It’s finally here!! Scholars’ Bowl County Tournament for 6th Grade will be held this week at the Shelby County Instructional Services Center (SCISC)! This Thursday, February 3rd, our team will compete with other 6th grade Scholars’ Bowl teams from around the county. Parents are welcome to attend and watch our matches! Students should report directly to the Shelby County Instructional Services Center in Alabaster on Thursday morning at 7:30am. After a short welcome, we will proceed directly to our first match which will be against Vincent! Parents, I will have copies of our schedule for the day to give to you. Everyone breaks for lunch at 1:15pm. I’ll need a parent volunteer to run and grab us pizza from Little Cesear’s (which is already paid for) as we will have lunch on-site in their lunchroom area. Students, make sure you bring any drinks you may want for lunch or other snacks. The awards ceremony will commence at 1:45pm in the auditorium. Once we grab our 1st place trophies (HMS, we’re the BEST!!), students are free to go! We do not have to return to school!

I have forwarded a list of Scholars’ Bowl Team members to our attendance clerk as this is an excused absence for your Scholars’ Bowl student.

If you did not get a letter home concerning our county tournament, PLEASE email me at shorton@shelbyed.k12.al.us and I will send another copy home with your child! If you know your child will not be in attendance at our tournament, please let me know so I can relate that to our attendance clerk and so we won’t wait on your student before beginning our first match.

Good luck 6th grade team!! You guys rock!!

SOCIAL STUDIES
“Operation Overlord, D-Day, was the beginning of the end of the war” is our favorite quote concerning the battles we studied last week. This week, our focus of study will turn to The Battle of the Bulge, V-E Day, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski (Chapter 26-4).

Vocabulary Packets are due Wednesday, February 2nd!! This is a 100 point assignment. Students were given this packet last Friday so they would have the weekend to work on it. Please check the progress your student is making on this assignment.

SOCIAL STUDIES HOMEWORK:
Monday, January 31st…….work on Vocabulary Packet

Tuesday, February 1st……work on Vocabulary Packet

Wednesday, February 2nd……Vocabulary Packet due!!! no homework

Thursday, February 3rd…….Vocabulary test on all Chapter 26 Key Terms
(this should be in your SS notebook!)

Friday, February 4th……no homework

World War II Exam will be Wednesday, February 9th !!!!!!!
Students will receive a study guide on Thursday, February 3rd.

Remember our motto: Work hard!!

We will have practice against the 7th grade team in Mrs. Watford’s room (B212) until 4:30pm. Please make sure your student is picked up in front of the school at 4:30pm!

Remember we have county-wide tournament next Thursday, February 3rd at the Shelby County Instructional Services Center in Alabaster. Students will go straight to the SCISC instead of coming to HMS on that day. If you have not received a letter explaing the procedures for February 3rd, please email me at shorton@shelbyed.k12.al.us and I will make certain a copy gets home to you!

Thanks for sharing your child with me this school year! I have enjoyed working with such a terrific (and silly!) group of students!

SOCIAL STUDIES
The D-Day Invasion, the Battle of the Bulge, V-E Day for Europe…these pivotal battles will be our topics of discussion this week as we continue our study of World War II. During classtime, we are constantly “squeezing” the most we can out of our 50 minutes together. And even with all this “squeezing”, we still need a few additional minutes to complete the day’s work. For this reason, we will have homework several nights this week. I have listed homework below with the understanding that we may have to adjust the need to work at home according to how much we get accomplished in class. Please remind your student to double check the homework chart on the whiteboard to ensure homework assignments have not changed! I will also remind them each day during class!

Monday, January 24th

Chapter 26, all 5 sections for Key Terms will be due Tuesday, January 25th. This homework was assigned last Thursday and students were encouraged to work on it in their spare time.

Tuesday, January 25th

Students will complete their maps, “Europe During WWII”; these maps will be due at the beginning of class Wednesday, January 26th.

Wednesday, January 26th

no homework

Thursday, January 27th

Students will complete a Guided Reading Activity 26-4, #s 13-20; this activity sheet will be due at the beginning of class for a grade.

Friday, January 28th

Students will be given a WWII Vocabulary & Facts packet to begin working on in class; we will go over the instructions together in class including the fact that this assignment will be due next Tuesday, February 1st.

Have a great weekend!! Gets lots of rest and come back next week ready to work! Our World War II exam is on the horizon!

Parents and students!Please remember that our Climate Poster projects are due tomorrow! I have reminded students everyday this week to be diligent in their efforts at home to complete this project. Refer to the Climate Poster project sheet if you have any questions tonight!

Looking forward to a host of terrific work!

Parents and students! I am so pleased with the progress my students are making with their Pearl Harbor essays! We have an exceptional group of creative writers this year!

