Pleasant Hill Intermediate School
1204 E. 163rd Street
Pleasant Hill, MO 64080
816-540-3156
September 2011
6B TEAM NEWSLETTER
Important Dates
Sept. 2 & 5: No School (Labor
Day Weekend)
Sept. 7: PTO Fundraiser
Kickoff
Sept. 16: 3 Hour Early Release
(Professional Development)
Oct. 4: Picture Retakes
Oct. 7: 3 Hour Early Release
(Homecoming)
Oct. 11: 5th Grade PTO
Performance
Oct. 14: 3 Hour Early Release
(work day); End of 1st Quarter
Oct. 18 & 19: Parent-Teacher
Conferences
Contact your 6B teachers:
Mr. Josh Adamczyk [email protected] 540-3156 ext 604
Mrs. Jody Griffith [email protected] 540-3156 ext 605
Ms. Megan Smith [email protected] 540-3156 ext 603
Mrs. Pamela Maxey [email protected] 540-3156 ext 601
Ms. Veronica Love [email protected] 540-3156 ext 502
Progress Reports:
Progress reports will be sent on the 1st and 15th of the month starting on September 1st.
Rooster Time
Rooster Time classes will soon be working in smaller reading groups. There will be 3 or
4 reading groups in each Rooster Time class. We are working on various reading skills in
small groups. Students should always have a book to read for AR points with them in class.
REMEMBER, Rooster Time grade is about half AR points. Your child needs 10 AR points by
the end of each quarter.
Science-Social Studies--Mr. Adamczyk
S.S.We will start talking about human civilizations and how they started out as huntergatherers and how they started the first human villages.
ScienceWe will start working on scientific method. We will be performing a few experiments as we
learn this process. I will send a letter home letting you know what materials will be needed
to be brought in. The first one will be building a foil boat.
Math--Mrs. Griffith
We have recently been working on recognizing place values, basic operations of math,
powers, and order of operations. We will continue to work on number sense objectives in
the month of September.
Math textbooks have been assigned and your son/daughter should have taken this textbook
home by now. A math letter was sent home the same day the textbook was assigned,
explaining how our classroom works along with the student's book number. The math
textbook may be left at home so that your son/daughter has a reference to have if they
have trouble with some of their math work. I use an electronic version of the book with the
students when we are learning new objectives at school. By keeping the math textbook at
home, this will be a quick reference for your child and it will help eliminate the wear and
tear of the textbook.
Progress reports are emailed home the 1st and 15th of each month. Each Monday morning,
I try to have the math grades updated from the previous week. You will notice at the end
of the progress report, the five Accelerated Math (AM) tests. Every two weeks, I will post
a new Accelerated Math score. If you see an Incomplete in the AM column, this means
your son/daughter hasn't completed this AM test as of yet. With the posting of all math
work each Monday(generally), you can view your child's current grade and status of work
completed by logging into SIS.
Please remember, I have additional math study help every Tuesday and Thursday morning
from 7:25-7:55. I am in the classroom until 8:10 every morning unless I have a morning
duty. Anyone who arrives after 7:55 may come to my room for additional math time as well.
Thank you for a great start to a new school year. Please email or call me if you ever have
any questions or concerns. Together, we can make your child have a successful school
year!
Communication Arts--Ms. Smith
We have been learning about various types of figurative language, such as similes,
metaphors, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperboles, personification, and idioms. Students
are working hard to create a mind map that describes themselves using figurative
language. You may have even heard your child singing the figurative language rap! We
will conclude this unit with a project that allows students to demonstrate their knowledge
while choosing a product that suits their personality and interests. They will have the
option to create a video, song, rap, commercial, poster, foldable, etc. We will discuss
specifics later in class.
Once we have wrapped up the figurative language unit, we will begin reading,Shelter
Dogs, by Peg Kehret. This is a nonfiction book about eight dogs who were all rescued from
shelters and go on to achieve great things. I am eager to begin this book with the students
and hope they will enjoy it!
Ms. Love
Math
Students will review numbers and operations. There will be a focus on word problems.
Students will look key words or phrases to indicate what operation(s) to be used. We
started AM and students have caught on and seem to enjoy it.
Ms. Love
Comm Arts
Students are working on various language skills. This includes synonyms, antonyms, and
homonyms. Students are using guided reading sets and literature responses. For example,
students created wanted posters and masks for various characters in the book. Students
have requested to continue this process with other books. We also worked on descriptive
paragraphs.
Rooster Time
We are working on 2 different books. We are working on listening skills with the books The
Day No Pigs Would Die with the 6th grade and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda with the
5th grade.