January 22

January 22, 2023

1/20/23

Hello Quest families!!

ACTION NEEDED: Boston Field Trip - On Thursday, May 18th, we will be taking a field trip to Boston for the day. In the past, this has been a 6th grade tradition at CBMS. We often rely on volunteers to chaperone this trip and are hoping Quest families will consider joining us in May. If you would like to volunteer, please check out the HUUSD website to review the background check process. Please contact Mrs. Williams/Mr. Taylor as well, so we can get a count of how many folks are interested in volunteering.

Math - We are in the midst of our dividing with fractions unit, which is often one of the most challenging topics for 6th graders. Quest students are persevering and problem solving through this challenge. We are connecting division back to multiplication and using models to help us understand the math. We started this week with a short quiz and began using fraction division in geometry situations.

Language Arts - We are reading The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden. We are working in groups on understanding why characters do what they do in stories. We have started to use “CER” as a way to respond to questions. “CER” stands for “Claims, Evidence, Reasoning.”

Students continue to have a spelling test each week, or every other week (depending on days off during the week. For example, we will miss two days these next couple of weeks - one for STAR 360, and one for inservice, so our spelling list will be from Monday the 23rd to Thursday, February 2nd.) Spelling lists are available on Google Classroom. I have also created a spelling hints and tricks slideshow that students can listen to for the lesson about the words.

Students work on vocabulary through the Flocabulary program.

Science - We are winding down our astronomy unit with project based learning. Students have chosen a topic of their choice, have created a model, and will be sharing this information with their model this upcoming week. Students have been studying topics such as the beginning of our universe, our solar system, and the Milky Way Galaxy.

Social Studies - We are continuing to learn about our early human ancestors and how they evolved over time. We learned about the food that they ate and how that has changed with the development of tools and language. Students presented the brochures they created about an early human species. We played a ‘hunting & gathering’ game as well. Students have taken quizzes on the countries of North and Central America as well as South America. We also learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and how his legacy has inspired other ‘Heroes for Change’.