Welcome to 2014! The sixth graders are trying to get back into the "school mode" once again. It has been a hard transition with only two days of school last week, no school on Monday, and then a late start Tuesday. Mrs. Suntken and I have both noticed how tired many students appear. Is your sixth grader going to bed a a reasonable time? We feel that our students should be in bed by 9:00 p.m. so they can be well rested and ready for a full day of work at school.
In math, we are starting the new year by working with the concepts of divisibility, factors and multiples, and then prime and composite numbers. Developing a strong foundation with these skills is very important, as we will apply what we are learning now in our fraction unit which comes next. Ask your learner to draw a factor tree for you--most kids think making factor trees is pretty nifty! We will work with these skills again next week (January 13-17th).
Our Social Studies work finds us focusing on the early civilization of Mesopotamia. One of the highlights of this unit is using an online cuneiform translator. Many students asked about doing more translating so I am including the web site we used. All you have to do is type in a word or sentence and the program will translate it into cuneiform for you. The site is: http://www.paleoaliens.com/event/babylonian/index.html. Next week we will focus on Hammurabi the powerful king famous for his code of law. We will have lots of lively conversation about whether or not his code was right or fair. A discussion about Hammurabi's Code some night next week at the dinner table could prove very interesting! Also, look for a writing assignment by mid-week in which your student will be asked to reflect on the code.
Keep your fingers crossed that the weather will moderate and all our students will be able to go out for recess next week. Coats, hats, mittens, and yes, snowpants and boots are a must for this kind of weather!
