Mr. Slusser / Ms. Dsylva / Ms. Abdulhadi

Hello 6th Grade,

Welcome to the month of March . Your teachers are super excited to meet you every single day! You are loved and you are important. Remember without YOU at school, our ‘snowman’ in the cafeteria will not grow… attendance counts! Parents are requested to motivate their child to help his/her class contribute toward their classroom success.

Important Dates & Reminders  

• March 5th: No school for students
• March 11th: Ramadan begins
• March 22nd: Quarter 3 Ends
• March 25th - 29th- Spring Break (no school)
• Reminder: Please do not send soda, candy or                gum to school with your child. 
• Students should be reading at least 20-30 minutes each night. Shamrock Library  

Language Arts

What are we learning?

• Reading Unit: Historical Fiction 
  • Readers grapple with conflicting ideas, analyzing them for truth and determining their beliefs. 
  • Through discussion, readers return to ideas across a book and/or across multiple books. 
  •  Readers of historical fiction intentionally expand their knowledge of a time period so that they can more completely understand the story (characters, setting, events) and deepen their interpretations. 
  • Readers of historical fiction evaluate theories about universal themes that transcend time and place and consider their relevance in their lives today.
• Writing Unit: Historical Fiction
  •  Writers develop the conflict by placing true-to-life characters into a historical context.
  •  Writers use elaboration techniques (dialogue, character & setting description) to reveal the historical time period. 
  • Writers bring out personal or historical conflicts to reveal recurring themes.

Home/School Connection

Questions to ask your student:

•  How do we reveal human struggles within a historical context?
•  How are conflicts of the past similar to conflicts of today?

Books we will be reading:

• Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osbourne 
• Tangled in Time series by Kathryn Lan
• I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis
• Dear America series by various authors 
• American Girl series by various authors 

Math

What are we learning?

Expressions, Equations, and Inequalities

• As mathematicians we will:
  • represent a proportional relationship between two quantities, including those arising from practical situations .
  • determine the unit rate of a proportional relationship and use it to find a missing value in a ratio table.
  • determine whether a proportional relationship exists between two quantities.
  • make connections between and among representations of a proportional relationship between two quantities using verbal descriptions, ratio tables, and graphs. 

Advanced Math-                                                                           

•  Students will determine the unit rate of a proportional relationship and use it to find a missing value in a ratio table
• Students will make connections between and among representations of a proportional relationship between two quantities using verbal descriptions, ratio tables, and graphs.
• Students will graph a line representing a proportional relationship between two quantities given the slope and an ordered pair, or given the equation in y = mx form where m represents the slope as rate of change.

Home/School Connection:

It is sometimes difficult to imagine how you will use mathematical principles in real life. Grocery shopping, cooking and getting from place to place are three common, real-life situations in which ratios and proportions are not only prevalent but essential to correct, cost-effective performance.

Science

What are we learning?

All about Water (H₂O)

• As scientists we will learn to:
  • evaluate our own water consumption
  •  analyze practical methods of conservation of H₂O
  • expand upon the understanding of the properties of water 
  • describe sources of freshwater, wastewater, and stormwater in Fairfax County, VA

Home/School Connection

Questions to ask your student:

• How can water resources be managed responsibly?
• Why should we have practices for the wise use and protection of water as a natural resource?

Social Studies

What are we learning?

• New Nation
• Westward Expansion and reform

As historians we will be learning about:

• outcomes of the first Constitution of the United States established by the Articles of the Confederation.
• the historical development of the Constitution of the United States.
• the major accomplishments of the first five presidents of the United States.

Home/School Connection

Questions to ask your student:

•  Describe the major accomplishments of the first five presidents of the United States.
• Since the field trip this Spring will be at George Mason University, get your son/daughter acquainted with why George Mason was important enough to name a university in his honor.
• 

Specials 

What are we learning? &  Home/School Connections:

• Library: 
  • 6th grade students are learning how to evaluate websites to answer new questions they have, learning how to determine elements that make a website trustworthy or not. They are also learning how to cite their sources. We will be conducting a historical fiction book tasting, where they can discover fiction set in time periods throughout history, and expand their reading repertoire.
• PE: 
  • Hello Forestdale Families!
    Your PE Team has completed the Winter round of fitness testing. We are now beginning our “Striking with Hands Unit” and will master these concepts through the sport of volleyball. Students will complete skill repetitions, play team games, net games, and practice their athletic communication habits during this unit. We’ve also discussed safety factors for this unit and how EMOTIONS always factor into our playing.
  • Perhaps discuss with your student: “How do you act when you’re playing a game that you feel GOOD at?” “How do you act when you’re playing a game that feels DIFFICULT for you?” “What is it like when a friend shows anger or disappointment while you’re playing with them?” “What does it feel like when a teammate encourages you?”
  • Thank you and talk soon! ❤ Mr. Bergin and Ms. Brod
• Music: 
  • Ms. Shaw’s sixth grade classes are taking a short break from recorders and are focusing on rhythmic notation and the song Scoo-be-doo to play on the xylophone.
  • In Mr. Sawasky’s class, alll grades will be working on our frame drumming composition.  All students will know how to create their own rhythms.
    • We will practice singing our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” All students will have the opportunity to express themselves through playing xylophones, frame drums and percussion instruments.
    • 5^th and 6^th will also be adding to their theory knowledge by composing their own melodies. We will start learning about the blues and musical form.
• STEAM: 
  • 6^th-students will continue to design, build, and redesign the hardware and software for their moon rovers.
• Art: 
  • In the Forestdale art program, the primary goal is to create an environment in which every student feels confident, safe, and supported by Ms. Barrett and by the other students. The goal is that each student will reach a level of technical mastery and self-confidence that allows them to take risks with their own artwork and create work that they value.
  • In March,  all students will be creating planning drawings for the upcoming Clay units! 
  • 6th graders will create clay plates that have their names and other surface textures embossed in the clay. All clay projects will last at least a hundred years if cared for carefully.
  • All students’ ceramic pieces are delightful.
  • Thank you to all families for returning the Parent Interview Forms for each art unit! Students in grades 1st - 6th continue to use their Art Planning and Reflection Books, increasing their literacy skill practice during art classes!
  • As always, Ms. Barrett ([email protected]) is here for any questions or concerns regarding the art program.

ESOL- English for Speakers of Other Languages

All ESOL students have now completed their WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessments. The ESOL Team is very proud of how hard every student worked on each of their tests! Results from this assessment will be sent to families before the end of the school year. We are looking forward to seeing how much growth our students have made in learning academic English.