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April 6th Grade Newsletter
Butler Middle School
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Dear Families,
We are excited to look back and share the fantastic achievements of our students in March! The i-Ready scores for both Math and ELA saw amazing growth, showcasing the dedication and hard work of our students and teachers. We were able to celebrate the students at an i-Ready award ceremony. Please find pictures further below!
In addition to academic success, we also had a blast during our fun spirit week at the end of March. It's wonderful to see our school community coming together to celebrate and have a great time.
Looking ahead, we have the April ELA MCAS scheduled on April 9th and 10th. Our students have been preparing diligently, and we have no doubt they will excel in this upcoming assessment.
Let's also keep an eye on May 31st for our field trip to Roller Kingdom as a reward for outstanding MCAS attendance. It's going to be a day filled with fun and excitement!
Mark your calendars for June 5th when we'll be visiting the Worcester EcoTarium for another enriching field trip experience. Our students always enjoy these educational outings that bring learning to life outside of the classroom.
For both of our upcoming field trips, we want to give you a heads up that there will be a small fee required to cover transportation costs. We appreciate your understanding and support as we strive to provide enriching experiences for all participants. Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming field trips - we can't wait to embark on these adventures with the students!
We are so proud of all that we have accomplished so far, and can't wait to see what further successes await us in the months ahead!
Warm Regards,
6th grade team
Join Us on REMIND
Through Remind, teachers can send messages to parents and parents can send messages to parents. Teachers will also post announcements.
February/March Students of the Month
We are excited to announce our February/March Students of the Month and applaud their dedication to their academics and positive peer interactions.
Math News
In the month of April our students will extend their reasoning about area to include shapes that are not composed of rectangles. Doing this draws on abilities developed in earlier grades to compose and decompose shapes, for example, to see a rectangle as composed of two congruent right triangles. Through activities designed and sequenced to allow students to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them (MP1), students build on these abilities and their knowledge of areas of rectangles to find the areas of polygons by decomposing and rearranging them to make figures whose areas they can determine (MP7). They learn strategies for finding areas of parallelograms and triangles, and use regularity in repeated reasoning (MP8) to develop formulas for these areas, using geometric properties to justify the correctness of these formulas. They use these formulas to solve problems. They understand that any polygon can be decomposed into triangles, and use this knowledge to find areas of polygons. Students find the surface areas of polyhedra with triangular and rectangular surfaces. They study, assemble, and draw nets for polyhedra and use nets to determine surface areas. Throughout, they discuss their mathematical ideas and respond to the ideas of others (MP3, MP6).
Video Links
Reasoning to Find Area - https://youtu.be/Dq7aFrm3pVI Parallelograms - https://youtu.be/kkNIBHuixv8 Triangles -https://youtu.be/Urt_LodcdrM Surface Area - https://youtu.be/OLU3BrMzYL0 Surface Area and Volume - https://youtu.be/xJvWvfSwgS0
ELA News
As we move closer to students’ participation in their Massachusetts MCAS assessments (April 4th & 5th), we wanted to take a moment to update you on what your child has been up to in class and what they can expect in the coming weeks.
Test Preparation and Literacy Engagement:
Our students have been diligently preparing for the upcoming ELA MCAS assessments next Thursday and Friday, and we're proud of their hard work. They've been putting in the effort during our practice sessions, and we're confident in their abilities.
In addition to test preparation, our students have been enjoying reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. This book has sparked some great discussions in class, and it's been wonderful to see the students engaging with the story and its themes. We've been focusing on activities like summarizing chapters and learning strategies to understand new words, all of which are helping to strengthen their reading skills.
Upcoming Curriculum Focus:
In the coming weeks, we'll be continuing our exploration of mythology, which has been a hit with the students so far. We'll also be working on summarizing texts and practicing the skill of comparing and contrasting different elements of literature.
We're looking forward to diving into these topics with the students and seeing where their curiosity takes them. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your continued support.
Science News
In Science in April, we will be finishing our Sound unit. We have been investigating instruments and how they work. We have been looking at what causes sounds and why all sounds are not the same.
We also looked at why loud sounds are bad for our ears and how when we get older be can not hear certain sounds.
On April 8 there will be a solar eclipse. While no location in Massachusetts will experience totality, some parts of the state will see over 95% coverage of the sun if weather permits. The eclipse will begin shortly after 2 PM ET and will last about 2 and a half hours until about 4:30 PM ET.
In Science we will be learning more about why this is happening and why we should not look directly at the sun even when it is mostly covered.
Social Studies News
In March we began exploring the geography of Africa as part of Unit 3 Sub-Saharan Africa. Students completed a research project on specific African countries and turned their research into a postcard.
The next cluster of lessons on Sub-Saharan Africa introduces students to the rich array of complex societies (also called civilizations) that flourished across sub-Saharan Africa over more than a millennium and a half of pre-colonial history. Students consider the methods and evidence (archaeology, written sources and oral tradition) that have revolutionized historians’ thinking about the African past in recent decades. They use some of this evidence themselves to ask questions and draw conclusions about the social structures and lifeways of these fascinating and diverse societies.
School Updates
Students will be completing the ELA MCAS on April 4th & 5th please make sure they are well rested the night before and attend school on those days.
Please remind your student to bring their CHROMEBOOK to school everyday. Since outlets are limited in most classrooms, it is best if students charge their laptops at home each night.
Upcoming Events
April 1st - Afterschool Starts
April 9th- ELA MCAS 6/7
April 10th - ELA MCAS 6/7
April 8th - Solar Eclipse
April 12th - School Dance
April 15th - 19th - April Academy (no school)
April 25th - NJHS 6pm
i-Ready Award Ceremony
Meet the 6th Grade Teachers!
Mr. Sullivan
Math in Room 116
Mrs. Sullivan
Math Special Education
asullivan@lowell.k12.ma.usMr. Cruz
Ms. Lowell
Ms. Ferris
ELA in Room 110
cferris@lowell.k12.ma.usMs. Leire
ELA in Room 121
jleire@lowell.k12.ma.usMrs. Thomas
Science in Room 208
Ms. Threhane
Social Studies in Room 122
kthrehane@lowell.k12.ma.usMs. Rodriguez
ESL - Science in Room 240
jrodriguez@lowell.k12.ma.usMrs. Castro
ESL - ELA in Room 239
Mrs. Marte-Martins
ESL - History in Room 205
Mrs. Ramos
ESL - Math in Room 239
Butler Middle School
Website: https://www.lowell.k12.ma.us/butler
Location: 1140 Gorham Street, Lowell, MA, USA
Phone: 978-937-8973