Three Full Weeks

The holiday spirit is in the air, and we have many fun events planned for the coming weeks. I have a few events to cover today, but I will likely need to send out a number of reminder emails before winter break. Be on the lookout for important updates.

Social Studies: Country Reports and Extension Projects

Thank you to those families who helped ensure their student's country report rough draft was completed over Thanksgiving break. Again, it is not my habit to give homework over vacations, but we are now well on our way to completing this task. The typed, final draft version of the report is due Monday, December 5. We are working on revising our introductions and conclusions in class, and have plenty of time to get the typing done here at school.

In the place of writing homework this week, I have asked students to complete the extension project for the report at home. This is also due Monday, December 5. I have attached a link for the project choices below. Please let me know if your student needs help gathering materials for this activity. 

Country Report Assignment Sheet (Extension Project on Page 2)

The Season of Giving

Our student council representatives will be providing a short presentation on the various holiday drives happening at OPE in the month of December. Please feel free to start sending canned/non-perishable food items, dollars for dogs/coins for cats, and/or blankets to school with you student on Thursday. If you have questions about any of these fundraising events, please ask your students to explain. All drives will end on December 15. 

Christmas Party

On Friday, December 16th, we will hold our annual 6th grade holiday party. If you did not receive an invitation to volunteer at our fabulous Halloween celebration, and would like to help out, please send me an email and I will add you to our volunteer list. 

One fun 6th grade tradition is the Book & Sock Exchange. This is a voluntary activity for students who would like to bring a wrapped pair of fun socks or a favorite book to exchange with another student. The partners are not assigned; instead, Mrs. Angelo leads an activity in which the gifts are rotated between all the participants. Which gift you receive is a surprise, so make sure the socks and books are appropriate for all!

Conference Week

It is hard to believe we have already made it to Thanksgiving break and conferences! Thank you for reading through, signing, and returning all the various forms and emails related to conferences. This made scheduling so much easier.

Conferences

During your student's conference, we will be looking through their first quarter report card, discussing strengths and areas needing improvement, and making a quick goal for the future. This week's writing homework was designed to help your student think through these topics. As mentioned before, I would like your child to attend the conference and be a part of the discussion. If you have concerns you would like to discuss without your child present, I understand. In those cases, you may leave you student at home.

Social Studies Rough Drafts

Over Thanksgiving break, I have asked students to write a rough draft of their country report. I am sending them home with an organizer listing the different paragraph topics. If your student needs help writing an introduction or conclusion, we will be reviewing these skills after the break. The rough draft is due on Monday, November 30.

Kinder Visit by Joci

On Wednesday, Ms. Kinsman arranged for the class to see Mrs. Leeper's kindergarten class at Grant Watts. The students read them books, learned their names, and by the looks of it, they had fun. To end the visit, the kindergartners sang us songs! Make sure to ask your kids how it went, and they will probably reply that it was really awesome! 

Mystery Guest by Paige

Jack, Andrew, and Braden were closest to guessing Abby's profession

On Monday, Ms.  Kinsman invited her sister, Abby, to be our mystery guest for the month. Our class had to guess her occupation. She is a fundraiser/event planner for the Children's Miracle Network. She raises money for sick children and plans fundraisers. Our class has a new mystery guest every month and has fun guessing what job she/he might have.  

Important Information Coming Your Way

Halloween Recap

I hope everyone is recovering from their Monday Night Halloween Madness! We had an excellent celebration here in the sixth grade, and couldn't have done it without the amazing support of our parents! Thank you so much to all the volunteers who helped make the afternoon fun for our kids!

May the Force be with you!

Remember, if your child would like to donate his or her candy to the Candy Round Up, please send their extra treats to school tomorrow. I will make sure it gets down to the office and added to our class total.

Mystery Guest

Hopefully your student told you a little bit about our mystery guest last week. On Wednesday, Amber Purdell, my wonderful sister-in-law, visited our classroom to discuss her job as a NICU nurse. The students asked yes or no questions in order to establish Amber's profession, followed by a discussion about her career. The students seemed very engaged and wrote lovely thank you notes to Ms. Purdell describing what they enjoyed about her visit.

KK was able to guess Amber's profession as a nurse!

If you have anyone in your family or know someone in the community with an interesting job, please let me know. I have a few more guests in mind for the upcoming months, but would love to have at least four more visitors as mystery guests later this school year. I think it is a wonderful way for students to hear about professions they might want to undertake as they get older. 

Conferences

Conferences are just around the corner. This afternoon you will receive a pink request form from your students. Please select the times that would work best for your fall conference and send the form back to school with your child on Wednesday. If possible, I would like your child to attend, so I ask families to schedule accordingly (I have found sixth graders do not love getting up at 8:00 am on their day off :-)). I look forward to meeting with you all soon!

Upcoming Dates

No School- Friday, November 4th and 11th

6th Grade Music Program- Thursday, November 10th 6:15pm

Have a wonderful week!