Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Paws Team Update

Hello and welcome to the Paws Team at Carver Middle School. This will be a truly rewarding school year. As teachers, we would like to keep all of you as informed as possible about what is going on at school. We will be sending an e-mail the first day of every week to keep you current on assignments, quizzes, tests, projects, etc. This has proven to be very helpful to parents in the past. Again, welcome and we look forward to working with you and your student this school year!

Thank you for the prompt response in returning all forms and paperwork. Excellent work!

Please check your student’s assignment book daily to make sure they are staying up on their assignments. We are seeing several students not brining back their homework and reading logs.

In Social Studies, we are learning about the five themes of geography and how to use maps and globes. Students have been given information regarding their first project. I am attaching the Five Themes Project Sheet to help clarify any questions you might have. The students will present their projects to the class on Monday, 9-20 (for gold classes) and on Tuesday, 9-21 (for blue classes). The scoring guide for the project presentations is also being sent as an attachment. Students will have homework, so please ask to see their completed assignment each class.

In Communication Arts, the students have been working on the story, "Tuesday of the Other June" pages 206 -217 in their Literature books. The story's theme and big idea encompasses the aspect of bullying. Class discussion has begun on ways we can prevent bullying and how to help those who are being bullied. A Venn diagram has been completed comparing the two main characters in the story, and a literary analysis graphic organizer has been assigned to help the students draw from the text in the story to describe the character traits of the two Junes in this piece. Next week a vocabulary and grammar activity will be assigned in correlation with this story. A test will be given over, "Tuesday of the Other June" for Blue Classes on Thursday, 9th and Gold Classes on Friday, 10th. Biopoems will also be written next week in class. It has been a great start to a great year in English Class! Thank you students!

In Science, the students are learning about scientific measurements and what tools are used to make these measurements. The metric units of measurements are being emphasized during our labs. We will be using balances to measure mass, rulers to measure length, and graduated cylinders to determine liquid volume. The students will also have a quiz over the science safety rules during their last science class of the week which will be Thursday or Friday.

In Mathematics,6th grade will be on-line testing in mathematics this week. After testing we will be reviewing for the chapter 1 test, which will be the following week. There is a sample test on page 43, and please review the vocabulary on page 40. We have a very responsible group of students this year! They have done an excellent job in class, and have done a great job turning doing their homework too.

In Reading Exploratory, please make sure that your student is reading 100 minutes per week, writing three complete summaries, and having you sign the Reading Log (attached). Please have students proofread and edit their summaries if it is not their best work. Reading logs will be due every Friday.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Paws Team Update

Boys Soccer will play at Lake Country this FALL! Soccer will be done in the evenings and will not conflict with football practice! If your soon-to-be 7th or 8th grader is interested in playing soccer, please email Team Manager, Kristina Brown at kbrown@forest.edu with any questions! Registration is BEFORE school starts so we need to here from you now! Flyer attached.

In Social Studies, we are completing our study of the spread of Christianity. The folder/test over Chapter 10 will be due/taken on Thursday (gold classes) and on Friday (blue classes). The only change that might happen is if our Intramural Track Meet (scheduled for Wednesday) is canceled due to weather the blue classes will take the test on Wednesday. There is no study guide for this test. Because there is no study guide for the test—the students may use the textbook and all of their Chapter 10 worksheets on the test. I felt this was a fair exchange.

Chapter 10 Folder—60 points
1. Chapter 10 Section 1 (attached)—20 points
2. Chapter 10 Section 2 (attached)—20 points
3. Chapter 10 Section 3 (attached)—20 points

Several students have not turned in their textbook. The replacement cost of the textbook is $60.35. If the book needs to be rebound, the cost is $7.70. Please check with your student to make sure they have turned in all textbooks.

In Communication Arts
this week the students will be finishing the novel, Zach's Lie by Roland Smith. The final activity for the book will be a writing activity done in the classroom as a final test. All textbooks will be checked into Mrs. McFarland on Tuesday 25th for Gold Classes and Wednesday 26th for Blue Classes. Please make sure your child has turned in his $75.00 Literature book to Mrs. McFarland. All books that are not turned in will have to be paid for by the student before the end of the school year. Mrs. McFarland will be teaching a summer ELP Reading class at Cherokee starting June 7th. Several Carver students qualified to be in this class and if you have received the paperwork to enter your child in this class, please fill it out promptly and return it to the location directed on the form. Mrs. McFarland looks forward to working with your child this summer if they have qualified.

