6th Grade Language Arts
Welcome, Parents and Students! Reminder: If your child is absent, review the absence/makeup work policy in the student agenda. When a student returns from an absence, the student should make arrangements with the teacher to complete the missed work.
SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO FIND THE MOST RECENT DATE'S ASSIGNMENTS/ACTIVITIES As concerns arise or situations become apparent, continue to e-mail me and keep me informed about your questions and concerns regarding your child, the teachers, or OMS in general. The lines of communication are always open on my end! Most sincerely, Mr. Ross
Remember, all students have the option (and many are using it) to take home a book--grammar and/or reading--to help them study! This is no problem and I actually strongly encourage it. Please e-mail me at
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if there is anything that I can do to help you or your child in this new, exciting experience! I WILL ALSO OCCASIONALLY DO BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL TUTORING, E-MAIL ME IF INTERESTED This page will be updated as assignments begin and news needs to be posted for parents! I'm looking forward to a great 2010-2011 school year!
08/10/2010 - Welcome to OMS! Today is our second day of the school year. I hope your child is finding his or her way around the school and making new friends! Today we went over p. 1-5 in the Student Agenda. Please review this information with your child. It covers attendance policies, school calendar, etc. This is vital information. We completed a "Getting to Know You" sheet to help me get to know my students! Then we did a social game called "The Name Game" to familiarize the students with their classmates. Please continue to send in completed team packets and blue student folders. We need the "Important Information" sheets (the last page of the team packet) filled out completely. No homework tonight! Tomorrow we will do more social activities and do some startup Language Arts activities. I am looking forward to a positive, succesful year at OMS with your child!
08/11/2010 - Today I gave out instructions for the parent essay, Tell Me About Your Child in a Million Words or Less. Send me an e-mail if you did not get this or your child lost it and I will e-mail you a replacement. We did "Fear Slips" --an activity in which students wrote their fears or concerns about middle school down on an index card and I addressed them. This was completely anonymous. I answered without identifying the writer and the students did not put names on their cards. Hopefully this helped to clear up some anxiety! Finally, we did our first writing activity. Students wrote about their 6th grade expectations. Do they expect a great year? Are they worried? Are they excited about cheerleading? These were some ideas I saw in papers. I will be assessing the students' writing ability by using these papers. No homework tonight except to go over p. 1-5 in the Agenda with your child so you understand the absence procedures and other topics. Also, think about the parent essays! You can send these in any time. I look forward to reading them! Have a great night and get some rest for tomorrow!
08/12/2010 - What a great day today! We did more question and answer sessions about the school and classes. Students finished their 6th grade essays. We did an activity I call "2 Truths, 1 Lie" in which the students read 3 things about themselves to the class and the class had to guess which one was false. We did an art activity based on descriptive words and the students' names. This will help lead them into descriptive writing. No homework tonight. REMEMBER - COLTFEST IS TOMORROW! $2 TO GET IN (which includes 1 game but no snacks), $1 FOR SNACKS, $1 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL GAME. The office is working on having free ice water available for the kids. We will be on a modified schedule, reducing the length of each core class to accommodate the ColtFest event. The students are getting better at this "middle school thing" every...single...day! It is a work in progress and they will be experts soon. Remember, e-mail me, write me a note, and/or give me a call at any point you have questions or concerns. I am always available for my students' parents and guardians. ***Continue sending in Parent Essays! E-mail me if you did not receive the instructions from your child! The ones I have received so far are really informative and a pleasure to read. Thank you for helping me take an interest in your child's life!***
08/13/2010 - Today was ColtFest! The kids seemed to really enjoy this fun-filled day of activities. We did a "My Web" in class today. We used a concept map graphic organizer to fill in information about ourselves. This was an activity to round out our "Getting to Know You" week. We will be moving into a typical week of Language Arts next week. We will read our story, do vocabulary words, and assign workbooks. Now that the kids have been warmed up, I am looking forward to diving straight into our material. ***Please send in Parent Essays!***
08/16/2010 - Welcome to a new week! The students really got a feel for how our Mondays will go this year. We: 1) Copied down vocabulary words and definitions (test Friday) 2) Previewed textbooks and read Old Yeller (test on story, genre, and setting Friday) 3) Assigned "Reading Workbooks" and did p. 4. Page 4 in the Reading Workbook (blue) is homework if not finished in class. Students will need to bring this workbook to and from class/school each day unless I have taken them up for a check. Never rip pages out of the workbook! We will do a "Story of the Week" each Monday and introduce vocabulary words for the week. We almost always test on Fridays. ****Please send in Parent Essays! I really enjoy reading these and it informs me of things I would otherwise never know or take months to learn!****
08/17/2010 - Today we constructed sentences using our vocabulary words. We worked on complete subjects and predicates. Your child should have two worksheets to bring home to study. This topic will be included on Friday's test. We will do more practice tomorrow, including taking notes to study. Homework is to complete p. 7 in the workbook (Setting-based). Have a great evening and keep the parent essays coming in! Let me know if you need instructions e-mailed or sent home.
