Team Taylor News

December 2017

It is hard to believe that we have wrapped up Term One!  The students have accomplished so much in this first term and we are extremely proud of them. They have learned to navigate their schedules, classroom routines, and have made some new friends in the process.  They are learning how to manage their time when preparing for long term assignments and tests along with learning a new curriculum.

We continue to encourage you at home to take a look at your student's agenda book and compare it to our website homework.   We also encourage you to check your child's grades via the Aspen portal.  Students are realizing how important it is to complete their homework assignments with great effort. This has a direct impact on their grades.  

As a part of our Admirable Attribute program, Team Taylor recognizes two students from our team who exemplify the attribute from the authors we read in 6th grade.  December's attribute is Perseverance.

We value the home/school relationships, please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child's progress.  We have times built into our schedule for parent/teacher conferences.  We meet as a team and discuss your child's progress.  Email is the best method to reach us.  Our email addresses are listed below.

Warm regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Important Dates This Month:

Friday, Dec. 1st - Term One Grades Close

Wednesday, Dec. 13th Report Cards Distributed

December 23rd  - Jan.1 No School Holiday Break

Team Taylor Admirable Attribute Recipients:

September - Optimistic - Ben P. & Hannah M.

October - Curious - Ryan P. & Sabrina T.

November - Respectful - to be nominated

English and Social Studies Update

In ELA we are about to embark on narrative writing with our Stargirl novel. Students have been focusing on various techniques authors use to hook a reader's attention. We have been focusing on the elements of plot and how conflict drives the key events in a plot. Students have been paying close attention to how the characters' thoughts, actions and words create conflict in a plot line of a story. They will now have an opportunity to write their own version of Chapter 24 in the novel. Most exciting of all, we send these writing narratives to the author of the novel, Jerry Spinelli himself!

In social studies we are about to begin our study of ancient Egypt. We will look at the geographical location of Egypt and Kush. The guiding essential question we will think about is how does location or place have an impact on the growth of a civilization?  We will also study a variety of pharaohs and their achievements, along with daily life in ancient Egypt and the kingdom of Kush. Students will be able to identify the achievements of the three major periods of ancient Egyptian history: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. Through their studies, students will also be able to explain the social pyramid of Egyptian society.

Math & Science Update

In math, we recently finished our first unit which was a lengthy unit.  This unit helped to solidify students' understanding of fractions and decimals and to give them the necessary skills for the work we will be doing in our upcoming unit on fractions.  Students can expect to work with all four operations with fractions and mixed numbers.  They will need to rely on their skills with Least Common Multiple and Greatest Common Factor in order to work efficiently with fractions.  If math facts are an issue, it is recommended that your child spend some time practicing their facts as they will allow students to work more effectively with fractions.

In Science, we recently completed our first two units.  We completed our unit on the nature of science and our unit on mixtures, mass, density, volume, and weight.  This week we started our unit on energy in chemical reactions.  Students will be attempting to answer our essential question; how does energy transfer to and from the environment?  We will be focusing on exothermic and endothermic reactions in order to answer this question.

Below are pictures from our mixtures unit and from our current unit on energy in chemical reactions.

Team Taylor News

November is upon us and students are well into their routines and curriculum!  They are breezing through their schedules and understand the demands and expectations of a 6th grader. November notoriously speeds by like a flash.  It is a shorter month, due to the Thanksgiving holiday break. This year we also have a Professional Development Day on November 7th, which means no school for the students.  Also, we celebrate Veteran's Day on November 10th, which means no school on that Friday.

November also brings with it a heavier workload for the students. Expectations have increased and the work is getting harder.  It is imperative that students stay organized and focused.  The term is coming to a close in December.

We continue to encourage you at home to take a look at your student's agenda book and compare it to our website homework.  .  We also encourage you to check your child's grades via the Aspen portal.  If you have any questions regarding access to this, ask your child, they have login information and a password.  Students are realizing how important it is to complete their homework assignments with great effort.  This has a direct impact on their grades.

