Ms . Daniels’ 6 th Grade Humanities Class

1. Good Evening!Welcome toCurriculum Night2013/14 Ms. Daniels’6th GradeHumanities Class

2. 6th Grade Year • Middle school is a time of big changes in the lives of 6th graders. • Many teachers, higher expectations • New friends and experiences, a time of growth mentally, emotionally, physically • They still need your guidance • I am here to educate, guide, support, and make learning stimulating and fun.

3. ClassroomExpectations • Prepared for class with books, • supplies, their work, rested, and • on time • Homework done to their best ability and • on time • Do their best in class with behavior and • class work • Participate in class • Respect themselves, me and others

4. Helping Your Child to be Organized Planners: • Go over what they have written down in their planner for their homework, check and compare this to what is on my website. • I am checking planners in class, and random checks by me later in the year. They write it in their planners from the overhead immediately upon entering class. • Homework is on my website daily, but they need to always use their planner first. Binders: • Clean out regularly and have enough pencils, pens (blue or black and red), paper, erasers. • Organize the book bag for the next day and put it by the door. Homework: • A quiet place, organized place where they can access someone for help if they need to. Access to a computer with internet. • Skyward will be updated every 3 weeks.

5. Homework • Homework typicallybegun in class and finished at home if not completed in class. Use time wisely in class! • Check my website (see BLMS website) for homework, websites, downloads and this PowerPoint. I am emailing home the homework and daily activities through Skyward. • Homework passes: LA/SS classes: 2 first tri, 1 second tri, none third tri. Must be signed by parent. Full credit completed when they use a homework passone day late. • Late work with no pass is half credit, projects not included. • Keep all papers at home in a file until trimester grade received • No name papers, find in the No Name basket and turn in before the last week of the trimester. Will get full credit for them.

6. Absences • Students have as many days to make up work as they were absent. • Missed work is in drawers in the cart by the door with their name on them, according to the day they were absent. • There is a calendar with our daily curriculum on it on the wall above the folders. • When work is complete they need to put them in the wire rack on top of the cart by the door. • If there is not enough time for explaining what they need to do on their work, they should make an appt. to come before or after school to meet with me, email or call me. • Homework buddies

7. Skyward Grading • 6th grade humanities updates every 3 weeks. • I will be putting grades in as close as possible to their due date. • Asterisks in place of grade mean the grade hasn’t been put in yet and don’t affect the grade at all! • Zeros are put in until absent/late work is turned in and graded. If I don’t do that students forget to do the work.

8. Classroom Routine • Language arts first period, social studies second period • Warmups done at start of class, (grammar practice, journal entries, etc.) • SS will be taught by Unit and the chapters within theunits, will have projects and tests.

9. McDougal Littell Literature Text-Language Arts Curriculum .

10. Language Arts Novels: The Giver, (Fall) and Thieves of Ostia (Spring) will include teaching reading strategies, literary elements, vocabulary development, and writing. Major writing assignments will be: • Tri 1: A short expository assignment and personal narrative (memoir) • Tri 2: Expository essay and research paper • Tri 3: Persuasive writing and poetry Grammar: Lessons using Literaturetext curriculum assignments, Easy Grammar Plus by Wanda C. Phillips, and Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson. Vocabulary:SAT Word Power, McDougal Littell curriculum, novels Latin and Greek Roots:

11. Social Studies Curriculum • McDoualLittell’sWorld History, Ancient Civilizations, which they keep all year and take home at night to use for homework. • They must bring it to class each day. You can borrow one for the year with a $50 deposit from the bookkeeper • It is not online.

12. GeographyUnit Early Human Societies Units • Hunters and gatherers • Learning to farm and raise animals • The first communities Ancient Cultures Units • Mesopotamia/Early Empires • Ancient Egypt • Ancient and Classical Greece • Roman Empire Current Events: Students will be required to present a current event each trimester from a newspaper, news site or magazine.

13. Social Studies Skills • They will learn reading strategies for informational text and will practice them for each lesson read in the text. • Will read different types of text: primary sources documents, charts. • Note taking skills will be developed. • Projects throughout the year for the different civilizations.

14. To contact me: • Call me at 837-6384. • Email: danielsc@blms.issaquah.wednet.edu • Please make an appt. to meet me at school, by emailing or calling me. Homework online: • Go to the Beaver Lake School site: www.blms.issaquah.wednet.edu and a “Teachers Websites” button is on the left. Click on it and then on my name. Textbooks online: • Classzone.com for the LA text are online @ www.classzone.com (students will be receiving info on how to do this) This Presentation: • Check my website for this presentation and more information Your email: • General email list- I need your email addresses if you have is not on the school Skyward information. • Please fill out an index card on the tables with anything else you want me to know about your child.