Monday!

Happy Monday! Today FLEW by! 

We started with 100 Mile Club, then did Boot Camp. We had a spelling pretest, then read a fluency about Pompeii. I will look for pictures from my trip tonight. Our close read was also about a volcanic eruption. 

We made vocabulary flip books with our DEA vocabulary. This is the first time we have a science reading in our morning time block.

In math, we all worked on lesson 2-5 (solving multiplication and division equations).

We worked on revising our writer's workshop. We got through the first paragraph!

We started science rotations today.

Band tomorrow!

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• my math group: practice 2-5 and Frayer frames for equation and variable
• spelling choice
• writing: what is one habit you've always wanted to form but haven't?

Assembly and Auction Friday!

Did you have a good Friday? We had some fun things happening today.
First we did 100 Mile Club, then had a fluency quiz and weekly assessment. Then it was off to the assembly! SO EXCITED that we won the attendance award for 6th grade AND the award for the entire upper grade. GREAT JOB!
We regrouped for math. Did everyone work on the problem solving lesson?
We ended the day with a 6th grade auction! Look for that to happen each assembly day. I loved it!

Have a WONDERFUL weekend. Cheer on my Cardinals!

Thursday

Sorry I did not blog yesterday. This week has been filled with quite a few non-classroom related tasks.
Today we started with 100 Mile Club, then came in and shared writing. We had Boot Camp, fluency practice, and worked on close reading. I like the posters each group made that show gist, author's purpose, vocabulary, reasons the paintings are fading, and something that you learned. We also wrote Depth of Knowledge (DOK) leveled questions for Hatchet.
We continued math groups. My group worked on solving addition and subtraction equations involving a variable.
We wrote a conclusion to our agricultural revolution essays. Tomorrow we will begin the revising process.
Finally, we read about earth's moving plates. Science rotations start next week!

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute (quiz tomorrow)
• spelling -- take a practice test
• math -- my group practice 2-3
• writing: a penny falls from a tall building, what happens?

We also changed jobs today and staked the plants that are growing. It is so exciting to see our garden!

Weekly assessment tomorrow in Language Arts.

Tuesday

It was so nice to be back in class today!
We started the day with 100 Mile Club, then came in and talked about how math was going to work. Then we shared writing. We did Boot Camp. We worked on fluency with the Gary Paulsen piece, then close reading. We also went over DEA vocabulary for Hatchet. We reread Hatchet with our partners.
In math, we started math groups. You may be in a different class for math. I believe each group worked on lesson 1 in Topic 2.
We worked on our tools paragraph in writing, and finished the day by reading in our science book.

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute (quiz Friday)
• spelling choice
• writing: you find a secret tunnel down a back alley in Riverside. Where does it go?
• my math group: practice 2-1

See you tomorrow!

Thursday

So glad today was cooler! We worked on writing DOK questions today, and then had a Socratic Seminar using the questions we wrote. In math, we took a practice test. Tomorrow we are using the chrome books to take the math test online. We "unpacked" our next writing prompt, and then we went to rotations. Today was the first day of the last rotation this time around.

Hopefully you have at least 3% of your AR goal. There may be a fun surprise tomorrow!

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• math -- review practice test and revise one pager
• writing: you are taking a journey down the Yellow Brick Road. What happens?

Very hot Monday

Happy Monday! Thank you for your patience as I worked through the DIBELS.
We finished our compare/contrast essays on Homo erectus and Homo sapien. We had a spelling pretest, read a new fluency passage, then found author's purpose and gist of an article called Earliest Humans. We also worked with vocabulary for our new reading selection in the history textbook.

In math, we worked on identifying equivalent algebraic expressions. Remember, it does not matter what value you choose for x as long as you use the same value in each expression.

We had our first day of the third round of rotations today.

Hopefully the weather will be a little cooler tomorrow!

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• spelling choice
• math practice 1-11
• writing: You wake up in a hospital...

Have a wonderful evening! Stay cool!

Friday Fun

I'm so glad we got part of the board working! There are still some things that need to be fixed, but we can write on the board and use the document camera. Big improvement over a few days ago!

Today we had 100 Mile Club (well, you did because Mrs. Neuman was showing me things on the board). We had Boot Camp and took the assessment for this week. I really liked being able to put the assessment under the document camera.

In math, we used the distributive property to write equivalent expressions. This is a lesson that was not previously in the 6th grade curriculum. We will revisit the lesson on Monday.

3(2x + 5) = 6x + 15

8x - 4 = 4(2x - 1)

I did not get many finished final copies of our writing. We will finish that up on Monday. We ended the day with rotations. I had a great time planting!

Have a wonderful weekend! Cheer on my baseball team the St. Louis Cardinals and my college football team -- go USC Trojans!

Patriot Day Assembly

This morning we started the day with a Patriot Day Assembly. I loved hearing you sing!

We did 100 Mile Club, shared our writing, did Boot Camp, and worked on taking notes out of our history books. We used the headings provided to guide us in note taking.

In math, we worked on simplifying expressions:

2x + 5 + 3x - 2

2x + 3x + 5 - 2

5x + 3

We worked on editing and revising our writing, and started final drafts. Then we had the first day of the second round of rotations.

