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
