October News

Oct. 15, 2013 Dear Parents, It is hard to believe that more than seven weeks have flown by since the beginning of school. Your students have been like sponges: learning tons of new things and embracing sixth grade. In social studies we finished up our study of the geography of the Western Hemisphere with a salt dough mapping project and assessment. Hopefully, they brought home their map and shared it with you. When you are here for conferences, you can still see some dough in the carpet, and paint splattered around. It was messy, but they learned a lot, and had fun while they were learning. We are now understanding the early cultures: Olmec’s, Toltec’s, Mayans, Aztecs, Algonquin’s, Inuit’s, Incas, and the Mound People. They will start their presentations tomorrow. You should check out their Google Sites they designed. I will be hosting a study hall after school until 4:30 on Mondays for those students who struggle with getting their homework completed, or who need a bit of one on one time. In science, we just finished our unit on properties of matter: gas, liquid, solid, volume, density, and mass. We are touching on atoms and the Periodic Table of the Elements. Remember that? Our next unit will be water and the living environment. During our math time we have finished with our data analysis, and diving into multiplying decimals. Mr. Lupo will be hosting a morning math club, starting in November for those students who struggle and need a little one on one. We have completed a short writing unit on note taking, summarizing, and paraphrasing. We then put these new skills to work during our social studies time as we researched the early cultures. We have moved on to informational writing, which will be about everything they learned in the properties of matter science unit. Our reading is so differentiated between classes, and within classes, that it is difficult to generalize for you. Just know that we have many groups going at once, working on different skills, at different reading levels, and in different texts. • Remember to sign up for conferences next week through the signup genius. • Send in bags of candy for Trick or Treat street • Save pop tops for our classrooms • Picture retakes are Tuesday, Oct 22 • Early release is Wednesday, Oct 23 (1:15) • Conferences are Wednesday, Oct 23, and Thursday Oct. 24 • Halloween parade and parties are Thursday, Oct 31 at 9:15-10:45am • Mandatory parent outdoor lab meeting Wednesday, Nov 6th, 6:30-7:30 in LMC Thank you for all your support, and letting us be a part of your children’s lives. Mr. Lupo and Mrs. Story

September 10, 2013

Dear Parents, 

This is just a quick note to share with you some important dates, and get you caught up on the busy lives of your sixth graders.

This Friday we will be going to the Gem and Mineral Show (thank you to those chaperones who are going with us).  Please send your child to school with a sack lunch and $5-$15 spending money.  They sell grab bags for $1, so at least send that amount so your student can purchase something.  The kids really do have a great time, and learn  a lot.  

Sat., Sept 21 is the open house at Mt. Evans outdoor lab school.  If you or your child is anxious at all about our upcoming week at outdoor lab, this would be a great opportunity to see and talk to the staff up there. A flyer went home last week about it.

Band and orchestra has started on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Remember that if your child chooses do this extra activity, then it is their responsibility to find out what work they missed and do it for homework.  Depending if they are in beginning or advanced, band or orchestra, they could be missing specials, science, social studies, math, or writing.

Our first book report is due on Oct 4th.  They should have five books read by then.  We will be going over the criteria for the book report next week.  They should also have summaries done for those five books;we are working on this part at school.

Your students should now be in the habit of geography homework coming home on Tuesday, and math mates coming home on Thursday.  They have a full week to complete both of these pieces of homework.

Thank you for all your support in getting your children ready for another school year.

Mrs. Story, Mr. Lupo

March 20, 2013

Dear Parents,

It has been a crazy month here in sixth grade. First, thank you to all the students and parents for their well-wishes while I recovered from an unexpected surgery. Second, thank you to those same wonderful Leawood families who welcomed me back with hugs and smiles. It is GREAT to be back.

We completed nine sections of TCAP, and changes to our daily schedules. The children handled everything with a calm maturity. Maybe they are almost ready for middle school?

The only homework that your sixth grader should have over spring break is to read, read, and read. Unfortunately, the natural consequence of not completing work in class is to complete that work at home, and for some students that is the choice that they have made. So, if your child has homework other than reading that is the reason.

In social studies we have been working in groups to research and “build” a government. They have chosen different types of governments such as democracy, communism, monarchy, democratic republic, etc. We will present those governments on Fri, April 5. Soon after, we will delve into geographic issues of the Western hemisphere. This will involve collaboration, creativity, public speaking, research and expository writing.

