Algebra: Rules, Formulas, Tables, and graphs

This week in 6th grade math the class just finished the final lesson of their unit on rules, formulas, tables, and graphs.  After the Thanksgiving break we will be having our Unit 3 Test on Tuesday December 2 and then we will begin our next unit on fractions.

Project Fair paragraphs

This week, the 6th graders are working on writing the paragraphs about their religions that will appear on their project fair boards.  The rough draft of these paragraphs are due on Tuesday, December 2.  We also switched gears this week and went back to our ancient Rome unit.  Because we are focusing on religions during this unit, the students will be learning about both Judaism and Christianity.  They will learn about how the Roman Empire treated people from both religions.  Students created mini-lessons about the main beliefs, texts, and holy days of Judaism.

Hour of Code Is Coming!

The Middle School students will participate in their Hour of Code experience during Service time on Thursday, 12/11/14 from 1:10-1:50. The experience will take place in small groups with a mix of 6th-8th graders.  The 6th graders will have the opportunity to continue the experience during Study Hall on Thursday, 12/18/14 at 9:50. We would love to have your help in facilitating these experiences for the 6th graders. No tech skills are required. If you are able to help, go to SignUp Genius and sign up. Thanks!

Meet Ms. Long!

Hi, I'm Carol Long and I have been Student Teaching with Mrs. LaGorio since the end of October. I also did my Mini-Teaching last semester here at North Park Elementary. This past month has taught me a lot about teaching and has also been a joy as I worked with the students in music and band. Winter showcase is fast approaching and I am excited for the pieces that each class has been preparing for the show! It should be a great night and I am happy to be a part of it as well as a part of teaching music to the students here. I know that it will be hard to leave but I am happy to have had the opportunity to work with the students and staff at NPES. 

6th Grade Language Arts: Coming of Age Book Clubs

Students will have their last book club meeting on Tuesday.  The concluding assessment projects for the unit will be completed in December.  Students will create a book review individually and work as a group to develop a talk show presentation as the characters from their book.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

The Outsiders

Counting By 7s

The Schwa Was Here

Rules/Formulas/Tables/Graphes

The 6th graders in math have been working on an algebra unit.  They started off the unit looking at patterns and learning how to evaluate algebraic expressions.  This week we have been making the connection between rules, formulas, tables, and graphs and created linear and nonlinear graphs from formulas.  We will now begin learning about adding negative and positive numbers using excel spreadsheets.  Excel spreadsheets will also help show another representation of a variable and how to evaluate an algebraic expression.  Our Unit 3 test will be on Dec. 2.

Matisse and Op art all in the same month

Sixth graders finished their Matisse still-life interior compositions. This project is jam packed with learning. We learn about the artist Matisse and how multi-faceted he was and we learn about collage, pattern, foreground and background and even a little perspective. The finished pieces are very nice this year.

Last week we started to work on our Op Art drawings which will look really cool and 3-D when they are done. Here are a few in progress.

6th Grade Language Arts: Compare and Contrast Essay Final Draft

The final draft of the Compare and Contrast Animal Essay is due Wednesday.  During the past few weeks students worked hard in class researching animals, organizing information, drafting, revising, and editing.

Many of the sixth grade students set goals this quarter to put more effort into the revision and editing process.  Encourage your child to spend some time at home going over their essay at least one more time before the due date to make any final revisions or edits.  Students should double check the rubric to make sure they have met all of the expectations.

Some helpful revision tips include:
Scanning for boring/bland word choice and replacing words with more vivid word choice.
Making sure thesis statements and topic sentences are clear and concise.
Making sure to vary the words used to start sentences.
Expanding on simple, short, or incomplete sentences or paragraphs with additional information.
Breaking up run-on sentences into multiple sentences.
Using the editing checklist provided in the Writing Workshop LiveBinder

Outlines

This week, the 6th graders are turing their research about a religion into an outline.  Last week, we practiced how to organize information into an outline.  Today, the students peer edited each other's outlines.  The next step in the process is planning out the project fair boards.  Their board rough sketch is due Thursday, November 20.  The boards will come home later this week.

Questions for your 6th grader:

What did you learn about a classmate's religion while you edited their outline?

What pictures are you planning on putting on your board?

Peer Editing

Winter Showcase is Coming!

The kids are working hard, learning their music, and getting ready for Winter Showcase! This year's Winter Showcase is December 3, 2014 at 7pm at Northside College Prep (5501 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60625). Please have your child to NCP by 6:30pm.  

