Dear 6th Grade Parents and Guardians,
Happy Spring! I hope your child is enjoying being back at school after the spring break and getting into the swing of new projects and units! One new unit involves the culminating Experimental Design Project in science. Look out for a letter from Mrs. M&M with details. English classes have finished their essay and are starting a new book, Lions of Little Rock, with historical context lessons co-authored by Mrs. Macone and Ms. Henry-Agblonon. Look out for a letter from Mr. Davis and departmental chair, Mrs. Quirk, about this text and related instructional work around some of its language. History and CP math classes also begin new units this month on world religions and speed/rate, respectively, as advanced math starts work on a new problem set. Please help your child to be sure they have a well-stocked pencil case on hand every day so they never lack for the right highlighter or a sharpened pencil going into these classes!
As current units end and new ones begin across the curriculum, you can expect to see student work and/or culminating tests and projects sent home — giving you a window into content covered. One such is the “Parent Letter” from Mr. Wallman with student work products and a reflection assignment from the last history unit, which should arrive home shortly. Midterm narrative “report cards” being written this month are another opportunity to check in on student progress. As in the fall, these will be released to students just before they are available on your parent portal. In advisory, students read their “comments”, write reflections on their goals, points of pride, and teachers’ feedback and then meet individually with their advisor to plan for the next stage of the year.
Dates of Interest
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April 5th — No School. Teachers have a professional day to write report card narrative “comments” to be released electronically the following week.
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April 8th — Launch for Spring Community Service Project. The 6th grade has a long-standing relationship with the Englewood Center for Food Action. Years ago we built them a vegetable garden that allows them to provide their clients with fresh produce all summer long. We return each spring to replant the garden and learn more about the work CFA does in our community. Each advisory has its own date for in-school garden “training” and a separate date for their trip to the CFA to work on-site. After the launch, please ask your child for their dates so you can remind them to dress appropriately for outdoor weather and gardening work on their training and trip days. If you have donations for the food pantry you want to send in on your child’s trip day, please feel free! Requested donations can be found on the CFA website https://www.cfanj.org/. The CFA also always is looking for volunteers to work in the garden over the summer — please be in touch with them if you and your child would like to continue as a family the good work students will have started this spring.
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April 8th — Solar Eclipse. Students will be given protective glasses and instructions for safely viewing the eclipse, which will begin at the end of the school day. You may find it helpful to reinforce with your child the importance of not looking directly at the sun!
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April 10th — No School. Eid Mubarak!
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April 12th — Final Parent Forum. 8:30-10:00 am on campus.
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April 23rd — No School. Passover observance.
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May 6th — Evening Orientation to 7th Grade for Parents with the 7th Grade Dean. Don’t miss this one! It is in-person only, on campus. Invitation from Mr. Aitken to follow.
Around the Dinner Table…
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AI Assembly — Ask your child about the “deep fake” that Dr. Maxwell, our special guest speaker at assembly this week, showed us. What did they learn about AI and think about the topics she discussed?
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Diversity Day Workshops — During our full-day exploration of DIEB topics on March 27th, each student participated in two workshops from a wide selection including titles such as Gender Equality in Sport, The Science of Skin Color, See the Able, Not the Label, Cross-Cultural Cuisines/Cooking, and many others. What workshops did your child attend, and what did they learn?
Reminders
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Please discourage students from bringing gum and candy to school. Students are asked not to hand out gum and candy or to snack in class without a specific medical reason for needing to do this. The chewing and wrappers and extra sugar tend to be distractions in class and passing periods.
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Students planning an absence around our various holidays this month will need to complete missed work on time. Teachers will not assign work over the holidays, but if you are extending the holiday and your child does not do the work assigned on their missed days, they may find the catch-up project becomes unwieldy. Please email me a week in advance of any planned absence (so students have time to meet with teachers in TAG and make plans), as well as letting the attendance office know by ccing MSattendance@d-e.org.
Have a happy weekend,
Tasha Urbanowski