08/18/2010 - Today we continued working with subject, predicates, and verbs. Students took notes on subjects and predicates and received a work/study sheet on verbs. We then created a dictionary for Old Yeller, defining unfamiliar words and phrases. We closed out class by completing p. 9 in the reading workbook. No homework tonight except to study for Friday's test (Vocabulary word definitions, subjects/predicates, verbs, and setting).
08/19/2010 - Today we finished our study on subjects and predicates. Your child has more notes and examples to study. We also worked with linking verbs to help the kids identify all predicates. We did "Baseball Review" Topics for tomorrow's test: 1) Vocabulary - spelling (be able to pick the correctly spelled version) and definition 2) Complete Subjects and Predicates 3) Verbs - Action & Linking 4) Setting Study study study!
08/20/2010 - Friday...TEST DAY! I have graded all tests and will return them on Monday. Overall, I am very proud of the students' performance on this first test in Language Arts as sixth graders! I opened up my classroom library today so students could check out books while we wait on our first library day (Sept. 2). Parents, if you have any books that you would like to donate to our classroom library, please send them in. I appreciate any and all donations. The more books we have, the more opportunities our students have to find their favorite genre and become a life-long reader! Thanks for being proactive and supporting your child's education by checking my website. Please continue sending in Parent Essays. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
08/23/2010 - Today we read our story of the week, Mother Fletcher's Gift. This story teaches a great moral--never judge a book by its cover. Ask your child to tell you about the story. We copied our new vocabulary words and definitions. I handed back Old Yeller tests from Friday. This test should be in the READING section of your child's notebook. Please review this test with him/her to keep up with grades. Until you receive grade portal login information (Guidance is still getting this together), you will need to check your child's binder daily and if he/she is not keeping up with papers, send me an e-mail or note requesting the grades. HOMEWORK: p. 14 in the Reading Workbook. Students will need to do the "Scene from a Play" at the bottom on a separate sheete of paper. Use as many vocabulary words as possible. Example: Officer O'Mally: "Stop right there or you won't survive!" Thief: "Apparently you can't catch me!" (Vocab. words are underlined, use dialogue format)
08/24/2010 - Today we did a vocabulary enrichment activity using art. We did illustrations on paper and then transferred them to the ActivBoard. We then began practicing AIMSWeb Mazes. These test vocabulary and reading skills. Finally, we did 2 workbook activities based on CHARACTER--one of our reading skills for the week. Test topics for Friday: Vocabulary, Character, Mother Fletcher's Gift, Summarizing, Complete Subjects/Predicates
08/25/2010 - Construct a sentence for each vocabulary word. Do p. 69-71 in the Grammar Handbook. We did a "Graphic Summary" of Mother Fletcher's Gift (must be done in class).
