Dear 6th and 7th Grade Families,

 

Classroom updates first this week!  The St. Lucy Food Drive ends tomorrow.  If you have not already done so, in 6th grade we are collecting cereal and oatmeal.  We have had about 50% participation in 6-9 so far and hope to receive more donations tomorrow!  Thank you!  Next, the STM Virtual Vegas Auction is this upcoming Saturday night!  The event is free this year, and you can register now at https://stmvirtualvegas.ggo.bid/.  This is your big chance to bid on great items from the comfort of home, and local restaurants are also donating 10% to STM that night.  Grab your copy of the 6th Grade Cookbook while you're at it!  Last, and probably there are more things but I can't think of them right now, we are virtually hosting a local author, Robin Stevens Payne, on Thursday morning in middle school classrooms grades 6-8. Her website  http://www.edgeofyesterday.com/ has more information about her series of three books, the Edge of Yesterday series, about a time-traveling middle school student.  A Washington Post interview/article about her books can be found here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2017/04/17/this-author-wants-to-change-the-way-parents-consider-learning-and-stem/

 

Calendar notes: 6 grade has Confessions this week on Wednesday.  

7th Grade Reading: The 7th grade has been working on nonfiction Content Literacy and using graphic organizers in their reading.  Using a current events article, students identified issues of interest (poverty, access to education, global charitable funding, child labor laws) and began developing an evidence tracker (issue/evidence that there is an issue/solutions/evidence of solutions) and we will work mightily to cite the sources using the MLA format.  In addition to the Content Literacy and research component, we have completed a few Wednesday writing pieces that have been insightful and reflective, if not entertaining as well!  We plan to have the articles completed before the Easter holiday. The students are also listening to Freak The Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. 

 

6th Grade Reading: The 6th grade has completed the Activate and Connect comprehension unit, using a variety of nonfiction books and articles. In addition, we are working on Vocabulary List 8, with the vocab test on Friday, March 12. In Storyworks this week we read a compare/contrast article about polio and Covid. We plan to tie this research article to a Language Arts assignment for expository writing, so look for an assignment sheet with instructions on that during the week and in Google Classroom.  This week the students will begin the Asking Questions comprehension unit, with lessons on questioning the text, reading to discover answers, and asking questions to expand thinking. 

 

6th Grade Language Arts: The students have completed the Verbs unit and we are beginning the Adverbs unit. The Adverbs unit is very short. The next writing unit is an expository article (expository definition - "intended to explain or describe something") which will fit in perfectly as an interview summary of a relative (see Reading, above) and this assignment will be completed before the Easter break as well.

 

Remember to keep your students reading every night!  

 

Mrs. Morgan