We're not "babies" any more!

Congrats, 6th grade!!! You know your way around the place, you are growing by the minute, and there isn't enough space here to write about what you are accomplishing academically. What you do not know is how quickly you will become those great, tall ones who frightened you those first few weeks (the 8th graders).

Here are a few other things that we can look forward to together...

Friday, November 11 Girls' Soccer Planning Meeting, practices start next week
Friday, November 18 School Dance, 3-6 pm
Saturday, November 19 8th Grade Garage Sale - Help them get to NYC
December 12 - 15, Semester Final Exams
December 16th, Celebration of Accomplishment Field Trip

To quote Mr. Webster, "We work hard and play hard."

Keep up the fantastic work and always keep on reaching higher! <3 you!!!

Welcome!!!

The 2011-2012 School is is off to a fantastic start! Sixth grade is already hard at work making academic dreams come true!

Please come to Open House on Thursday, September 8, 2011. Feel free to bring the family. We will have a brief meeting regarding exciting field trips and you may tour the campus with your student. Be sure to stop by my room and complete a Scavenger Hunt with your child.

I look forward to meeting you and I thank you for sharing your precious child! So soon, I love each and every one of them and so look forward to having them in my classroom this year.

If you have any questions or concerns, you may reach me at school (713) 924-1700. My off period is A day, 8:10-9:45 and B day 1:25-3:00. You may also reach me by personal phone or text at (281) 216-4834.

A little about me...if a picture truly paints a thousand words, then these pictures are an autobiography...

A Special DAY!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Little!!!
6th graders <3 you!

Responding to Current Events Articles

Sixth graders responding to the NYT article, "How Do You Feel About Valentine's Day's Day?" Follow the link to the article!

Here we go!!!

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/how-do-you-feel-about-valentines-day/&sa=U&ei=jA9cTZyiBYT7lweU07ntCQ&ved=0CCAQFjAB&usg=AFQjCNEQS46Hae2Sf1WPtIJVYEtaNtBvyQ

Future Academy Award Winners!

Cast your vote! Who will it be? ......

Is the winner Alex Carranza as little old Granny.....




... Or the evil old wolf who lost his 'stache, Luis Vasquez?

Order in the Court! Order in the Court! Today we are gathered to determine guilt or innocence in the case of one big, bad, ugly Wolf.

After reading two very popular children's stories, we are spending our cold and (hopefully) snowy day holding court proceedings to prosecute or set free the famous old wolf. We had a blast rereading "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and now we are learning how sensory language and imagery influence the reader's perspective on a simple story.

Though the wolf's fate still hangs in the balance, we are learning far more than we expected and ROFL like you can't imagine...

Stayed tuned for the outcome and hopefully a few videos!

Homework and Unit Test

Please take a minute to go to the online textbook and go through the practice test. There is a unit test on Monday. The instructions are as follows.

http://www.thinkcentral.com
click: Reading and Language Arts
Go to the picture that looks like our book.
You will now be at the sign on page.

User Name: vkubos
Password: UHCougars1

Make sure to type the letters in upper/lower case as shown above.

Go to Unit 3, and finally to Texas Assessment Practice.

From there, the test will guide you.

PLEASE, please, please take a few minutes to take a look at this VERY helpful test.

Enjoy your weekend and come prepared on Monday!

Crazy ideas, homework, and ramblings...

So, in an effort create student success, we are trying some really crazy things here in room 150. In a discussion about test scores, commended goals, and reaching to be the best we can be, it came out that 6th grade students are DONE with "teacher talk." Overwhelmingly, all 6th grade classes mentioned that they felt they could learn, grow, and work more efficiently without so much of it. For one day, we have all taken a vow of silence in 150 to experiment with that phenomena. Tomorrow, we are going to severely limit the activity. Thursday, will be a "student only" talk day. Friday is my payback day!!!! I get to talk "teacher talk" all day. We will then discuss, write about, and share the results of our experiment and which environment is more successful to student learning.

