Science News Week of Jan 26-30

This week in Science:

This week we continued to explore colors and light talking about additive and subtractive color mixing.

Assignments that were due this week:

• 8 lab questions from Color Filters lab- was due Wednesday 1/28
• Quiz in class-Thursday 1/29
• Article summary about color blindness- worked on in class Friday 1/30 (due Monday)

Next week in Science/Upcoming due dates:

Next week we will have fun exploring and creating afterimages and blending colors by spinning them. Then we will review for our test on Friday!

• Article Summary-due Monday 2/2 (10 mins of class time to finish work from Fri)
• Afterimage poster-due Friday 2/6
• Test on Color and Light-Friday 2/6

English Language Arts News January 26-30

English Language Arts News January 26-30

This week in class we will work on our January one pagers, take the winter STAR test, learn about word roots, learn the THIEVES pre-reading strategy, and begin learning some background information about Greek mythology in preparation for reading The Lightning Thief.  

Assignments Due this Week:
Daily Homework:  Read nightly (monthly one pager book, quarterly novel, or other book if done with the previous two options)

Monday:  Work day for January one pager

Tuesday:  Due date for January one pager

Wednesday:  STAR reading test

Thursday:  Mythology video guide (will compare to myth stories we read)

Friday:  Notes on Olympian gods/goddesses, weekly reading evidence paragraph 1 due

Upcoming Deadlines:
We will begin our 3rd quarter class novel, The Lightning Thief, next Thursday.  Students will need to read at a pace of one chapter per day.  They will need to balance this with their February one pager book, so they have been encouraged to select a book that is a bit shorter than what they usually read in other months if needed to help them manage the work load. 

The February one pager will be done in class this month (on the 24th) with a new system we are implementing middle school-wide.  The prompt will be given in class and they will need to produce the 3 paragraphs during the work time that day.  Whatever they finish is what I will assess.  This will be similar to a true testing environment and will give me an accurate picture of their ability on that day.  In previous months, they had access to the prompt in advance and could work on it at home.  This new system is also designed to minimize opportunities for plagiarism.  Please contact me if you have any questions about the new system.  

Science Homework Questions due Wednesday

Color Filter Lab Questions
These questions were worked on during class today and will be due tomorrow (Wednesday).

Questions to answer in notebook:

1. What happened when you shined white light from the flashlight through a blue filter? Why?
2. What happened to the light when you overlapped two filters? What is this called?
3. Does the light change color when you add filters?
4. **PR: Does it get brighter or dimmer? Why?
5. **PR: Why doesn’t any light get through with all six filters?
6. What is overlapping color filters similar to?
7. Did you notice any difference in the results with color filters versus mixing pigments?
8. **AD: How can you explain those differences?

Social Studies Week of 1/26/15

This week we'll be presenting our Greek Culture Projects on 1/26, 1/27 and possibly finishing them on 1/28. Students will have notes summaries in their Social Studies notebooks on each of the presentations they see. Students will also get 2 assignments this week: 1. Democracy Assignment will be worked on in class on 1/28 & 1/29 and 2. Greek Google Maps Assign. will be on Friday and due on Monday.

Math News Week of January 26-30

Here is a look at what is coming up this week in 6th grade math as we continue with our algebra unit! The due dates got pushed back a day, so they are now updated to the correct dates!

In Class:
Monday: Functions and Equations
Tuesday: STAR Testing
Wednesday: Functions and Equations (continued)
Thursday: Multiple Representations of Functions
Friday: Mid-Chapter Check

Upcoming Assignments Due:

Due 1/29    Lesson 1E    A: Pg 385-387 #1-15 odds, 27, 29 OR B: Pg 385-387 #7-17 odds, 25-29 odds

Due 1/30    Lesson 1F    Pg 391-393 #1-5 odds, 9-17 odds

Due 2/2      Mid Chpt    A: Pg 394 #1-10   

Due 2/3      Lesson 2A-B    A: Pg 398-399 #1-15 odds, 19, 21 OR B: Pg 398-399 #5-21 odds

Science News Week of Jan 19-13

Science News Jan 19-23

This week in Science, we experimented with mixing colors and learned how different colors are reflected and absorbed! We had some great conversations about colors!

