6^th Grade Newsletter

 For the week April 14-18

                        -Safety Patrol for this week is Alex K, Nicholas, Michael M,

and John.

-Outdoor Education information was sent home Friday, April 4th. Please return all forms and bring in T-shirts!

                        -Archdiocese Math Contest: Saturday, April 19^th at St. Pat’s

                        -8^th Grade Washington, D.C. trip: April 20^th-22^nd.

-Progress Reports will be sent home on Thursday.  We ask that you sign and return one copy on Friday.

-Please read the letter from Mrs. Rehn about the spring concert at the

bottom of the newsletter.

DWP Note:  Last week we had much discussion about the way the 6^th graders have been treating each other.  Some of the comments made by students were very eye-opening as their behavior has been quite hurtful.  One student said, “When I have to join another table at lunch because mine is full, the other people at the table turn their chairs so their backs are to me.”  Another added, “There is a social pyramid.  People want to climb to the top, and they don’t care who they hurt to get there.”  They admitted to gossip, rumor spreading, and other hurtful behavior.  Much of this occurred in the lunch room.  There have also been recent reports of loud and disrespectful behavior by all middle school students in the lunch room. In an effort to help break the “social pyramid” and teach the 6^th graders to interact with those outside of their “circles” we have instituted a seating chart in the cafeteria.  We will periodically change the seats so that the students can learn about their classmates. On Friday, we had the first of our 6^th grade team meetings.  All 6^th graders joined together to discuss our plans to become a more unified and cohesive group.  The students were very open and both Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Simons were proud of their commitment to positive growth.  We will continue to have a 6^th grade team meeting once per week for the remainder of the year.  This is a great group of kids, who just need a reminder that everyone has a story; when we are open to hearing the story each person has to share, we are opening ourselves to Christ.   

Cell Phones—There has been an increase in cell phones coming to school.  As you will remember from the handbook, cell phones and other electronic devices should not be at school.  Please be reminded that your child should not bring his/her cellular phone to school unless there is a justified need for it.  If you feel your child should have his/her phone at school, you must provide a written note indicating that need.  This note will be placed on file.  Any student found with a cell phone before, during, or after school without a note on file will have his/her phone confiscated.  The confiscated phones will be given to Mr. Ridder and will have to be retrieved by a parent.  Thank you for helping us solve the problem and eliminate unnecessary phones at school. 

Outdoor Ed—We are in need of some supplies for Outdoor Education.  Please take a look at the list, and let your child’s homeroom teacher know if you can donate an item or two.  Please also remember to send your child’s plain white T-Shirt to school soon.  Supplies needed: 

            *12 large make-up brushes (to use for a fossil dig)

            *6 chisels (also for the fossil dig)

            *6 hammers (fossil dig)

            *Healthy snacks for 4 different snack times

6^th Religion – This week the students will begin to prepare for the Unit 6 Test.  They will highlight, make flash cards and review all of the material.  The test will be on Friday, April 18^th. 

6^th Social Studies – The students will finish their studies over Central America.  This week they end the unit with studying Nicaragua and its government. They will also put together their individual work for their group booklets.  Presentations will be on Thursday and Friday of this week.  They will also prepare for the Central American test.  It will be on Monday, April 21^st.  The map test over this area will be Tuesday, April 22^nd.

Reading – This week we will read “Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter” and Time for Kids: “The History of Money.”  We’ll continue to work on characterization, denotation and connotation, judgments and decisions, and sequencing of events.  We will complete this unit on Friday.  Students will be able to free read and work on their self-selected novel projects on Friday.  This project is a story map.  All projects are due on Friday, April 25^th.

Science- We will finish up our work on the Archdiocesan assessment this week.  We will work one last day on creating our tools (Monday).  Tuesday and Wednesday we will work on creating a Power Point presentation to showcase our tool.  Thursday and Friday will be presentation days.     

English- We will finish up our work on the “Ultimate Skip Day” papers.  We will forgo the presentations because students are presenting in two other classes this week.  We will move on to diagramming adverbs and adjectives and we will also explore writing newspaper articles.    

Vocabulary- The new list of vocabulary can be found on the middle school webpage under Nelson links.  We will review the words early in the week with the test on Friday.  Students will be asked to create flash cards and picture clues for the words this week. 

5^th-8^th grade parents:

The spring program will soon be here! The 5^th-8^th grade students are preparing a 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s review entitled “Josh and Sara’s Groovy Adventure,” which we think you will really enjoy. The program will take place on Tuesday, May 6^th at 6:30 at Elkhorn Hills United Methodist Church. The church is in Elkhorn on Veterans Drive, across from Burger King. Please bring your child to the church between 6:00-6:15. They will need to meet their teachers behind the church in the small parking lot. Please see the costume guidelines below.

5^th grade-Students may wear 50’s clothing or a costume or they may wear their Sunday best. Please remember that students can wear jeans, but they need to be full-length jeans (no shorts), and they should not have any holes in them.

6^th grade- Students may wear 60’s clothing or a costume or they may wear their Sunday best. Please remember that students can wear jeans, but they need to be full-length jeans (no shorts), and they should not have any holes in them.

7^th and 8^th grade- Students may wear 70’s clothing or a costume or they may wear their Sunday best. Please remember that students can wear jeans, but they need to be full-length jeans (no shorts), and they should not have any holes in them.

This should be a very fun show. Thank you for your help.

Mrs. Jennifer Rehn