๐งก September 27- Black & Orange Day
๐๏ธ October 1- Scheduled Parent-Teacher Conferences
๐ October 2- Open House Style Parent-Teacher Conferences 4-7pm
โ๏ธ October 8- KMS PTO Meeting 4:30pm
๐ธ October 18- Picture Retake Day
๐ October 31- End of Marking Period 1
โฐ November 1- No School for Students
๐ NWEA:
This week in Language Arts students will be NWEA testing. Students will look at their test scores from 5th grade and think about a personal goal for their fall assessment. Please encourage your child to do their best on this assessment.
๐ฏ Grades:
- I have inputted our first grades of the marking period. These assignments included: comprehension check questions, a summary, and the selection test.
- Students may revisit assignments to improve their grades, however it is their responsibility to communicate and get the help needed to make these improvements. I am available during WIN to help students with anything they are struggling with. Please encourage your child to take the initiative to fix up assignments when needed by monitoring and discussing their PowerSchool grades with them. These improvements must be made before the end of the marking period. In order for students to retake a selection test, work at home must be completed before they will be allowed to retake.
- Any unfinished work that is past the due date will be entered into PowerSchool as a 0. This will inform you that this assignment has not been completed. The grade will be updated once the assignment has been completed.
- Please contact me if you have questions about your childโs grade in Language Arts.
โก๏ธ Selection Test Retakes:
We just completed our first selection test on the autobiography, My Life With the Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall. If your child scored below 70% there is the option to retake. In order for your child to retake this test, an at home assignment must be completed. For the at home assignment, students are required to reread the text either independently or with a parent and discuss the text together. Then they have to get a parent signature approving the retake. Students will only be allowed to retake the test one time.
๐ Homework:
15-20 minutes of reading from a book of their choice.
Work that students are unable to complete during class.
Work that students miss when they are out of school for sickness, travel, etc.
Test Retake Assignments
๐งฎ This week we will do more area and perimeter, as well as review our basic multiplication facts! Parents - please quiz your students! Do they know 6 x 8? Or 12 x 4? This a great car activity, and it often helps.
๐ Remember, homework is given each Monday and is due on Friday!
โ๏ธ Time is flying by! Next week we will be investigating why there are more hours of sunlight in the summer, learning about Day Length, and calculating & graphing hours of sunlight over a period of a year.
๐ฏ We will also be taking our first test, covering: Where we are in the Universe, Day & Night, Seasons, and Day Length. I will be sending a study guide home on Monday. Please have your child study every day for Friday's test. This will be a TEST, NOT a quiz. Your child can also take home their Science notebooks to look over notes and models to help them better understand the concepts being tested.
๐ Thank you to those of you who were able to download the free app "Skyview Lite". If your child didn't bring their electronics to science class last week, they were able to use mine or share with their friends. We all had a great time locating Polaris (North Star), Ursa Major (big dipper), Ursa Minor (little dipper), and the moon. You can see some pictures of the students working if you browse the next KMS District Newsletter.
๐ฉท Thank you and have a wonderful week!
๐ฏ Quiz Monday- Students will have their first social studies quiz of the year on Monday. They should be able to identify and label the 7 continents and 5 main oceans on a blank map. I have attached a completed map that students can use for studying if needed, as well as a practice game.
๐บ๏ธ Map Elements- Once our quiz is complete, we will continue our studies of maps by looking closely at the main elements of maps and the information they provide. After spending several days analyzing various types of maps and their elements, students will demonstrate their understanding by creating maps of their own. This activity was a student favorite last year!
๐งญ Map Elements:
- Title
- Key (or Legend)
- Scale
- Compass Rose
- Symbols
๐ Lesson Notes- We take LOTS of notes in social studies class. I have thoughtfully created note-taking pages to help students process new content and keep an organized record of our studies. The notes that are shared with students are partially completed. Throughout our lessons, students are prompted to fill-in missing information and highlight critical content. At the end of each unit, the notes will serve as study guides. Every few weeks, I will conduct a binder check to see if each student's notes are complete and organized. This does not count toward each student's grade, but I will record these checks in PowerSchool so that parents/guardians can see if their child is keeping up with their notes. It is common to see a strong correlation between note completion and success on assessments. The first binder check was completed last week and is recorded in PowerSchool.
๐๏ธ Benefits of Note-Taking:
- Improved comprehension and memory of content
- Support of active-listening
- Organization of thoughts and information
- Beneficial for test prep and studying
