It's Holiday Time

Hello Otter Families,

Can you believe it is already a week into December? It is holiday time and we still have much work to do!

We are planning a special Otter Activity for Friday, December 17. It has become an annual tradition for the Otters to celebrate the holiday season by making Gingerbread Houses. We will need lots of help as well as donated items for this fun-filled afternoon. Please check out our WIKISPACE (click here) and sign up where you can. Your child will bring home a note about the activity tomorrow. You may sign up by sending the note back with your child, but we prefer you to sign up online.

The Second Harvest Food Drive is in its second week, and the Otters are now at 72% participation. Our goal is 100% participation, so if your child has not yet brought in a can, please encourage him/her to do so by Friday. Tomorrow is Mrs. Carlson's birthday, and it is a Dartmouth tradition for kids to donate a can in her honor on that day. Please remind your child to bring a CAN FOR CARLSON tomorrow, Wednesday.

Academically speaking, in math, we are continuing to work on fraction operations. We will take a short quiz on the four operations and then proceed to work on decimal operations before our chapter test on Friday, December 17. Tangram projects have been turned in and will be graded soon. Many students have finished or will soon finish using up their first spiral notebook for math. Please make sure that they are supplied with a new one when they run out of pages. Keep the old notebook handy so they may refer to it later in the year if they need to.

In Social Studies we have begun our study of Ancient Egypt. The kids are fascinated with this amazing and exotic civilization. We are tying our study of Egypt into the Language Arts class, where the kids are learning to research and write a report on a topic of their choosing. After gaining background information on their subject, they are to create a project at home to share with the class. The project must be as authentic as possible. The due date for the report is January 7. All work on this major assignment will be conducted at school. The accompanying project is due on January 19. Egypt Night is scheduled for Tuesday, February 1. Please mark your calendar as you won't want to miss this exciting event.

Thank you to many Otter parents who continually support our class. Our biggest need is currently copy paper. Our needs are ongoing so please feel free to contribute anything from my list on the right hand column of this blog at any time.

I hope to see many of you at the Gingerbread House activity.

Mrs. Shimamoto

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Otter Families,

It was an extremely short week. Today was our first quarter academic awards ceremony. We had a great turnout, and it was wonderful to see so many proud Otter parents in attendance. Thank you for sharing this special event with your children. Our Otters have worked hard this year and the hard work is paying off. This was evident when seventy-five percent of our team was honored for achieving a grade point average of 3.0 or above. Twenty-five percent of our team even earned all A's during the first quarter! Congratulations to all award winners. Special recognition went to our two Outstanding Otters, Rachel Kennedy and Eovaldo Hernandez, for their super effort and tenacity. We are proud of all their hard work.

After the Otter Assembly the kids participated in their first Otter Auction. It was wild and crazy, but I think a good time was had by all. Keep up the good work and keep earning those Otter Bucks. We will have an auction after every quarter.

We ended the day with the Food Drive Assembly. The food drive, which benefits Second Harvest Food Bank, is an annual tradition here at Dartmouth. In the past, Dartmouth staff and students have donated as much as 48,000 pounds of food. The food drive begins on Monday, November 29 and will continue for two weeks. Each day students will report to their homeroom where their donations will be tallied. The Otter goal is to have 100% participation. There is also a 100 can club for anyone who donates 100 pounds of food. Good things to donate are dry goods such as flour, sugar, rice, beans, cereal, or pasta; high protein foods such as tuna, soup, or peanut butter; and canned fruits and vegetables. Please make sure the foods are non-perishable and that the cans or packages are not expired or opened. We don't expect you to go out and buy a lot of food or for you to empty your own pantry. Get your family, friends, and neighbors involved. A great strategy is to write a note, attach it to a bag, and deliver the bag to your neighbors. Tell them when you will be back to pick up their donation. Many people do not have young children in school and do not have an opportunity to participate in a food drive. They are happy to be able to help others in the community.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Mrs. Shimamoto

AWARDS ASSEMBLY TIME CHANGE

Due to a schoolwide assembly tomorrow, Tuesday, November 22, the time for our awards assembly will be changed from 1:15 to 12:45 p.m.

