May 26th News

Information and Announcements

• Friday, May 26 - Dance and St. Theresa
• Monday, May 29 - No School 
• Tuesday, May 30 - Field Day, Trip to the Park
• Wednesday, May 31, 11:20 - Early Dismissal - Last Day of School

Religion:

This week students worked on and watched their Unit 5 project entitled Modern Day Prophets. Each student was challenged to take on a world problem and make it a better place. Ask your child to see his or her video presentation.

This summer is not to early to start working on service hours. In 7th grade, each student is required to complete 8 hours. Service forms can be found on the school website or by clicking here - service form.

Social Studies:

Students finished out the year with a test over the Aztecs. They have had quite the year traveling during the middle ages through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Central America. Encourage your child to keep up on current events over the summer. As we know, they will be our future leaders and decision makers.

Thank you for the opportunity to spend at least 82 minutes with your child each day. I enjoy getting to know each one and believe I learned as much from them as they learned from me. Enjoy your time with this this summer.

Reading: 

We spent this week reading non-fiction stories about courage. We used details to locate main ideas. Students also came up with a favorite quote about courage, and shared those with the class.

I am so pleased with the skills and growth the students have shown throughout the year. Please encourage your child to keep reading this summer!

Language Arts:  

On Friday, we assembled our It's My Life autobiographies. Please ask your student to share it with you! I encouraged them to keep this project and look back at them a few years down the road. They are a great way to take a snap-shot of who they are right now.

The writing skills of the students have really improved over the course of 6th grade. To keep that improvement going, it is a great idea to encourage your students to keep writing over the long summer break. This can be travel journals, diaries, creative short stories, anything! Any time that pen or pencil is moving, that is a good thing.

Math Period 1:

Students wrapped up the year with an end of the year test.  The test will not come home, but a test analysis sheet will come home with the summer packet (for those who ordered) today.  Please do not focus on the grade, but rather the skills that were missed and why.  Was it lack of understanding?  Was it basic fact error? Was it a decimal error?  The proficiency score on the progress report will help you to determine the level of understanding.  I would encourage mixed review of skills over the summer which is explained on the front sheet of summer packet.  I will check school emails over the summer, so please feel free to have your student email me if they have any questions.  

Math Period 4:

Students wrapped up the year with an end of the year test.  The test will not come home, but a test analysis sheet will come home with the summer packet (for those who ordered) today.  Please do not focus on the grade test, but rather the skills that were missed and why.  Was it lack of understanding?  Was it basic fact error? Was it a decimal error?  The proficiency score on the progress report will help you to determine the level of understanding.  

This group of students has grown an incredible amount with their understanding of math this year. Sometimes the score doesn't always appear this way due to basic fact errors or a simple mistake but trust me they have done well and will continue to grow with their confidence and understanding. They have build a good foundation that will continue into the upcoming years.  I would encourage mixed review of skills over the summer which is explained on the front sheet of summer packet.  I will check school emails over the summer, so please feel free to have your student email me if they have any questions.  

Math Period 5:    

Students wrapped up the year with an end of the year test.  The test will not come home, but a test analysis sheet will come home with the summer packet (for those who ordered) today.  Please do not focus on the grade test, but rather the skills that were missed and why.  Was it lack of understanding?  Was it basic fact error? Was it a decimal error?  The proficiency score on the progress report will help you to determine the level of understanding.  I would encourage mixed review of skills over the summer which is explained on the front sheet of summer packet.  I will check school emails over the summer, so please feel free to have your student email me if they have any questions.  

Science:

The students spent time building and launching rockets this week.  Ask your child to share some videos of the launching with you.  I hope to share some soon, as well.  The end of the year test was also completed today, hopefully, the students will realize how much they have learned over the year.  It has been a great year with your children, and I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a part of their education.  I look forward to seeing what the future holds for each one of them.  

May 19th News

Information and Announcements

• Wednesday, May 24: 8:45 all school liturgy - Seniors Come Home!
• Friday, May 26: Mission Dress Down Day
• Friday, May 26: all reading minutes and 2 AR tests are due for third trimester

Religion:

This week in religion, the students took their final quiz of the year over the life of John the Baptist and highlights of the entire year. Please expect those quizzes to come home after everyone has had a chance to take it. Grades have already been posted to PowerSchool.