Middle school is all about teamwork.   We will continue to work on building positive relationships and form long lasting bonds. We will also continue to foster this philosophy during our Team Time blocks in our schedules.

As a part of our Admirable Attribute program, Team Taylor recognizes one boy and one girl from our team who exemplifies the attribute from the authors we read in 6th grade.  October's attribute was Curious.  We will be having nominations soon and the students who stand out as most curious will be chosen and announced.  The November attribute is Respectful.

We value the home/school relationships, please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child's progress.  We have times built into our schedule for parent/teacher conferences.  We meet as a team and discuss your child's progress.  Email is the best method to reach us.  Our email addresses are listed below.

Warm regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Laura Welshoff, English & Social Studies

welshoff@franklinps.net

Danny Kelley, Math & Science

kelleyd@franklinps.net

Team Taylor Newsletter

It is hard to believe it is October! It was so nice to meet so many Team Taylor parents at our recent Back To School Night! Students are settling into their routines now and are aware of the expectations of a middle schooler. They seem to have a solid grasp of their schedules and are able to navigate their lockers like pros.

We encourage you at home to take a look at your student's agenda book and compare it to our Homework website (found on ASMS webpage).  We also encourage you to check your child's grades via the Aspen portal. All of the students have been trained on accessing the site in their social studies classes.  Ask your child to share their Aspen password with you.  Students are realizing how important it is to complete their homework assignments and class work assignments with great effort, as this has a direct impact on their grades.

Middle school is all about teamwork. Our trip to the YMCA really helped foster this bond we are forming as a team. In our Team Time class period, we are working on a variety of social/emotional lessons, with a focus on executive functioning. This is so helpful as the students are learning to navigate their schedules and multiple classes.

As a part of our Admirable Attribute program, Team Taylor recognizes one boy and one girl from our team who exemplifies the attribute from the authors we read in 6th grade. September's attribute was Optimistic. We will be announcing nominations soon and the students who stand out as most optimistic will be nominated and announced.

We value the home/school relationship; please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child's progress. We have times built into our schedule for parent/teacher conferences. We meet as a team and discuss your child's progress. Email is the best method to reach us.  We will be reaching out to parents soon regarding setting up Parent/Teacher conferences.The dates for these are October 26th and 27th. These are both half days and we will meet with parents the second half of the day.  If you do not hear from us, all is going well! Of course, you may still want to touch base on your student’s progress, and we will make sure to set up a time to meet with you.

Warm regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Daniel Kelley, Math & Science

kelleyd@franklinps.net

Laura Welshoff, English & Social Studies

welshoff@franklinps.net

Jennifer Fuller, Special Education Liaison Teacher

fullerj@franklinps.net

Math & Science Updates

I'd like to give some updates on the curriculum for our first units in Math & Science.  Let's start by looking Math!

During our first Math unit, students will learning about fractions while answering the essential question, "What do parts have to do with wholes?".  As we navigate this first unit, students will be practicing foundational skills necessary to be successful with fraction operations.  For example, we have been practicing finding the least common multiple which helps find the lowest common denominator.  Additionally, we have been practicing finding the greatest common factor which helps to reduce fractions.  Another skill we have worked is solving for the prime factorization of a number.  As we move forward in this unit, the remaining essential skills/concepts are as follows; ordering fractions from least to greatest, ordering decimal numbers from least to greatest, converting between mixed fractions and improper fractions, converting from fractions to decimals, and converting from decimals to fractions.

During our first Science unit, we look at the nature of science while answering the following questions, "Why do scientists investigate the world and ask questions?" and "What does scientific work look like?".  We have reviewed safety standards and expectations within the science classroom and have begun reviewing and learning about the scientific process.  Thus far we have learned about asking questions, formulating a hypothesis, designing a test/experiment, make observations in the form of qualitative data and quantitative data, drawing inferences from our observations, and making a conclusion.