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• math practice 1-10
• spelling choice
• writing: what is your favorite season? Give at least 5 reasons why.

Happy Wednesday!

Do you like your Language Arts sub dividers? I was very impressed with how smoothly that went. We did Boot Camp, fluency, close, vocabulary DEA, and reading. I am feeling like our Language Arts block is coming together. We are getting used to the routine of Units of Study.

In math we learned how to write expressions to represent patterns. We talked about input/output tables.

Tomorrow we are having a Patriot Day assembly to start the day. Please wear RED, WHITE, and BLUE.

Homework

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• spelling choice
• math practice 1-9
• writing: write about the life of a washing machine

Tuesday

Today we started with 100 Mile Club and then came in to share our writing. I can't wait to hear the poems you have tomorrow! We did Boot Camp, fluency, close reading, and did some work in the social studies book with partners. We also worked on vocabulary. If you finished, you worked on your One Pager.
In math we evaluated expressions.
We worked on our rough drafts of comparing/contrasting homo erectus and homo sapient.
Finally, we had rotations. Thursday you will go to your new rotation.

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• spelling choice
• math practice 1-8
• writing: write a poem about a character (from a book, movie, or play)

First Day of Rotations!

How was your Monday? Enjoy the rain?
Today we had 100 Mile Club and then came in for our spelling pre-test. We had Boot Camp, fluency practice, close reading practice, and vocabulary DEA before we read a selection in our social studies textbook.
In math, we learned about the parts of an expression. We learned about terms and coefficients.
We had a few minutes to start a rough draft comparing and contrasting homo erectus and homo sapien. And then...we rotated! Hope you enjoyed your rotation. You will be there one more day before you rotate to the next class.
Remember you need 3% of your AR goal by next Monday.

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency 1 minute
• math reteach 1-6 and reteach 1-7
• spelling: missed words on pre-test 5x each
• writing: write about crossing a bridge

It's the weekend!

Wow, if I thought Thursday was busy, what word can be used to describe Friday?! We shared our writing and then went to an AVID assembly. After that, we had an assessment over our Unit of Study 1, Week 2. We also looked at a power point Mrs. Neuman made to explain One Pagers. We reviewed yesterday's math lesson and then had a lesson on writing expressions with variables. New math vocabulary: coefficient (the number that is multiplied by a variable). In the expression 3m, 3 is the coefficient.
We finished math after lunch and started working in Writer's Workshop. We used our social science books for information to supplement the close reading on Early Humans, and used that information to fill in a Venn Diagram. Finally we went back to the One Pagers.
Samantha brought us cupcakes since tomorrow is her birthday. They were delicious!

You also received your AR goal for the year. I'm so happy that some of you have already started taking quizzes!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Busy busy Thursday

Oh my goodness what a busy day! I loved hearing your writing this morning and I cannot wait for tomorrow's selection. We added another syllable type and cutting pattern to our chart in Boot Camp. We reread our fluency selection and watched a Gooru video that related to "Climb or Die." We read our close reading selection with attention to types of early humans and the time they lived. We did a writing piece on which tool was the most important and why.
In math, the lesson was full of mini-lessons! We learned about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals, using brackets, and solving expressions. Whew!
In writer's workshop we started a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting two types of early humans.
Finally, we had a few minutes to start the "Distant Past" section in our social science text.

Tomorrow there is an AVID assembly and a week two assessment in language arts.

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• spelling due tomorrow
• fluency 1 minute
• math reteach 1-5
• writing -- write about the sound, the color, and the smell of school

Wednesday!

Wednesdays sure do fly by! We started the day with 100 Mile, then came in the room to share writing. This was our first day of sharing writing -- I'm looking forward to what tomorrow brings! We had a Boot Camp lesson on -cle words, worked on fluency with partners, close read the article on Early Humans, and discussed "Climb or Die" using questions from the Basal Alignment Project (BAP). We also had more vocabulary words from "Climb or Die." In math we reviewed the Distributive Property.

Advanced Band tomorrow!

Homework

• read for 30 minutes
• spelling tic tac toe due Friday
• math practice 1-4
• fluency "A Mummy Mystery" 1 minute
• writing: write about a white shirt

Tuesday After a Three Day Weekend

Happy Tuesday! I have to admit, I was a little shocked by how many of you said your weekend wasn't great. Hopefully you did some fun things and rested.

We hit the ground running today. First, 100 Mile Club. When we came back to the room, we started our Unit of Study Week 2. We had our first spelling pretest, then we learned about schwa in Boot Camp. We did a close reading over "Early Humans." We had Vocabulary DEA for "Climb or Die" and read the selection in our anthology. Remind me to give you a novel recap.

In math we learned about the Distributive Property. Today was the first day we started accountability. I needed to see your finished work, and then you were responsible for checking your answers using my Teacher's Edition.

We went over homework, I checked planners, and we read two chapters in our book. We started Writer's Workshop and then it was time for band. How was it?

Homework:

• read for 30 minutes
• fluency ("A Mummy Mystery") -- 1 minute
• spelling tic tac toe due Friday
• math reteach 1-4
• writing: write about 5 things you forget

Oh! Do you like the new look blog?

See you tomorrow!