November 18th News

Information and Announcements

• Tuesday, November 22nd: PBIS school reward, students may wear athletic wear 
• Wednesday, November 23rd: No school, teacher professional development

Religion:

This week the students worked hard completing their unit 1 newspaper projects. They are due tonight. Please have your child show you their hard work. After Thanksgiving we will begin the second unit and learning about Abraham and his family.

The 6th grade will be leading the advent service on Monday, November 28 at 8:40am.

Social Studies:

This week the students finished learning about the impact of the Roman Catholic Church on the middle ages. Please look for their tests to come home next week. We have started our next chapter and the study of medieval towns. In this chapter students will be collecting props and creating a three minute skit about different aspects of life in medieval towns.

Reading: 

We are nearing the end of the class novel, Where the Red Fern Grows. After finishing the novel, we will take a final test and then watch the movie as a treat.The test will not be until after Thanksgiving break. There will be no vocabulary until we start our next novel.

Language Arts:  

The work has begun on writing the biographies for the elders and the officers. The students are so excited to do their best; it adds a whole new dimension of learning when the teacher is not the intended subject, and real-life experiential learning is taking place. Be sure to ask your student about what "theme" their book will have, and what section they are working on in the biography. The final products will be amazing.

Our return visits to Bishop Drumm and McAuley Terrace will be on Monday, Dec. 12 from 10-11 am. The officers will return on Friday, Dec. 16 at 2:30 pm.

Be sure to check out the Nov. 27 parish bulletin for an article that will appear about our Seasons of Life project. 

Math Period 1: 

The students completed Chapter 6 Integers and Rational numbers. Look for this test to come home on Monday to be reviewed and signed.  We will begin Chapter 2 Expressions and Equations next week.

Math Period 4:   

The students completed the decimal computation test on Tuesday.  Many of the students needed to continue to practice dividing decimals.  This is a skill they must have at this point, so we didn't move on until more students demonstrated the ability to do this skill independently.  I will reassess dividing of decimals on Monday for one last time.  After this, I will work with individuals who need more practice. We will begin the chapter on integers and rational numbers after Thanksgiving Break.  We will use counter chips and number lines to develop the understanding of integers.  

Math Period 5:    

The students completed Chapter 6 Integers and Rational numbers. Look for this test to come home on Monday to be reviewed and signed.  We will begin Chapter 2 Expressions and Equations next week.

Science:

In science the students practiced measuring length, mass, and volume of objects.  It is important that the students understand the unit used to measure length, mass, and volume. We did complete a content frame, which is an excellent study sheet for this chapter. We began discussing density and will measure density of objects next week.  The students should be able to explain that the amount of a substance does not affect its density. After Thanksgiving Break we will review the chapter and the tentative test date is Thursday, December 1st.

November 11th News

Information and Announcements

• Wednesday, Nov. 16: School liturgy 8:45
• Friday, Nov. 18: End of Trimester 1 and Mission Awareness Day

Religion:

This week the students finished studying the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. Students summarized the stories and as a class we discussed how we could apply the lessons of these stories to our lives. Students then took a quiz over this information. That quiz came home on Thursday.

With the end of Chapter 4 comes the end of the unit. Students are now working hard to demonstrate their knowledge of the first unit by completing on an online newspaper project. This project requires students to write newspaper stories, blurbs, and an advertisement about topics discussed. They will have five days of class time to complete this project. The project is due the evening of Friday, November 18.

Social Studies:

This week in social studies students continued studying the impact the Catholic Church had on medieval Europe. There will be a test over Chapter 3 on Wednesday, November 16. There will be a review session on Tuesday, November 15 from 3:25-3:45.  The test format is as follows-

Fill in the blank vocab - 8 questions/16 points

Multiple choice - 11 questions/11 points

Fill in the Blank - 1 diagram/15 points

Short answer - 4 questions/8 points (choice of questions)

Essay - 1 question/9 points (choice)

Reading: 

We continue to read Where the Red Fern Grows as a class. We are finished with vocabulary for November, so those lists and quizzes will resume in December. 

2000 minutes and 2 Accelerated Reader quizzes are due at 3:20 on November 18 (end of trimester 1).

Language Arts:  

What a week! The students were absolutely wonderful in their interview settings this week. Mrs. Umstead's homeroom visited Bishop Drumm, Mrs. Westholm's homeroom visited McAuley Terrace, and Ms. Ryan's homeroom were visited by 10 local peace officers. The 6th graders were professional, kind and allowed Christ to work through them to talk to these special people. A big thank you to the parents who attended and helped photograph and keep the conversations flowing. Channel 13 did a story on us, and it was on the 5 and 6 o'clock news broadcasts. The kids and officers were stars!

Now the work starts - students will take all the information gathered and compile it into a biography with their partners. We will return in mid-December to our residents and officers to present the biographies and celebrate their lives and the hard work of our students. Amazing job, SFA!