In Mathematics, we are reviewing ratios, bar graphs, and probability this week. Be sure to check the grade sheet, and make sure you have all late work turned in by Friday. It’s been a great year, and we want to end the year with the best grades possible!

In SCIENCE, the students will receive their graded planet packets back Monday or Tuesday of this week. A short test over this info will be Thursday or Friday of this week. We started our investigation of Electricity last week and will continue to study that topic the remainder of the school year. Today we investigated series circuits and will explore parallel circuits, conductors, and insulators during our next class.

In Reading Exploratory, please make sure that your student is reading 100 minutes per week, writing three complete summaries, and having you sign the Reading Log (attached). Please have students proofread and edit their summaries if it is not their best work. The last reading log of the school year will be due Friday.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Paws Team Update

Grade notices and online testing performance sheets went home today with students. This should help you guide your student in the last week of school. Grades can still be brought up in the last 7 days of school! Attendance is extremely important over the final stretch as each class is stressing final concepts that will prepare students for success in the seventh grade.

The sheet stapled to the grade notice is your student’s scores on the on-line performance testing we completed at school. Students took the test at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and at the end of the year in three areas: Language Arts, Reading, and Mathematics. We have highlighted either the positive/negative gain/loss for the tests that have been taken this year. The on-line performance series shows the gains/losses for each student during the school year in the three content areas tested.

These do not need to be signed and brought back to school. You may keep them at home for your records.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Paws Team Update

In Social Studies, we are finishing our study of Rome. Students Wonders of the Ancient World Mini-Project were presented today for blue classes and will be presented tomorrow--Tuesday (5-11-10) for gold classes. The information sheet is attached. Students need to begin completing the written and visual parts of the project as they prepare for their presentations. I can’t wait to see what creative and interesting projects the gold classes bring to present.

The test/folder over Chapter 9 will be taken/due on Wednesday (5-12-10) for blue classes and on Thursday (5-13-10) for gold classes.

Chapter 9 Folder—70 points
1. Ch. 9 Section 1--20 points (attached)
2. Ch. 9 Section 2--20 points (attached)
3. Ch. 9 Section 3--20 points (attached)
4. Ch. 9 Study Guide--10 points (attached)
Extra-Credit-Roman/Greek Gods and Goddesses--(attached)

I also handed out an extra-credit sheet that covered Roman and Greek Gods (attached). The extra-credit will be due on the same day as the test. This is a great way to make up some points that students have missed during the quarter. If you would like the answers to the study guide, just e-mail me back and I will forward them to you.

In Communication Arts, the students are still reading the novel, Zach's Lie by Roland Smith. We are doing classroom activities to correspond with the novel. This week's spelling list includes words from the novel and there are only ten words this week: cordoned, jurisdiction, stencil, attorney, evidence, duct tape, crime scene, scarce, criminals, and caped crusader. The test will be Mon. May 17 for Gold classes and Tues. May 18 for Blue Classes. The students' library books are due Wed. May 19. Several sixth graders have missing books and these must be returned or paid for by Mon. May 24. Please check with your child to see if they have returned their library materials.

In Mathematics, We are completing Performance Testing this week. Be sure to ask your student about their score! They have done an absolutely wonderful job so far! I am very proud of their efforts. After testing, we will spend the end of the week reviewing integers and chapter 8.

In Science, the students have been investigating the effects of weightlessness on common, everyday items when used in space. We also determined how many days, months, or years it would take to reach the other planets in our solar system traveling at 40,000 kilometers per hour. WOW!!!
The planet packet will be nearing completion this week and our unit test will follow early next week.

In Reading Exploratory, please make sure that your student is reading 100 minutes per week, writing three complete summaries, and having you sign the Reading Log (attached). Please have students proofread and edit their summaries if it is not their best work. There will be a reading log due every Friday.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Paws Team Update

In Social Studies, we are continuing our study of Rome—its collapse and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. Students Wonders of the Ancient World Mini-Project will be presented on Monday (5-10-10) for blue classes and on Tuesday (5-11-10) for gold classes. The information sheet is attached. Students need to begin completing the written and visual parts of the project as they prepare for their presentations. I can’t wait to see what creative and interesting projects come out of the assignment!

The test over Chapter 9 will be on Thursday (5-13-10) for blue classes and on Friday (5-14-10) for gold classes. I also handed out an extra-credit sheet that covered Roman and Greek Gods (attached). The extra-credit will be due on the same day as the test. This is a great way to make up some points that students have missed during the quarter.

