Newsletters and Class Websites
Sixth Grade
Chesterbrook Elementary School
Reminders and Tips
Staying Organized
Students are responsible for recording homework each day. Assignments are posted in the classroom and on Blackboard daily. It can be useful for parents to ask students to pull up Blackboard to show parents what the assignments are.
Students should organize the binder regularly, making sure that old work has been turned in and that papers are placed in the appropriate class folder or sent home.
FCPS does have a Bring Your Own Device program. Sixth graders are encouraged to bring their own computers or tablets with the expectation that they will only be used to access school sites (ie. Blackboard, Google Drive, IXL) unless teacher permission is given to visit other sites or use other programs. This is the same expectation as for school computers.
Gettysburg Reminders
$54 cost (MySchoolBucks or a check to Chesterbrook Elementary School) for chaperones and students
Pack: backpack, mid-morning snack for the bus ride and mid-afternoon snack for the bus ride (both healthy and nut free),filled water bottle, bag lunch with a drink (no glass, please), umbrella (if necessary), warm clothes (if necessary), camera (optional), and book to read while traveling(optional), playing cards(optional)
7:45 AM meet @ Chesterbrook Tuesday, April 10
5pm return to Chesterbrook
Itinerary: riding battlefield tour, museum and visitor’s center visit, and film “A New Birth of Freedom”
Science Fair
Our students have worked hard on their Science Fair Projects, and we look forward to sharing them with you.
We will have our Science Fair on April 6, 2018. There are two times when you can drop by our school cafeteria, see your child and their project, and learn about additional science fair projects. The times to visit are: 9:55-10:45 and 2:30-3:20
You are welcome to come on one or both of those times. We are asking that all projects receive at least 2-3 parent visitors, and there will be stickers for you to pick up when you arrive to give to student’s projects that you visit, besides your own student. There will also be other classes stopping in to see the projects at scheduled times. We look forward to seeing you and thank you for your support.
Counseling
Thank you to all families for supporting our fall bracelet sale to benefit Hurricane relief at the American Red Cross. Over several weeks, the 6th grade students earned $550 through their sale. Well done!
For our winter service project, the 6th grade participated in the "Kindness Rocks" Project. We have been painting rocks with inspirational words, phrases, and designs for the teachers to distribute to area parks and recreation centers. Maybe you will come across one of our rocks in your travels this spring!
Lastly, the kids would like to host a sandwich making session for an area homeless shelter. If you are able to help coordinate this project, please email Mrs. DeKramer at shdekramer@fcps.edu.
Academic Updates
Reading and Writing- From Mrs. Navarro
Our students are avid readers at Chesterbrook, and it’s been so much fun reading their reviews and suggestions this year. The book reviews (required quarterly), are all posted on Blackboard and can help students to find the next book to read. There are reviews for many varied interests and levels! Sixth grade students can check out books during morning work at Chesterbrook (8:30-9) and should also consider using the public library, including the eBook collections. We continue to focus on volume, fluency, and choice in our class. Students should choose books independently, find time to read at home daily, focus on reading for increasing lengths of time, and try to finish a book approximately every seven to ten days. Students should list every book they complete on the online reading log which is checked monthly.
In our AAP reading class, we have focused on perspective and change this year. Students have surveyed diverse cultural groups through historical fiction texts. Just this week we finished Dragonwings, a story about a young Chinese immigrant in San Francisco in 1903. Students have also considered the concept of change as we’ve read, specifically how characters react to change.
Independently, students are currently reading lengthy non-fiction texts and preparing for TED Talk style presentations to take place both before and after Spring Break. The presentation schedule and rubric are available on Blackboard and in the classroom. Non-fiction reading is essential for middle grade readers, and students are learning to take notes and synthesize important information. Students have also worked to be critical readers; for example looking for author bias and identifying powerful or marginalized groups.
Vocabulary is a large focus in our classroom. Students have worked on understanding words in context and also follow the Word Within the Word vocabulary program by Michael Clay Thompson. This program introduces students to Latin and Greek stems. Students have been given practice assignments in Google Classroom, are able to choose from a menu when practicing with the words and stems each week, and can use the Quizlet site to practice. The majority of vocabulary assignments are completed at school and receive a grade, but students are expected to study at home each week and finish incomplete vocabulary work before the Friday quiz.
The reading SOL will be on May 10th this year, and students will also be assessed using our district level eCart test and a Universal Screener which identifies students’ fundamental strengths and weaknesses in reading and/or math. The Universal Screener has been given twice and will be given once more this year. In sixth grade we also use the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) to assess student reading levels.
In writing during the second quarter we studied journalism, grammar/editing, and had a journalist visit the sixth grade to share her experiences. Our journalism unit focused on avoiding bias, and students learned about journalists’ use of the inverted pyramid, which focuses on the most important information at the beginning of the story and the least important information or minor details at the conclusion. Sara Just, the Executive Producer of PBS NewsHour and Mr. Treacy’s wife, spoke with our students on Monday, February 12. It was a great experience for our students. I’ve published student newswriting pieces to Blackboard as well as realistic fiction written earlier in the year.
In the third quarter we have been studying personal narratives and writing about small moments from our lives. We’re focusing on including sensory details as well as glimpses into the writer’s feelings.