Go ahead, 6th grade...Have a good laugh at me about to burst from not talking......

HOMEWORK for tonight, January 27th (since I can't say it): Vocabulary words 5 times.

I can't wait until tomorrow when I can talk at least a little!

Homework

Create a quiz for me! You are writing quiz questions for chapters 4 & 5, 3 each chapter. Remember, I will not answer questions that I can point to with my finger. Make them high level, thinking questions! If I fail the quiz, you may announce my ignorance & lack of study skills to the cafeteria at breakfast.

Yikes!!! I better go brush up on my reading. Bye!

WOOT!!!

Congrats on Rockin' the Reading Benchmark, 6th grade!!!

6-1 93%
6-2 84%
6-3 89%
6-4 86%

Those are the test averages...

Nice job!!!

Benchmark testing week...

Due to the unique schedule this week, your homework is due on Friday. It is as follows.

Spelling flip cards
Silly paragraph 1 with words 1-5
Silly paragraph 2 with words 6-10
Reading chapter 4 of The Watsons

There will be a Spelling/Vocab test on Friday.

Good Luck with your testing!!! I know that you will all show of your talents!

Ooops! And, Yuck!!!

Can we just ignore the last post? It was an AWFUL game for my Ags! Just when we thought the "Wrecking Crew" was back, not so much. One defensive injury and keying on Von Miller led to a defensive nightmare for the good guys. In better news, The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band won halftime!!!

Now, here I find myself, early Saturday morning, at school for tutorials. Yes, Saturday school is in session... After a late night, heartbreaking game, I have NO sympathy for my little darlings - GET HERE!!!

Don't forget your weekend homework. You are creating a T-chart. Choose your favorite book or movie. Title your columns Topic and Theme. Give some examples of topic in column one. Give examples of Theme in column two. Remember the key, topic is stated in one or two word statements and theme requires a complete sentence stating a life lesson.

Make sure you are ready for a short reading quiz on chapters two and three of "The Watsons."

Get some rest and get ready to do your best on TAKS Benchmark testing for next week.

Oh, Dear!!!

Far tooooooooo long since the last update and so much has happened since that time!

Suffice it to say, 6th grade ELA is very, very busy and growing by leaps and bounds!

Quick rundown.

The Fall Festival was a HUGE success! Special thanks to Christopher Guzman's mom who stayed and ran booths for the entire festival. Other parents from my homeroom who made a tremendous impact were Ms. Ortiz, Ms. Barrera, Ms. Garcia (she is always here to help), Ms. Sockwell, Ms. Robles, Ms. Barrientos, and Ms. Umana. You ladies will never know how much we ALL appreciate EVERYTHING that you do!

Shortly after the festival, we started gearing up for the holidays and end of semester exams. A what, you say?!? That is the same thing my sixth graders said about the new challenge. The tremendous news is that EVERYONE showed growth, progress, and understanding of what it truly takes to become an outstanding scholar. My heart and my thanks goes out to the entire sixth grade for pushing through and making it happen. Congrats!!!!!

Too soon, our holidays ended, but it was wonderful to return to friends, colleagues, and incredible people!

And now, for this semester.

We started off the year learning about theme and topic and their differences. We are moving into non-fiction, biographical reading and starting a new novel. "The Watson's Go to Birmingham - 1963" is a wonderful historical fiction that prepares us to celebrate (with knowledge) Dr. King's birthday and the events happening in our country during that troubled time.

As with last semester's "bullying" theme, this semester is rooted in learning about prejudice past, present, and keeping it out of the future. From historical fiction to poetry, to daily language exercises, the focus is prejudice.

I am really excited to see the continued growth and development of an AMAZING group of sixth graders as we gain confidence and intelligence!

Great job and keep up the hard work.

Check back for homework assignments and keep working on vocabulary and spelling flipcards on a weekly basis.

Oh, and don't forget to help me root for my Fightin' Texas Aggies and they renew the storied rivalry with Louisiana State University, this Friday, January 7th.