Later in the week the students began considering how they would be a modern day prophet. They were asked to consider how each one of them is going to prepare and improve the world for the return of Christ. Students were asked to pick a topic that aligns with Catholic church teachings, research it, and decide how they were going to spread their message. This project is due Tuesday evening. We will spend the final days of class watching those presentations.

Social Studies:

The students began the week in social studies with a test over the Aztecs. Then we were on to the Incas. We will spend the next week studying the Incas with a test on Friday, May 26th. The format of the test is -

• Vocab (fill in the blank - no word bank) - 4 questions/8 points
• Multiple choice - 16 questions/16 points
• Short answer- 1 question/6 points

Reading: 

This week, we focused on finding the main idea in paragraphs. There was a 10-point quiz over this on Friday. During this last week of class, we will be reading non-fiction short stories about courage.

On Friday, May 26 all reading minutes are due at 3:20. Students should have a total of 1800 minutes for the third trimester (50 possible points).
Students also need to have taken 2 AR tests during the third trimester since February 18 (25 possible points).
These will be the last graded assessments for reading!

Language Arts:  

My Music Days will wrap up on Tuesday. The students chose some amazing songs to share with the classes! We will then be finishing the autobiographies as the week comes to a close. Chapters 1-5 final drafts were due on Friday. Those chapters will be the last graded assignments for language arts this year! 

Math Period 1:

We completed a short unit on the area of triangles, parallelograms, and complex polygons.  There will be a short quiz on Monday over these skills.  The students will be given class time on Tuesday and Wednesday to review for the end of year tests in math and science.  The math end of the year test will be on Thursday, May 25th.  

Math Period 4:

We have spent a few days reviewing Chapter 5 skills.  In Google Classroom the students can find the test format and a review packet with the answers.  I would encourage the students to use this packet to prepare for the unit test on Monday, May 22nd.  We did not cover lesson 5.8, so the students should not look at that part of the packet. 

The students will be given class time on Tuesday and Wednesday to review for the end of year tests in math and science.   The math end of the year test will be on Thursday, May 25th.  

Math Period 5:    

We completed a short unit on the area of triangles, parallelograms, and complex polygons.  There will be a short quiz on Monday over these skills.  The students will be given class time on Tuesday and Wednesday to review for the end of year tests in math and science.  The math end of the year test will be on Thursday, May 25th.  

Science:

The students will be given an assessment on Monday over the unit on Motion and Forces. I would encourage the students to use their study guide packet to prepare for the assessment.  The test format is in Google Classroom.  We also began to build rockets this week.  We will review how the laws of motion apply to the flight of a rocket.  Our plan is to launch the rockets on Thursday and Friday of next week.  Start praying for nice weather-no rain or wind!

The end of the year test in science will be on Friday, May 26th.  We have discussed that the purpose is to assess the "big ideas" of 6th grade science-not small details.  The test will be all multiple choice except they will need to write the steps of the scientific method.  It is not meant to be a stressful situation, but rather a means of the students realizing how much they have learned over the year. 

May 12th News

Information and Announcements

• Wednesday, May 17th: Talent Show  (afternoon, time to be announced)
• Thursday, May 18th: All library books due

Religion:

This week in religion, the students took a quiz over everything they learned about Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Those quizzes should have come home on Thursday. We then started our final chapter. This chapter is about John the Baptist and his life. This multiple choice quiz is worth 15 points. For this quiz, nine questions are taken from the chapter notes, one question is taken from the reading assignment, and five questions are related to the chapter review. There are no dates included on the quiz. On Wednesday we will start our final project. This project challenges each student to pick a topic to be a modern day prophet about. Then asks how they will spread their message.

May is a month where we honor Mary. In addition to the May crowning mass, we also are praying a rosary each week in class.

Social Studies:

This week in social studies, we finished studying the Aztec culture. This was a very short four section chapter. Tests over this information will be next Tuesday. The test format is-

• Fill in the blank vocab (no word bank) - 7 questions/7 points
• Multiple choices - 13 questions/13 points
• Timeline - 4 questions/10 points
• Visual/Short Answer - 2 parts/12 points

Our final chapter of the year will over the Incas. We will begin that chapter on Tuesday and hope to have some interactive actives to reinforce what they are learning from their textbook in the final days.

Reading: 

This coming week, students will watch a PBS documentary on the dust bowl to give a visual representation of the devastation of the times. We will then spend time on finding the main idea in reading passages. As the year comes to a close, we will focus on reading strategies and non-fiction writing.

