Grade 6 Update: March 10, 2020
Posted on 03/10/2020
It was great seeing so many familiar faces during our Report Card Pick-Up & International Potluck Night. We appreciate the support and community atmosphere you all bring. We hope everyone had an enjoyable time over February Break. Now, our goal is to continue to encourage and inspire students to achieve their academic success. During this time of the year, school days may seem longer, weeks may feel like months, and morale may get low. However, we will remain energized and positive in order to keep our spirits high. Along with your support, we can ensure that all students remain focused and motivated. Be on the lookout for progress reports and assessment updates. Thank you for all you do!
Important Dates:
Student Portfolio
: Due Tues. 3/31/20
MCAS Test Dates:
ELA:
Wed. 4/8 & Thurs. 4/9, Thurs. 4/16 (make-ups)
Math:
Mon. 5/4 & Tues. 5/5,
Fri. 5/8 (make-ups)
Academic Update
MATH
Students are halfway through unit 5. In this unit, students began with a lesson that revisits sums and differences of decimals to hundredths and products of decimals and whole numbers. The tasks were set in the context of shopping and budgeting. We are focused on extending algorithms for addition, subtraction, and multiplication, which they used with whole numbers in earlier grades, to decimals of arbitrary length. Students will learn long division to tackle quotients of whole numbers that result in decimals, quotients of decimals and whole numbers, and finally, quotients of decimals. Towards the end of the unit, students will use calculations with decimals to solve problems set in real-world contexts.
SCIENCE
Students are continuing their explorations on: What’s inside the Earth, and How do we know? They learned about the different layers of the Earth and what tools scientists use to figure out the components of Earth’s interior. Students are learning about how the Earth consists of a hot but solid inner core, a liquid outer core, a solid mantle, and the crust.
ELA
Students are currently finishing their Language of Oppression and Rebellion unit. During this unit, students completed their first Socratic Seminar to answer the unit’s essential question: what is the role of the individual in a society/ community? After break, students will complete a unit end assessment in the design lab where they are able to create a visual representation of what they have learned in this unit. During the last week of February, students will begin their last reading unit on The Giver, which will give them the opportunity to explore dystopian and utopian fiction and to compare the characteristics of these societies with our current socio-political climate.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Students have been working on writing their first Document-Based Question (DBQ) essays regarding Hammurabi’s code. To prepare for writing the DBQ, they engaged in the debate about the fairness of the laws and whether justice is absolute. Students practiced the skill of finding the right evidence to support their claims and then explaining the evidence with logical reasoning.
SPECIAL ED
Students have been working on strategies to determine the main idea of reading passages both fiction and non-fiction, making inferences and looking out for repeated ideas. They are also identifying evidence that support the main idea and details don’t.
CHINESE IMMERSION
Students learned how the domestication of plants and animals created a stable food supply and led to important changes in shelter, communities, jobs, and trade. Students then learned about and responded to key problems faced by ancient Mesopotamians to understand how Neolithic farming villages evolved into complex Sumerian city-states. Next, students will further explore, “Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization?” by analyzing artifacts.