Ms. Bolling’s 6th Grade

I’m guessing by now you too are feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the paperwork and parent notices coming home. Well, welcome to my world! We have lots going on and many items that are being put on our already busy schedule. You may want to add these items to your own calendars if they are pertinent to you.

Hopefully you are receiving the hard copies of information, but in the event you aren’t, here is the run down:

Field Trip Permission Slip and $7 DUE Last Week
Swimming Permission and $12 DUE Next Week
(Swimming starts next Wednesday, October 14th)
PTA Fundraiser-Basket Auction Items Request DUE October 19th
6th Grade Fundraisers for 6th Grade Camp in May (Info Coming Home Today)
Family Fun Night Fundraiser Help Needed (10/23)
Trailside Cooks! Parent Help Needed
Scholastic Book Orders DUE Thursday, October 15th

Yup! Fall is here and Winter is near! Whether we want to believe it or not, as much as our denial wants to get the best of us, it is time to put sandals and shorts away and break out cold weather gear. Parents, please remind your student to bring a jacket to school and perhaps a hat. Sooner or later, hats, gloves and winter coats will not be optional at school. I would much prefer they go ahead and come prepared to go out and enjoy the fresh air, than be stuck inside calling you to bring gear from home. Students are expected to go outdoors during their recess unless they are sick….and… if they are too sick to be outside, then they should probably spend the day at home.

How much trash do YOU produce??  Well this weekend kiddos, you get to find out!  You must carry a trash bag with you for 72 hours starting this afternoon and continue for 72 hours.  You won’t be required to sleep with your trash, or collect vial and putrid item,s BUT you will need to keep your collected items nearby you all weekend.

Parents, we have begun a Science Unit call There is No Away which looks at our ever growing problem of waste.  Students will get an opportunity to research and analyze our current state of affairs at school as well as your own home and neighborhood so that they might better understand some scientific concepts and understand where trash really goes.  We follow the flow of trash and learn to understand that there really is NO AWAY.

This weekend your child is assigned the unusual task of collecting their own garbage, storing it in a bag and logging the contents of that bag.  All trash and logs will be due back in class Monday morning for further analysis and investigation.  All forms, instructions and paperwork was given out in class today so your child does know what to do.  Since we are used to our routines at home, and many of us throw any and everything in the trash or disposal, please help your student by being a gentle guide on the side and remind them to throw nothing away.  If you are doing a little fall clean up around the house, only those items that truly belong to your child should go into the bag.  (i.e. no grass clipping, used ires, etc…)

There is also a little writing that goes along with the task of collecting the trash.  Please don’t give them help with the trash collection questions.  It is important for me to see how they think and what we need to learn in this unit.  

If you have further questions, please take a look at the paperwork I sent home this afternoon.  And as always….thanks for ALL you do!

Happy Weekend (Rain or shine…)~

Kelly

Now is a great time to subscribe to our class blog!  Each time I add a new link or post to the site, you will be notified by email.

I try really hard to remember to send emails out on a regular basis so as to communicate and keep you all in the loop, however my ADD gets the best of me and I sometimes forget or it gets shuffled in the Master To Do List. Won’t you consider helping me to help you?

Thanks!

Kelly

If you haven’t already checked out the links on the sidebar, take a moment to check out TweenTribune. Today students were introduced to this exciting, “Tween” friendly web site that engages students “Just Our Age” in interesting news from around the world by meeting some of our school and district wide goals to help our students to become better writers. TweenTribune helps us to meet writing goals by interacting with text and posting responses to articles of interest.

I wanted you to be aware of this web site’s important features and the safety precautions we take while engaging in this online activity so I have an excerpt from their Home page:

Stay safe. TweenTribune is in full compliance with COPPA – the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act – as outlined by the Federal Trade Commission. This means that:

• Students may not use their last names.
• Students may not use their email address anywhere on the site.
• TweenTribune does not gather or store student email addresses.
• Teachers can moderate students’ comments before they’re published.
• TweenTribune only links to well-known, reputable news organizations, such as the Associated Press, AOL, CNN, newspapers and TV stations.
• Links to stories and images that are not age-appropriate are excluded.
• Teacher’s identities are independently verified before they are granted administrative privileges.

