1 May 2015

6th Grade Parents,

The first day of May has arrived, TCAPs are finished, and all students thoughts turn to summer you should
have seen the long faces when I informed 6th grade that we STILL had to study Language Arts, Math, Science
and Social Studies each day When I told them HOW we were going to conduct our learning for the
remainder of the school year, they cheered up a bit
We will continue curricular units in both Math and Grammar until the middle school trip; you may expect
regular homework and testing in these areas (this did NOT cheer them up!)
In Science, students are devising (and documenting) a list of experiments they would like to conduct in class
over the next 3 weeks. So far the list includes more air-powered bottle rocket trials, testing the strength of
ordinary and electro-magnets, the effect of time on expo marker erasability, and proposed experiments in
CHAOS theory!
In Social Studies, students are already engaged in independent research about the country of their choice.
Nations chosen include Australia, Wales, Japan, South Africa, England and Brazil. Students have been given
an outline template of questions and topics to research about their country subjects like geography, people,
economy and history. Their written report is due May 18th, and an oral report including either a poster or a brief
PowerPoint will be presented that week.
We have one last book report due in Language Arts. This time students can choose to analyze a book or movie
(with my approval), but they still need to produce a Story Map and written report in the same format as we
have been using all year. Check my website for details. Reports are also due on May 18th, with oral reports that
week.
While there are 3 weekends between now and the due date for both these projects, please note that the third
weekend is taken up by our Middle School trip to Washington D.C. Time will be given in class, but with all the
events and trips in May students will also need to work at home in order to complete their reports properly. I
have impressed upon them the need to manage their time wisely in order to get these projects done and done
well. Final grades are due before the 22nd, therefore extensions will not be possible.
Speaking of planned events in May, so far we have:
Ms. Stahlmans Retirement Reception on Sunday (2-4 PM)
Middle School team-building field trip to the low ropes course
at Bays Mountain on Monday (May 4th)
Field Day next Friday (May 8th)
Mile Run (May 11th 8:15 AM)
Middle School Trip to Washington D.C. (May 13-17th)
Middle School Music Program (May 19th 7 PM)
With three weeks to go, our pace has not slowed, but hopefully with all the events and projects planned well all
cross the finish line with big smiles on our faces!
Have a great weekend!
Mr. Mac