Weekly Update Oct. 27-31

Announcements:

-The delivery for the Washington D.C. fundraiser is tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 28th.  The students will need to pick up their orders tomorrow after school. As a reminder, they are responsible for getting the products to their customers.  If they can not deliver right away, they need to keep their products where they will not spoil or become damaged.

-Our field trip is this week, Wednesday! Your child will need to dress in warm clothing with a jacket and closed-toed shoes. He/she will also need to bring a sack lunch if he/she is not receiving a packed lunch from the cafeteria.

-Gibraltar Elementary is working with the Door of Life Food Pantry in Sister Bay and the Door County Community Resource Program Feed My People to help stock the Food Pantry shelves with items for local families. Starting November 3rd to November 21st, we will have a food we will have a food/personal care item drive to help local families in our area. Each grade level will be responsible for collecting a certain item. Please, if you are able, send that item to school to have your child put in the appropriate container in their classroom. There will also be a container in the lobby of the school to collect additional donations.  6th graders are responsible for bringing in peanut butter. Thank you for your support!

-Parent/Teacher Conferences are right around the corner! If you forgot your scheduled time or are unable to make your appointed time, please email me. I look forward to seeing you all again November 6th!

-On October 30th, Katie McKy visits Gibraltar to perform and teach.  Katie is the author of the picture book, PUMPKIN TOWN, which is the story of some wayward seeds and some boys who don’t quite tell the truth, with runaway consequences.  It has sold more than 900,000 copies around the world and is a great way to talk to your kids about honesty.  She is also the author of WOLF CAMP, which is her book about unconditional love, a love that’s tested when a girl comes home from a summer camp run by wolves.  Katie also wrote IT ALL BEGAN WITH A BEAN, which is a silly story about the Big Bang of Flatulence and was given an excellent rating by School Library Journal. A form will be sent home this week if your child would like a signed and personalized copy of Pumpkin Town, Wolf Camp, or It All Began With a Bean.  Katie will mail the books upon her return to Maine.

-Please see the following YMCA Fall Program list. This will be sent home with your child on Monday.

-Here is more information regarding Fitness Fridays sponsored by FOG!You will also receive a copy of this on Monday.

What are we learning???

Math:
This week, we will be finishing up Unit 2! Students will be working on dividing large whole numbers and decimals. We will also be converting numbers from standard notation to scientific notation. I will be putting websites up on the Student Link page for additional practice with these skills. The test for Unit 2 will be Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 4th-5th. They will be given a study guide this Friday to prepare for the test and answers to the study guide will be handed out Monday, Nov. 3rd.

Science:
The students definitely stepped up to the challenge of our Scientific Method Summative Project! Presentations began last Friday and will continue on Monday. Tuesday, we will look at the results of both classes and each child will receive a list of our findings that compare the quality of various brands. I will encourage them to share this list with you so you, as a consumer, will benefit from their hard work! The students shared with me that they really enjoyed the independence of being able to choose what products they would test and how they would test it.

ELA:
Spelling - Since we will not have our usual spelling time on Friday due to the early release, we will test on Thursday, Oct. 30. For this week, students only need to complete the sentence activity and ONE additional activity of their choice. Usually they are required to complete the sentence activity and TWO additional activities. These activities will be due the day of the test, Thursday, Oct. 30th. Thank you for your support!

Writing - On Friday, the students had an opportunity to share their personal narrative stories with the
class. Monday, the students that have not had an opportunity to share will do so in small groups. We will then begin work on a Patriot's Pen assignment. Patriot's Pen is an essay writing contest sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). This year, the theme is "Why I appreciate America's veterans". Through this assignment, students will be researching the theme, communicating their gained knowledge through their writing, and developing their essay in an easy-to-understand format. Your child will be coming home with a brochure explaining the assignment in more detail. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Reading - The students have been challenged to discern why an author may choose to have multiple narrators in a story and how the different narrators develop the story. We have also looked closely at how characters respond or change as a plot unfolds. Students then use these skills during their DEAR time in class.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us

Weekly Update Oct. 20-24

Announcements:

-We are getting ready for our first field trip of the year on October 29th! The entire 6th grade will be headed to Schopf Dairy Farm to enjoy a corn maze and learn about corn production. A big thanks to FOG for organizing and sponsoring this field trip! We will be on our trip from 8:00-1:00pm on October 29th.


What are we learning???