Winter Showcase is an all-school production where the students from Kindergarten through 8th grade, including our band program, showcase what they have been learning in music class.  We aren't able to include every activity and song, but we  perform a few of the students' favorites.  Also, families are able to see the progression of their child's music education by seeing older classes perform.

Attire is dressy, but comfortable enough to dance in for classroom performances. Band students are required to wear concert attire (black pants/skirts/socks/shoes and ALL white tops... no colorful designs). Please refer to the band syllabus if you have questions about band attire. The showcase begins at 7pm sharp and is about 90 minutes long.   If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. LaGorio at LaGorio@npeschool.org

Thank you advance for bringing your child and for enjoying all of our NPES students performances.

Week 12 6th Grade Science: Conferences

Week: 12

Hi Parents,

Week 12 is a short week with report cards being mailed, conferences, and the kids starting a new unit of study.  This week is mainly housekeeping.  The kids will be reviewing their first quarter goals and maintaining and/or creating new second quarter goals.  They will be creating new journals and reviewing their first quarter journals for parent conferences and to write their first quarter reflection.

I will not be in school next week because of a long distance wedding in Key West.

Sincerely,

Mr. T

Hora Agadati

We have moved out of Ancient Greece and moved into our religious music unit.  To reinforce what the students are learning in Social Studies, we have started to study how music is used in the 5 major global religions: Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.   The first religion that we have studied is Judaism.  The students learned about the Shofar and how it is used in religious ceremonies.  Then, the students learned and performed a hora, as seen in the video.  We continued our exploration of Judaism by learning the canon "Haida," which is sung in Yiddish.

Week 11: 6th Grade Science

Week: 11

Topic:  Anatomy: Body Organization and Homeostasis

Objectives: 

Identify the levels of organization in the body.

Understand the “Hierarch of Life.”

Be able to use a microscope.

Define homeostasis.

Essential Question:

How is a book organized?  

This week the kids will start this unit by understanding the parts of a microscope, how magnification is calculated, how the specimen move under magnification, and understand what  the “field of view” is.  Then they will look at parts of the cell and research their functions.  

Key Terms:

cell

tissue

organ

homeostasis

stress

Differentiation:

Observing

Inferring 

Making Models

Math integration

Upcoming:

Next week we will conclude the unit by looking at how the body is organized.

"PE Shorts" Tuesday 11/4/2014

6th is so much fun! Each week I look forward to teaching this group of 6th graders. The first quarter has ended and we have finished with soccer, frisbee, and football. As we start the 2nd quarter we begin with a unit in golf. We are learning a lot about body control and focus while hitting a golf ball. Many of the students are new to the game of golf and are learning that it is more fun than sitting on the couch and watching some old guys hit a tiny ball...although I definitely enjoy that too!

-Mr. Hirsch

Starting Algebra

Hello 6th grade parents.  This is Mr. Hotaling again and I am back to teaching your children.  This week in 6th grade started off with taking the MAP test.  Tomorrow we will then be finishing our unit 2 test on decimals by taking the open response portion of the test.  We will then begin our next unit on Algebra.  The beginning of this unit focuses primarily on identifying and being able to explain number patterns

Religions Research

The 6th graders are off and running on their religions research for project fair.  This year's class decided to stay away from many of the mainstream religions.  Several chose less well-known religions to research.   We will all learn something new on project fair night.  Last week, we discussed research tips like finding credible websites, avoiding plagiarism, and how to create research notecards.  This week, students are using class time to research using both books and the internet.  Next week, students will use the information they have gathered to create an outline  so that they can begin to organize their information and decide aspects of the religion they would like to focus on.

Upcoming due dates:

Wednesday, November 5     3 Bibliography notecards

Monday, November 10         Research notecards (approximately 20 facts)

Thursday, November 13       Religion Fact sheet due

6th Grade Language Arts: New Book Clubs

This week 6th graders started their new book club groups.  This quarter the theme is “Coming of Age” books.  The books being read this quarter include Counting By 7s, The Outsiders, The Schwa Was Here, and Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.  Students received their books last week and met with their group members to develop the reading schedule and set goals and ground rules for the meetings.  Each book club group will meet for eight discussion sessions throughout the month of November.  During each meeting, students discuss reading log reflections, literary elements, opinions, frustrations, interesting quotes, predictions, etc.  The concluding assessment projects will be completed in December.  Students will create a book review individually and work as a group to develop a talk show presentation as the characters from their book.

Upcoming Due Dates:

Compare and Contrast Essay:

1st Draft due: Monday, November 10, 2014

2nd Draft due: Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Final Draft due: Wednesday, November 19, 2014