Language Arts:  

The It's My Life autobiography continues with chapters 5 and 6 this week. Chapter 5 details their best memory, while chapter 6 is when students choose a favorite song, share the music and lyrics, and then analyze what they think the song means. It should be a fun week!

Math Period 1:

The students will have a short assessment over coordinate planes and graphing linear functions this Monday.  This week we will practice calculating the area of polygons.  The following week, May 22-26th, we will be finishing up with end of the year testing.  I will give the students more information this week.  

Math Period 4:

This week the students will practice finding percents of a number using three strategies (mentally, decimal, and fraction).  This is the last section of this chapter that we will cover.  We will spend a couple days reviewing and test will be Monday, May 22nd.  The week of May 22nd, we will review and have an end of the year test.  I will give the students more information this week. 

Math Period 5:    

The students will have a short assessment over coordinate planes and graphing linear functions this Monday.  This week we will practice calculating the area of polygons.  The following week, May 22-26th, we will be finishing up with end of the year testing.  I will give the students more information this week.  

Science:

The students will have a short quiz over motion and forces on Monday.  They should study their packet of notes.  This week we will learn about Newton's three laws of motion and begin to build a rocket. The students will work in pairs to build and launch the rockets.   

May 5th News

Information and Announcements

• Friday, May 5: Service hours are due, 3:20pm
• Tuesday, May 9: Spirit Wear
• Friday, May 12: No School

Religion:

This week in religion the students took a quiz over everything they learned about Isaiah. Please look for these quizzes to come home after everyone has had a chance to take the quiz. Then, we learned about the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. We discussed how they lead the Israelites, also know as the Jews, through the period of time known as the exile. There will be a quiz over this information next Wednesday. The quiz format will be as follows-

• Fill in the blank (no word bank) (6 questions/12 points)
• Identify the prophet (12 points)

Thank you to everyone's (students and parents) efforts to complete the required service hours. I know it is a lot of work. But hopefully, you and your family had a positive experience helping our community and making it a better place.

Social Studies:

This week in social studies, we finished studying the Mayan culture. Tests over this information will come home after everyone has had an opportunity to take it. Next week, we will begin studying the Aztecs. This is a very short chapter where students will focus on the images related to Aztec society. The test over this information will be some time the week of May 12th.

Reading: 

Students will start the week with the final test for Out of the Dust on Monday. They have a review document in Google classroom to help them prepare, as well as their completed study guides. There will be no vocab next week.

Next week we will also be doing the final FAST reading assessments of the year. This includes comprehension as well as fluency. 

Language Arts:  

We are working on the autobiography unit called It's My Life. If your student hasn't already, they will be asking you all about their early childhood days. We discussed in class that not all parents have great memories, or had the time to fill out baby books (like Mrs. Umstead didn't). So...just answer the best you can! This is designed to bring back memories, not stress anyone out, truly! When finished with the unit, the students will have a keepsake that I hope the whole family will enjoy. 

Math Period 1:

The students completed Chapter 5 with a test this week.  I encourage you to let your child practice these skills (finding tips, finding discounts, sales tax, etc) whenever applicable.  We will move on to Chapter 7 Coordinate Planes.  This will be a short chapter with an assessment as early as Monday, May 15th.  

Math Period 4:   

The students have a quiz on Monday over Chapter 5 sections 1-3.  There is a review sheet on Google Classroom.  We worked these problems in class on Friday.  Next week we will spend time on changing between fractions, decimals, and percents.  Our goal is to get through Chapter 5 with a test on May 22nd.  There will be an end of the year assessment, as well.  

Math Period 5:    

The students completed Chapter 5 with a test this week.  I encourage you to let your child practice these skills (finding tips, finding discounts, sales tax, etc) whenever applicable.  We will move on to Chapter 7 Coordinate Planes.  This will be a short chapter with an assessment as early as Monday, May 15th.  

Science:

The students should be bringing home the test over rocks for you to review and sign.  We will turn in our books and do a short unit on forces and motion.  Our goal is to get through Newton's Laws of Motion and finish the unit with making and launching of rockets.  There will be an end of the year assessment in science.  The test will contain the big ideas from each unit of study.  

April 28th News

Information and Announcements

• Friday, May 5: Service hours are due, 3:00pm

Religion:

This week in religion we discussed the minor projects Elijah and Amos and the major prophet Isaiah. Students wrote newspaper stories about Amos and created action hero drawings related to Elijah. Next week we will continue our study by creating a diary and in it reflecting on Bible verses from the book of Isaiah. The chapter 22 quiz on Wednesday is over the key events in Isaiah's life. In this 14 point quiz, students will be asked to fill in the blank with the appropriate term that describes Isaiah, his life and the book in the Bible that relates to him. There is no word bank provided.