In Communication Arts, the students continue to do Bell Work upon entering the classroom. All Bell Work is designed to be done in the classroom and is usually a writing activity to get them engaged upon entering the room. The students will be starting the novel, Zach's Lie by Roland Smith and all the activities for this novel will be done in class. The Spelling Words for this week include: agile, companionship, congregate, department, derby, diminished, disability, display, equipment, fatigue, forfeit, hurl, husky, lunge, maintain, novice, occasional, pennant, unaffected, and zest. The tests will be Thursday and Friday of this week.

In Mathematics, we will review Monday and Tuesday for a short test over chapter 8, lessons 7-10, and chapter 9, lessons 4-7. Gold classes will test on Wednesday and Blue classes will test on Thursday. There are great review questions at the end of each chapter. Good luck!

Blue classes will complete their on-line Performance Testing on Monday, May 10, 2010. Gold classes will test on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. Be sure to ask about your student’s scores! I expect to see super gains. This is an exceptional math class!

Thank you for re-stocking paper and pencils! Almost everyone is coming to class prepared now.

In Science, we are continuing our investigation of the solar system. This week, the students will focus on gravitational differences between the planets and the causes of these differences. I continue to remind the students that the planet packet will be the major portion of their grade in this unit and staying organized is critical. The students should have approximately ten papers so far to be included in this packet. Please discuss the importance of staying organized with your student and check to see if they have these papers together. This attention to detail will prevent problems in the future. Thanks.

In Reading Exploratory, please make sure that your student is reading 100 minutes per week, writing three complete summaries, and having you sign the Reading Log (attached). Please have students proofread and edit their summaries if it is not their best work. There will be a reading log due every Friday.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Paws Team Update

In Social Studies, we just completed our study of the Rise of Rome—we will now turn our focus on the civilization/culture of Rome along with its collapse. Students got/will get their scores from the Chapter 8 Test (today and tomorrow). I had them write the following information in the bottom right rectangle of their assignment book:



Chapter 8 Folder Score ___/100

Chapter 8 Folder Grade ___

Chapter 8 Test Score ____/100

Chapter 8 Test Grade ____

Teacher’s Initials ____



I checked the information in their assignment books and then initialed them. If they did not have their assignment book they had to write the above information on a separate sheet of paper. This way you can see their test and folder score/grade.



Students were handed information today/tomorrow about their Wonders of the Ancient World Mini-Project that will be presented on Monday (5-10-10) for blue classes and on Tuesday (5-11-10) for gold classes. The information sheet is attached. Students need to begin completing the written and visual parts of the project as they prepare for their presentations. I can’t wait to see what creative and interesting projects come out of the assignment!



In Communication Arts, Mrs. McFarland was so pleased to represent Carver at the Language Arts Fair at Willard High School this past Saturday. All of our students' pieces of writing were award winning projects. Carver has some very exceptional writers and she foresees some budding authors coming from Carver. In fact in the new Voices From The Middle Book that Mrs. Kraft, one of eighth grade teachers compiles and publishes, we have two sixth grade entries and they are by Sammy Gardner and Autumn Nelson. Wonderful job girls! This week's spelling words are themed around human behavior. They include: aimless, charity, coy, decency, fret, gesture, impolite, insistent, jostle, miser, mournful, nag, quirk, resourceful, routine, sheepish, tidy, unruly, vivacious, and wince. The gold classes will test on Thursday 4/29 and the blue classes will test Friday 4/30. All students should have completed their exercises 1 and 2 on the back of the worksheet. We will check them Monday and Tuesday. Every class in Communication Arts is being started with bell work now. The bell work includes a writing or grammar related activity. The bell work is to be done in class and it should only take the students about 20 minutes to complete. Some of our students are not completing these as required, and it will affect their quarter grade if they are slacking off with the bell work. Please encourage your child to keep working until the last day of school. There are so many learning activities that they can benefit from these last few weeks. Mrs. McFarland wishes to thank all of you for your kind comments and e-mails regarding her being a teacher of the year finalist. It has been a pleasure for her to be able to teach all those sixth graders for the last thirty years! She plans on thirty more wonderful years!



In Math, we are studying circles and percentages this week. Students should have homework each time they have class. Remember, no credit will be given if students do not show their work on the homework assignment. Students worked really hard on fractions and integers; we will probably be testing next week. We will also be doing our final round of online testing in the next couple of weeks.