During our writing workshop we have been writing memoirs. The students have narrowed down their topics, fully developed the settings, characters, problems, conflicts, tension, and resolutions. Most have completed, or close to completing their first one, and moving on to their second one. We have spent a lot of time revising and editing, so they can find their own errors, and fix them.

In reading we have finished up our Latin/Greek vocabulary work, and are now doing some “word ladders”, which is word work, that helps with patterns, rhymes, directions, and word watching. The students have also presented their fourth book report and are continuing toward their 30 books this year. In guided reading we are working on different skills, based on the leveled texts and the different needs of the groups. Some are working on inference, fluency, identifying non-fiction structures, character analysis, vocabulary using context clues, or critical thinking skills.

In science, we have finished water and the living environment unit. They now know where our water comes from, how it is distributed and cleaned, what watersheds are, different types of conservation plans and water as a valuable resource! We have just started digging into Earth surfaces and taking a closer look at the layers of the earth and how they interact with each other with heat transfer! We will continue studying the formation and movement of earth surfaces including continental drift, tectonic plate movement, volcanoes and some of earth’s most common minerals!

In math, students have been working extremely hard this past month. As we finished focusing on fractions, decimals and percents we moved smoothly into Geometry studying relationships with angles, circle graphs and line segments. We brushed the dust of our protractors and started putting them to good use in measuring angles and geometric shapes! They also are working with new and old terms such as isosceles, scalene and right triangles! We will finish this unit soon after spring break and move onto the next unit...more algebraic equations!

Have a safe and relaxing spring break. See everyone on Tuesday, April 2.

Mr. Lupo and Mrs. Story

February News

Dear Parents,

Just a quick note to keep you updated on a few things and to say thank you. First, thank you to those who brainstormed and helped out during our “Free Market” experiment in social studies last Friday. The kids were so excited, and their products were very creative. They bought, sold, marked down, and reflected like they were economics majors in college. The language they were using to make their decisions was wonderful. There was a lot of energy in the air when someone was selling all of their products. They discovered that “profit” is a wonderful thing. We would like to extend a congratulations to our top “Donald Trump” award winners who made the most profit: Hayley Free and Sam Turner in Mr. Lupo’s class, and Caleb Ray and Nick Turner in Mrs. Story's class.

We are having our Valentine’s Day party at 2:30-3:30 next Thursday, Feb 14. This year the wonderful parents are hosting a dance in the cafeteria for the party. It is low-key and most definitely NOT a “date”. Just music, food and dancing.

Class pictures are on Feb 12.

There is no school on Fri, Feb 15, and Mon, Feb 18.

As always, we appreciate your support at home helping with the organization part of being a responsible learner: planner, homework, Friday folders, etc.

Mr. Lupo and Mrs. Story

January News

January 24, 2013

Hello wonderful parents,

This year is flying by fast. January is almost gone and we still have so much to do. Here is an update and a look ahead.

In science, we are just getting into the "meaty" part of our new unit - Water and the Living Environment. We finished the introduction of ways water is circulated and distributed on earth. They are oceans, rivers, ground water, glaciers and the atmosphere. Students are also studying different areas of water which include - watersheds, water quality, treatment of drinking water and waste water, ground water and the water cycle, properties of water and water conservation.

In social studies, we are in the middle of our economic unit, and I am trying to make it fun and accessible. We have learned about scarcity, opportunity cost, and criteria in decision making, trade, specialization, restricted trade and global trade. Most of our learning “games” have involved food, which sixth graders are very interested in. Today we played a “Gorp” game about specialization, negations, and trade. Ask your student what they learned today. Both classes did an amazing job with it. (Thank you to those parents who helped put it all together).

 

In math, we are just finishing up our unit of variables, formulas and graphs. We will be having a test on Friday and moving into fractions next week!

 

In writing, we have finished our genre of explanation writing and are half way through our persuasive writing unit. Beware; they might come home with very convincing letters for you to read.

We have seen tremendous growth in our sixth grade readers. They are reading challenging books and digging deep into literature. Remember they need to be reading their independent books every night, and the next book report should be around February 27ish.

 

Your students should have brought home the registration cards for Ken Caryl Middle School, as well as an invitation to their parent’s night on Feb. 6th. The due date for these cards back is Feb 1.

Hopefully, you will take advantage of the upcoming Kid’s Night Out that the teachers are sponsoring on Feb 22. It is a great opportunity for you and your loved one to spend an evening together, as well as having your children have some fun at school. We have great events planned, and tried to consider all age levels. The sixth graders are pretty excited about spending time with their friends making friendship bracelets, running the obstacle course or line dancing.

