Greetings Families!

Beza, Avery and Dan hard at work!

This past week has been very busy in 6th grade.  Our expedition on Lewis and Clark is going strong.  After jigsawing Thomas Jefferson's orders to Lewis, we broke down the inventory list that Lewis created prior to departing St. Louis.  This was very successful, and I am seeing more and more students asking really great questions to the presenting groups.  Next week we will start analyzing the actual journals created by the Corps of Discovery, and start delineating the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Avery and Katie working on the arms inventory.

Greetings Families!

             Well we have had a fantastic start to the year!  We have kicked off our Lewis and Clark Expedition and are well underway establishing the background knowledge necessary to move into the nitty-gritty of it all.  Right now we are studying the Louisiana Purchase and its historical impact.  Many of the students in class have said that their favorite part of the day is working on the Louisiana Purchase map.  This bodes well, as we will be spending a lot of time in the future on maps!

John representing his group at the board in Expedition.

In math we are diving into the world of rates, ratios, and proportionality.  These skills are critical to acquire, as your child(ren) will be working heavily with rates, ratios, and proportionality throughout all of middle school.  As far as homework goes, I don't assign homework for homework's sake, rather, it is my belief that homework needs to be volitional.  If your child has homework, it is either because it was not finished during the day or there is a need for additional practice.  With that said, I do want each student to start reading out-loud at least 30 minutes each night (this is to help with fluency).

Ivy, Karina, Avery, and Lee discussing the reasoning and methodology behind a rich task problem (this is an in-depth math problem that requires group work)

For literacy instruction we are using the CAFE model.  CAFE stands for Comprehension Accuracy Fluency and Expanded vocabulary.  I have used this model in different grades and different schools, and the result is a student with strong independent reading and writing skills.

Emma and Avery working on CAFE.

 For any additional questions regarding any specifics feel free to email me.  Thanks!


-Mr. MP

 

First Week of School

Greetings Everyone!  We have had a great start to the year, and I am confident that we will keep this positive momentum going throughout the year.  After going through the ins and outs of what I expect out of each student we had some wonderful activities this past week.  To name a few, we did a really cool art project to decorate lockers, have done several CREW activities, and had a successful hike to the summit of Moscow Mountain!  I must say, I am impressed with this group's CREW character traits.  Without any prompt from me, I have seen many instances of students acting with courage, responsibility, empathy, and welcoming.

Emma (right) and Ivy standing atop Moscow Mountain.  After a long hike up, the view was amazing!

Our Expedition Kickoff was fantastic!  As many probably know by now, our fall expedition will be on Lewis and Clark.  Adventure will be at the core of this expedition, so expect many field work days!  In addition, we will be using the actual journals of Lewis and Clark, as well as Jefferson's journals, and orders to learn about this exciting period of history.  We will learn about, analyze, and create maps, and later in the year we will dive into the world of GIS and GPS to create a high quality product.  More on all this later!  For now, lets all do our best to take the positive energy from last week, and get this fantastic year rolling!

-Mr. MP