March 6th Grade Newsletter
Pollard Middle School
Upcoming Important Dates
March 28: Early Release, End of Quarter
March 29- April 8: Spring Break
April 11: Report Cards Sent Home Electronically
April15 & April16: ELA & Math Check-ins
April 19th: Q3 Awards Ceremony at 8:15am
Week of April 22: Star Monitoring Tests (ELA & Math)
What We're Learning...
In ELA
ELA will be finishing up Unit 5:“Never Give Up” around April 12 and starting Unit 6: “Hidden Truths” the following week, April 15th
.
Essential Question:
What hidden truths about people and the world are revealed in stories?
Major Stories:
Storytelling by Josepha Sherman
“The Mouse Bride” by Heather Forest
Major Skills:
-Analyze Characteristics of Informational Texts
-Make Inferences About Key Ideas
-Infer Theme
-Analyze Purpose and Text Structure
Major Vocab:
Emphasize
Occur
Period
Relevant
Tradition
In Math
Topics:
Writing and solving equations
Writing and graphing inequalities
Statistics
Vocabulary:
Inequality words (minimum, maximum, at most, at least)
Statistics words (mean, median, mode, range, quartiles, central tendency, frequency, histogram, boxplot)
Upcoming Attractions:
Inequalities Project
Statistics Project
Further Practice: IXL 6th grade
Equations (AA.8, AA.9, AA.10, AA.11)
Inequalities (BB.2, BB.3, BB.4)
Statistics (JJ.2, JJ.3, JJ.4)
Math 6+
Topics:
Writing and solving 1 & 2-step equations
Writing and Graphing Inequalities
Statistics
Vocabulary:
Inequality words (minimum, maximum, at most, at least)
Statistics words (mean, median, mode, range, interquartiles, central tendency, frequency, histogram, box plot)
Upcoming Attractions:
Inequalities Project
Statistics Project
Further Practice: IXL 6th grade
Equations (AA.8, AA.9, AA.10, AA.11)
Inequalities (BB.2, BB.3, BB.4)
Statistics (JJ.2, JJ.3, JJ.4, JJ.7)
In Science
Topics:
Finishing up Unit 5 | Earth Systems, Structures, and Processes
Unit 6 | Living Organisms and Ecosystems
Essential Standards:
6.L.2 Understand the flow of energy through ecosystems and the responses of populations to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.
6.L.2.1 Summarize how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within a food chain or food web (terrestrial and aquatic) from producers to consumers to decomposers.
6.L.2.2 Explain how plants respond to external stimuli (including dormancy and forms of tropism) to enhance survival in an environment.
6.L.2.3 Summarize how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater, marine, forest, grasslands, desert, Tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive and/or create their own food through photosynthesis.
Vocabulary Needed: * Most of these words will be incorporated into foldables, projects, and graphic organizers throughout the unit
Soil, top soil, subsoil, parent material, bedrock, humus, loam, silt, clay, sand, soil horizon, nutrients, pedologist, autotroph, heterotroph, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, ATP, oxygen, carbon dioxide, glucose, organism, habitat, biotic factors, abiotic factors, species, population, community, ecosystems, ecology, limiting factors, carrying capacity, natural selection, adaptation, niche, adaptation,competition, predator, prey, producer, consumer, symbiosis, primary succession, secondary succession, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, scavenger, decomposer, food chain, food web, energy pyramid, biogeography, dispersal, biome, environment
In Social Studies
When most of us hear the phrase “Ancient Egypt,” we think of mummies and pyramids. Did you realize that the Great Pyramid of Giza was built about 4,600 years ago? The pyramid was already over 2,500 years old when Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt, was born!
In late March and April, students will be learning more about the history, daily life, and geography of Egypt - one of the first major river civilizations located in Africa. We will continue to focus on the GRAPES (geography, religion, achievements, politics, economics, and social structure) of this civilization. Students also will continue to work on mapping skills, vocabulary terms, and learn about a variety of innovations of Egypt, one of the most impressive civilizations of ancient times.
A major project for this unit focuses on research, writing and artwork as students will create an Ancient Pharaoh Wanted Poster.
Vocabulary and maps should be reviewed on a daily basis at the links below.
(Note: For vocabulary this month students will be writing out the entire vocabulary definition instead of filling in the blanks, along with creating a picture of the vocabulary word to strengthen understanding)
To learn more about Ancient Egypt, check out this web site.
6th Grade Contacts
Melissa Hodgkins, Science/Math- mhodgkin@chatham.k12.nc.us
Eryka Lackey, ELA- elackey2@chatham.k12.nc.us
Erin Lalley, Resource Teacher- elalley@chatham.k12.nc.us
Leopoldo Perez, Math- lperezpadilla@chatham.k12.nc.us
Malinda Quinn, Social Studies- mquinn@chatham.k12.nc.us
Jessica Silvia, ELA- jsilvia@chatham.k12.nc.us
Darlene Smith, Social Studies- smithdarlene@chatham.k12.nc.us
Melissa Tijerna, ESL- mtijerina@chatham.k12.nc.us
Christina Tomlin, ELA/Science- ctomlin@chatham.k12.nc.us
Isis Vargas, Science- ivargas2@chatham.k12.nc.us
School Contacts
Kengie Bass, Assistant Principal (6th Grade Principal Lead)- kbass@chatham.k12.nc.us
Amy Doty, Principal- adoty@chatham.k12.nc.us
Jennifer Hawkins, Data Manager (Attendance)- jlhawkins@chatham.k12.nc.us
Nicki Checkla, Counselor- ncheckla@chatham.k12.nc.us
Peter Scholle, Social Worker- pscholle@chatham.k12.nc.us