Congratulations to Aleksa Gosik who won the Leawood spelling bee, as well as Jack Abbott who won the school montage contest.

 

In addition, congratulations are in order for our sixth grade Brain Bowl team. On Saturday, January 12, 2013, six of our kiddos from Leawood participated in an all-day competition at Monarch High School for the North Regional Brain Bowl Tournament, hosted by the Optimists club of Colorado. The hard working team consisted of Abigail Orton, Sara Bauermeister, Nathan Lane, Caleb Ray, Torie Tonelli, and Sophia Vinci. They worked through recess and lunches at school for two grueling weeks quizzing each other on trivia knowledge to prepare for the regional competition. At the competition, they correctly answered questions about physics, geography, history, grammar, mathematics, civics, chemistry, literature, and biology. This year’s team took 11th place out of 26 teams (that is the highest Leawood has ever placed). They missed the cut off for quarter-finals by a mere six points. We are so proud of these “brain-iacks”.

Everyday Mr. Lupo and I are reminded that we have the best parents ever. Thank you for supporting everything we do, and coming to our rescue often.

Mrs. Story and Mr. Lupo

Dear Parents,

Happy October! Your students have been incredibly busy over the last few weeks. Here are some of the highlights.

In math we have finished our first unit and taken the unit test. We are now learning about place value, powers of ten, and decimals. In science we finished states of matter, and have moved on to mass, weight, volume and density. We are learning how they relate to each other in measuring objects.

During writing your children have had three assessments already: descriptive writing, note-taking, organization, summary and paraphrasing writing, and a district-wide writing assessment. Next week we will publish our first informational essay. In social studies they have finished their free-hand map assessments (check out the hallways) and moved on to the early civilizations of the Western Hemisphere. They are doing projects about the Mayans, Aztecs, Olmecs, Toltecs, Incas, Inuits, and the Algonquians.

In reading we have been going over how to monitor their reading. There is daily small group guided instruction on character analysis and literature discussions in their reading books. We give them plenty of time to read their independent books too.

Thank you to all parents who kept our “spaghetti and meatball lunch” a big surprise and who fed us wonderful food. The kids were surprised and thrilled to be eating a yummy lunch outside.

Remember that math mates are a Thursday to Thursday homework piece, and weekly geography is a Tuesday to Tuesday homework piece. Thank you for your support in helping them stick to the due dates. Conferences are next Wednesday Oct 24 and Thursday October 25. If you have not scheduled one, please email us ASAP. We look forward to visiting with you and your child at conferences next week.

Mr. Lupo and Mrs. Story

September News

September 13, 2012

We are looking forward to some cooler weather and some cooler classrooms in the next month. There are lots of things happening, but first we would like to get you caught up on our very busy first three weeks of school.

In reading, both classes have been organized into leveled reading groups to begin work on strategies such as inference and questions. However, we spent many days on developing a community of readers and setting up what a reading zone sounds like and looks like. We are building up their stamina so that they can read independently for a sustained amount of time. Remember, all students should be reading at least 30 minutes a night. We are going to move toward serious work in non-fiction in a few days.

Our writing block has been spending time on free-writing in their SEEDS book, as well as small group guided instruction on learning targets. They will take a piece to publication this week and have their writing notebooks evaluated soon. We have really focused on figurative language in their descriptive writing.

The students really shined during science when given the task of developing a model and presenting it to the class of what they learned about atoms, molecules and compounds. They worked well together and were very creative.

In math we have spent time analyzing data and have completed the first two weeks of Math Mates which covered number sense, computation and problem solving, Remember those come home on Thursday, and turned in the following Thursday.

Social studies has been messy, yet fun. Your children created 3-D maps of the Western Hemisphere. They were amazing in their collaboration skills, as well as their attention to detail. We are continuing to work on our mental map of our hemisphere by adding South America-countries and capitals, and Central America-countries and capitals next week. Weekly geography comes home on Tuesday and turned in the following Tuesday.

Thank you to everyone who attended our curriculum night. We are in the process of uploading the video we took of it to the school web site.

Some important dates coming up:

Gem and Mineral Show field trip-Fri. Sept 14

Connect the Dots (Anti-bullying program)-Wed. Sept 19

Early Release-Fri. Sept 28 (midterms go home)

Track Meet-Tues. Oct 9

Fun Run-Sat. Oct 13



Thank you so much for a smooth start to the new year. Your children are amazingly sweet and kind. It will be fun to get to know them.

Mr. Lupo and Mrs. Story