During the month of October, students explored the use of figurative language and dialect in Roald Dahl’s classic novel, The Witches.  They also learned text features of the drama genre and are “showing what they know” by writing a script for an emergency news broadcast.  These news broadcasts will be filmed and edited and viewed in class as the final project for the Witches novel.

In geography, students are wrapping up their unit on climate and land forms by planning a trip that would allow them to visit ten different land forms/water features and writing a fictional journal about what they saw.  Their journal can be a traditional written journal or it can take the form of a “vlog,” video log, or they can put their information into a Powerpoint presentation/prezi.  An example of one day of the trip might look like the following:

10/29/16  Today I visited the Grand Canyon! It looked like the whole Earth had been split open and the wound was a mile deep and many miles long. Layer upon layer of colorful rock could be seen all the way to the bottom of the canyon. The landscape was dry and baked- probably because it’s in a desert climate.

The travel journal/vlog/Powerpoint is due on Friday, 11/4.

Student’s first book review is due Friday 11/4.  Students can take a book review form anytime in class, or you can check you email for an electronic version of the form which was sent on September 16.

Tonight students should complete the map that they have been working on in class for the last two days.  This map should show their understanding of geographer’s tools by depicting their own imaginary land and including on their maps:

• A key with at least three symbols and two colors and what they stand for
• A compass rose showing the cardinal directions (bonus points for intermediate directions)
• A scale bar showing how many miles each inch on their map represents
• 2 lines of latitude and 2 lines of longitude– labelled. Remember, a latitude close to 0 would put you near the equator and your land would have a more tropical climate.  A higher latitude, closer to 90, would put you near one of the poles and create a harsher, colder climate.
• Include at least one neighboring country.

The test on Chapter One in Geography will be next Wednesday, October 5.  Students will receive a study guide tomorrow to assist them in preparing.

Students have been laying the foundations for their 6th grade year in ELA and Geography.

In ELA, we:

• Reviewed important roots and challenged students to notice words with these roots as they read their SSR books this year. They will get paid when they find them as part of our Roots Scavenger Hunt!
• Reviewed sentence structure and will practice constructing interesting, 6^th grade sentences (with subject, predicate, direct objects, prepositional phrases, adverbs, and adjectives) during a warm up each week.
• Reviewed literary genres and practiced identifying the genres of books in the classroom library.
• Reviewed paragraph structure and applied it to the writing of book reviews. These should be completed for the SSR books students complete.  They are rewarded with a hillbill for each one completed, but a minimum on two per quarter are required for their grade.  The first Book Review is due November 4.
• Reviewed Spelling and Vocabulary Strategies- roots, words within the word, dictionary skills, context clues in sentences. Students will identify the vocabulary we have learned all year in the context of the books we read.

Next up, a review of figurative language and literary devices that authors use in their writing.  Then we will identify these devices as they are used in the books we read over the course of the year.  We will be reading the novel, The Witches by Roald Dahl during the month of October.

In Geography, we have:

• Reviewed oceans, continents, and major parallels on the world map including the tropics, the Equator and the Prime Meridian.
• Discussed the five themes of geography and determined what theme different geo topics would fall under.
• Practiced using a grid system while playing Battleship. Students then applied this experience to using latitude and longitude coordinates to locate places on the world map.
• Used GPS coordinates to locate a hidden object in the school yard.
• Practiced logging in to the online geography book and reading a lesson and completing comprehension questions online.

Next up: Using Map Scales, Landforms/Water Features, Climates.

Silhouettes with haikus the students wrote about themselves are up!  Be sure to check them out at Parent Teacher Conferences on Thursday, October 13!

Welcome to the new 6th Grade Owls!  We are thrilled to have your child on our team and look forward to working with you on making this a very successful year, full of growth.  Students have each received a red vinyl pocket folder which they will use EVERY day to transport important papers to and from school. Please check the front pockets of that folder regularly to ensure you are receiving important communications.

Please save the green team letter which went home with students on the first day, as it has important information on how to contact us that will help you throughout the year.   That letter also contains information regarding supplies that your child should be bringing to school by next Tuesday.

