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General Information
The Team:
Your child's sixth grade core program provides each student with instruction in the basic subject areas. Every student spends a block of time each day with one teacher for language arts and social studies, and another for math and science. Jordan Middle School has a rotating schedule, so the time spent with each teacher does vary from day to day.
Mr. Chris Grierson will be teaching math and science every day to students while Mrs. Moin and Mrs. Carlisle will be co-teaching social studies and language arts.
Mrs. Moin and Mrs. Carlisle have worked together since 2003 and will communicate on a regular basis to maintain continuity between lessons. Both Mrs. Moin and Mrs. Carlisle have decided to job share due to the fact that they have young children at home. Mrs. Carlisle will be teaching every Monday and Tuesday while Mrs. Moin will teach every Thursday and Friday. They will alternate Wednesdays.
Terms to Know:
TEAM – (not to be confused with T.E.A.M.) Team refers to two or more “core” teachers who share students. Teachers on a TEAM communicate regarding curriculum planning, student performance, coordinating field trips or other projects, etc.
T.E.A.M. - T.E.A.M. (Tutoring, Enrichment, Activities, Make-up) is a period of time on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 2:55-3:05 p.m. when teachers are available in their classrooms to provide extra support to students. This can include clarifying assignments, providing make-up work, and tutoring. Students are required to attend T.E.A.M. the day after an absence to obtain any missed notes/work.
WHEEL - Wheel is a term used in the sixth grade program. It refers to the elective subjects. Sixth grade students cycle through six elective subjects for six weeks each. This gives them the opportunity to try out a variety of classes and make more informed decisions about what electives to choose in seventh and eighth grade. Wheel classes include: art, computer keyboarding/explorations, drama, guidance, home economics, and industrial technology.
CORE - Core refers to the “core” subjects of math, science, English, and social studies. “Core” is also used as a word for us as teachers to distinguish our 6th graders from others. Students in our classes will say they are in the “GMC" (Grierson-Moin-Carlisle) core team.
CORE TEACHER - In sixth grade, a teacher typically teaches two core subjects to the same group of students. While a sixth grader has two teachers teaching him/her the core subjects, it is the “CORE teacher” who teaches them these subjects during 1st period. A student’s “CORE teacher” in 6th grade also serves as their advisory teacher. If a parent has a general question and isn’t sure which teacher to ask, a good place to start is with his/her student’s “CORE teacher.”
SSR & ADVISORY - SSR means Sustained Silent Reading. It occurs on Wednesday afternoons for twenty minutes (1:00-1:20 p.m.). The entire school, students and staff alike, meet in their advisory classes and quietly read a book. We require each student to have a reading book of his/her choice with him/her every day. Following SSR, 6th graders meet with their “CORE teacher” for Advisory. Advisory is a “home base” for every student at Jordan and gives students an opportunity to make an informal adult-student connection. A lot of important communication about school activities and events takes place in Advisory.
Parent/Teacher Communication:
The GMC Team is committed
to maintaining open channels of communication with each family this school
year. This communication
may
take many forms:
InClass is an all-in-one online program for accessing homework, course materials, announcements, and grades. We post homework and class-related information regularly to InClass. However, we require that students record their homework/updates on a daily basis in their Binder Reminders, which will be distributed the first day of school.
The link to connect to this online course communication is : http://k2.pausd.org/webapps/login/ (CLICK HERE)
To login, students and parents
will use the following information:
Student Username = Student ID number
Student Password = Student ID number
Parent/Guardian Username = Student
ID number_p
Parent/Guardian Password = Student ID number
We will review how to access Inclass during Back-to-School Night.
Homework:
Your sixth grader will have an average of 1-1 1/2 hours of homework each night, Monday through Thursday. Please check your student’s Binder Reminder each night upon completion of the work assigned.
