Welcome to the 6th Grade

About Me

I have a teaching degree from Western Michigan University with certification in elementary education, emotional impairments, early childhood, and elementary school science. I taught preschool special education for Flint Community Schools for four and a half years before deciding to become a full time stay-at-home mom. This is my fourth year back to teaching, and I love my position here at St. Pius.

Most notes will be coming home on Fridays in the Friday Folder. You may contact me by sending in a note with your child, calling the school office and leaving me a message to return your call, setting up an appointment to meet with me after school, or sending me an email message at tmj5@power-net.net. I will be checking my email every day.

The best way for you to know what your child is working on in class and whether or not he or she has homework is by looking at his or her assignment book. The students will be taking their assignment book to every class and should be bringing it home every night.  For a more general idea of what is going on in class, you can check the homework page of my website.

A folder will come home every Friday with all of the corrected work from the week and any notes that need to go home. Please watch for this folder and go through the papers inside so that you have a general idea of how your student is doing. I will expect that midterm and report card grades will not be a surprise to anyone because you will be watching the work coming home. Also, please make sure your child sees the work. I often write notes to him or her on the papers.

 Sixth graders change classes each hour.  I will be the teacher for math and science.  Mrs. Rabine-Ringlein will teach religion, literature, and Western Hemisphere (social studies).  Mrs. Alexander will teach English.  Your child will also attend music or art, computer, gym, and Spanish class each week.

Science class will consist of several hands on activities and/or labs per week. If your child misses class, they may arrange to make up the activity after school. All students will be signing a lab contract. We will be discussing safe behavior in a lab situation. If appropriate behavior is not used in the lab, students will be expected to watch the lab but not participate. Most labs will be done with an assigned lab partner. I have explained to the students that they must work with their partner as best they can. If they have a problem with the other student, they may speak to me about it.

Science tests will occur every two to three weeks. Sixth graders are past the days when they can slide through a test without studying. We will be talking about study skills and trying several techniques. If your child asks you to quiz him or her before a test, please help out. Also, ask your child how else you can help him or her to study. All students will be completing a project for the Science Fair in February. We will be talking about this in class. Details will be available in the second quarter.

I will assign some math problems every night. It will usually be around 20 problems, and I will give the students time to begin working on it in class. This allows me to see that everyone understands the first few problems, but if your child is having trouble please remind him or her to talk to me. Most days students will have a couple of review problems as well. These problems will be from lessons that have been taught earlier in the year. The math chapters are long, so tests will be at least every three weeks. At the end of every chapter we will have a real-life application project related to the skills from the chapter.

Homework is always due the next day unless other directions are given. According to middle school policy, homework turned in late will be lowered in grade 10% each day that it is late. After 5 days late, the grade becomes a zero. Only papers with the word “Redo” written on it, can be redone and turned in. In fact, these papers must be redone and turned in the next day for credit. When your child misses school, he or she is responsible for checking with each teacher (including computer, gym and music) to make sure they are caught up. Students should appreciate but not rely on homework sheets filled out by classmates.

Our grading scale is the same used throughout the school and can be found in the school handbook.

The students will be going to mass every Wednesday at 8:30. You are always welcome to join us in church for our school masses. You can watch the monthly calendar to see when it is our turn to help plan the mass.

Sixth graders are required to read 350 pages per month. This will be part of their reading grade from Mrs. Rabine-Ringlein. Mr. Kaplan requires the students to do 6 hours of service per year. He will send home a sheet on which to keep track.

Only magnets (no tape or stickers) are allowed in the lockers. Any pictures hung in the lockers must be appropriate. Teachers will be making this determination. If your child puts a lock on his or her locker, he or she must turn in the combination or an extra key to the office.

Please remind your child to talk to me if they have a problem with a student or a classroom policy. I am always willing to talk with the children. If for some reason your child can’t talk to me, I count on you to keep me informed of problems.

Mrs. Kessler