Summary writing is difficult. We used the Somebody...Wanted....But...So....Then... strategy today. We filled one in as a group and then students wrote one on their own. Both summaries were from shared whole class stories.

Homework:
SS: Early People Project due 10/8/18
Reading: Latin Stem Quiz on Monday, Oct 1
Mr K's Math: work on missing work

Students were detectives and used the site map above to determine what group of people occupied this site. We will discuss tomorrow in class and they can share with you on Friday. In ELA, we are wrapping up our revisions for our personal narratives and are now in the editing phase.

Homework:

ELA: Personal Narratives due 10/5/18
Social Studies: Early People Project due 10/8/18
Reading: Latin Stem Quiz on 10/1/18 and stem extra credit due 9/28/18
Science: 1.2 Finish Step 5 "HW"
Math: Mr K- missing work

It was lovely to meet some families last night at Open House. Above are a few posters that were out during the night. If you were not able to attend, please take some time to email me your thoughts on the first poster.

Homework:

Latin Stem Quiz 10/1/18
Social Studies: Early People Project- due 10/8/18

We had our Hominid poster presentations in Social Studies and Homo Erectus convinced both classes that their group was the most capable.

Homework:

Reading: Latin Stem quiz on 10/1/18
Social Studies: Group and self evaluation due tomorrow and Early People Project due 10/8/18

Revising your own writing is difficult and we continue to push the students to revise their personal narratives more every day. On Friday we discussed symbolism connected to the heart of our story and we created a list of words (verbs, nouns, weather, colors, etc...). My strong emotion in my own personal narrative is sadness. My list of words: crushed, broken, shattered, bleak, heart, rain, gloomy, thunder, depressed, shocked, sobbing, tears, green, blue, dreary, heaviness, darkness. Now it is my job to revise my writing and work some of these words in to hint at the heart of my story. As seen above, I never use the word sadness, but you can feel it. In Social Studies we are presenting our Hominid poster to the class tomorrow while convincing us that your Hominid group was the most capable.

Homework:

Reading: Latin Stem Quiz 10/1/18
Social Studies: Early People Project due 10/8/18
Math: Mr K- R & P 1.2.1 #46-50 pg 29 due 9/27/18

Important dates:
Oct 12th from 11:30-12:30 Early People 6th Grade Museum- all are welcome
September 25th from 6:00-8:00 pm Go To School Night/Open House

We are working on a group Social Studies Project in class. Groups need to convince the class that their Hominid group group is the most capable. This is an in class project and we will do presentations on Tuesday. In ELA we focused on symbolism in our narrative writing.

Homework:

Reading: Latin Stem Quiz- 9/24/18
Social Studies: Early People Project due 10/8/18
Math: Mr K- any missing work due 9/24/18

The whole 6th grade class created a Social Contract that they will follow this year:

1.  Be Respectful and Safe

2.  Be an Ally

3.  Try Your Best

4.  Be positive, Be yourself

5. Think Before You Act

Homework:
Reading: Latin Stem Quiz # 2- 9/24/18
Social Studies: Early People Project due 10/8/18
Math: Mr K- R & P 1.1.5 #36-40 pg 25-26

Important dates:
Oct 12th from 11:30-12:30 Early People 6th Grade Museum- all are welcome
September 25th from 6:00-8:00 pm Go To School Night/Open House

In Social Studies we took time to break down our Early People Project into smaller attainable steps. There are two examples above! It is ok to be a day or 2 off from the schedule, but not too many days. 


Important dates:
Oct 12th from 11:30-12:30 Early People 6th Grade Museum- all are welcome
September 25th from 6:00-8:00 pm Go To School Night/Open House

Homework:
ELA: Finish your rough draft of your personal narrative
Social Studies: Early People Research to be done by 9/24
Reading: Latin Stem Quiz 9/24

Today in class we took a Social Studies Quiz, wrote a rough draft of our personal narrative (now that we have chosen our topic), and used a microscope.

* Reminder- A book needs to come to Reading class every single day.

Important dates:
Oct 12th from 11:30-12:30 Early People 6th Grade Museum- all are welcome
September 25th from 6:00-8:00 pm Go To School Night


Homework:

ELA: Finish your Personal narrative rough draft if you did not finish it today in class
SS- Choose your Early People Project Topic by 9/19/18
Math Mr K: R & P 1.1.4 #28-32 pg 21 & 22

Today we spent a lot of time discussing the Early People Social Studies Project and Museum. Please see the attached letter. 

Homework:

Reading: Study Latin Words (Latin Words Week 2) and quiz on 9/24/18

Social Studies: Hominid Quiz tomorrow (you can use notes)

Math: Mr K- #25 pg 18

* Field trip permission slips!

** Tomorrow is picture day!!!!!

Hey Hamilton Hawks and future West Regents! It is West High School's Homecoming and Spirit Week and Hamilton is going to join in with our own spirit week!