Assignments:

In-class lab results (Monday and Tuesday)


Coming up next week:

Looking at color filters and colored lights.
Thursday: QUIZ-Colors and Light (open note)
Friday: Conclusion due from two labs (Tuesday and Wednesday)

English Language Arts News January 19-23

This week in class we will wrap up our Newbery book unit with a collaborative discussion.  We will also work on comparing two authors' perspectives on the same topic and review literary elements.  On Thursday we will have shortened classes due to the field trip and I will be offering one final work time for students to get caught up on missing assignments that day.  Students who are caught up will get reading time to work on reading their January one pager book.  The work time that day will be quite short, so if students have significant amounts of missing work, they will need to also work on it outside of class.  All 2nd quarter work needs to be in by Thursday.  Remember there will be no school on Friday for students!

Assignments Due this Week:
Monday:  Newbery collaborative discussion
Discussion Rubric
Tuesday:  Comparing two authors' writing on the same topic- Scope magazine articles
Link to assignment

Wednesday:  Literary Elements Packet- Scope magazine article
Link to assignment

Thursday:  Any missing work for 2nd quarter- final deadline (all missing work is marked in the parent portal)

Upcoming Deadlines:
January one pager will be due on January 27th.  There will be an in-class work day on the 26th for students to type it on computers.  

The next STAR reading assessment will be given in class on January 28th.  Please remind students to get enough sleep and eat a nutritious breakfast so they are ready to do their best!

Math News January 19-23

After finishing up our unit on writing and solving equations, we are on to our final algebra unit! This week we will get our first look at graphing this year and also will be learning about function tables. Below are the upcoming assignments and the date they are due. I will also continue to update the Homework List Google document, for those of you who have been following along on there.

Upcoming Assignments Due:

Due 1/20    Lesson 1A    A: Pg 369-370 #5-13 odds, 18-19, 21, 23

Due 1/21    Lesson 1B-C    A: Pg 375-376 #1-9 odds, 15-17 odds OR B: Pg 375-376 #7-17 odds

Due 1/26    Lesson 1D    A: Pg 380-382 #5-9 odds, 13, 15, 25, 27-35 odds OR B: Pg 380-382 #5-29 odds

English Language Arts News January 12-16

This week in class we worked on our final projects for the Newbery books we read.  Each student was able to select their own book that had won either the Newbery medal or the Newbery honor.  The projects focused on story elements, character analysis, and vocabulary.  We presented the projects in class on Friday.  Some students were not ready to present and will need to complete their projects this weekend. 

Assignments Due this Week:
1.  Newbery final project was due Friday
Newbery Project Link

Coming Up Next Week:
1.  Newbery Discussion
Newbery Discussion Questions
Discussion Rubric
2. Comparing two authors' writing on the same topic- Scope articles
Link to assignment
3. Literary Elements Packet- Scope article
Literary Elements Packet Link
4. Any late/missing work from 2nd quarter must be in by Thursday!  The parent portal will show any assignments that are currently missing.  

Science News Week of Jan 12-16

This week in Science: 
We finished up our research and letters to our favorite inventors and presented them to the class in a Gallery Walk. Most students completed the project. Only a few still missing.

Then we started talking about the Electromagnetic Spectrum, continuing on with our Waves, Color, Light, and Sound unit. We took some important notes (we may be able to use them on future quizzes...!). We are finishing this week with a Lab on Visible Light. Students will need to complete a lab write up for this lab.


Assignments:

• Inventor Project-was due 1/14
• Visible Light lab write up/activity sheet (finish Monday)

Coming up next week:

• Checks for understanding
• Mixing Pigments Lab-conclusion