WCS 6th grade 24-25

Hello! Overall, most students were prepared and did very well on their water cycle quizzes. Thanks for your help at home. We had a few students miss some questions because "they looked like directions," so they skipped them. Another lesson to be learned is to check carefully before passing in a test for careless mistakes or anything left blank.  While I usually allow retakes, the water cycle info will reappear on our unit weather test, so they can erase a poor grade by doing well on that one.  Thanks for the support on the reading logs. We're at 90% returned on Mondays.  Open house is Thursday night. Hope to see you there. Have a good night. Mr. Shea

 Hello all! Ms. Jerome here. In social studies we have worked on the 5 themes of geography. Every 6th grader has picked a state they would like to learn more about and will create a poster that highlights important geographic characteristics. Once the posters are complete, students will present to the class! For writing, please help your student find a picture to bring to school. The picture should represent a memory your student can write about for a personal narrative assignment. You can email it to me OR print it out yourself! We will start to work on these stories next week.  Happy weekend! Ms. Jerome

Hello,     I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I'm just writing a quick note to ask if you can help your sixth grader with a simple question in the morning. "Do you have everything you need?" I don't want you to pack their bag for them. This is a life lesson that they need to accomplish on their own. We've had a lot of forgetting homework, laptops, reading logs, and notebooks. I recommend packing their bags before they go to bed, because sometimes early morning fog is still in the brain. Any help here will be appreciated.      In study hall, we had an air pressure instrument break today. Glass was on the floor, with the large pieces neatly placed on the shelf above it. Unfortunately, no one admitted they broke it or saw anything. It wouldn't be a big deal if someone fessed up to it. These things are fragile. It is just too bad that someone couldn't be honest about it.      We will have a Water Cycle Quiz on Friday. We will delve deeper into weathe...

 Ms Jerome Update Yesterday, 6th graders took their first social studies quiz locating the 50 states. Most students seemed confident in their answers. All tests will be returned with grades on Monday. We are moving on to the 5 themes of geography and hosting a state fair as the final project for this unit. Happy weekend! Ms. Jerome

Hello, We are learning about the water cycle. Ask your sixth grader what clouds are made of. If they don't say water droplets and ice crystals, they still have time to learn it, but your question will help them start to remember. More weather reports to come.  Speaking of remembering, we are having early season issues with remembering to bring our homework, reading books or planners from home. Please help remind your student that it is easy to pack up for the next day of school the night before. Ending each day (except Wed) with a study hall and starting each day with a 20 minute get ready time, should make for little work to need to go home. Reading should be the only daily activity that needs to be done at home.  Picture day on Friday. Good luck. Mr. Shea

 This is Ms. Jerome! In social studies, we are starting with a geography unit. Students have started to learn the 50 states using various tricks, blank United States maps and Seterra.com. There will be a 50 state quiz on Thursday, September 12th. Tomorrow, we will pause the unit to remember and discuss the events of 9/11.  In Writing, journals have been assigned to each student and we have worked on spelling, synonyms and writing stamina in general. We will have our first spelling quiz this Friday. Happy 2nd week of school! Ms. Jerome

Hello, I was out on Friday to go to a funeral in Calais. Most students did pretty well with the substitute. I'm sure we all remember trying to take advantage of substitutes back in our school days. I try to write entertaining sub plans to keep the kids engaged. I try to plan that way all the time, actually, but it isn't always easy. I was glad to get a relatively good report from a sub so early in the year.  We will be starting our weather unit tomorrow. We start with a lot of talk about water. Please ask your student what clouds are made of sometime later this week. (water droplets and ice crystals) Not water vapor! We can't see water as a gas. It is the most common answer before the weather unit, and some tend to hold on to that incorrect notion.  Picture day is this Friday. Envelopes with pricing should have gone home tonight.  Most students did well on their reading logs that were due today. Some students need to try to pack their backpacks the night before. Morning h...

 Hello, I'm not a big fan of reading logs. I haven't used them for the past couple of years because I don't think that they are motivating for young readers. The last thing I want to do is make reading a chore. I would probably watch less Netflix if I had to log everything I watched. That being said, 6th grade is going back to reading logs.  I made this decision because reading is the most important work that your child can do for their brain development, and I attribute part of the lack of at-home reading that I've seen over the past two years, to less accountability. It was still assigned. I asked about it almost every day. I just came to the conclusion that reading logs, while no one's favorite thing to do, work better than the alternatives that I came up with. And at the end of the day, I want kids doing some reading outside of school.  I've tried to make our reading log as user friendly as possible. Students can keep track of minutes or pages. 7th graders a...

Hello, I'm Mr. Shea. Ms. Jerome and I will be blogging a few times a week to keep you updated on your sixth grader's school days. I am teaching science to the entire grade and I'll be teaching reading to 85% of them. Most of my posts will be specific to those classes or just general information.  We had a relaxed start to the school year. My voice is tired from doing most of the talking today. Our goal was to make the students feel welcome on our floor and for them to have a sense that we are on their side in their learning journey. We spent most of the day letting them know where things are, how we do things, and getting to know each other.  As the week progresses, in science we will start studying the human brain, how we learn and the importance of a growth mindset. In reading we will jump right into our first class novel, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. It is a 2009 Newbery Honor Book about a boy from Maine trying to find his brother amid...