Grade 6 Math

September 24, 2012

Grade 6 has been working on:

• finding factors of a number
• finding the greatest common factor for a set of numbers
• prime factorization
• problem solving
• finding the least common multiple and
• traditional multiplication

This week's homework is a packet that reviews prime factorization, divisibility rules, prime and composite numbers, greatest common factor and traditional multiplication. 

Students have a quiz on Tuesday 9/25/12 on these concepts.

Students are expected to work on math approximately 20 minutes a night.  If students exceed this time and are getting frustrated then they are to stop at 20 minutes and make a note of it on their homework with a parent signature.  Homework can then be adjusted so the work load is a better match.

Sixth Grade Math club has started.  It is Thursday's after school from 2:30-3:15.  If your child is to ride the bus home then the arrangement needs to be set up a head of time.  Please contact Ms. Thibault-Cote directly and send in a note for the office.  Thanks.

8 Maths 9.19

Students continue to deepen their understanding of surface area and volume of rectangular prisms (boxes). Today, students took a quiz to assess their mastery of these concepts. Tomorrow, they will bring the quiz home to discuss and get signed. After this quiz, we continue in the Filling and Wrapping unit by extending our understanding of volume and surface area to cylinders.

7 Maths 9.19

We are well into our fourth week of classes, already! Today, students took a quiz on analyzing and interpreting data using tables and graphs. Tomorrow they will bring the quiz home to discuss it and get it signed. We are now more than half way through our first unit: Variables and Patterns.

Late Busses Policy

Middle School students may ride the elementary buses at 3:30, only if the student's parents or teacher(s)  have contacted the office in advance and received permission. The office will have to confirm with the driver that there is adequate room on the bus for additional students as well since many of the elementary buses are already at capacity. MS students will not be allowed on the elementary buses without a bus pass from the office. Thank you.

Humanities

We have kicked off the year with a couple of weeks of inquiry work that have proven to be challenging and rewarding for students and teachers alike. It is exciting to watch those skills taking root as the students are developing their ability to ask good, investigable (ask them to define that one for you) questions and think about how to answer those questions. While they are getting a chance to use these skills in science, we are focusing on the social sciences - geography, history, sociology, etc. - to hone those skills; skills that will prove useful time and again. Students will continue practicing these skills this week as we gear up for the assessment scheduled for next Tuesday. Please check in your child's planner daily to see if he or she has work due the next day.

Literacy

We have been taking our literacy block to zero in on reading and writing skills. The students did a nice job practicing the skills of making inferences (crucial not only in reading text, but also in reading people and situations) first with political cartoons, and then with short informational and literary texts. We also have been using this time to set some independent reading goals and allow time for free reading to progress toward those goals. After all, what better way to strengthen a skill than to practice it. Please encourage your child by talking about his or her reading at home. This week, we will be delving into short pieces of text, making claims, and finding the evidence in the text to help support those claims. Please check planners, as there will likely be some writing tasks that need to be completed outside of class.

As always, feel free to be in touch with any questions,

Ms. Fabri & Mr. Dabritz

Science

Students are off to a great start in Science this year. We are beginning the year with a unit of study on the process of Scientific Inquiry. This unit is integrated with our Humanities class, where students are also studying what the Inquiry process looks like in the social sciences. Give the question "How can we make a paper airplane travel further?" students have developed testable questions, hypotheses, and experimental plans. This coming week, students will implement their plans to test their hypotheses. This activity is intended to give students an overview of the inquiry process, before we begin to focus more in-depth on scientific questioning and developing hypotheses.

8 Maths

Welcome everyone to the new school year. We're off to a great start in 8th grade math! The first unit of study this year is titled "Filling and Wrapping." In this unit, students are expected to become masters of three-dimensional geometry: surface area and volume of boxes, cylinders, cones and spheres. We have already completed the first four Problems in Investigation 1.

Early in this coming week, students will take a quiz to see how well they are grasping the concepts so far.

Typically, students will have 20 to 30 minutes of math practice assigned to them each night. Sometimes students may have time to complete this practice in class or during Enrichment block, but please ask to see your child's planner and completed practice each night.

7 Maths

Welcome everyone to the new school year. We're off to a great start in 7th grade math! The first unit of study this year is titled "Variables and Patterns." This is the first unit in the Connected Math algebra strand, where students explore and describe relationships between variables in tables, graphs and narrative form. We have already completed the first four Problems in Investigation 1.

This coming week, students will complete Investigation 1 and take a quiz to see how well they are grasping the concepts so far.

Typically, students will have 20 to 30 minutes of math practice assigned to them each night. Sometimes students may have time to complete this practice in class or during Enrichment block, but please ask to see your child's planner and completed practice each night.