In Science, the students have begun their investigation of the planets in our solar system. At this time, the students have been investigating the planets by comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between the planets. The majority of their grade in this unit will be derived from their completed “Planet Packet”. The students will be given several worksheets and lab sheets to be completed in class and organized in a specific order to be turned in for a grade towards the end of the unit. I will help the students organize the papers before they are turned in for grading. The papers they have received so far are posted on the white board in my room so if they’ve been absent, they will know what papers to add to their packet. Their will not be many grades recorded in the STI system until the planet packet is completed and graded.



In Reading Exploratory, please make sure that your student is reading 100 minutes per week, writing three complete summaries, and having you sign the Reading Log (attached). Please have students proofread and edit their summaries if it is not their best work. There will be a reading log due every Friday.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Paws Team Update

Reminder, there will be no school for students on Friday (4-23-10)



In Social Studies, we are completing our study of Ancient Rome. The test/folder over Chapter 8 will be taken/due on Wednesday (4-21-10) for blue classes and on Thursday (4-22-10) for gold classes.



Chapter 8 Folder-100 points

Ch. 8 Sec 1- 20 points (attached)

Ch. 8 Sec 2- 20 points (attached)

Ch. 8 Sec 3- 20 points (attached)

Ch. 8 Sec 4- 20 points (attached)

Ch. 8 Study Guide- 10 points (attached)

Ch. 8 Jeopardy- 10 points



Please look on the back of your student’s worksheets to see the activities that we have completed in class. Students may use the 10 terms on the bottom of the study guide on the test. They need to write the terms and definitions/descriptions on a separate sheet of paper.



If you would like the answers to the review to help your student prepare for the test—just e-mail me back and I will send them to you.



In Communication Arts, we say congratulations to all the students who participated in the 2010 Language Arts Department Fair. Their pieces of writing have been considered outstanding and were worthy of entering in this year’s LAD Fair. We are so proud of their efforts. The LAD Fair is scheduled for Saturday, April 24, 2010 and will be held at Willard High School. The time of the fair is set for 7:30am to 11:30am and you are invited to attend and see all the entries for the Southwest Mo. Area. It is not mandatory to attend, but it is a very impressive event and we think your child will appreciate their accomplishments at a greater depth if they see all of the other entries submitted. Mrs. McFarland will be attending and officiating over the Spelling Bee this year. She hopes very much to see you there. Feel free to browse through the entire event and make sure to find your child’s category and entry. She will be taking the entries home after the event to give back to the students.

These students had pieces of writing entered in the 2010 LAD Fair:



Book Reports – Ginny Davison, Aki Fong, Arylle Kathcart, Kevin Lewis

Description of Mood – Merrick Altis, Sammy Gardner, Sabrina Steffins, Paige Wilcox

Description of a Person – Payton McDaniel, Haylie Kiser, Autumn Nelson

Description of a Place – Sammy Gardner

Description of an Object or Thing – Cassidy Evans, Madisson Terry, Austin Tyler

Essay With Original Photos – Cassie Curtis

Journal/Diary Fictional – Sammy Gardner, Haylie Kiser, Noah Tews, Izzy Yandell

Original Literature Related Newspaper – Aki Fong, Sammy Gardner, Kevin Jean, Aqila Johnson

Narration – Aki Fong, Brayden Jones

Personal Experience Narrative – Courtney Cummins, Ashton Hawkins, Alexis Lambeth, Hailee Pederson

Persuasion – Kyle Brown, Sammy Gardner, Jimmy Gove, Kylie Meeker

Short Story – Kyle Brown, Molly Eagan, Aki Fong, Brayden Jones



These students’ pieces of writing received awards:

Merrick Altis – 1st Place Description of Mood

Cassie Curtis – 1st Place Essay With Original Photos

Aki Fong – 3rd Place Original Literature Related Newspaper

Sammy Gardner – 1st Place Description of Mood, 3rd Place Journal/Diary Fictional, 3rd Place Persuasion, Honorable Mention Description of Mood

Sabrina Steffins – 3rd Place Description of Mood

Paige Wilcox – 2nd Place Description of Mood

Congratulations to everyone who participated!



In Mathematics, we have a student teacher, Ms. Eutsler, for math class during the month of April, and she is doing a wonderful job. We are studying multiplication and division of fractions, and operations of integers this week. On-line testing is coming up soon, so we will also be reviewing basic skills.



In Science, we are continuing our study of the planets and the solar system. Students are working in class on assignments and notes.



In Reading Exploratory, please make sure that your student is reading 100 minutes per week, writing three complete summaries, and having you sign the Reading Log (attached). Please have students proofread and edit their summaries if it is not their best work. This week’s reading log will be due on Thursday because there is no school on Friday.