Math:
This week, we will be covering operations with decimals: adding, multiplying by powers of 10, and multiplying basic decimals.

Science:
This week, students have been working very hard on their science projects! It has been very neat to see all the different directions students have taken their project! Presentations will begin on Friday of this week.

ELA:
Spelling - Please continue to help remind your child to complete the 3 activities required each week. They all have their own WTW notebook where the activities must be completed. Thank you for your support!

Writing - The students have finished their second draft (typed) of their stories. They are self-assessing their writing and will be doing last minute edits on it this week. We are aiming for THIS Friday to have our stories complete!

Reading - The students have done an excellent job identifying why authors may change narrators throughout the story through our read aloud of Wonder. This week, we are looking closely at story structure, specifically how a story unfolds in a series of episodes.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us

Weekly Update Oct. 13-17

Announcements:

-October Scholastic orders will be going home Tuesday (Oct. 14th). I highly recommend that you order through the Scholastic website. The orders are processed and shipped much more quickly as well! Student orders are due October 20th.

-We are getting ready for our first field trip of the year on October 29th! The entire 6th grade will be headed to Schopf Dairy Farm to enjoy a corn maze and learn about corn production. A big thanks to FOG for organizing and sponsoring this field trip! The permission form and an invitation will be coming home Tuesday (Oct. 14th) with your student. Permission forms are due back to class by October 20th. If you are interested in being a chaperone for this trip, please complete the bottom portion of the form being sent home.

-On Tuesday, your child will also be sent home with an informational sheet about healthy lunches and a newspaper article about fire safety! Lots of take home sheets this week! :)


What are we learning???

Math:
This week, Mrs. McCarty will introduce our class to an excellent math site called Kakooma! We will also be diving in to Unit 2 which will cover operations with whole numbers and decimals. This week, we will be looking closely at reading/writing large and small numbers.

Science:
On Tuesday, students will be introduced to our Scientific Method Summative project. Directions will be handed out. Please go over this with your child. They will have work time this week for the planning phase.

Social Studies:
We have moved on to Ancient Mesopotamia (The Land Between Two Rivers). Students will learn about the development of social classes, technology, and will be entertained by the stories of Gilgamesh.

ELA:
Spelling - The students have completed their first week of Words Their Way. It was definitely a learning curve, but they did very well with it! Please help remind your child to complete the 3 activities required each week. They all have their own WTW notebook where the activities must be completed. Thank you for your support!

Writing - We are in one of the final phases of our personal narrative stories! The students had to do some serious thinking this week to figure out what their stories were REALLY about. This coming week, we will be practicing additional editing techniques and finishing a second draft of our stories!


Reading - We spent the majority of last week really focusing on author's purpose and point of view.
This week, they will review point of view with a mini project. The project will be introduced on Tuesday. Through my conferring with students this week, students will continue to set reading goals for this semester.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us

Weekly Update Oct. 6-10

Announcements:

NEW Announcements:

-Please be aware that progress reports will be sent home on Wednesday. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.


What are we learning???

Math:
Our first unit of math in 6th grade has come to an end! We will be spending Monday reviewing for the 2-day test. We will begin the test on Tuesday and conclude it on Wednesday.

Science:
This week, we will review the importance of taking accurate measurements as well as how to use the metric system. The students will also tie what they've been learning in math about graphing data to science through various activities. This will lead up to a larger project that I will be introducing next week.

ELA: Spelling - The students have concluded their 4th week of spelling! In efforts to meet the need of EACH student, Mr. Burress and I are excited to announce that we will be rolling out a new spelling program titled Words Their Way. Through this program, students learn the spelling patterns, root words, and so much more! We will be giving two lessons on their word lists each week and then they will be assessed on them each Friday. Similar to their spelling activities, they will have 3 required activities to complete each week with their assigned words. A letter was sent home Monday with more information.

Writing - The students have written their first draft of their personal narrative. We practiced story-telling and effective leads before the "Big Draft Day" on Friday. Let me tell you, they were SO eager to start their stories! This week, we will continue to practice techniques to make our writing all the more powerful!

Reading - We are reviewing how to discuss books with our peers and how to think about our reading in meaningful ways. The students have enjoyed reading Wonder and have been able to have some wonderful discussions about the point of view and purpose of the story. They take what we practice with Wonder and then apply it to their own book that they are reading.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Ball

mball@gibraltar.k12.wi.us