Language Arts

Happy New Year! Here’s what our 6th-grade language arts class will be doing in January.

New Unit & Novel: The Giver

We’ll begin a new unit using Lois Lowry’s classic novel The Giver. This text will prompt rich discussion about society, choice, and what it means to be human. Students will have 2 weeks to read this 192 page book. Checkpoint 1 Quiz on 1/12 will cover Chapters 1-12 and Checkpoint 2 on 1/20 will cover Chapters 13-end of the book. It is very important that ALL students are engaging in the novel, because our in class lessons and essays will focus on priority themes and passages from The Giver. We want to ensure all students are successful this quarter!

Writing Focus: Argumentative & Informational Essays

Students will learn to write polished four-paragraph essays with clear introduction and conclusion paragraphs. We’ll emphasize:

Stating precise claims

Supporting claims with relevant textual evidence

Providing in-depth explanation and analysis that connects evidence to the claim

Reading Skills

Throughout the unit we’ll continue to build:

Defining words using context clues

Identifying themes

Determining an author’s purpose

Making careful inferences from the text

Literature Circles: Dystopian Theme

Students will begin literature circles focused on dystopian literature. They will analyze key aspects of the genre and explore why authors choose to write dystopian stories—what messages or critiques these books offer about society.

We’re looking forward to a thoughtful month of reading, discussion, and writing. Thanks for your support—please encourage your student to share insights from their reading at home!

Math

This month, students will continue learning how to divide fractions and solve word problems dividing fractions by fractions. Later this month, we will move into our unit on rational numbers. In this unit, students will study positive and negative numbers, ordering these numbers, absolute value, interpreting inequalities, and work on graphing and interpreting distances on a coordinate plane. Students will be using both vertical and horizontal number lines to assist with all of their work in this unit. 

Students are expected to complete 30 minutes per week of at home practice on IXL. This platform has opportunities to learn with an example, watch a video of how to complete a problem, and the program gives feedback when a question is answered incorrectly. Please work with your student to carve out time and create a habit for additional practice at home! 

6th Grade Support Students: These students should continue their intervention skills work and track progress on their tracker. All of these skills have a deadline of January 16, 2026. 

Learning 7th Grade Math (for 6th Grade students): In order to stay on track for extended learning, these students must complete Unit 4 by the end of January. 

Math Jumpers

As we start the new year, we will be kicking it off with review skills that include Combining Like Terms, 1-2 step equations, and distributive property.  This will lead into Unit 6 with Expressions and Equations. In this unit we will be comparing proportional and non proportional relationships with expressions, equations and tape diagrams.  

We will continue to have weekly IXl Leadboard competition, so please encourage your child to continue to practice their skills that are suggested by their teacher.   

This semester we will also be focusing on Mathematical Language in order to help support their writing skills for the upcoming CMAS assessments.

Science

As we continue the school year, students will continue working on a design challenge to create a device that effectively insulates a cup of hot water for the longest amount of time. They will reflect on what scientific processes allow for water to stay hot, and use design thinking to make sense of the prototypes (cup insulators). Based on the data collected for each prototype , students will evaluate the results to meet the criteria and  

constraints of this investigation. Students will then do a final presentation to showcase their learning. During the presentations each student will complete a peer feedback form for the Keith’s Coffee Presentation, and a Google reflection form.

Social Studies

We have a field trip at International Towne this month! Students will prepare for the experience by exploring the world of international trade, global citizenship, and the interconnected global economy. The culminating activity is a trip to the International Towne facility, where your students spend the day role-playing as consumers and producers in a global marketplace of 16 countries. It’s an unforgettable experience that fosters lifelong learning! My Red Day Block will attend on January 21 and my Black Day Block will attend on January 22. If you are interested in volunteering, I sent out a SignUpGenius on Dec 30, 2025.  As always, please feel free to contact me if you have questions!