November 16-20
LANGUAGE ARTS (Scroll way down for spelling words and nonfiction book report
information).
COUNTRY REPORTS - Students worked on (and most finished) business letters and
addressing envelopes. These should go out in the mail on Monday of this week.
The Festival of the Nations is scheduled for December 18th, where students
will display their country report projects here at school. The written
report will be due in January, after the winter break. There will be more to
come on the various assignments related to this fun and educational project.
Students will be writing down due dates on the calendars in their planners.
COUNTRY REPORT TABLETOP DISPLAY (due Dec. 18) -
For FESTIVAL OF THE NATIONS (half-day right before break) - Dec. 18th
Grading on the display will be based on neatness, creativity, design,
thorough and interesting work.
Ideas for the tabletop could include pictures, maps, recipes, sample items,
and be sure to be creative and neat with your design:) I will show some
examples of tabletop displays so students know they are on the right track.
The guidelines below should provide plenty of ideas as you prepare your
tabletop display and your written report.
COUNTRY REPORT - WRITTEN (due in January, AFTER the break) -
The rubric below is for the WRITTEN REPORT, which is DUE IN JANUARY, after
the break. Much of the guidance, research, and examples will be done in
class or in the school libray, but some can be done at home or the public
library as well.
ORGANIZATION AND IDEAS/SUGGESTIONS FOR TABLETOP DISPLAY AND WRITTEN REPORT:
Note: The words that are ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are required sections (which
would also be great as major headings on the tabletop display). The lower
case words are suggestions as to what you might include in those sections.
I. INTRODUCTION - Introduce the country and give a little history of the
country (example: when it was founded, how it came about, etc) - 5 pts
II. LOCATION - 1)RELATIVE - WHERE IS IT LOCATED IN RELATION TO OTHER PLACES?
2)ABSOLUTE - PHYSICAL CHARACTARISTICS, like vegetation, landforms, lakes,
mountains, desert, soil, beaches, wildlife habitats, dry(?), moist(?) - 10 pts
III. CULTURE - population, form of government, people, ethnic groups,
languages, religious beliefs, sports, holidays, lifestyle (small towns? big
cities? clothing styles, foods, buildings, homes, transportaion,
communication, etc. - 10 pts
IV. MAJOR RESOURCES - industry (production); agriculture - what is grown
there? foods?; tourists? - 10 pts
V. MAJOR FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY - man-made features? Major natural or
physical features? - 10 pts
VI. NOTABLE PEOPLE OF THE PAST AND/OR PRESENT - political heroes, war
heroes, sports figures, literary giants, composers, writers, artists, etc. -
10 pts
VII. CONCLUSION AND RESPONSE - Wrap up your country report in a short but
interesting way. Then share your personal thoughts, what you especially
liked learning about the country, and any questions that you still have about
it. - 5 pts
The paper was well organized. 30 pts
Facts/relevant details/examples were clear, well - researched, and enhanced
the report. 30 pts
The writer followed the rules of convention by
capitalizing proper nouns, inserting paragraphs,
using correct grammar & punctuation, and writing/typing neatly. 30 pts
Total Points 150 pts
_____________________________________________________________________________
SPELLING WORDS FOR THIS WEEK -
carpenter, adore, therefore, dirty, purchase, carbon, authority, confirm,
territory, curfew, carton, ignore, furnace, concern, foreman, partner,
mortar, curtain, insert, circular
HOMEWORK
Monday - Thursday nights: Work on homework packets, to be turned in on
Friday.
Monday - Write 10 spelling words in alphabetical order (#52) Don't forget to
turn in your reading log (signed) tomorrow.
Wednesday - Define words (#53)
Thursday - Edit spelling words (#54). Be ready for your spelling test and be
sure to turn in your
homework packet tomorrow.
Friday - No homework
_____________________________________________________________________________
BOOK REPORT information:
A book report will be assigned for each quarter. For 2nd quarter, students
will read and write a report on a nonfiction book. The due date for this
report will be Tuesday, December 1st.
I hope all of you are reading your non-fiction book, and enjoying every bit
of it. We read a short non-fiction book together as a class (about the Jr.
Iditerod), and did a practice demo together for the Option A report.
SUGGESTIONS:
There are many terrific nonfiction books to choose from, either from the
public library, the classroom, the school library, or online. One of my
favorite places to go to purchase a book is amazon.com (bargain books). Here
you can find used books that are like-new quality and VERY reasonable.
Some of my suggestions are as follows (There are MANY others to choose from):
*We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson
*The Way We Work, by David Macaulay
*Amazing Rubber Band Construction, by Mike Rigsby
*Swords: An Artist's Devotion, by Ben Boos
*Robots, by Clive Gifford
*Octopuses: Animal Prey
*Pirates, by John Matthews
*BIOGRAPHIES OR AUTOBIOGRAPHIES (such as):
Helen Keller
Thomas Edison
On the Bike With Lance Armstrong, by Matt Christopher
Harriett Tubman
Martin Luther King
The Crocodile Hunter, by Steve and Terry Irwin
Through Georgia's Eyes, by Rachel Rodriguez
Henry's Freedom Box, by Ellen Levine
Bill Peet's Autobiography
NONFICTION REPORT RUBRIC (You have two options).
OPTION A:
Cover Page (title, author, your name, centered) 5 pts
Paragraph #1 - Introduction 5 pts
Paragraph #2 - topic sentence/supporting details (facts) 5 pts
Paragraph #3 - topic sentence/supporting details (facts) 5 pts
Paragraph #4 - topic sentence/supporting details (facts) 5 pts
Paragraph #5 - Conclusion and Response 10 pts
(Wrap it up, then share your response
about the book. What did you learn?
What questions might you have)?
Neatness 5 pts
Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar 5 pts
Organization (indented, easy to understand, orderly 5 pts
______________________________________________________________
Total Points 50 pts
Option B: (How-To Book, like a recipe or something
you make)
1. Turn in a cover page (See above). 5 pts
2. Write approximately 1/2 page about what the
book contains. Give examples. 5 pts
3. Make one or more of the items the book instructs
you how to make. 5 pts
4. Write another half page (or more) about what you
made, and what the experience was like. 5 pts
5. Neatness and Organization of written report 10 pts
6. Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar of report 10 pts
6. Show the finished product of what you made, OR
a picture of you holding the finished product. 10 pts
_______________________________________________________________
Total Points 50 pts
Quarter One: fiction book (collected Sept. 25)
Quarter Two: nonfiction book (due date December 1)
Quarter Three: classic book
Quarter Four: biography or autobiography
____________________________________________________________________________
SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS WORK AND ASSIGNMENTS:
Monday - Friday
We will continue chapter 7 on Ancient Greece this week. Most of the work
will be done in class unless a student is absent or does not complete
assignments. Then it's important that the section is read at home on
classzone.com.
SOCIAL STUDIES NOTES:
The following information will help you to be successful in
Social Studies this year, and it will enable you to access the book's
contents without bringing the heavy text book home. If you have access to
the internet, please give this a try:
World History Survey, On Line Book, 6th Grade
Go to Classzone.com to get connected.
Go to Book Online (at the bottom)
Go to create student account
Type information as directed.
Your USER NAME is your first and last name (NO SPACES/lower case).
Your password is your school student ID Number.(Try adding S
to the ID # if your number is only 5 digits).
Go to create student account again if necessary.
Your code for getting started is: 2562731-20
Nora Johnston
Language Arts and Social Studies 6th Grade
Room A8
email njohnston@msd38.org
phone 602-664-7608
...and don't forget this teacherweb.com