Academics
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
I have listed some of the things I plan to accomplish during the month of March.
6th Grade English – We will cover units 27 through 31 in spelling. We normally cover a unit a week with the test being on Friday. A pretest is given on Monday, and students spelling all words correctly will only be tested on the challenge words. In English, we are still working on Unit 3 (Verbs and Explanatory Writing). The units are quite long so I will be giving two tests per unit.
6th Grade Reading – We will be concluding Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. The next novel we will be reading is A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck. There will be vocabulary words and a number of activities throughout the book. This story takes place in the 1930s in southern Illinois. Two children spend the summer with their grandmother and encounter many adventures.
5th Grade Math – The large group is concluding adding and subtracting fractions. Our next chapter will cover adding and subtracting decimals. The smaller group is beginning adding and subtracting fractions. I will be giving 2 quizzes during this chapter rather than one big test at the end. At this point, calculators can be used to check answers on assignments, but cannot be used on tests.
6th Grade Math – One group is concluding ratios, proportions, and percents. That group will begin a unit on geometry. These students will be able to use calculators until we get to integers. Calculators can be used on homework as well as tests. The second group will conclude adding and subtracting fractions and proceed on to multiplication and division of fractions. At this point, this group can use calculators to check answers on assignments, but cannot be used on tests.
7th Grade Math – All students are working in the green book. The larger group is working on ratios, proportions, and percents. We will then begin a unit on geometry. Calculators can be used in this group only. The smaller group is concluding chapter 3, exponents, factors, and fractions. We will then proceed to adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. I will let these students know when they can use calculators.
8th Grade Algebra – We will be concluding chapter 12 (systems of equations) and will be testing over this chapter about March 10. Then we will go back to chapter 5 (polynomials). Students know that they can use calculators on all assignments and tests.
8th Grade Pre-Algebra – We will be concluding chapter 10 (ratios, proportions, and percents). The second part of the chapter test will be about March 8. We will then move on to basic geometry. These students can use calculators.