April 29th-May 3

Dear Parents/Guardians,
   Mid-quarter Progress Reports were sent home today.  Please sign them and send them back for me to see or write a note indicating that you received the Report by Wednesday, May 1st. Any missing work listed is due by Monday. Participation played a large factor in many of the grades this time because we were very busy studying and reviewing for AIMS. For the next three weeks, I will be collecting more work for grades as I typically have throughout the year. Please schedule an appointment with me if you have any concerns about your child's progress.

This week's Spelling Words:

1. logic
2. picket
3. disclose
4. dispose
5. oppress
6. instruct
7. clique
8. abrupt
9. excel
10. exterior
11. assessment
12. announcement
13. vowel
14. fundamental
15. government
16. cologne
17. conscience
18. irresistible
19. instead
20. imaginary

Thank you and have a great week! As always, you can contact me at the school phone number or genevav@gmail.com
-Ms. Vasquez

April 8th-12th

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  This Thursday we will be hosting a Special Parent Information Night (SPIN) in the cafeteria Thursday from 6-7:30. Teachers and Staff will be on hand to lead Math games, show parents how to assist students with Math, and show you the curricula that we use in our classes. Register by Wednesday and stop by the 6th grade booth on Thursday.
  This is our last week to prepare before AIMS testing. In class we will be reviewing concepts presented throughout the course of the year. Students will be bringing home Buckle Down AIMS workbooks this weekend. It would be great for you to review major concepts and terms with them before and during testing days. Next week I do not plan to send home homework, though students should be prepared to do silent, educational, and (I hope) enjoyable, independent work when they are finished with testing on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. I recommend that all students have crayons, markers, or colored pencils available for their personal use next week. Crossword puzzle books, Sudoku books, and other activity books are also highly recommended.
  This week, our Spelling Words all come from our AIMS Reading Preparation Books. Please go over them with your student to ensure that they understand the meaning of the words. This week, students will take a Spelling and Vocabulary test on the words (as usual), but the higher of the two scores will be counted double and the lower score will be dropped.

1. synonym
2. antonym
3. summarize
4. theme
5. universal
6. inference
7. folktale
8. myth
9. nonfiction
10. conflict
11. resolution
12. metaphor
13. simile
14. stanza
15. alliteration
16. narrative
17. symbol
18. testimonial
19. propaganda
20. atlas

Have a great and productive week!

-Ms. Vasquez

March 18th-22nd

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  We are now in the 4th Quarter of the school year.  At this point, all 3rd Quarter report cards have been sent home.  Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  I will be scheduling conferences this Thursday and Friday and April 3rd-5th for anyone who would like to come in and discuss student progress and especially for students who took a retention letter home. Congratulations go out to our 5 Principal's Honor Roll earners, our 3 Perfect Attendance students, and our Character Award winner Benny.  Good job students!
  This Wednesday is a Dollar Dress Down day to raise funds for a new garden that we will be starting soon. Students are encouraged to wear green.  March 25th-April 2nd is our Spring Break.  Students should relax in preparation for AIMS and the busy end of the school year, but they also need to make sure to keep reading at home.  Reading Logs for March will be due on April 3rd.  Cookie Dough Fundraiser packets were sent home today to give students an opportunity to sell to friends and family over the Break. If any families are able to donate supplies, we would greatly appreciate pencils, tissues, hand sanitizer, or lined paper. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Run, Walk, Roll Event over the weekend! Thank you to everyone who sent round foods to school for Pi Day.  We found the circumference of pies, pizzas, cookies, chips, funyons, cupcakes, etc.  It was educational and delicious!

There are no new Spelling Words this week. We were not able to get to our test last week, due to the half-day and Awards Assembly.  Words are available on last week's blog.
Have a great week and Spring Break!
-Ms. Vasquez

March 11th-15th

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  This week is the end of the 3rd quarter. It has really flown by! All missing work was due today. Most work from this week will appear in 4th quarter grades. We are continuing on at a busy pace.
  First drafts of book reports are due no later than this Friday. Students may count their book report reading time toward their Reading Log minutes for March.  Please remember that they need to be reading 400 minutes or more per month. This month, any student who reads five or more books will receive 4 free tickets to a Tucson Padres baseball game!
  We are studying Ancient Greece this week and continuing our Biography and Autobiography unit this week. We will also be celebrating Geometry and improved Galileo test scores on Thursday.  3/14 is International Pi day.  Students may bring any round food to measure and share with the class on Thursday afternoon.  Please ask your students about their Galileo scores.  All students received a break-down of their progress today. If you see a star, it means that they have demonstrated improvement throughout the year. A "Wow!" means that they demonstrated amazing improvement since the beginning of the year.  Writing scores are coded in pink, Math scores are coded in Green, and Reading scores are coded in orange.
Here are our Spelling Words for the week:

1. amphibian
2. acre
3. appreciate
4. brief
5. contagious
6. contribute
7. conversation
8. descendant
9. disastrous
10. echo
11. enough
12. fashion
13. foreign
14. hyphen
15. ingredient
16. liquid
17. location
18. novel
19. physical
20. scissors

Thank you and have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez

March 4th-8th

Dear Parents/Guardians,
  We are quickly approaching the end of the 3rd Quarter.  All missing work is due no later than Monday 3/11.  Report cards go home on Friday 3/15. There is no afterschool and no lunch on the last day of the quarter. 
  Please remember that our big fundraiser this year is coming up on March 16th.  Run, Walk, Roll will be fun for the entire family! Please work on getting pledges.  There will be awards, games and FUN for all!  This is an LPA party in the park.
  This week we will be doing AIMS practice tests.  Students may have a bit less homework than usual, however, they will still be doing a Math lesson or supplemental each day.  Lesson 104 was assigned today, and some students may need to complete Spelling Sentences at home. Tomorrow students will have a practice Saxon Math test for extra-credit and preparation.
  We are in need of supplies.  If possible, especially if you were not able to provide classroom supplies last semester, send in a box of tissues or pencils or a bottle of hand sanitizer. These are items that we really need in the classroom!

