As we progress into the environmental issues of Latin America, we are having rich discussions! Today, we made our graphic organizers and defined some vocabulary - smog, deforestation, and oil spill. Then we ventured into Mexico City and discussed the history of their smog problem. All of this information is recorded in the graphic organizers which are in your child's binder. I have attached the PPT I made to help us progress through these issues. We will finish discussing the issues and the PPT tomorrow and Tuesday.
Below are some of our students working on their political and physical maps of Latin America.
0 Comments
On Thursday, we will practice some more with various numbers lines and coordinate planes. Please continue to review at home. Students, according to the standard, should be able to:
Find and position integers and other rational numbers on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram; find and position pairs of integers and other rational numbers on a coordinate plane. Web Resources: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/BillyBug2/bug2.html Game using the four quadrants. http://hotmath.com/hotmath_help/games/ctf/ctf_hotmath.swf Catch the fly naming the coordinates! In mathematics, a rational number is any number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction p/q of two integers, with the denominator q not equal to zero. Today we practiced making coordinate planes with different intervals. Then we plotted the rational numbers on these planes. As we watched the following video, we plotted each point on a coordinate plane. This paper should be in your child's math binder. A blank copy is attached below as well as tonight's homework. We will continue to prac http://learnzillion.com/lessons/491-graph-rational-numbers-on-a-coordinate-plane (3:31)
What a HIT this website is! It is so difficult to find websites that 6th graders have not been to yet! Honestly, it is a HIT at my house too! Greg Tang is the author of many, many math books that I used in my lessons when I taught 3rd grade math. This site offers very challenging exercises for all ages!
Mastery means being able to apply strategies quickly and effortlessly. Kakooma gets students to do hundreds of mental calculations with just a few puzzles. It’s challenging fun that sharpens computational and problem-solving skills. Once you get to the website gregtangmath.com click KAKOOMA at the top. Then you have 4 choices - addition, negatives, multiplication, and fractions. Once you choose your topic, then you choose your level and number of variables...(Trust me - start with the 4 easy first!) Once you click your level, YOUR TIME STARTS! The object is to click the answer as fast as you can. A wrong answer adds time to your score! Ask your student to show you how to play! We had competitions where consistent and steady won the race. We found that the first finishers had 5 - 6 minutes of penalty time! Also on the site are games to play that are very challenging! Finally the MATERIALS tab offers printables at all levels. Have fun and send me some feedback on what you thought of the site! Today the students took the English Language Arts MAP test. Mrs. Pritchard taught in her room with students rotating in and out, as I monitored the computer lab and made sure all students tested properly.
Goal sheets will be generated from their scores so we can generate an ILP (Instructional Learning Plan) for each student. Next week, the 6th grade teachers will set up a meeting to explain how the ILP was generated from the MAP scores. This will be a group meeting and we will meet in one of the 6th grade classrooms. Stay tuned for details! Today the students will take a quiz on standard MCC6.NS.6b -
Understand signs of numbers in ordered pairs as indicating locations in quadrants of the coordinate plane; recognize that when two ordered pairs differ only by signs, the locations of the points are related by reflections across one or both axes. Students will complete their center cards for MCC6.NS.6b. Next week, we will complete our last two lessons in Unit 1 - plotting rational numbers in the coordinate plane (MCC6.NS.6c), and using coordinates and absolute value to find the distances between points on a coordinate plane (MCC6.NS.8). I know this unit may have seemed very long, however, the students were also learning routines and procedures for everything we do in math class - centers, homework, ADD, etc. Next week, I will also add a PROBLEM OF THE WEEK to their daily work. This will be completed totally at school and they will have all week to complete. Additionally, on Tuesday, your child will receive a daily maintenance packet for ELA and MATH. The student may work at their own pace in its completion at home, but it will be due at the end of the month. Today we finished watching the short film clips about the physical features of Latin America - the Andes Mountains, the Atacama Desert, the Amazon River, and the Panama Canal. Students worked in pairs to describe and identify the features through a non-fiction passage.
WOW! The first progress report for 6th grade has arrived! (three of them in fact!)
A child's progress report can bring feelings of joy, excitement, and pride; it can also cause concern, frustration, and uncertainty. In either case, the progress report marks a new beginning to set goals and reflect on past work habits, achievements, and hardships. Most important, it is a time for you to communicate with your child and determine a path for future academic enrichment and social-emotional growth. Regardless of the report (good or bad) your child brings home, you must first focus on the positive aspects of the report. This is not always an easy task. For some, this might mean highlighting a strong effort or stellar citizenship or praising an academic accomplishment. Starting on a positive note shows your child that you truly care about the accomplishments, not only areas that need improvement. Be careful not to overreact to lack of progress or progress you view to be unsatisfactory. Instead, use this time to look at past performance and plan for the future. Talk to your child, asking questions to understand how a particular comment from the teacher was earned: Was the work too difficult? Does your child really listen in class and focus on the assignments given? Does your child complete all homework and ask questions when problems arise? The answers you receive might indicate a need to review your child's study habits. Determine whether or not your child is recording all assignments and bringing home all materials necessary to complete them. Does your child have a specific nightly homework time (Monday through Thursday) when he/she cannot be disturbed? If not, this would be a great time to establish one! If so, is it long enough? Does your child have a specific place to study where resources (including someone to answer questions) are available and distractions are minimized? Is your child completing all homework on a nightly basis, or are assignments being turned in late, or not at all? Once you have determined the problem, you can begin to create a solution. Creating a plan to maximize future academic success is an important part of every child's education. Help your child set realistic and attainable goals for the next reporting period. Outline ways in which these goals can be met, as well as rewards and consequences if they are not. Type the "official plan" and post one copy in a prominent household location, another in your child's agenda, and forward another to me. Involving your child gives ownership and importance in this process, and this makes the progress report important not only to you, but also to your child. As parents and teachers, we want the best for children, but in too many cases this is measured only by the number of 3's on their report card. Emphasize to your child the importance of doing the very best job possible. Encourage them to succeed, and measure their progress in realistic terms, letting them know that you care and are available to help. Break tasks into small steps, so that your child can monitor their progress. By reviewing the progress report, and developing a plan for the future, you will help your child find the road to success. PLEASE RETURN ONE SIGNED COPY OF THE PURPLE PROGRESS REPORT IN THE MANILLA FOLDER. We are very fortunate that 4-H has been able to fit our 6th graders into their monthly schedule. The curriculum I have chosen for 6th grade covers this social studies standard: SS6E4: The student will explain personal money management choices in terms of income, spending, credit, saving, and investing. Your child has a 4-H folder in their bookbag that explains all about 4-H. At our next meeting (Oct. 8), students will have the opportunity to run for office! The 5 officers that will be elected for each class (morning and afternoon) include the following:
All of the details about each office, including their duties and responsibilities, are in their 4-H folder. Each child has a yellow form that MUST BE SIGNED by a parent to be considered for office. Each elected officer will have to attend one of the trainings in October - either the 22nd or the 28th from 6 - 8 p.m. Our whole unit comes together with our current topic - reflection. Students need an understanding of opposites and the coordinate plane to design true reflections. We worked through many of the slides on the PPT below as a class and in pairs. At their desks, students used graph paper in plastic sleeves to plot the points of the original shape and used a different color to plot its reflection. The students really enjoyed this! We will
Monday night's homework is posted below...
Below are a few slides of coordinate planes with letters assigned to each point. Just a quick warm-up. Can your child come up with their own words and coordinate pairs to go with them?
|
Mrs. Beck's Math and Social Studies ClassesCategoriesArchives
April 2015
Categories |