Science- From Mrs. Paper
During the second quarter, students studied the concepts of weather and weather patterns. Our unit was kicked off with an encapsulation of everything we thought we knew about weather, and setting some goals with new knowledge that we wanted to gain. We began our work with a study of the layers of the atmosphere and their impact on weather patterns. They developed their own visual designs of the layers of the atmosphere, based on their new knowledge. Students learned about the impact that solar energy has on sand and water and we completed an activity and collected data in our class to prove the theory.
We continued to grow in our knowledge of clouds, how weather forms in the clouds, and the concepts of condensation, evaporation, and convection. Students used the Jason curriculum to gain further knowledge through reading, and video clips on clouds and convection. A condensation lab helped us have a hands on view of the process. We took a closer look at air pressure, and completed a Jason lab to illustrate the process. Various aspects of weather forecasting was a big part of our unit, where students gained in their knowledge of what aspects make up a weather forecast, how the weather is predicted, and how to read maps and weather data. We dove deeper into our work with storms through hands on participation in a storm tracker simulation through the Jason curriculum. Students also studied thunderstorms and learned about the scientific/mathematical process to measure a storm through media and through a lab. We built our own barometers to get a sense of weather instruments and how they work to predict weather. We studied and read about wind shear and got a sense of how a hurricane starts and can end through a lab (we blew a fuse during the lab but still got the idea!) Students wrapped up a Project Based Learning activity, where they took on a role of a storm chaser or meteorologist and researched a weather topic of interest in greater depth. Students created products such as websites, posters, podcasts, models and more! The students did a wonderful job showcasing what they have learned.
Our most recent science work focuses on chemistry concepts and properties of water. We learned about the Atomic Theory and the scientists that contributed to the theories that exist today. Students created their own atoms! We became experts on scientists connected to these theories, and were able to diagram and explain their theories. We have learned about parts of various elements and explored the elements of the Periodic Table. Students are doing further research on elements, how they came to the Periodic Table, and focusing in on how and why the elements are grouped into families. We have also explored balancing chemical equations. Our lab experiments have included exploring the different properties of water with various materials including surface tension, cohesion and adhesion. As we work through these labs, students are also discussing additional types of experiments that might be done with various materials. This unit has also opened opportunities to consider, discuss, and make decisions on water-related dilemmas that can affect our community and the world. Students recently completed priority ladders in groups to decide about different real-world water related problem scenarios.
Within all of this work that will continue, students are also hard at work on self-selected Science Fair projects, where they are learning and experiencing the steps of the Scientific Method. I can’t wait for them to showcase their work for you on April 6th. Students will share in two sessions in the cafeteria from 9:50-10:45 and 2:30-3:20 on the 6th. Please stop in and congratulate all of the students on their hard work. Our next science unit in the fourth quarter focuses in on energy concepts. The Jason Unit: Infinite Potential, will be a driving force behind our work.
Please take a moment to view our gallery of photos from class which are posted on Blackboard.
Social Studies- From Mr. Treacy
Our third quarter has been an interesting one as the kids have been learning about the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Continental Congress, and many of the other events that led up to the American Revolution. We have also studied the creation of the Articles of Confederation along with the reasons why they were ineffective, eventually leading to the gathering of the Second Continental Congress. The kids have been learning about our Founding Fathers and the sacrifices and compromises they needed to make in order to ratify the Constitution.
During the month of February, in celebration of African American History month, each student was required to create a slide or two depicting an African American who made a positive contribution to our country’s history. During the last week of February, students shared their slides with their classmates. I was very impressed with the research and the work that the kids did on their project. I was impressed with the kids' efforts and enthusiasm for this project.
During the last couple of weeks the students have been working in small groups, preparing a presentation on the major accomplishments of the first five presidents. The students in the Advanced Academics Program were additionally tasked with making an argument about which president they felt had the most influence on our government and which president would make an effective president today. The kids worked very well together and came up with some very interesting and entertaining presentations. This project required a lot of collaboration, research, and creativity, which was evidence in their presentations.
In the coming weeks, we will be learning about westward expansion, growth and change, and finally, the Civil War.
Math- From Mrs. Navarro and Mr. Treacy
Students in Mrs. Navarro and Mr. Treacy’s classes have been busy learning about functions, proportions and percent applications, and inequalities. The students have recognized that as we move forward through the curriculum, the things that we have learned previously play an important role in the new material. Keeping that in mind, we continue to make it a habit to review our earlier material to keep the topics fresh and so they can apply previous knowledge to the new work. As a result, you may at times see work coming home as classwork or homework that looks familiar.
We have most recently been preparing for the 2nd E-Cart test reviewing all the material learned throughout the year. We have begun testing some students and plan to have all the remaining students complete the test by the end of the first week in April.
We still have many challenging topics ahead of us this year. Looking forward, we will be covering similar figures and quadrilaterals, measurement, transformation, probability, and finally, we will have a section on statistics.
Contacts
Catherine Navarro
cbnavarro@fcps.edu
Michelle Paper
mspaper@fcps.edu
Ray Treacy
rptreacy@fcps.edu
Denise Williams, Special Education
dcwilliams@fcps.edu
Sarah DeKramer, Guidance Counselor
shdekramer@fcps.edu
Mike Goldstein, Part-time Teacher
Faezeh Shahbandeh, Instructional Assistant
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