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Sixth graders are the oldest students at the Dennett Elementary School and
therefore are expected to be the most responsible. Your child should be
aware of his or her assignments and should be able to communicate to you
what needs to be done and when it is due. He or she writes in the agenda
book each day at school and students are given verbal reminders regarding
which books and papers to have in their backpacks before they leave for home
each afternoon.
We expect our students to be independent workers but do realize that they
need guidance and modeling to help them learn. We hope that you at home
will also act as guides and will take the time each day to check in with
your child to make sure he or she is keeping up will all assignments. We
have prepared some pointers to help you.
General:
•Please allow your child a quiet place to get organized and spread out if
needed.
•It may be tempting to leave your sixth grader to do his or her homework
without supervision. We find that at this age many students still require a
watchful eye no matter how independent they may seem.
•Encourage your child to read a little every day and listen to him read out
loud once in a while. Ask him to tell you about what he is reading.
•Require your child to do a bit of studying each night.
•Review math facts with your child.
How Much to Help When Your Child is Confused:
•Ask your child to tell you how the concept or lesson was explained in
class. If he or she has absolutely no idea, please remind him or her to
listen more carefully to directions and to ask the teacher for clarification
before leaving school.
•Have your child read the directions out loud to you, more than once if
necessary. Make sure he or she pays attention to the different directions
in each homework section.
•Guide your child as he or she does one example from the homework paper, but
allow him or her to do the rest independently. Write us a note if confusion
continues.
•We would rather you write us a note which explains that your child is
confused, than to have you over help.
ON TESTS/QUIZZES:
•When a test is coming up, please review the material with your child. He
may tell you he is ready for the exam, but is always good to make sure.
•If we haven't made a study guide in school, have your child make
flashcards. Discuss any notes from class.
•Make sure your child is studying nightly and not waiting until the day
before or the morning of the test. This will reinforce good study habits.
ON PROJECTS:
We realize that certain projects may require additional assistance from
parents, especially when constructing models or finding resources. In
general, please allow your child to make the creative decisions and let him
or her do the majority of any "construction." If a
project is too difficult for your child to put together with minimal help,
it is not a sixth grade level project and should be scaled back.
ELA/Social Studies: Contact Ms. Andersen with any questions
•Vocabulary Sentences: Please discuss the words' definitions and help
clarify usage, but always allow your child to come up with her own
sentences.
•Reading Comprehension questions: Please clarify the question if needed,
but allow your child to write his own answer. Please make sure your child
looks back in the text to check his ideas.
•Writing:
Children need guidance to become strong writers. Please read over the
assignment with your child and remind her of the focus areas. Together,
check back over your child's writing, looking for attention to the areas of
focus. If you see a problem with your child's writing, point out what you
believe the weakness is, but don't tell your child exactly how to fix it.
Let her come up with a way to change it. Your child should refer to
our "No Excuses List" and eliminate any such errors from her work.
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