What's Happening in the Sixth Grade?

Language Arts

Welcome to 6th Grade English Language Arts!
My name is Molly Fawcett, and I’m excited to be your teacher this year. While I’ve been teaching at GET Middle School for the past six years, this will be my 21st year in education.

In ELA, we use StudySync as our curriculum. Students will work both online through the StudySync app and with a printed workbook that accompanies each unit. Over the course of the year, we will complete four units that align with and cover all 6th grade ELA standards.

I’m looking forward to a great year of reading, writing, and learning together!

August 27-November 3 (Term 1)

StudySync- Unit 1 Testing Our Limits

Unit Essential Question: What do we do when life gets hard?

Eleven
The Mighty Miss Malone
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
Hatchet
Jabberwocky

Novel Study: A Long Walk to Water

Academic Vocabulary R 6.4

Grammar: Pronouns L 6.1 & review key grammar skills

Writing: Narrative writing

Important Dates:

September 9- STAR Testing Date for ELA

October (date pending)- Parent Teacher Conferences

Beyond the Classroom: ELA

Math

Welcome to Sixth Grade Math! My name is Mrs. Burmeister and this is my third year teaching math at GET, but is my 26th year of teaching. I strive to make sure all students are doing their best work and encourage them to do more. Every child can succeed!

Our Math Resource is Open Up. We will also be using a new program to us called ALEKS, during our math target time. This will allow us to incorporate more technology in the classroom and meet the needs of all students. It will also allow for more time to work with small groups on skills that they need.

Extra Skills for Practice:

Multiplication Facts through 12x12

Resource: 99 Math (app on Ipads)

ALEKS

Import Dates:

Mid Unit Assessment- Week of November 17th

Final Assessment- Week of December 1st

Unit of Study

Area and Surface Area

In this unit students will...

In this unit, students learn how to solve for the area of a parallelogram, triangle, and polygons. They also determine the surface area of polyhedra. Students will also explore squared and cubed numbers.

Beyond the Classroom: Math

Social Studies

Welcome to 6th Grade Social Studies! My name is Mrs. Knutson, and this is my 27th year at G-E-T.

We will be learning about Ancient Civilizations this year and working on map skills throughout all of the units. Our standards for Social Studies are noted on this page for your reference. Students can see the standards, specific learning targets, and vocabulary for each unit posted on one of the bulletin boards in the classroom.

Unit 1: Historical Skills
Unit 2: Early Peoples
Unit 3: Mesopotamia
Unit 4: Ancient Egypt
Unit 5: Ancient India
Unit 6: Ancient Greece
Unit 7: Ancient Rome

Each unit will have an Essential Question to focus our thinking about the content that is presented, and we will use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) format for written responses. Our HMH resource is online, but we will also utilize traditional textbooks during some of our class periods.

Unit 3 begins on October 22. We will be focusing on Mesopotamia with the essential question: What factors helped unify early civilizations in Southwest Asia? This unit will take us to the Thanksgiving break.

After returning from the Thanksgiving break, students will begin their Thematic Maps. In this mini unit, they will develop a theme for their map and incorporate basic map elements into their poster-sized final product. They will also create questions that classmates can answer using their maps. All materials will be provided at school, and they will class time to complete the maps by the holiday break.

Beyond the Classroom: Social Studies

Science

Welcome to Sixth Grade Science!

Hello!

I am Ms. Jones, and this will be my second year at G-E-T. However, this will be my 30th year of teaching. I am passionate about teaching, and I am excited to create an engaging, hands-on science classroom where learning comes to life!

Our science journey this year starts with our first topic: the structure and properties of matter. This topic will lay the foundation for the concepts we will be exploring throughout the year. As we work through the topics this year, we'll focus on developing vocabulary, practicing CER (Claims, Evidence, Reasoning), building models, and engaging in hands-on investigations.

Guaranteed Standards/I Can Statements:

I can describe, classify, and measure matter.

I can observe and identify examples of change.

I can determine if a chemical reaction occurred by comparing the properties of substances before and after they interact.

I can develop and use a model to describe how the total number of atoms does not change in a chemical reaction and thus mass is conserved.

October Update:

We are still focusing on the same standards from above and discussing thermal energy and heat transfer.

Science Vocabulary Words to Know: Matter, Atom, Molecules, Physical Change, Chemical Change, Mass, Volume, Density, Heat, Temperature, Thermal Energy, Kinetic Energy, Conduction, Convection, and Radiation.

Beyond the Classroom: Science