Dear Families,

 

This week begins and ends with T-shirts!  Monday morning with May Procession, which is usually in the Cathedral, but due to the ongoing construction we will be celebrating outside. Each class/grade level is assigned a color to wear, and 6th grade is wearing green. I will send a separate email so that you receive a notification on the "wear green" more quickly than this newsletter is delivered to your email addresses.  On Friday, we will enjoy House Meetings, and these have been so much fun!  Be sure that your student has his/her House meeting shirt that day.

 

The popular "Let Them Eat Cake" fundraiser is Tuesday, May 16th. Fliers went home last week and were due on Friday. Since there is still another week, I'm sure your student can get tickets. Tickets on the day-of are difficult because they're dealing with excited kids and a zillion cakes, so if the flier didn't make it back by Friday, try to send it in early in the week. I have a pile of extra fliers in the classroom. I also purchase tickets, one for each student, to be sure that everyone gets one chance to pick a cake!

 

MAPS testing finished on Friday. Students who may have missed a day or two of school early in the week might be pulled to finish a test here and there.

 

Academic Notes:

 

Religion first, because it's usually last: there is a Chapter 21 study guide due tomorrow, and the Chapter 21 quiz on Tuesday. 

 

LA: There is a paper/pencil quiz on lessons 6.1-6.5: subjects, predicates, natural and inverted order, kinds of sentences, and compound sentences. The quiz will be on Monday. We will also be taking Word Study Test 2 on Friday. 

 

6th grade Reading: All 6th grade classes are finishing the Myths unit. Bluebirds will begin reading Crispin by Avi, Catherine, Called Birdy, or Alchemy and Meggy Swann, both by Karen Cushman. The Kestrels group will begin The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz and Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I will be following the Literature Circles format with assigned roles for each student within his/her group. 

 

7th grade Reading: We are reading Margi Preus's Heart of a Samurai and are looking toward a quiz on Part Three on Monday and the Part 4 work due on Thursday. Part 4 is Manjiro's attempted journey back to Japan aboard The Franklin, and Part 5 next week will lead him back to Japan and the events surrounding his known place in history with the U.S. Navy and Commander Perry. Our last novel will be Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen, set among the events of the American Revolution, or a choice of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. One book is much shorter than the other, so it is a popular choice, and both are very good stories. 

 

I'll end the newsletter this week with one thing: it is tough to get kids to independently read and do their assignments in class. If you're having a hard time getting your own kid to read, it's even harder while they're in a classroom with 23 of their friends. DEAR time is difficult to achieve at the end of the year, so please 1.) note that the book is coming home; 2.) you see your kiddo reading independently. 

 

Thank you so much, and have a great week!  

 

Mrs. Morgan