfjord's students will be bringing home a small additional piece of homework: they will be tracking the phases of the moon. Each night for the next week, they'll need to step outside and spot the moon. They will use their Moon Journal to shade in the moon to match how it looks in the sky.

I really want students to go out and use their eyes to find this information each night. Given that this is the Pacific Northwest and we get clouds from time to time, it might not always be possible for students to witness the moon first-hand. On evenings when they can't see it, here's a website they can use to see exactly what phase the moon is in on any given day. Again, this is a back-up and shouldn't be used unless they can't see the moon.

Thanks for supporting your student's learning and Happy Moon-Watching!

Test Update

Because of time constraints and extra end-of-the-week activities, the science test that students were going to do in class has been changed to a take-home exam. Students will be allowed to use their notebooks to complete the test.

If you would, remind your student that the test needs to be turned in on Monday and that they need to do the work on their own.

Have a great weekend!

Apologies and Thank-Yous

I wanted to apologize for the lack of a blog post last week. With preparation for Parent-Teacher Conferences, I was a little too buried in work to take time to write. Having had an underwhelmingly stormy weekend to rest up, I'm back to full blogging strength this week.

I also wanted to say thank you to all the families who were able to make it to the conferences. It was a pleasure to be able to sit down and discuss our fantastic students with you. I hope I was able to answer your questions and I hope you left knowing a bit more about how things are going in Room 21.

If you weren't able to make it in last week, please let me know when you might have time to come in sometime in the next week or so. I feel it's very important to be aware of both how your student is doing and where we as a class are heading.

A few reminders:

• Eagle's Nest starts this week. If you'd like your student to have some extra teacher-led help with homework, sign them up for Eagle's Nest. It's Tuesday-Thursday in the library from 3:35 to 4:15. Your student can come all three days or fewer, depending on their need and your schedule. It is never too late to sign up and your student can join at any time. Have them ask me for a permission slip.
• We have a field trip to the Pacific Science Center next week on Tuesday the 25th. Your student should have brought home a permission slip. If they did, please make sure it's been signed and returned. If they haven't brought one, have them ask me for a replacement. Field trip money for the year ($14 for all three trips) needs to be turned in before the trip. If that's a problem, please let me know and we can figure something out.
• Picture re-take day is the same day as the field trip. If your student was absent on Picture Day, please make sure they're here next Tuesday.

Test Alerts!

Good morning, Room 21 families!

We have two tests coming up this week. On Friday, we will have tests on our current math and science units.

For math, we'll be testing students' skills at operations with decimals. For science, we'll be testing what students have learned about the seasons and what causes them.

If you have a moment, check in with your student and ask them if they're ready.

Why My Beard Is Pink

At the beginning of the year, I put a system of class points into place. The class got points for excellent behavior in the hall, for smooth transitions in class, for fantastic participation. The deal was, when the class reached 25 points, they got to choose from a menu of prizes.

As they approached 25, the class voted and decided that, when they won, they would be daring me to do something and I couldn't refuse.

Once they got to 25, they decided that the thing they would make me do was to dye my hair and beard pink.

They reached 25 points last week. Today, I dyed my hair and beard pink.

And there ya go.

Current Events Launch

This week, we are launching a new ongoing activity in Room 21. We will be starting a regular Current Events period. Students will choose a news story, pulled from a newspaper, a TV news broadcast, a radio report or an online news source. They will fill out a sheet giving details about the story, then do a presentation in front of the class. The presentation will be a part of their Listening/Speaking ELA score.

Each student will present about three times over the course of the year. We'll have three students scheduled to present every week, except in weeks with holidays or other disruptions. Your student, for the most part, will have plenty of notice when their turn is coming up. 

The presentations can be as simple as the student discussing the story in front of the class and leading a discussion of the story. If students want to add anything, such as a multimedia presentation, they are welcome to do so, but, to be clear, that is by no means required and they will not be graded lower if they don't.

The topics are anything of the student's choosing, as long as it's appropriate to discuss in school. A few restrictions to this: 

• No celebrity news.
• A student may only do a sports story one of their three times.
• Students should try to steer away from stories that involve great amounts of violence.

The reason we are launching this project is that I feel sixth grade is a time when students need to start taking more of an interest in the world around them. Knowing, understanding and being able to discuss what's going on in our city, country and world is important if we want to live in and improve that world. 

You can help by discussing current events with your student. When it's your student's turn to present, talk over their story with them. Let's help our students be a part of the world.

Test Alert!

Room 21 students will be having our second math test tomorrow. The second unit has covered mathematical properties, order of operations and algebraic equations. This test will be a free-response test, so students will not be loading their tests onto EnVision's website, I will be grading them by hand.

Hope you're staying dry.