Sorry for the late notice. We hope you will be able to attend.

Hurray It's Almost Thanksgiving!

This coming week will be a short one. Wednesday, we start our Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend filled with family, friends, and food. November is passing quickly and we are already three weeks into the second quarter. Many students are doing an outstanding job and are working hard in all areas. Those who have missed assignments will continue to have an opportunity to earn 90% credit by getting an ASC slip signed by a parent and turning the work in the following day. Students who habitually do not turn in work and who also do not bring in the signed ASC note will be assigned to Saturday school. This is not meant to be a punishment, but is a second chance to make up the work. Failure in sixth grade is not an option.

This Tuesday is our first Otter Awards Assembly. All students who earned a grade point average of 3.0 or above will be recognized. Family and friends are welcome to attend, so please join us if you can. The assembly will be held in the library from 1:15 to about 2:00.

The students will have their first Otter auction during sixth period, immediately following the awards ceremony. We still could use any donated items of "fabulous prizes". If you have anything that you think an 11/12 year old might like, we would love to auction it off. The auctions will be held quarterly so you can send in donations anytime. Thank you to the parents who have already contributed to our upcoming auction.

As far as academics go, we have been very busy in both math and social studies. In math we are working on fraction operations. So far we have studied addition and subtraction of simple fractions and mixed numbers. We are also working on a project involving the application of fraction equivalency concepts. This type of hands-on cooperative problem solving gives students an opportunity to demonstrate understanding by using concepts that they have already learned. The project will be counted in the same category as quizzes and tests as it is an alternative means of assessment.

In social studies we are finishing up our study of Ancient Israel. The students have enjoyed studying this civilization. Many have a great background knowledge of the history of these tenacious people. If anyone has firsthand knowledge of Jewish traditions and/or holidays, such as Hannukah and Passover, the class would love to have you come and share. Please let me know if you are interested. Our next unit will be Ancient Egypt. This is our big unit this year and will culminate with our annual trip to the Rosicrucian Museum and Egypt Night in January. Students will learn how to do a research project in English class with Mrs. Lescroart. They will conduct research and write a report on a topic related to Egypt. The report will be done entirely at school. Students will also be required to make a project related to their topic. The project will be completed at home.

December will fly by with only three weeks before our winter holiday. It is our tradition to have an exciting and fun Otter activity on the last day of school before the vacation. We will need lots of parent help at various times throughout the day, so if you are available, please mark your calendar. We will send home more information about this activity soon.

Thank you to all of you who have supported our class in various ways. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mrs. Shimamoto

Otter Awards

Announcing the

First Quarter

Otter Awards Assembly

Who: All students who earned a Grade Point Average of 3.0 or higher will be recognized

When: Tuesday, November 24

from 1:10 to approximately 2:00 p.m.

Where: Dartmouth Middle School Library

Family and friends are welcome, please join us if you can

It's November!

Hello Otter Families,

The first quarter is over and done, and we have entered the second quarter without missing a beat. Report cards should have been mailed out. If you have not received yours in the mail already, you should receive it soon. Congratulations to the many Otters who worked hard all quarter. Your efforts have been paid off with outstanding grades. All students who earned a grade point average of 3.0 or higher will be honored in our first awards assembly to be held on Tuesday, November 23. I am not yet sure about the time, but I will post the time and send a note home with your child as soon as I know. Family members and friends are welcome to attend the assembly, so please join us if you can.

Don't forget this Thursday, November 11, is the Veterans Day Holiday (no school for students and teachers...hurray). Friday will be an inservice day for teachers, but the students will have the day off. Enjoy your four day weekend.

In social studies, we wrapped up our study of early humans and Mesopotamia last week. One of the "big ideas" that we will explore this year is the importance of water to the development of civilizations. Ask your child to explain to you why water was so important. We also talked about the change the early humans went through as they developed from hunter-gatherers, to farmers and villagers, to civilizations. Our next unit of study is Ancient Israel. Many students already know this part of history and they are enthusiastically sharing their knowledge with the rest of the class. Speaking of experts, if you have personal knowledge or experience with any of the civilizations that we will be studying this year and would like to share with the class, please give me a call. It is always exciting to hear about first-hand experiences and the kids love it when adults whom they know come in to class.