Below are some videos and images from our safety charades activity.  Students were asked to act out a scenario related to safety within the classroom.  See if you can guess which rule they're acting out!

August 31,, 2017

Dear Team Taylor Students and Families,

As we embark on a new school year, we want to take a moment to welcome you to sixth grade and Team Taylor. As your teachers, we are ecstatic about the year ahead. New novels to read, units to study, concepts to grasp!

As a team, we will work together to create a supportive environment where all feel comfortable and safe to take on new challenges and stretch as learners and unique individuals. Think about what talents you bring to our team. What will you be able to share with your peers and teachers? What do you hope to learn from those around you?

Sixth grade is a time to explore and uncover a variety of topics.

In ELA, the essential questions focus on the individual: Who am I? What is my place in the world? How can I make a difference?  

In Math, you will continue to solidify foundation skills from fifth grade while beginning to develop your algebraic thinking.

In Science, you will encounter earth and life science topics through inquiry based learning.

In Social Studies, you will travel back in time. You will begin with early humans and study to the fall of Rome.

Annie Sullivan Middle School provides ample opportunities to discover new interests and passions. Try out a new club. Meet new friends. See what exciting adventures middle school holds for you!

Take some time to think about how you will get involved. How will you make a difference? How can you be a pack leader on our ASMS Husky team?

Best Regards,

Miss Fuller - Special Education Liaison -   Fullerj@franklinps.net

Mr. Kelley - Mathematics, Science -   Kelleyd@franklinps.net

Mrs. Welshoff - English, Social Studies -  welshoff@franklinps.net

Team Taylor Teachers

Miss Waks - Social Studies update

Hello Team Taylor Families!

My social studies class has completed their study of Ancient Greece and has moved onto Ancient Rome. I will post a couple pictures of our end of Greece. One pictures is of our Greek Olympic winners and the other is a compilation of all the words they recognized from their study during a video about Ancient Greece - it was quite an impressive list!

We are working on our study of Ancient Rome and the students have really been enjoying this unit. We started off with geography and they were most impressed with the fact that modern day Rome is in the same place as ancient Rome. We learned all about the cultural influences from the Etruscan people as well as the Greeks. We moved into the politics and how the government was structured. They were able to make a lot of connections between their ancient republic and our modern day three-branch democracy. We discussed how Rome expanded from a city into a massive empire through a variety of periods of expansion. The students learned all about the influences of Caesar and Augustus on the development of the empire. We even did a play based on the murder of Caesar - pictures here! The major assignment they are currently working on is a claim essay arguing that either Caesar or Augustus was the more influential leader. Check in with your children and see how their essays are coming - parental eyes are always helpful.

Enjoy the pictures!

Cells and Waves

Hello Team Taylor Families!

I haven't written a blog post in over a month and we have done so much in science class, I felt like I wanted to share with you all. Last time I wrote, the students were working on a socratic seminar. Since then we have finished an entire unit on cells and the different organelle functions. The students were taught how to use light microscopes and were able to observe specimens and other more daily objects. The students really enjoyed using microscopes and were really blown away by the microscopic things they could see using the different zoom lenses. We wrapped up our study of cells by completing a Cell Analogy project. The students worked in groups and compared either a plant or animal cell to something else. We had comparisons to sports teams, hotels, beaches, amusement parks and more! The students were so creative in their work and were proud to share with their peers in mini presentations. They are currently hanging up on the walls and the students love to walk by and see their peers' hard work.

After we finished our study of cells, we dove into a brand new unit that has never been taught before - waves! The students are excited to be learning something that no other 6th grade has learned and I am just as excited to be teaching something new. This unit is incredibly student driven, which means there is a lot of discovery learning taking place. The students are exploring with creating waves, using online simulators, and doing a lot of the learning more independently. This is a very new, fun way of learning and I think they are getting used to it. They were apprehensive at first, but in only a couple of weeks have already begun to enjoy ownership of their learning.

 I am posting a few pictures for you of the end of the cell unit as well as the beginning of our new waves unit.