Diary of a Not-So-Wimpy Class: 2010-08-08

Hello students!!! I hope you had a wonderful summer and that you're ready to get back to learning! This year you'll be big, bad (I hope not!) sixth-graders, getting ready for seventh grade. I hope you're ready for an exciting year because we've got a lot to accomplish together!

I'm sure many of you have read Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, which chronicles the comical events of a boy's middle-school adventures. I am sure we will share in many laughs this year, as well has many important learning experiences. This blog will serve as our forum for sharing those events with both parents and students, who are encouraged to read and comment on this blog on a regular basis. Hopefully it will be a useful and entertaining tool for all of us.

I look forward to knowing you! If you want to get to know me ahead of time, just read the About the Teacher post! Or, for policies and procedures, click here.

Attendance and Tardies--School starts at 9:00 and ends at 3:15 (2:30 on Wednesdays). Students are not to be in the building before 8:30 and will be asked to stay up by the office if they are earlier. Sixth grade is a very crucial year for the students. Missing one day can really put a student behind and requires a lot of make up. It is important that your child is at school everyday possible, but please keep them home when they are sick. We ask that you schedule any appointments after school hours and keep vacations during school days limited. We start math first thing in the morning, which makes being on time even more vital. The state is getting very strict on absents and tardies and you will receive a note home after 10, and be asked to meet with the principal after 15.

Homework--Students will receive their homework on Mondays in their homework folder and it is due back by Friday. They are asked to read 150 minutes every week and complete the assigned math, science, social studies, writing or spelling work. Part of their score is a parent signature. This lets us know that you have looked over your students work. We do this so you know more about what they are doing in school, and you can monitor the quality of the work they are turning in. Occasionally they will have extra math, or projects that you are informed of ahead of time.

Grades--The students' grades will be recorded on the SIS database system. We will send home instruction on how to sign on and view your child's grades.

Management Plan--My classroom is not only run by the teacher. I feel that the students are old enough to take on a lot of responsibility in helping around the class. They will have weekly jobs and receive a salary for these jobs. They will change every other week so all students have a chance at each job. Students are in charge of: taking attendance and lunch count, passing out papers/supplies, monitoring the hall lines, monitoring class behavior, library clean up, news reports, and so on. The money they earn gets them into our reward party, which is every six weeks. Students receive bonuses and fines based on their behavior, and that is also calculated into their party spending. The bonus and fines papers will be sent home twice a month so you can know how they are doing. These are also recorded on SIS.

Curriculum--The sixth grade curriculum is very large but also extremely fun. In math students will work very deeply with the relations of numbers, learn lots of algebra, and further their studies of fractions and decimals. We study ancient civilizations in Social Studies and find the many ways they influenced our culture today. For Science we cover a wide range, from microscopic things to the Universe. They will learn about microorganisms, sound, heat, light, seasons, moon phases, constellations, solar system, and universe. Each teacher instructs a different area of the science core. This gives the students a chance to learn from all of us, and a chance for us to become experts on certain topics. We will continue to read many books and dig deeper to find meaning. Students will participate in Writer's Workshop where they will have the chance to write their own stories and study different genres. They will also have weekly spelling and vocabulary tests.

Every week the blog will be updated with the current events of the classroom. Check back often. My door is always open and I love to have parents in the classroom. Let me know if you would like to be more involved. Feel free to email at any time with any concerns, questions, or comments at stephanie.talley@nebo.edu.

Diary of a Not-So-Wimpy Class

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Welcome Back!!!

Policies and Procedures

About the Teacher