Dear 6th and 7th Grade Families,

 

We have one day of school tomorrow, then a lovely Thanksgiving break to look forward to enjoying before returning to school for what will most likely be a fast three weeks!

 

First things first: 

Conferences!  Thank you for Zooming with me and engaging in great discussions about your students during our Parent/Teacher Fall Conference Days!  I love a lot of things about Fall Conferences, but my favorite part is that meeting with the families always fills in the larger picture of the students I've come to know through teaching.  Thank you for all that you do.

 

Next:

We had a few items in progress during the quarantine learning and other assignments that were due prior to the end of the trimester.  If you're looking for some dinner table conversation today, you could ask about some of these assignments:

 

7th grade:  This week the students completed five paragraphs about the novel Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills.  They were asked to write a "SWBSF" summary; an application of a real-life example; an examination of decisions made by one or more of the characters; how the main character changed from the beginning of the book to the end; and finally, stating an opinion of zero tolerance policies, and reasoning to support the opinion.  The students also wrote short Epilogues to share in class.  7th graders also completed a Literary Terms vocabulary quiz last Tuesday and completed three mentor writing assignments connected to Memoir: a graphic based on traveling home, a structured paragraph about home, and a writing piece connected to writing about events.  We will begin our Short Stories study after Thanksgiving break.

If you are curious about the resources used in 7th grade Reading, please take a look at the 7th Grade Reading tab on my page.  Homestead Studies work on Song of the Trees is due no later than Monday, November 23rd. 

 

6th grade:  In Reading, the students have completed their novel studies with Mrs. Morgan (We're Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey) and Song for a Whale by Lynn Kelly) with Mrs. O'Rourke.  Students have received their scored List 4 Vocabulary and have started List 5 in Vocabulary, and of course reading and completing core reading skill work with the engaging content of Storyworks feature articles by Lauren Tarshis.  In Language Arts, the students have received their scored Pronouns tests and completed their How-To article writing and drew or computer-created instructional visuals: diagrams and flowcharts. The students enthusiastically worked on their flowcharts and diagrams, including some humor along the way.

 

6th grade Religion: We learned about the Old Testament figures Isaac and Jacob the past two weeks, and have completed prompts in our Religion journey notebooks on how we bring Jesus to others.  I was heartened by the students who genuinely bring the words and actions of Jesus to others.  To be able to bring your faith forward for the benefit of comforting others is a wonderful thing to see.

 

Have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving!

 

Mrs. Morgan