Sixth Grade Bellwood News
Welcome to sixth grade at Bellwood Elementary! This class has had a wonderful start to the school year. They have been great examples for our new positive behavior plan in the school. In the classroom, the students have had many opportunities to play Homeworkopoly. This is a game students can play when they have all homework turned in every day. You can get things like a free homework pass, sit at the teacher’s desk, or print an assignment pass. Another incentive in the classroom is that each student has a sticker chart. When a student is caught doing something good, they get a sticker. Once the chart is full, the student gets to pull a reward out of a basket. The students can get permission to draw a picture on the Smartboard, do only half of an assignment pass, and many fun things. However, there is a discipline procedure in the classroom. When a student makes a bad choice or forgets to turn in homework, he or she will sign an index card. A mark will be given to the student for that day. The marks mostly represent having to walk a line at recess for a certain amount of time. Every day, the student comes into the classroom free from marks. They are a responsible class! Barely any marks have been given.
The students are working really hard on our new reading program called Treasures. We are getting into the routine of working in stations and in small groups reading different selections. They students have been learning various vocabulary words and working on analyzing character, setting, and plot in various stories.
In sixth grade math, the students are analyzing different types of graphs and finding different measures of mean, median, mode, and range. Next week, I hope to give the first math assessment to the students over graphs and mean, median, mode, and range.
In science, the students are getting into the scientific method by carrying out experiments. They are practicing using the process skills that scientists use when doing an experiment. Next week, we will have our first assessment on the process skills and different characteristics of scientists.
In fifth grade math, the students are learning how to find the factors of numbers and how to identify numbers if they are prime and composite. We are taking it a step further with students having to make factor trees for numbers to identify the prime numbers. There will be an assessment next week over this material. Please have your child review their multiplication facts.
The sixth grade is a great class and they are full of ideas and thoughts. I am looking forward to a fun year! Have a safe September!