Math Period 1: 

The students took a quiz over computing integers on Friday. Look for these to come home on Monday. The results were outstanding.  The students were introduced to rational numbers and will practice ordering these numbers on number lines.  The last skill of the chapter is graphing inequalities.  There will be a Chapter 2 Test tentatively scheduled for Thursday, November 17th.

Math Period 4:   

The students have spent several days on dividing decimals.  They need to remember that when there is a decimal divisor they need to re-write the problem.  I have been very pleased with the overall growth of this class. The students' assignment over the weekend was a review worksheet.  The test format is posted in google classroom as well as a review game.  We have been discussing time management when taking the test. Most problems will take less than a minute if completed correctly. Therefore, if they are spending more than a minute or two they need to skip the problem and move on.  We have practiced this in class,  The test is Tuesday, November 15th.

Math Period 5:    

The students took a quiz over computing integers on Friday. Look for these to come home on Monday. The results were outstanding.  The students were introduced to rational numbers and will practice ordering these numbers on number lines.  The last skill of the chapter is graphing inequalities.  There will be a Chapter 2 Test tentatively scheduled for Thursday, November 17th.

Science:

The students spent the week working on the volume of objects. They viewed videos explaining the meaning of volume and how to calculate.  The students then practiced finding the volume of liquids, regular shaped, and irregular shaped objects in the classroom.  The students should understand that length is one dimensional, area is two dimensional, and volume three-dimensional.  The students do have notes to study for length, mass, and volume. On Monday, we will further organize these notes using a method called a content frame.  There will be a quiz on Wednesday, November 16 that will include a written page and stations. The content frame would be a great study sheet.

November 4th News

Information and Announcements

• Wednesday, Nov. 9: Mrs. Umstead's and Mrs. Westholm's homerooms visit Bishop Drumm and McAuley Terrace from 9:50-11:45 am.
• Thursday, Nov. 10: Students are encouraged to wear blue shirts and uniform bottoms to support our police officers!
• Thursday, Nov. 10: Ms. Ryan's homeroom meets with police officers in the Serra Room, 1-2 pm.

Religion:

This week the students studied the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah and the Ark. Next week, we will learn about the Tower of Babel and talk about how we can apply the lessons of these stories to our lives. The sixteen point quiz on Wednesday, November 9th will be eight fill in the blank questions. Students will have to identify the key people in the four stories mentioned above. Then, they will demonstrate all that they learned this unit with a newspaper project.

Social Studies:

This week students began learning about the impact the Roman Catholic Church had on the Middle Ages. Students have reviewed the organizational structure of the Church and learned that at that time the Church was the center of their lives as they attended mass daily. Next week, we will continue talking about the architecture and art of the Church as well as its impact on education.

On Friday, we were blessed to have Ximena Pinto from Guatemala present to the class. She is visiting St. Francis on her summer break.

Reading: 

We continue to read Where the Red Fern Grows as a class. Vocab lists and quizzes continue on Fridays. 

Language Arts:  

Students were all assigned a community member to interview and a partner for Seasons of Life this week. Thanks to all the parents who volunteered to help out on the visit days (I will send a separate email to those parents with more details). This coming week, on Thursday, Nov. 10 students are encouraged to wear blue shirts and uniform bottoms in support of police officers who will be visiting with my 6th period class. 

Next week's schedule for Seasons of Life:

Wednesday, Nov. 9: after school liturgy, Mrs. Umstead and Mrs. Westholm's homerooms will travel by bus to McAuley Terrace Independent Living and Bishop Drumm Nursing Center. We will arrive around 10:20, and stay for approximately one hour. We will then return to SFA by 11:40-45.

Thursday, Nov. 10: Ms. Ryan's homeroom will be meeting with a group of police officers in the Serra Room from 1:00 until 2:00 pm. 

Math Period 1: 

The students took a quiz over adding and subtracting of integers. The students practiced stating a word problem either using temperature, money, or red/yellow counters to make sense of what they are doing on each problem.  We did multiplication on Friday and will do division on Monday. There will be a quiz on Thursday, November 10th assessing the computation of all integers.

Math Period 4:   

The students have been working on the division of decimals. They are doing an outstanding job!  Your child should realize that if there is a decimal in the divisor he/she will need to re-write the problem by changing the divisor and the dividend.  More or less 1/2 = 10/20 , as long as we change both numbers by multiplying by the same (10 or 100), the answer is the same.  We will spend time reviewing next week and the test is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, November 15th.  

Math Period 5:    

The students took a quiz over adding and subtracting of integers. The students practiced stating a word problem either using temperature, money, or red/yellow counters to make sense of what they are doing on each problem.  We did multiplication on Friday and will do division on Monday. There will be a quiz on Thursday, November 10th assessing the computation of all integers.

Science:

We talked about mass and weight this week in science. The students should realize that mass and weight mean different things, but on Earth, the measurement will be the same. We practiced finding the mass of objects using triple beam balances.  There are a couple of websites posted in Google Classroom for students to practice this skill.  There will be a quiz on Monday over metric conversions.  Thattquiz.org is a great website to practice for this quiz. Next, we will learn about volume.