September/October 2022
Welcome to the 2022-23 school year at South Bristol School. In each newsletter, you'll find information about important dates that are coming up, you'll find out what your child is learning in math and/or science, and find other information that will help answer questions. Always feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or 644-8177.
6th Grade Math
This year, all 5th-8th grade teachers in AOS 93 are piloting a new math program called iReady Classroom (aka Ready Math) for a 2nd year. The biggest difference between this program and our last program is the focus on mathematical discussion and discourse between students. Students can expect some homework each night that we have math. There are even occasional short homework assignments for students to complete with their caregivers.
Group using 6th grade book:
Current Unit:
- Unit 1: Expressions and Equations
Skills:
- Finding areas of parallelograms
- Finding areas of triangles and other polygons
- Using nets to find surface area
- Writing and evaluating expressions with exponents
- Working with algebraic expressions
- Finding the greatest common factor and least common multiple
We'll do math games once every two to three weeks. These games will mostly focus on fluency with multiplication, estimations skills, and using the coordinate plane during trimester 1.
Students have 45 minutes of self paced independent learning to do on the iReady Classroom website to do each week. This 45 minutes needs to be completed between Monday at 8AM one week to 8AM on Monday morning the next week. This helps students review concepts and allows them to try math topics we'll cover in the future.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion in math and to keep track of assessment scores. My goal for each student is to score a 3 or better on each mathematics standard. This score indicates mastery of the standard. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work (engaged learner, responsible learner, and respectful learner). You can login to Powerschool by going to https://aos93la.powerschool.com/public/. You login using the username and password in your child's planner. I also e-mailed a copy to you and your child.
Group using 6th grade book:
Current Unit:
- Unit 1: Expressions and Equations
Skills:
- Finding areas of parallelograms
- Finding areas of triangles and other polygons
- Using nets to find surface area
- Writing and evaluating expressions with exponents
- Working with algebraic expressions
- Finding the greatest common factor and least common multiple
We'll do math games once every two to three weeks. These games will mostly focus on fluency with multiplication, estimations skills, and using the coordinate plane during trimester 1.
Students have 45 minutes of self paced independent learning to do on the iReady Classroom website to do each week. This 45 minutes needs to be completed between Monday at 8AM one week to 8AM on Monday morning the next week. This helps students review concepts and allows them to try math topics we'll cover in the future.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion in math and to keep track of assessment scores. My goal for each student is to score a 3 or better on each mathematics standard. This score indicates mastery of the standard. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work (engaged learner, responsible learner, and respectful learner). You can login to Powerschool by going to https://aos93la.powerschool.com/public/. You login using the username and password in your child's planner. I also e-mailed a copy to you and your child.
5th Social Studies
The 5th graders will be in social studies class with me for the 1st trimester. Mrs. Stiles will have them 2nd trimester and Mrs. Wright will finish out the year with them.
During the 1st trimester, we will focus on world geography, Native Americans, and European explorers to the Americas.
Students will learn the 7 continents, 4 oceans, several major mountain ranges and rivers, and how to use longitude and latitude on a map. This foundational knowledge and the skills learned will help when we study Native Americans of North America. We will study groups from across the continent with a particular focus on the Wabanaki right here where we live. We will take a field trip to Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust for a day of Wabanaki studies with their Wabanaki educator in October.
Our final project of the trimester will be a study of the routes European explorers took to the New World and to learn a bit about several of those explorers and what they found when they arrived.
Mrs. Stiles will focus on the Colonial period during the 2nd trimester. Mrs. Wright will take students through the American Revolution. All three of us will spend time on current events, as well.
During the 1st trimester, we will focus on world geography, Native Americans, and European explorers to the Americas.
Students will learn the 7 continents, 4 oceans, several major mountain ranges and rivers, and how to use longitude and latitude on a map. This foundational knowledge and the skills learned will help when we study Native Americans of North America. We will study groups from across the continent with a particular focus on the Wabanaki right here where we live. We will take a field trip to Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust for a day of Wabanaki studies with their Wabanaki educator in October.
Our final project of the trimester will be a study of the routes European explorers took to the New World and to learn a bit about several of those explorers and what they found when they arrived.
Mrs. Stiles will focus on the Colonial period during the 2nd trimester. Mrs. Wright will take students through the American Revolution. All three of us will spend time on current events, as well.
5th Science
Our 1st unit will be an immersion into matter. We'll be learning about the states of matter, experimenting with properties of matter- both physical and chemical, classifying molecules, compounds, and elements, learning how the periodic table of elements is organized, and modeling molecules.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work. You can login to Powerschool by going to https://aos93la.powerschool.com/public/. You login using the username and password in your child's planner. I also e-mailed a copy to you and your child.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work. You can login to Powerschool by going to https://aos93la.powerschool.com/public/. You login using the username and password in your child's planner. I also e-mailed a copy to you and your child.
5th Science Syllabus
7th Science
Our 1st 7th grade science unit will be about cells. This is the basics about how life is structured, how organisms function, and how information is processed at the cellular level. We will use online gizmos, we'll make cell models for plants and animals, we'll read about cells in a textbook, and we'll use microscopes in the classroom.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work. You can login to Unified Classroom by going to classroom.powerschool.com. You login using your child's gmail account. He/she can show you how to do this and how to navigate around the site.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work. You can login to Unified Classroom by going to classroom.powerschool.com. You login using your child's gmail account. He/she can show you how to do this and how to navigate around the site.
8th Science
The 8th grade students will begin the year learning about the scientific method, what makes a good experiment, and what good science looks like. The unit will culminate in students doing their own experiments of their choice and writing a lab report of their findings. The next unit will be all about space- planets, seasons, tides, the moon, stars, galaxies, and scale in the universe.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work. You can login to Unified Classroom by going to classroom.powerschool.com. You login using your child's gmail account. He/she can show you how to do this and how to navigate around the site.
I am using Unified Classroom/PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work. You can login to Unified Classroom by going to classroom.powerschool.com. You login using your child's gmail account. He/she can show you how to do this and how to navigate around the site.