This year, your student will have an opportunity to write for various audiences and purposes . This is but one tool I will utilize to meet the variety of writing tasks posed to themOne goal I have for my students is for them to be their own individual editors. With any luck, I may actually get them to break those bad texting behaviors and acronyms (like ROTFL and OMG) and focus on accurate spelling and word choice. With that thought in mind, please be patient with us as the revision process takes a while for children to learn and master and habits are hard to break!

I hope all of you are out and about this weekend enjoying this beautiful weather.  Students do NOT have homework this weekend but do have a couple of things that are due Monday:

• Yellow Parent Info Packet with signatures
  
• $3.50 for Daily Planner
  
• Old magazines appropriate for school                                                            (they will be cut apart and not returned)
• Gym Shoes (that can be left at school)

As a reminder parents, it is extremely helpful for your student if you would take a few minutes each night to review their homework assignments and sign his/her planner.  Ultimately it is the student’s responsibility to complete and turn in their work, however most of them are only 11 o12 years old and we know that this isn’t always easy for them to do.  My focus this year is on organization and responsibility in order to ensure their readiness and success in middle school.  It will take awhile for routines to become automatic thefore I am asking your help to guide from the side.  Allow them to make mistakes and to learn from them.

I have provided this site, email correspondence, planner information and phone calls to be sure that we all remain connected this year.  If at any time, please feel free to contact me by email or leaving a phone message in the office.  Writing a note in the planner isn’t always as effective as I generally won’t see it until the very end of the day, and sometimes it’s very hectic.

Welcome back to a new school year. What a great start to the new year!  I feel so fortunate to have such a great group of kids this year who are so respectful, courteous and engaged.  Thank you in advance for sharing your child with me this year  After today’s discussions and activities, I think we are going to have a fabulous year.

6th grade can be a great deal of fun, yet extremely busy with so much to get accomplished.  Of course the first day brings the “talking head syndrome” where I get to share a bunch of information with them and watch that look of being overwhelmed set in.  Hopefully you had a chance to share with your child tonight about their day and you got some positive feedback.  I promised them that we would pick up the pace and start homework soon… LOL!

On the lines of communication I want to mention some items I sent home today.  Many of you are familiar with student planners as most of the intermediate teachers have used them in their classrooms.  For new to Trailside families, I have the students record assignments and important dates and information there so that they can get the necessary practice with organizing their own responsibilities before heading to middle school.  I use this as an instructional tool and with them all being the same, it easy for students who have not mastered organization (which is likely 95% of them) it makes it easier for them to follow along and assure that they have recorded all their daily work.  The cost of the planner this year is just $3.50.  You can either send cash or make a check out to me.

The yellow packet of paperwork that I sent home today (or that you received at the picnic) has several forms that will help me to stay in regular contact with you about your child’s progress.  With our very busy schedule, it is difficult to get on the phone some days and I will rely on email communication as it is pretty instantaneous and helps me to share with several people at a time.  I feel that it is extremely important to keep the lines of communication going both directions, so if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to shoot me an email, or leave a message at the office if you would like me to call.

And last but not least in this very long post, you should have received a business card with this web address.  If you received that, you are here now reading this.  Once the year gets rolling, and we have regular homework, you can check here to see what has been posted.  This is new for me this year so bear with me if I am inconsistent at first.  I really want this to be a resource for you as both parent and student.

Kelly

ASD School Supplies 2009

I know many of you are preparing for Back to School by doing a little shopping and just may be wondering, “What do I have to buy this year?” Please do not stress over running around to all the stores finding the “just right” supplies that your child’s teacher requests this year. We know the cost of going back to school is a hardship for many families and therefore the district has put together a list of “recommended” supplies for each grade level. (Click on link above.) I will tell you that this list is meant to alleviate the burden that specialized supplies to many household budgets, however in my opinion, I don’t feel that this is an accurate picture of the needs in every elementary classroom. In some cases, teachers ask for way too many specialized supplies. There are items on the list that I do not require for my students (thus saving you the time and effort) and may be a few additional items that I prefer students have to be better organized and manage their own school work.

The first few days of class, I will provide an overview of how I manage my classroom and what I prefer students use, and then you can make the decisions on what items you would like to supply your own child. Of course many of the supplies are very basic and if you feel like you want to do a little shopping now to get ahead of the game, you should be able to do so with the provided list. Additionally, you may have a desire to donate supplies or class items based on a wish list which I can provide/post later.

I think you will find that I am very approachable and would love to work with you to make this a great year!

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions!

Kelly