08/26/2010 - We completed some noun activities. We continued working with simple subjects and simple predicates. We finished our graphic summaries and did "BASEBALL REVIEW" for the test. Homework: STUDY FOR THE TEST: Vocabulary, Mother Fletcher's Gift, theme, character, and simple subjects/simple predicates.
08/27/2010 - We had TEST #2 today. No homework this weekend. I also gave reward time. If your child was absent today, he/she needs to see me on Monday to schedule a makeup test. This is very important! The website was not updated yesterday or the day before because our entire OMS website was down. Check your child's agenda to know what we did on those days or look above.
08/30/2010 - We copied down our new vocabulary words and definitions. We read Saving the Rain Forests and began a multi-day group project. I will provide art materials and art paper, but if your child wants to do this on a posterboard, he/she is free to bring one in. This is certainly not required, though. Homework is to complete p. 33 in the workbook and 1-10 on p. 34. Will be handing back last Friday's test tomorrow. Please review this with your child to see what parts of the test he/she is struggling with... I always break my tests into topics, so if your child misses 90% of the grammar portion but gets every vocabulary word correct, you can easily see they need more help with grammar than anything else. I do this to help parents and students focus on troublesome areas. Feel free to e-mail, call, or send me a note with any concerns upon seeing this test. Your child should have it in the READING section of his/her binder when they come home tomorrow. We will pick up with our study of facts and opinions tomorrow and also continue our study of nouns and sentences. Have a GREAT evening!
08/31/2010 - We did our vocabulary art activity today. This helps the visual learners connect a picture with the definition. We did our AIMSweb progress monitoring test. Finally, we did Nouns 3 & 4 worksheet. This should be in the WORD STUDY section of your child's binder. I handed back last Friday's test. If your child wants a retake (any score below an 80), you need to sign their test and send it back in tomorrow. This way, I know that your child has shown it to you, explained why they made a bad grade, and to help encourage them to study for the retake (this Friday). The retake test will have the same topics but will have different sentences and wording of the questions. However, the test from last week will serve as a good blueprint to study from... HOMEWORK: p. 37 and 38 in the workbook
09/01/2010 - Today we continued our study of nouns and fact and opinion. Homework tonight is to study for Friday's test (nouns, vocabulary, and subjects/predicates). If your child wants a retake on last Friday's test (Mother Fletcher's Gift), he or she will need to get that test signed and show it to me tomorrow. This will help me know that the parents have seen it and know that their child needs improvement on those test topics.
09/02/2010 - We had our first LIBRARY DAY today! Students were able to check out two books. At least one should be Accelerated Reader (will have a red sticker on the spine of the book). We then studied for retakes and worked more on facts and opinions. I have decided to postpone the Saving the Rain Forests test until next week. SO, no homework tonight unless your child is doing a retake on Mother Fletcher's Gift unit test. Remember, the topics for that retake are: Vocabulary (Mother Fletcher's Gift), Setting, Theme, Character, and Simple Subjects/Simple Predicates The test from last week is a good blueprint for studying but your child should also look at 1) Notes taken in class 2) Activities completed in class (should be in the word study section of binders) 3) Textbooks (your child had the chance to check one out today) I hope to see grades above 80s on all retakes. Thanks for helping your child improve his/her grade!
09/03/2010 - We did retakes on Mother Fletcher's Gift unit tests today. Most students improved drastically. The maximum score a student can get on a retake is an 85. This is to keep things fair with the students who may have made an 84 the first time and therefore could not take a retake (had to be below 80). I don't think the students doing a retake should be able to make higher than those who studied and made a great score the first time. Most teachers do a maximum of 75 or 80 on retakes. We spent the rest of class reading library books. Have a great weekend!
09/07/2010 - Welcome back! Today we worked in workstation groups on analogies and idioms. Homework is to read a chapter or about 10-15 pages of an AR book.
*** If your child needs some extra help, he or she is always welcome to check out a textbook to take home and review. They can also come by in HOMEROOM any day to get some extra help from me. Please do not hesitate; I want your child to succeed as much as you do. ***
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