It was a pleasure to meet all of my new 5th grade families and a joy to see all of my 6th grade families last night at Meet the Teacher! Everyone seemed ready to start the school year and I couldn't agree more! I spent the summer reading excellent middle school books, I was almost run over by a moose in Yellowstone National Park, and I visited: Charleston, Boston, Philadelphia, and Upstate New York. So, I'm very ready to ease into another adventurous school year which I'm sure will provide all the thrills of vacation without having a get on a plane!
The first week will focus on community building and the students will take the ERB assessments. The ERB is an assessment created for college bound populations and greatly assists in our ability to accurately place your student in the Language Arts or Math class that will guarantee them a balance of challenge and success. The second week will begin an introduction of our curriculum and the students will take the Stargate assessments as these also greatly assist in creating an accurate placement. Our school year will begin with a focus on the Incas for our Social Studies component. We will look at our Earth's surface, land forms, rock types, and biomes for our Science component. The two topics interact well together and students will be challenged to consider how environment greatly impacted a society's ability to flourish, or alternatively, how the environment can lead to a society's extinction.
As indicted by the fact that all of my 6th graders grew at least seventeen inches over the summer, I would recommend that you send your child to school with a healthy and filling snack as their lunch is early and I will always offer a snack time during theme. I imagine that such rapid growth requires a variety of vitamins, proteins, and calories.
Please feel free to e-mail me at any time if you have any questions. I sincerely look forward to this year!