The following system will be used to assign student grades:
| 90 - 100% | A |
| 80 - 89% | B |
| 70 - 79% | C |
| 60 - 69% | D |
| Below 60% | F |
Test Corrections:
In order to allow students to learn from their mistakes and improve their grade, students will be permitted to turn in quiz/test corrections for any quiz/test they earn a grade of C or lower. Once a graded quiz/test is returned to students, they will have exactly one week to review the quiz/test and submit their corrections. In order to earn the maximum number of points and improve the grade by one letter grade, corrections must include the following:
*To alleviate the burden of carrying textbooks, students will be loaned a copy of each textbook to keep at home. Classroom copies will be available, as well, for student use.
Volunteers:
We welcome volunteers to work both in the classroom and out. Below are some of the volunteer opportunities that are available in my classroom. Please contact me if you are available to help!
Guest Speakers:
We love to have parents visit as guest speakers in the classroom. If you have an area of expertise which is related to any of our units of study, we would love to have you present to students! Please contact us if you are interested in sharing your experience with us.
Field Trips:
Our team will be taking several field trips this school year! Below is a tentative list of field trips we will plan for this school year:
Other field trips may be planned throughout the year. I hope that you will have some time this year to help chaperone and drive one or more of our field trips.
HOMEWORK AND CLASSWORK POLICY
WHY GIVE HOMEWORK?
Homework is important! It supports and enriches the school program and links home and school in a wonderful way. Homework reinforces the ideas, facts, and skills learned during class time. It also teaches children the value of time management and aids in the development of important study skills. Furthermore, homework helps to develop responsibility. Remembering to pick-up homework, making time to complete the work, asking for help when needed, and bringing work back to school the next day will build responsibility over time.
HOMEWORK WILL CONSIST OF:
HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD MY CHILD SPEND ON HOMEWORK?
Students will have homework Monday through Thursday, except in the event of a “No Homework Night.” On average, they should expect to work from 1 to 1 1/2 hours each night, depending on the nature and extent of the assignments. Projects may require effort on the weekends. We encourage you to check your child’s Binder Reminder, email updates, and InClass to help your child keep up with all assignments. If your child is working on homework for a solid 60 minutes for each core teacher and is getting frustrated, please write that core teacher a note explaining that the assignment could not be finished and have your child turn it in as is. While experiencing a challenge is good to a point, we do not want students feeling discouraged or frustrated by homework.
HELP WITH HOMEWORK
If a student needs help with homework, they should first come to Mrs. Carlisle, Mrs. Moin, or Mr. Grierson during T.E.A.M. In addition, there is an after-school help center that sixth graders can utilize:
*We will inform students when the Homework Center officially starts.
TEACHERS WILL:
STUDENTS WILL:
GUIDELINES FOR LATE WORK
All work must be turned in on time for full credit unless:
In the event that the student has not met the above criteria, s/he will receive partial credit on assignments. A letter grade will be deducted on late assignments.
HOMEWORK PRIVILEGES
Students are entitled to procure homework/project extensions with Jaguar Bucks. This is a GMC Team reward system that is based upon a variety of positive student behaviors. We will discuss this system in greater detail with the students in the upcoming weeks.
GUIDELINES FOR ABSENCES
1.) The day the student returns to school, the student must come to T.E.A.M. and check in with Mrs. Carlisle or Mrs. Moin and Mr. Grierson. During this time the student should turn in past assignments, make sure s/he understand new assignments, and request a due date extension.
2.) If the student returns to school on a day in which T.E.A.M. is not offered (Wednesday or Friday), s/he should check with each teacher during class to find out the assignments s/he missed. The teacher may ask the student to check in at brunch that day if she is unable to help the student during class.
DISCIPLINE POLICY
Lifelong success depends on self-discipline. The following classroom discipline plan affords every student the opportunity to manage his or her own behavior. Our students deserve the most positive educational climate possible for academic growth. Therefore, this plan will be in effect at all times.
CLASSROOM RULES
To encourage students to follow these classroom rules, we will reinforce appropriate behavior with individual and class-wide privileges.
DISCIPLINE STEPS
If a student chooses to break a rule, the following steps will be taken:
STEP 1 – Verbal warning
STEP 2 – Brunch detention
STEP 3 – Parent contact
STEP 4 – Referral to Vice-Principal
STEP 5 – Home suspension
We look forward to a great year!