Today was our “final draft” day and students turned their essays in at the end of class. I did give my students an assignment toward the end of class. Their assignment was to define all the Key Terms for every section of Chapter 26. There are 5 sections to this chapter. I TOLD ALL STUDENTS THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT WAS NOT FOR HOMEWORK. I want students to work on all the key terms at their own pace with the knowledge that I WILL CHECK ALL KEY TERMS NEXT TUESDAY AND IT WILL BE FOR A GRADE. I have put this information on my homework chart in our classroom as well as verbally announcing it to students each period.

To make sure I am clear on this assignment, ALL VOCABULARY FOR THE ENTIRE CHAPTER 26, ALL 5 SECTIONS WILL BE CHECKED FOR A GRADE NEXT TUESDAY, JANUARY 25TH. Students should have these Key Terms defined in the Vocabulary section of their Social Studies notebook. I do not want students to tear them out. I will come around to each student’s notebook and check it on Tuesday, January 25th.

If you have any questions about this assignment, please email me at shorton@shelbyed.k12.al.us

Our practice on Tuesday afternoon was great! Sixth grade held their own against Mrs. Watford’s seventh grade team. Good job guys (and girls)!

Our schedule for the rest of Januray looks like this:

January 18th………..practice at HMS; pick-up students at 4:30pm in front of school
January 25th………..practice at HSM; pick-up students at 4:30pm in front of school

February 3rd is the date of the sixth grade Scholars’ Bowl Competition. The event will be held at the Shelby County Instructional Services Center in Alabaster. All team members were given a letter detailing the times and location of the competition. Pizza will be provided for our team but drinks and other quick snacks are the responsibility of each student.

If you did not get the letter from your student, please let me know and I will give them another to bring home.

I am looking forward to the competition next month as I think our team will do well!

See you next Tuesday afternoon!!

SOCIAL STUDIES
Our study of World War II will continue as we consider the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Students will read a first-hand account of the attack written by a survivor of the USS Arizona. Classes will respond to the events at Pearl Harbor with an in-class writing assignment on Wednesday & Thursday. Friday we will continue on into Section 3 of Chapter 26.

HOMEWORK for Social Studies:
With consideration of our in-class writing assignment, I do not have any homework planned for any night this week. If a student does not finish an assignment in class however, the student will be expected to complete the assignment at home. The assignment should be turned in to me the next day.

SCIENCE
We are beginning our study of Chapter 19, Earth, Moon & Sun. Students were assigned a Climate Poster project last Thursday. Students were given a sheet with the requirements of the project listed as well as the due date. THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT PROJECT THAT WILL BE COMPLETED OUTSIDE OF CLASS. Students researched their climates on Friday with the laptops. Parents, please check with your student to determine where they are in the process of completing this project as it is due this Friday, January 21st.

Science Homework:
none

SOCIAL STUDIES
Our study of World War II will continue this week with a review of the war’s first few battles in Poland, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. Other German facts students will discover include:

* countries that made up the Allied Powers
* countries that made up the Axis Powers
* bombing of London (blitzkrieg)

The last portion of our week will focus on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Students will read a first-hand account of the sights, sounds, and events of that fateful day. A thorough class discussion/reflection of these events will lead to an in-class writing assignment on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

SOCIAL STUDIES HOMEWORK:
Tuesday, January 11th…………Review Chapter 26-1 for a short quiz on Wednesday
Wednesday, January 12th…….Quiz on Chapter 26-1
Define Key Terms, Chapter 26, Section 2 (pg. 758)

SCIENCE
Chapter 18, “Climate”
Introduction to Climate Project on Thursday

SCIENCE HOMEWORK:
none

Welcome back to our 6th grade Scholars’ Bowl team! We have a lot to do as we prepare for the county tournament in February!

This is our schedule for January 2011:

January 4th………….no practice
January 11th………..match at Thompson 6th Grade Center
January 18th………..practice at HMS; pick-up students at 4:30pm in front of school
January 25th………..practice at HSM; pick-up students at 4:30pm in front of school

Next Tuesday, January 11th, we will travel from HMS to the Thompson 6th Grade Center (the former Linda Nolen Learning Center) immediately after school which means I will need a couple of parents to volunteer to drive our team to that location. Here are the directions to Thompson’s 6th Grade Center:

Directions to Thompson 6th Grade Center

Take I-65 South to the Alabaster/Saginaw exit (highway 31)

Turn right onto Highway 31

At the next light, turn left onto Highway 119.

You will go through two traffic lights. After the second light, you will cross railroad tracks, and the 6th Grade Center is on the right (you will turn right immediately after the railroad tracks.

Parking

Once you turn in, drive all the way around the athletic field (it will be on the left) and turn left into the parking lot behind the school. Park in one of the spaces close to the athletic field. There will be TSGC team members waiting outside to escort you to my classroom.

For those of you who will volunteer to drive, please email me by Friday to let me know and I’ll share the particulars with you via email.

Our county tournament/competition is during the school day in February. It will be an excused absence for our team members. I will announce the dates of the tournament as soon as we find out from Central Office.