May Newsletter

Team Taylor May Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

April went by in a flash! We are thankful that the cold weather is hopefully behind us!

The sixth grade teachers enjoyed meeting the parents of our incoming 5th graders on

April 26th, it seems like it was not so long ago that we met with you!

April was a busy month for us in sixth grade! Students have been working diligently

in all academic classes. Along with all our hard work students will be taking the

Math MCAS exam on May 15th and 16th. Students have been focused on learning

strategies in their math classes all year and are prepared to show what they know!

They have been embracing the strategies they are learning at school and should be

proud of all of their efforts. In order to ensure that students are able to do their best

on exam days, we are asking you at home to encourage them to get a good night’s

sleep and eat a healthy breakfast on exam days. Students should also come to school

with a water bottle, snack, and independent reading book on testing days. No electronic

readers are allowed on these days during the test times.

As the weather begins to warm up, we encourage students to remain focused on their

school work. We still have a solid amount of curriculum to cover.  We expect students

to begin taking more responsibility for their own learning and advocating for themselves

if they need help in any areas of the curriculum. We also encourage them to use class

and Flex time wisely to see teachers for extra help as needed. We will continue to

support them and help foster this independence to help them become ready to be 7th graders.

As a part of our Admirable Attributes program, Team Taylor recognizes two students

each month who exemplify attributes of the authors we read in 6th grade.  The

Admirable Attribute for the month of April was Independent. We want to encourage

students to be thinking of others this month and finding ways to show that they care.

We truly feel that the success of our students depends on clear communication between

school and home. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions

about your child's progress. Email is the best method to reach us. Our email addresses

available on the ASMS web page. You can also find a link to the Team Taylor Blog

on this site. If you haven’t been on it, it’s a valuable page we use to communicate

about our team news and curriculum.

Warm Regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Important Dates This Month:

May 4th - Professional Development Day ½ Day Students

May 15th & 16th Math MCAS

May 28th - Memorial Day No School

Team Taylor Admirable Attribute Recipients:

September - Optimistic - Ben P. & Hannah M.

October - Curious - Ryan P. & Sabrina T.

November - Respectful - Nicolas A. & Sammy B.

December - Perseverance - Ahan S. & Maya A.

January - Generous - Brian A. & Alex B.

February - Creative - Ashley D. & Maria Z.

March - Compassionate - Victoria O. & Mason S.

April - Independent - To be announced

May- Flexible -

June - Responsible -

Team Taylor April Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

March was a busy month for us in sixth grade! Students have been working dilegently in all academic classes. We are hopefully beyond all of the snow! Along with all our hard work academically, students were treated to a special presentation by The Myth Masters! They are made up of two actors, who successfully captured the minds of our sixth graders, while teaching them about Greek Mythology. They are interactive and so very engaging! This is such a fun way to blend our curriculum with such an entertaining activity! Thank you to the PCC for providing this fun presentation for us.

The English Language Arts MCAS exam is approaching, the dates are Wednesday, April 25th, and Thursday,  April 26th . Students have been working hard in their ELA classes all year and are prepared to show what they know! They have been embracing the strategies they have learned at school and should be proud of all of their efforts. In order to ensure that students are able to do their best on exam days, we are asking you at home to encourage them to get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy breakfast on exam days. Students should also come to school with a water bottle, snack, and independent reading book on exam days. No electronic readers are allowed on these days during the test times.

We continue to encourage students to check Aspen regularly, as we update our grades every two weeks. At this point in the year, we expect students to begin taking more responsibility for their own learning and advocating for themselves if they need help in any areas of the curriculum. We encourage them to use class and Flex time wisely to see teachers for extra help as needed. We will continue to support them and help foster this independence.

As a part of our Admirable Attributes program, Team Taylor recognizes two students each month who exemplify attributes of the authors we read in 6th grade.  The Admirable Attribute for the month of March was Compassionate, students nominated and we are waiting to announce the recipients early in April. The attribute for April is Independent.   We want to encourage students to be thinking of others this month and finding ways to show that they care.

We truly feel that the success of our students depends on clear communication between school and home. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child's progress. Email is the best method to reach us. Our email addresses available on the ASMS web page. You can also find a link to the Team Taylor Blog on this site. If you haven’t been on it, it’s a valuable page we use to communicate about our team news and curriculum.

Warm Regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Dates This Month:

Friday, April 6 - Professional Development Day Teachers - half day students

Monday, April 16 - Friday, April 20 - April Vacation

Wednesday, April 25, Thursday, April 26 - ELA MCAS Grade 6

Team Taylor Admirable Attribute Recipients:

September - Optimistic - Ben P. & Hannah M.

October - Curious - Ryan P. & Sabrina T.

November - Respectful - Nicolas A. & Sammy B.

December - Perseverance - Ahan S. & Maya A.

January - Generous - Brian A. & Alex B.

February - Creative - Ashley D. & Maria Z.

March Update: Science & Math

Greetings,

I'd like to give a brief update on what students have been working on in the science and math classroom, as well as explain where we are heading for the month of March.

In science, we have been focusing our study on cells and their various organelles.  As we learn more about the different cell parts and their functions, we continue to try to answer our essential questions.  How do organisms live and grow?  Why is it valuable to know the various structures and functions of a cell?

Students will show their understanding of cells and their various structures though the cell analogy project.  Students will create a diagram of a cell and create an analogy for each of its parts and then create a diagram of the entire analogy.  For example, the cell could be compared to a factory.  A factory may have a water storage area which is analogous to the vacuoles found within both plant and animal cells.