Please consider following the team Facebook page where we share interesting links periodically:

• http://facebook.com/CMSOwls

You can also receive text message reminders on your phone.

• To receive academic (quiz/test etc.) reminders, text @k3f9k to 81010
• To receive homeroom/school-wide reminders (event dates, paperwork due, etc), text @teamowltext to 81010

                                         Our “Reading Graph” bulletin board at the end of the year. 🙂

Congratulations to Amanda S. on winning our annual Spelling and Vocabulary Bee!

Don’t miss our students in the news for their two service projects:

Project Shuffle Article

Wheelchair Cleaner Project Article

Wishing all of our Owls a wonderful summer, and all the best for 7th grade!

Students have chosen their last book of the year to complete in Literature Circles- either The Watsons go to Birmingham- 1963, Holes, Wringer, Ella Enchanted, True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Where the Red Fern Grows, or Chasing Vermeer.  The jobs have changed a bit, so here are updated descriptions.  Each group has created a calendar on their own, learning how to schedule their time and split a larger job (reading a 200+ page book) into chunks.  Students rotate through the jobs each time we have the Chromebook cart in class.  All books will be completed by June 12, and all blog jobs (along with comments on partners’ blogs) should be completed by the 14th of June.

Job Assignment dates (page numbers vary by book)

Job 1- May 20

Job 2- May 25

Job 3- May 27

Job 4- June 3

Job 5- June 7

Job 6- June 9

Job 7- June 13

Students should choose 10 of their vocabulary words (these can be found on quizlet.com- search hillbills, then choose I am Malala- if their list was forgotten at home).  They then need to personify these words by turning them into a person and writing a three sentence biography telling what the person says/does to make them live up to their name.  They should also draw a picture for each.

Example:

Mr. Cower–   Mr. Cower lives huddled in a corner since he is terrified of just about everything and everyone.  He trembles pretty much non-stop because of this fear, which actually burns a lot of calories and keeps him trim.  He has a crush on Ms. Scarlet, but nothing will probably ever come of it since Mr. Cower also has a phobia of the color red.

A student example from May 5:

Students are currently reading the non-fiction book, I am Malala.  This ties in with our Geography curriculum, as well as teaches current events, character education, and ELA topics like genre, vocabulary, reading strategies, etc.  As we go, students are again completing jobs in literature circles, which allows students to cooperatively practice their skills of vocabulary building, connecting text to past experiences, summarizing, and locating literary devices in text.  Students also get to interact online through blogs in a way similar to online college classes they may take in the future.  Once their assigned job is complete, each student responds to the posts on their partners’ blogs, adding to the conversation.  Job descriptions are as follows:

Blog assignment dates:

Students are currently reading the classic novel, Tuck Everlasting.  As we go, they are completing jobs in literature circles, which allows students to cooperatively practice their skills of vocabulary building, connecting text to past experiences, summarizing, and locating literary devices in text.  Students also get to interact online through blogs in a way similar to online college classes they may take in the future.  Once their assigned job is complete, each student responds to the posts on their partners’ blogs, adding to the conversation.  Job descriptions are as follows:

Blog assignment dates:

http://www.bustle.com/articles/29606-23-ways-the-phantom-tollbooth-prepared-us-for-adulthood

In ELA, we are currently reading Norton Juster’s classic, The Phantom Tollbooth, the story of Milo, who didn’t know what to do with himself.  By visiting the “Lands Beyond” he learns to appreciate the world around him with all of its sights, sounds, words and numbers.  Students are completing a packet as we go which explores homophones, synonyms, idioms, and the book’s many words of wisdom.  At the end of the book, they will complete a project using the words of wisdom to either

1) write fortunes to place in fortune cookies,

2) write a horoscope for each sign of the zodiac, or

3) write an advice column with three letters to and from students about their age with typical problems 6th graders face.

They will see examples in class.   All projects will be due Thursday, March 24, the day we will view the movie version of the book.  *Please note: If students do not complete their project on time, the fortune cookie option is no longer available to them.  The only day students can hand in fortune cookies as their project is March 24.