Each day will be a different dress up day:

Tuesday: Denim Day

Wednesday: 70's vs. 80's Day  Which decade had the best fashions?  Dress your like favorite!
Thursday: Sports Day
Friday: Hamilton Pride Day  Wear Hamilton spirit wear if you have it, or just wear Hamilton colors:                         

Early People Project Letter

We have been generating ideas for personal narrative topics as seen above in our special place maps. In Social Studies on Monday, we will go over the Early People Project and Museum- please see link to the cover sheet if you want more information.

Homework:

SS: Hominid Quiz Tuesday, September 18th- students can use their Hominid chart
Reading: Latin Stem graphic organizer due on Monday 9/17/18 for all stems AND Latin Stem Quiz 9/17/18


Early People Project Cover Sheet

Today seemed to go quickly. Students have been generating topics for personal narratives short stories. Below is the narrative idea list that we will use in class tomorrow. In Social Studies we have been studying 5 different Hominid groups. On Monday we will discuss at length the Early People Project that will be presented at a museum day on October 12th. 

Narrative ideas

The stem organizer above is a graphic organizer we will continue to use all year with our Latin Stem work.

Homework:

Reading: Latin Stem graphic organizer due 9/17/18 AND Latin Stem Quiz 9/17/18
* Students wrote Latin Stem list in their planners
Mr K Math: R & P 1.1.3 #19-23 pg 15-16

Today, our 80 minutes of the school day was spent without power. We did some old-school games and then went outside for fresh air. We looked at a different timeline in Social Studies- going back 13 billion years ago to about 200,000 years ago. Students in Mr Kruger's math class will have homework almost every night. It will be posted here most days, but it should be written in planner as well.

Homework:

Reading: Practice Latin Stems and work on graphic organizers for each stem
Mr K Math: R & P 1.1.2 #10-14 pg 10-11

Today was a quick day as it was our first early release. We looked at ways to generate personal narrative topics in ELA (naming a person that matters to you and thinking of SMALL stories). Looking at word stems was part of reading class today, see the above example of how we started to study Latin stems. In SS we completed some geography based on where early Hominid remains were found.

Homework:
ELA: list 2 important people to you and 4 short story ideas that goes with each person AND chose 1 of those short story ideas and write it!

Reading: Look over your 5 Latin Stems and join our Reading Google Classroom
Science: Safety Contract signed
Mr K Math: Mathography 1.1.1B

Today we looked at some strategies of strong narrative writing after students were assigned their narrative writing partners. In Social Studies we looked at a timeline from 2.5 million years ago to about 4,000 years ago and with a list (stone tools, invention of writing) determined where to put them on our timeline.

Homework:
**** Chromebook Take Home Plan Sheets are due on Monday in order for your child to receive a Chromebook at school.
ELA: 1/2 page to a page of narrative writing
Science: Signed safety contract
Math: 1.1.1B Mathography due Tuesday

Today we completed a narrative writing sample so I can assess what the students already know about narrative writing and what they need to know. We also discussed the importance of reading and the correlation between reading more and successes.

Narrative Writing Prompt

Today, write the best personal narrative that you can write. Make this be the story of one time in your life, a scene or two. You will have about 45 minutes to plan, draft, revise, and edit. Write in a way that allows you to show off all you know about narrative writing.

In your writing, make sure you:

• Write a beginning for your story
• Use transition words to tell what happened in order
• Elaborate to help the reader picture your story
• Show what your story is really about
• Write an ending to your story
  

Homework:

SS: Finish name tag

Reading: Finish reading survey

We took some time today to discuss some redirects that are universal at Velma Hamilton. We use a TAB in and TAB out system throughout the school. It is used as a proactive strategy to "check yourself" as a student and it is non-punitive. Because of that, parents will not hear from teachers when their child was asked to TAB in or TAB out. Please discuss with your child how the system works. We also set up our binders to support our oganizational success.

Homework:

ELA: THINK of a narrative story to share

What an exciting time of the year. I love the anticipation of a new school year. This will be my 21st school year in the Madison School District. Formerly a fourth and fifth grade teacher on the east side of Madison, I made the switch to middle school 4 years ago. In addition I have a special education degree and my 316 reading license. My passion is teaching writing and I love the energy that 6th graders bring to the classroom. I also coach Cross Country and if you are interested, join the Velma Hamilton Google Classroom (classroom code= 5trwmz4). I have two boys of my own who attend Franklin Elementary School and along with my husband, we spend a lot of time outdoors. We are part of the Hill Farm Swim Club Family (Moo-Rah). At school, Mr Kruger and I work hard to build our classroom community where all students feel valued, unique, and respected. The blog will be usually be updated on a daily basis where you can access information such as: summaries of lessons taught, anchor charts to support homework, social emotional goals, homework, events that are coming up, and other information. The intention of the blog is for parents to catch a glimpse of the school day but also for students to check it daily. We have an open classroom, feel free to visit!