Spelling Words for the Week:

1. juice
2. beautiful
3. rumor
4. cruise
5. journalist
6. urgent
7. apply
8. type
9. system
10. lyric
11. appointment
12. destroy
13. announcement
14. wound
15. group
16. incessant
17. possesive
18. resemble
19. chemist
20. machine

Thank you and have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez

February 11th-15th

Dear Parents/Guardians and students,
   Today was a day filled with handouts that needed to go home. First, students received a pledge form for the Run, Walk, Roll event taking place on March 16th.  This will be our major fund-raiser for the year.  Please plan on participating if at all possible. Next, we handed out permission slips for chocolate bar sales. Students may take home a box of 25 or 50 chocolate bars that will sell for $1 each.  This is a great way to easily raise money for the school.  Who wouldn't love a chocolate bar, this week especially?  Then, students received a notice about a special dress down day this Thursday. The cost is $1 or as much as your family would like to donate.  All proceeds go to Audrina, one of our former kindergarteners who is out of school for leukemia treatment at this time. 
  Perhaps most importantly to each individual student, Progress Reports went home today.  They must be signed and returned by Friday (or parents may send a signed note saying you received it), or students will be calling home on Friday about detention.  All missing work listed must be completed and turned in by Monday, February 18th or those grades will be changed to zeros.  Please feel free to contact me at our school phone number or via email (on the lpatucson.org website if you don't have it) if you ever have any questions.
  Also, please remember that Science Fair Boards are due Thursday!  Abstracts need to be turned in tomorrow.

Spelling Words for this week:

1. alligator
2. amiable
3. astonish
4. commence
5. convey
6. desperate
7. divide
8. drastic
9. eloquent
10. immature
11. partial
12. quest
13. recoil
14. restless
15. revise
16. shorten
17. subtract
18. sufficient
19. temporary
20. visit

Thank you and have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez

February 4th-8th

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students,
    By tomorrow, students should be finished with their science experiments.  We will begin writing conclusions for their studies tomorrow.  Please have students bring their journals to class so they can get a good start on communicating their results.  Please remember that completed Science Fair Boards are due on Thursday, February 14th.  Projects, from start to finish are worth 50% of Science grades this quarter.
    Friday is Mid-quarter, so progress reports will go on Monday the 11th.  If any missing work appears on Progress Reports, it will be due by Monday, February 18th or it will be converted to a zero.
    Today we began reading The Green Book.  After the first chapter, many students seemed excited about this book on space travel and colonizing a new planet. Any final drafts of Out of the Dust papers must be submitted tomorrow or they will not be accepted for a grade.
   All grandparents who would like to visit are invited to come in on February 20th.  Sign up sheet will be sent home tomorrow.  

Our Spelling Word for the week are:

1. amendment
2. arrive
3. bicycle
4. bottom
5. certify
6. champion
7. choir
8. collide
9. diminish
10. disability
11. distract
12. dragon
13. eligible
14. exclude
15. extend
16. hinder
17. impede
18. imperfect
19. monitor
20. witness

Have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez

January 28th-February 1st

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students,
   Today we finished Out of the Dust, the historical fiction novel about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.  Students will be turning in the first draft of their papers about the book tomorrow.  We will edit and likely have 2nd drafts in on Thursday.  Thursday we will begin reading The Green Book by Jill Patton Walsh.  This book is set in the future, in a very interesting location.
  Reminders:  Reading Logs are due on Friday!  Students should be reading at least 400 minutes per month independently.  Also, Science Experiments should be completed by Tuesday, February 5th.  Students should bring in their data on that day.  They will begin writing their Conclusions in class on Wednesday, February 6th.

Our Spelling Words for the week are:

1. ambitious
2. appropriate
3. dreadful
4. elude
5. exhaust
6. ferocious
7. illusion
8. impolite
9. mechanical
10. national
11. parsley
12. probably
13. provide
14. scarlet
15. spirit
16. studio
17. sunset
18. transparent
19. typical
20. unruly 

Have a great week!
-Ms. Vasquez
  

January 22nd-25th

Dear Parents/Guardians and students,
   This week our new dress code procedures are in effect.  Mrs. Stewart paid our class a visit this morning and found five students out of dress code.  From now on, students who are out of dress code when we have our surprise checks will not be allowed to dress down on Friday.  Great job to the 23 students who were present and demonstrating perfect dress-code today!
  Please remember to complete Science Fair experiments by February 5th.  By now, students should have submitted their Hypotheses, Materials, and Procedures.  Completed Science Fair Boards are due on February 14th.
  Also, please remember that students should be reading at home every day to meet their 400 minute per month Reading Log goals.  I will be collecting January Reading Logs (which were attached to each student's Report Card) on February 1st.  Earn those Pizza Hut pizzas!
  Congratulations go out to Christian for winning the LPA Central 6th grade Spelling Bee on January 11th.  Last week he competed in the LPA district Spelling Bee.  Although he did not move on to the County Spelling Bee this year, he is already planning for his junior high spelling career.  Great job Christian!

Here are the Spelling Words for this week:

1. abundant
2. admire
3. assumption
4. astronomer
5. companion
6. cooperative
7. debris
8. etiquette
9. excellent
10. complimentary
11. frighten
12. hoarse
13. human
14. jeopardy
15. jockey
16. peculiar
17. refer
18. silence
19. submit
20. instant

Have a great week!

-Ms. Vasquez