Happy Thanksgiving!

I just want to thank all the parents of our students for contributing to our fantastic potato bar to celebrate the end of our unit. A big thank you to the social studies teachers, Mrs. Liberty and Mrs. Bosch-Wilson for coordinating it all and managing all the paperwork and goodies.

As we head off to Thanksgiving break I am so thankful for the wonderful team of students we have. I wish I could keep you every year, every one of you!

We have so much to look forward to after our short break. We have three weeks packed full of great learning activities before the longer holiday break. I know students will enjoy each class:

• Social Studies will begin learning about the Maya (my personal favorite unit)


• Science will learn about the rain forest


• Reading will wrap up Walk Two Moons (you are in for some surprises) and begin an edge-of-your-seat novel called Jaguar by Roland Smith, it is set in the rain forest and is always a student favorite


• Language Arts students will wrap up narrative stories and begin developing expository skills, including valuable persuasive writing

Students created academic goals and also gave their teachers some feedback on how they can be better supported in learning, what they are enjoying, and what they find frustrating or difficult. All of us are working to being our absolute best and I think this will be our best trimester yet.

Tests This Week

We will have our final tests over our Inca Unit in Social Studies and our Earth Unit in Science on Tuesday. Here are the completed study guides to help if your child missed some of the answers.

Science Final Study Guide
Social Studies Final Study Guide

Villastrigo Language Arts

We are working on our final narrative story project. Students have detailed notes about the aspects included in the rubric for the story. Please take a moment to read your child's narrative and provide encouragement and any feedback.

We worked very hard on setting and character descriptions and this is a strength for many. One aspect students are struggling with is including a problem or interesting turning point. We are headed to the computer lab to type the stories up this week.

We are also digging in to spelling to make this unit a little faster. We will need to test before we leave for break so I plan to do the practice test Monday night and students will bring home the words they missed that night. This is a difficult list, so some studying will be important for all students.

Unit 3:

faulty

awning

haughty

waltz

launch

yawned

almanac

fraud

applaud

vault

awkward

haunch

author

daughter

laundry

Challenge

somersault

laundromat

sauna

auditorium

inaugurate

Villastrigo Reading Classes

It's time to celebrate the end of the first trimester and get excited about making a fresh start. Tomorrow we will present reading awards: book it awards, top readers (words read), 100% AR goal tickets to attend a celebration at lunch, and the fluency contest awards. It will truly be a time to celebrate reading! We will spend time in the library after and I hope provide help to those students who are struggling to finish books. It would be excellent to help them find one they are interested in.

On that note, I've talked to many parents this year about nightly reading and some share it is difficult. Here are a few tips that parents have shared:

• Agree upon a set reading (homework) time that fits with your child's schedule and insist they stick to it. Some provide incentive for successful homework completion for the night or week.
• Avoid reading in bed for reluctant readers, as it may cause sleepiness.
• DO ask your child about what they read that day to ensure it is a book they understand.
• DO insist your child finish books they start--this may seem counter intuitive, but many reluctant readers start many books and fail to reach the climax or most exciting part of the book.
• For very reluctant/struggling readers, some parents have requested audio CDs of popular books and allowed the child to follow along in the book.
• Some parents take turns reading aloud with their children
• Other tips? Please share and I will be sure to pass them along to other parents.

If you would like to get an early start on studying vocabulary, below is the list from the last half of our novel, Walk Two Moons. My goal is to finish the book before Thanksgiving, but because we do not assign our class novel as homework, this is subject to change. We will continue to review our words weekly and our book test will include this list and the prior one.

optimistic- expecting everything to turn out alright; looking on the bright side

straggle-to wander from a course or away; to stray

unadulterated- pure; unmixed

sympathetic- sharing in suffering or grief; feeling sorry for oneself

besieging- bombarding; crowding around

fortunate- lucky

careening- to sway violently from side to side

somber- dark and gloomy; serious

(to be introduced later in the week)

omnipotent- Great or unlimited power

Potato Bar

As a celebration of the end of our unit we will be holding a potato bar for lunch on Tuesday, November 22nd. All of the 6th grade students are invited to attend this feast, we just ask that they bring something to share. There will be a form to sign up for an item going home on Wednesday. We would like to have all the forms returned by Friday the 18th so we can plan for what is still needed.

We will also be looking for parent volunteers to help us set up, serve and clean up on the 22nd. If you are interested in volunteering please contact your child's Social Studies teacher or make sure to check the box on the form.

This has been a great celebration for us in past years and we are looking forward to it again!

Mrs. Liberty & Mrs. B-W Social Studies 11/14 - 11/18

This week in Social Studies we are wrapping up the Inca Unit. We will be covering Inca Religion, medicine, and the Conquest of the Inca. Please use the following links to help reference information we cover in class. There will also be homework this week to read about messengers, trade, and engineering.

Temples of the Sun-  Outline
Priests & Doctors-  Outline
The Conquest Part 1
The Conquest Part 2

Towards the end of the week the students will receive a study guide for the end of unit test which will take place on the 22nd. I will post the completed study guide for reference at the end of the weekend so you can help your child study. If your child did well on the test last week they are in a good position to do well on this one as well. They will need to study things they missed and some new information on the topics being added as we wrap up the unit this week. Once again please sign and return the completed study guide to let Mrs. B-W and I know that you were aware of the test and your child studied for it.

Mrs. Liberty's Science 11/14 - 11/18

This week in Science we are wrapping up our Earth unit with studying volcanoes. We will look at the types of volcanoes, eruptions and lava. We will also be looking at where they form.

Towards the end of the week the students will also receive a new study guide for the end of unit test. This test will take place on the 22nd. Those students who did well on the test on the 8th are in a good position to do well on the final. Some of the same information will be covered as well as some new information on earthquakes and volcanoes, especially related to the structure of each. I will post the study guide answers at the end of next weekend. Once again please sign the study guide to let me know you were aware of the test and your child studied for it.

Tests On Tuesday! 11/8

On Tuesday there will be tests in both Science and Social Studies classes. The following are study guides the students have had since mid-week last week. We will go over their answers in class on Monday, but they should have had them filled out prior to coming to class. The ones posted here have the answers included for parent to help study on Monday night. Please make sure the guides are signed and returned with your child on Tuesday for credit.

Science Study Guide

Social Studies Study Guide

Villastrigo Reading

I am so pleased to see so many students taking AR tests. It seems that a large portion of students procrastinated a bit and are feeling some stress with getting done and the good news is most are looking poised to make reading goals or very near to it.

We are getting to the heart of the mystery in Walk Two Moons and many students are really enjoying the reading. I have a few missing tests for the book because students walked out with If your child has checked out a book to complete an assignment at home, please encourage him/her to return it.

Villastrigo Language

We are working on our final narratives, which will be typed in the computer lab next week. The oral anecdotes were amazing practice and helped students to articulate components of a great story. This week we have a spelling test coming up (Friday) and another content knowledge grade for linking verbs/helping verbs on Thursday. We will move into explanatory paragraph writing and persuasive writing next term.

Here is our spelling list (test Friday 11/4):

1. unruly


2. youth


3. lagoon


4. duplicate


5. numerous


6. solitude


7. caboose


8. group


9. nuisance


10. union


11. routine


12. suitable


13. jewelry


14. improve


15. consume
    *Challenge*


16. souvenir


17. crusader


18. neutral


19. illuminate


20. shrewd