November 9-13
LANGUAGE ARTS (Be sure to read the information below about the upcoming
Country Reports for Language Arts).
COUNTRY REPORTS - Countries were assigned to 1st period students last
Friday. Third period, we will make sure you have your assignment Monday.
(We got so busy on Friday with the book reading and vocabulary "quilt
squares" that we didn't adequately cover the country assignments OR spelling
test OR homework turn-in. My apologies). This week we will be writing
business letters to the country embassies, requesting information that will
be helpful on the reports. By Friday of this week, we hope to have all
letters written , addressed, and ready to send in the mail. 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.
SPELLING WORDS - (ie, ei sounds)- These can be tricky. This rule USUALLY
works: I BEFORE E EXCEPT AFTER C.
mischief, ceiling, siege, relief, reign, niece, leisure, achieve, yield,
weird, conceit, grief, shriek, fierce, seize, thief, receive, sleigh,
receipt, shield
HOMEWORK -
Monday - Thursday nights: Work on homework packets, to be turned in on
Friday.
Monday - Don't forget to turn in your reading log (signed) tomorrow.
Wednesday - NO SCHOOL. VETERANS DAY
Thursday - 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 be starting 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.
IMPORTANT: In honor of Veterans Day this week, students will be doing a
short project. Some of this can be done at school, and some of it at home.
I will post more information on this Monday afternoon, so stay tuned.
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