As students deepen their understanding of cells, we will move to the organism as a whole and begin to study body systems.  Our focus during that time will be on how various body systems interact and what happens at a cellular level.

In math, we have been focusing our study on ratios, rates, and unit rates.  Students have been applying their new knowledge of ratios to help them solve various problems, such as which option at a store is the better buy or comparing speeds.  As we develop a deeper understanding of ratios and rates we will use this knowledge to learn about percentages and how percentages can help us solve real world situations.

As term 2 winds to a close, some ways you can help your child in math is making sure they are using active word problem strategies.  Students should be circling numbers, underlining/highlighting important information, visualizing the problem, drawing a picture when stuck, re-reading the problem, and choosing an operation.  Please reinforce these strategies at home as the level of difficulty and application will continue to increase through the school year.

Synthesizing Information and Ancient Greece!

Hello Team Taylor Families!

Here is a quick update of what is happening in ELA and Social Studies.

In ELA, students are learning how to synthesize information from multiple sources when responding to text. Students are learning how reading informational texts enhance their understanding of the world in which they live. They are also looking at how they can defend their ideas in writing. We are learning the ANSWER strategy, which helps them to analyze materials that they read, organize their ideas in a note plan, and select relevant evidence to support their ideas when writing a response. They are looking at various types of articles: argumentative, informational, and narrative. They will learn how to craft an appropriate response to each of these tasks.

We will then move into working with folklore, with a focus on legends and epics. Once we learn about folklore, we will move into our next novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor. Much of our focus will be how reading stories and poems show common human experiences.

In Social Studies, we are learning all about ancient Greece. Students learned about the geography and how it impacted the communication and settlement of this amazing civilization. We are currently studying about the various forms of government (Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, and finally, Democracy). Students are analyzing the difference between an Athenian Direct Democracy and a Representative Democracy, which is a legacy left to us from the ancient Greeks. From there, we will move into a close analysis of the life in the two city-states of Athens and Sparta. We will look closely at the government, economy, and education in both of these different regions of ancient Greece.

Ratios, Rates, Proportions and Lunar Phases!

Dear parents and students,

I would like to update you on where we are heading in both math and science.

In math, our focus will be on ratios, rates, and proportions.  We will be learning how to compare different quantities of things using ratios.  The two types of ratios are part-to-part ratios and part-to-whole ratios.  We will be using both types to solve real world problems.  Our work in creating equivalent fractions will help us when using proportions.  The major skills needed to be successful during this unit are multiplication and division.  The work we do during this unit will be the foundation of our work in percentages.  I am attaching multiple videos which you may find useful as we work through this unit.

Ratios & Rates

Proportions

In science, our focus will be on the eight major phases of the moon.  Students will be working as part of a team to design a model which will help to show and explain the major lunar phases.  As they design their model, they will be working through the engineering design process.  While I will help guide students in creating their model, I will not explain to them how the moon phases are created.  Students will be working to discover this on their own.  Our ultimate goal is to answer the question, why does the moon look different each night during a one month period?  Below are the major steps in the engineering design process students will be working through as they design their model.

Math and Science Update- January

Happy new year!

As we enter the new year, it is important to keep steady the school year's momentum.  This time of year can sometimes be the most challenging given the short days and colder temperatures.  Be sure to check your child's binder and planner every night and to cross-check this with our homework pages.  With that said, let's take a look at where we've been and where we're going in both science and math.

In math, students are finishing up our unit on decimal operations.  Students have been practicing their skills in adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing with decimal numbers.  It is important for students to keep their work very organized and make reasonable estimates to check their answers.  This unit on decimal operations should come to a close at the end of next week, around January 12th.

From there, we will shift our focus to ratios and proportions.  Students will use ratios to compare quantities of different things in part-to-part ratios as well as part-to-whole ratios.  Additionally, students will use these ratios to help them solve real world problems.  They may also need to use pre-algebraic thinking to solve for missing parts in proportions.

In science, we have been working through our unit on plate tectonics and the theory of continental drift.  Students have been studying the evidence presented by Alfred Wegener and the scientists who followed.  The culminating task for this unit has students writing a letter to the science community of the 1950's urging them to accept Wegener's hypothesis and accept it as a theory.

After we complete this unit, we will move on to rock layers and the law of superposition.  Students will learn about relative dating, cross-cutting, and the law of superposition.  After rock layers, we will move to other topics in Earth and Space science, including gravity, the earth, moon, and sun system, and the Milky Way Galaxy.

Team Taylor Newsletter

January 2018

Happy New Year Team Taylor families!

Welcome back after what we hope was a wonderful and joyous time spent with family and friends! We

also want to thank the Team Taylor families for the generous donations for our Team Raffle.

We continue to encourage you at home to take a look at your student's agenda book and compare it to

our Google Classroom pages.  We also encourage you to check your child's grades via the Aspen portal.  If

you have any questions regarding access to this, please send us an email and we can help you to gain access.  

Students realize how important it is to complete their assignments with great effort, including homework, as

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 was Perseverance.

Students will be nominating for this in the next few days.   The attribute that we will highlight for January

is Generous.

Keep an eye out for both Mr. Kelley and Mrs. Welshoff to update the blog with curriculum updates.

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.

Warm regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Important Dates This Month:

Monday, Jan. 1 - New Years Day - No school

Monday, Jan. 13th Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, no school

Team Taylor Admirable Attribute Recipients:

September - Optimistic - Ben P. & Hannah M.

October - Curious - Ryan P. & Sabrina T.

November - Respectful - Nicolas A. & Sammy B.

December - Perseverance - To be nominated