Monday, November 8, 2010

Mid Quarter Reports and Turkeys

Dear Parents,
Mid-quarter Progress Reports will go out in one week on November 15th. Please sign the Reports and send them back to me by November 19th. Missing work will be included on the Progress Reports so that students can attempt to get everything in quickly to improve their grades.
For our LPA Thanksgiving Feast this year, 6th grade will be in charge of turkeys. We are asking from a $1-$2 donation from each family. I will also need at least two families volunteer to cook our class turkeys.
Have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez

Monday, October 25, 2010

Harvest Festival, Reading, and Formal Letters

Dear Parents,
This Friday our Harvest Festival will take place from 6pm to 8 pm at our Central Campus. Tickets are on sale now (5 for $1 until Wednesday)! If possible, please donate bags of candy this week to help make our Festival a success.
Next Monday, I will collect October Reading Logs. Students should have been reading and recording consistently throughout the month. I will send another Reading Log home next week. Please help your child to read the 300 minutes/month that are assigned. Some of this time will also be logged at school.
Students are currently writing formal letters to corporations, politicians, sports heroes, entrepreneurs, school administrators, etc. We would like to send these letters with your assistance. Please send $0.50 for postage and mailing fees by Friday to help enrich students' writing experience.
Thank you,
Ms. Vasquez

Friday, October 22, 2010

Field Trip

Dear Parents,
Our first field trip of the year is scheduled for December 16th. We will be going to Biosphere 2 with the other 6th grade classes. We will leave around 9 am and return before the end of the school day. Admission will cost $10 per student. Students will also need to bring a sack lunch or bring money to purchase lunch. If you are interested in accompanying us, please let me know. We will need several parent volunteers. I will post more details as we solidify our plans.
Have a great weekend!
-Ms. Vasquez

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Book Reports

Dear parents,
By now your 6th grader should be done reading his/her book report selection. Students began prewriting steps for their book reports in class today. They will continue to work on their reports until Monday when they are due. Rather than writing a typical essay students will be designing a book jacket. They will also be giving a one to three minute talk about their book on Monday.
-Ms. Vasquez

Friday, August 27, 2010

Busy Week Ahead

Dear Parents,
Next week will be very busy here at La Paloma Academy. In addition to our regular activities, Monday will be picture day. Students will wear their uniforms for these photos. We are having a Book Fair next week. Open House is on Wednesday, September 1st from 6-8 pm. I look forward to seeing many of you then. Wednesday will also be our “Duds for Dollars” day. Students may dress down for one dollar. These dollars will be used for classroom needs and activities. The Entertainment Book sale will also continue until September 8th. We appreciate all of the families who are continuing to work on this important school fundraiser. If you are done selling Entertainment Books, please send back order forms and/or books in the labeled bags that were used to distribute them.

Also, here is a quick summary of what we will be working on in class:
Math: Different Categories of Story Problems, Negative Numbers, Place Value; Test on Friday
Reading: Continuing Number the Stars; I'll collect NTS Reading Journals on Friday
Writing: Compare/Contrast Essays
Science: Life Science, Cells, Classification of Species
Social Studies: Culture and Geography

Thank you and have a great weekend!
-Ms. Vásquez

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

First Full Week of the Year

August 18, 2010

6th Grade Parents and Students,

We’ve begun the school year with a great deal of review and new material. Thursday, students will be taking their first graded test of the year. It will cover the first five lessons in the 6th grade Math book. My students will have Math homework nearly everyday, in addition to homework in other subjects on a regular basis. Each Math assignment is graded according to the number of questions assigned (e.g. a 30 problem assignment is worth up to 30 points). Math tests are 20 questions long and students may earn up to 2 points per question (40 pts. total).
We are currently reading Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry. Friday, I will be collecting students’ Reading Journals for the first time. Last week, students were given Journals containing questions pertaining to each day of Reading. Students must leave their class novels at school. Most of the work related to our novels will be completed in class. In the near future, students will also be assigned a Reading Log to document their independent reading at home and during times when they finish their work early in class. The Reading Log will constitute 5% of the Reading grade for this Quarter.
Thank you for returning the contact information sheet that I sent home with students last week. If you haven’t yet returned that form and the library/internet permission slip, please do so as soon as possible.

Thank you,


Ms. Vásquez

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Welcome to 6th Grade!

I'm very excited about the 2010-2011 school year and I hope you are too! It will be nice to see many of your familiar faces in my classroom and meet new additions to the La Paloma community on Thursday, August 12th at 8:30. I look forward to teaching the great group of students entering my class this year. I will maintain regular contact with all parents in the form of newsletters which will be sent home and posted here on my blog.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Science Fair Update

January 7, 2010

Dear Parents,
By now, you have probably all looked over the Science Fair packets that your student received on Monday. Yesterday, I discussed a few clarifications of the packets with your students. First, if your child does not plan to enter the regional Science Fair, their project may include some of the items listed on the “do not use” list. For example, water and plants are not off-limits. I will read over each permission slip/proposal and let your child know whether their project and materials will be allowed. Also, as many of you have noticed, the list of dates included in the packets was incorrect. Below, you will find a new list of due dates:
Due Dates
January 8
Permission slip/topic
January 11
Hypothesis
January 15
Materials and procedure
January 29
Experiment completed
February 2
Raw data
February 5
Analyzed data
February 8
Conclusion due
February 10
Abstract due
February 16
Completed poster board due
February 17
Poster boards set up for judging
February 19
Science Fair judging

Thank you in advance for all the help you will be providing your student with this important project. Please let me know if you have any questions/concerns. I look forward to another great semester with your 6th graders!

Sincerely,

Geneva Vásquez
genevav@gmail.com
520-721-4205