Last week, we spent a few days in the computer lab working on a data analysis mini-project. The kids learned how to use Excel to create graphs. We also finished our study of chapter three, fraction concepts. The kids began the chapter test on Friday, but it was longer than I had anticipated and many did not finish in the allotted time. I will give them additional class time to finish on Monday. Chapter tests differ from quizzes as they are summative. In other words, they assess the student's learning at the completion of the unit. There are no revisions allowed and students cannot use their math journals. Our next unit will be operations with fractions and decimals.

In math intervention, we are continuing to build basic skills. In addition, the students are supported in the regular class curriculum with pre-teaching of the day's lesson and homework assistance. Grades for this class are based on effort, attitude, and participation.

As a team, one of our main goals as we progress through this sixth grade year is to be a community of learners. As such, we are working on staying focused as this allows us to efficiently use our class time. Off-task behavior prevents the whole class from learning, so we are working on improving in that area. Interruptions that impede the learning of others will not be tolerated and students who engage in this type of behavior will be asked to write a note home for a parent signature.

This past weekend, I spent a good deal of time reorganizing my classroom. The kids will be surprised to see the changes when they come to school tomorrow. I hope that the new layout will help me utilize the classroom space more efficiently. There will be new seats on Monday!

Thanks to those of you who have sent in donations to the classroom. The students in room 301 and I greatly appreciate your support.

I hope you have a wonderful extended weekend next week.

Mrs. Shimamoto

Happy Halloween

Dear Otter Families,

I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween tonight. Don't forget, it is a school night, so don't stay out too late! Friday was our costume day at Dartmouth. What a crazy day. The kids were so excited all day, and we teachers went home exhausted. Thank heavens for our fabulous Art Vistas moms who bravely came to share an interesting hands-on lesson on cave art. The kids really enjoyed it.

Friday was the last day of the first quarter. Grades will be finalized this week and report cards will be mailed out by the end of the week. Congratulations to the students who worked hard all quarter. Your efforts are reflected in your outstanding grades! Monday marks the beginning of the second quarter, and at that time, grades begin anew. As is our tradition on the Otters team, we will move several students within the team from Mrs. Lescroart's morning group to my morning group and vice versa. Our goal is to give the students an opportunity to meet many teammates as well as to even out the groups. Currently, we have one group that has a disproportionate number of girls and one group is also larger than the other.

In math, we are continuing our study of fraction concepts. Last week we looked at simplifying fractions, as well as improper fractions and mixed numbers and their relationship to decimals. The kids took their weekly quiz on Friday. Many did well, but I think that the distraction of Halloween was just too much for some of them. Grades from Friday's quiz will be reflected on the second quarter grade. Remember, quizzes are meant as formative assessment. This means, that they are only a measure of progress toward mastery of a given concept. That is why revisions and journals are always allowed on quizzes. This week we will spend some time in the computer lab working on a data analysis mini-project.

In social studies, we are wrapping up our study of early humans and Mesopotamia. We will review for and take the end-of-unit test this week. Thanks again to our Art Vistas volunteers for an interesting lesson on cave art, which was tied to our studies in social studies.

In math intervention, we continue to strengthen our math skills with homework assistance, previews of the day's lesson, and skills practice. On good days, when we get through the lesson, the kids are rewarded with math games, which also help reinforce skills.

Mark your calendars. Next week, November 11 is a holiday, and November 12 is an inservice day for teachers. The students will have a 3 day week. The Thanksgiving holiday is also just around the corner. School will be closed on the 24th, 25th, and 26th.

We have yet to schedule our 1st quarter awards assembly but anticipate that it will be sometime in the next few weeks. I will let you know as soon as a date is set. We will also hold our first Otter auction in the near future. Thanks to those who have sent in items for this exciting event.

Happy Halloween.

Mrs. Shimamoto