Later in the week we will begin our study of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Please don't forget that each student is required to turn in 6 service hours by Friday, May 5th at 3:20. If a student does not have their service hours turn in by that time he or she would receive a late slip each day.

Social Studies:

This week we began studying the Mayas. In this chapter, students will study the Mayas and what led to the rise, flourishing, and fall. We started the week with a role play where students began to learn about different levels of the Mayan social pyramid. As the week went on students began using the sacred round and Mayan calendar to answer questions.

We will continue studying the culture next week and will complete the chapter test on Thursday, May 4th. The test format will be as follows -

• Matching vocab - 8 questions/8 points
• Multiple choice - 16 questions/16 points
• Short Answer - 1 question/6 points
• Graphic Organizer - 5 parts/15 points

Reading: 

We looked at the music of folk singer Woody Guthrie this week, and how his experiences during the Great Depression were expressed in his songs. Students will try their hand at song writing, too, using Guthrie's Dust Bowl Blues as an example.

We will finish the class novel next week. We will take a final test over the book, then watch a Ken Burns PBS documentary on the Dust Bowl. Ask your student what some of the causes of the Dust were, and how the dust affected daily life.

Language Arts:  

We wrapped up poetry this week, ending with a final test on Monday. We then spent some time on grammar, specifically hyphens, dashes, parentheses and apostrophes. There will be a 30-point test over this material on Tuesday. We did an in-class review with a study guide on Friday. Students should use this as their guide to study over the weekend.

Math Period 1:

We have been working on three strategies for finding the percent of a number.  This includes mentally calculating tips and discounts, changing percents to decimals such as 6% sales tax, and changing % to fraction such as 25% off would be same as 1/4 off.  Please encourage your child to use these skills to calculate tips and sale items.  On Thursday and Friday, we practiced finding the whole of a number when the part is given. There will be a test next Wednesday, May 3rd over Chapter 5 skills.  

Math Period 4:   

We completed Chapter 4 Fractions by practicing word problems.  Wow, these kids have come a long ways with the understanding of fractions.  Look for the test to come home over the weekend for you to review and sign.  The next unit will be ratios, decimals, and percents.  The first quiz of Chapter 5 is tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 5th.

Math Period 5:    

We have been working on three strategies for finding the percent of a number.  This includes mentally calculating tips and discounts, changing percents to decimals such as 6% sales tax, and changing % to fraction such as 25% off would be same as 1/4 off.    Please encourage your child to use these skills to calculate tips and sale items.  On Thursday and Friday, we practiced finding the whole of a number when the part is given. There will be a test next Wednesday, May 3rd over Chapter 5 skills.  

Science:

The students reviewed igneous and sedimentary rocks this week, and we spent time learning about coral reefs and metamorphic rocks.  Next week we will spend a couple of days reviewing the three types of rocks.  The test is scheduled for Thursday, May 4th.  

April 21st News

Information and Announcements

• Wednesday, April 26: All school liturgy, 8:45 am
• Friday, April 28: Mission Dress Down Day
• Friday, April 28: April BINGO cards / Book marks are due (600 reading minutes)

Religion:

This week in religion the students worked on and turned in twitter pages about three of the people they studied in Unit 4. It was fun to see the students get creative in their picture selection and tweets as they demonstrated their knowledge. Ask to see what they accomplished.

Next the students began the final unit of the year. Here we will study the prophetic books. The Chapter 21 quiz will be a 14 point quiz on Wednesday over the chapter's key terms and knowing the difference between Elijah's story and Amos' story.

Social Studies:

This week students finished their study of Muslim history, beliefs and innovations and adaptations. Next we will move to central America and study the Mayans. Specifically students will learn what led to the rise, flourishing, and fall of the Mayan civilization. During this chapter students will use a sacred round to learn more about the Mayan culture.

Reading: 

Students took a quiz over the next section of the class novel. Those were returned today, and do not need signatures. We are nearing the end of the novel! This coming week we will have the final vocab quiz of words from the novel on Friday.

This week in reading, we will look at the Blues, and how that music was especially important during the Dust Bowl. We will learn about Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, and how their life experiences shaped the music they made. Then the students will write their own blues song!

On Friday, students will need to turn in 600 reading minutes on their BINGO cards or book marks, whichever they are using. Those are due at 3:20.

Language Arts:  

On Monday, students will have the final test over the poetry unit. Students have two documents in google classroom to help them prepare for the test. We also did a review in class on Thursday. The test will be 60 points. Next week, students will also be getting back their poetry writing rubric, which will cover all the poems they wrote over the past few weeks. That rubric is 100 points.

We will complete a short grammar unit over dashes, hyphens, parentheses and apostrophes next.

Math Period 1:

The students worked on unit rates this week.  I would encourage you to let your child use this skill while shopping by letting him/her find the better buy of an item with the use of the calculator.  Next week the students will find the percentage of a given number and find the whole when the percentage is given. 

Math Period 4:   

The students will spend a couple of days solving word problems with fractions. Most of the students did a nice job on the last quiz, but I will continue to encourage a few of the students to practice the basic facts daily.  We will spend a couple of days reviewing the skills from Chapter 4 and the test is scheduled for Thursday, April 27th.  

Math Period 5:    

The students worked on unit rates this week.  I would encourage you to let your child use this skill while shopping by letting him/her find the better buy of an item with the use of the calculator.  Next week the students will find the percentage of a given number and find the whole when the percentage is given. 

Science:

The students observed and classified igneous rocks this week. Next week we will spend time with sedimentary rocks and coral reefs.  There will a quiz Wednesday, April 26th over the first three sections of chapter 5 (Classifying Rock, Igneous Rock, Sedimentary Rock)

April 14th News

Information and Announcements

• Sunday, April 16: Easter
• Monday, April 17: No School
• Friday, April 21: Civic Center Field Trip

Religion:

This week in religion the students finished the 4th unit. For this 66 point unit project students are working on twitter pages for three of the Old Testament figures that we studied. This is a fun way for the students to demonstrate their knowledge. Next week we will begin studying the major and minor Old Testament prophets.

I am so proud of the students and their efforts during Stations of the Cross prayer service. I am so proud of them and I am certain you are too. Special thanks to Ms. Graf, Mrs. McLuen, Mrs. Umstead and Mrs. Westholm for all of their efforts in preparing for and presenting the Stations of the Cross.

Social Studies:

This week we continued to study Muslim inventions and discoveries. The Chapter 9 social studies test is scheduled for Thursday, April 20th. This will end our Muslim unit. The format of the test is as follows

• Vocab terms - 6 questions/12 points (I define, you provide the word no word bank)
• Multiple choice - 14 questions/14 points
• Essay - 1 question/12 points (students will have a choice)

Reading: 

Students continue reading our class novel Out of the Dust. Next week, we will have a quiz over Summer-Winter 1935 on Thursday, April 20. We will review for the quiz on Wednesday. We will have the regular weekly vocab quiz on Friday over page 8 words.

Language Arts:  

We are nearing the completion of our poetry unit. Students finished their final poems this week, ending on the sonnet, a very challenging form of writing! Next week, students will get all their poems back, and they will bind them into poetry book collections. Students will then do a "book walk" where they will get to read their classmates' work. Look for those collections to come home, along with their grading rubrics. Please take some time to read over their books - a lot of work went into them, and the students did a fantastic job.

We will have the final test over poetry on Thursday, April 20. This will cover all the forms of poems and figurative language we learned about. Students will get a study guide, and we will review for the test on Wednesday in class.

After finishing the poetry unit, we will focus on grammar, specifically dashes, hyphens and parentheses.

Math Period 1:

The students are working on calculating unit rates and unit costs.  We had a great discussion about when these skills are used in everyday situations.  There is a quiz tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday, April 19th over sections 5.1-5.3 in the book.  Next, we will move on to percents. 

Math Period 4:   

The students are working on the division of fractions.  We used fractions strips to develop understanding.  There are also a couple videos posted on Google Classroom for students to view.  We will spend a couple days reviewing and a quiz over computation of fractions is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, April 19th. 

Math Period 5:    

The students are working on calculating unit rates and unit costs.  We had a great discussion about when these skills are used in everyday situations.  There is a quiz tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday, April 19th over sections 5.1-5.3 in the book.  Next, we will move on to percents. 

Science:

The students took a test on Thursday to assess understanding of minerals.  These tests should be coming home over the weekend for you to review and sign.  Next week we will begin Chapter 5 Rocks.  We are fortunate to have several large boxes of rocks for students to observe and learn about various rock classification during this unit.