Newsletter

Friday September 25, 2015

Mrs. FischerLanguage Arts

We have been spending time this week working on our 10 new
vocabulary words (listed below) and starting our new story, Star
in the Storm. We will be continuing with the story next week and
will be discussing character traits and how we understand
characters. Thank you to those of you who sent in book orders this
month. I will be placing the order today (Sept. 25). For every book that you
order for your students, I am awarded points that help me purchase new
books for our classroom, so I appreciate all the orders. I will be sending home
an October book order in a few weeks if you missed out on this months
order.
Lesson 11:
Main selection: Star in the Storm
Big Idea: Sometimes you need to give it all youve got.
Essential Question: Why does a character take risks
friend?

for a

Target Skill: Understanding Characters

Target Strategy: Summarize
Fluency: Phrasing: Pauses
Vocabulary Strategies: Suffixes -ion, -ation
Target Vocabulary: eerie, frothing, mounting, stabilize, dismay, looming,
receded, desperation, collided, jutted
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Email: sara.fischer@indianola.k12.ia.us
Phone: 961-9530 ext. 3146

Box Tops

Send to school anytime! Collection tubs are located in

Language Arts rooms

and main office.

Ms. Loneman Language Arts

This week students
took a writing pre-assessment
wrapped up their review of sentence writing
practiced writing good sentences and a well-organized paragraph to describe a persons
character/personality traits
worked with and practiced the lesson 11 vocabulary words
listened to the main selection, Star in the Storm
Next week students will
analyze the story structure and characters in Star in the Storm
continue practicing the lesson 11 vocabulary words
begin the narrative writing unit
Important Dates:
October 6thLesson 11 Vocabulary and Comprehension Tests
October 8th and 9thLesson 11 Retakes Offered at 7:30 and 3:30
Reminder: On Infinite Campus, any work you see in the Practice/Non-Graded work section is not
calculated into your childs grade. Anything inserted into that category was done either for practice or
for informational purposesnot to be figured as part of a grade. However, students may still be
asked to fix and return practice work so that they can learn from their mistakes and be better
prepared for the eventual assessment over the skills that were being practiced.
**Work that comes back with an FR on the top means it needs to be fixed and returned. Any work
that has a P or OK means the student was proficient/demonstrating an understanding of the skills
and does not need to do any additional practice.
The textbook can be accessed at home by following these steps:
1.
Go to: www-k6.thinkcentral.com.
2.
Enter the state, district, and school.
3.
Username: langarts
4.
Password: indianola (not capitalized)
5.
Click Log In.
6.
Click on My Library
7.
Click on Journeys Student eBook
Lesson 11:
Main selection: Star in the Storm
Big Idea: Sometimes you need to give it all youve got.
Essential Question: Why does a character take risks for a friend?
Target Skill: Understanding Character Target Strategy: Summarize
Fluency: Phrasing: Pauses
Vocabulary Strategies: suffixes ion -ation
Target vocabulary: eerie, frothing, mounting, stabilize, dismay, looming, receded, desperation,
collided, jutted
Lesson 11 Vocabulary Practice: tinyurl.com/lesson11vocab
Please feel free to contact me at any time with comments, questions, or concerns.
Email: melissa.loneman@indianola.k12.ia.us
Phone: 961-9530 ext. 3134
Twitter: @msloneman (twitter.com/msloneman)

Website: msloneman.weebly.com
Enjoy your weekend!

Library News-Mrs.Wanamaker
Karma.Wanamaker@indianola.k12.ia.us

Next week, Mrs. Wanamaker will be co-teaching computer class with Mrs.
Petersen. We will be learning about the ethical use of technology as stated
in the 21st Century Skills for technology:
Demonstrate awareness of legal and ethical responsibilities when using
copyrighted material, and how a disregard of legal and ethical responsibilities
affects others.
Students will also be practicing good note taking skills, in order to avoid plagiarism.

Social Studies-Mrs. Larsen

Connee.Larsen@indianola.k12.ia.us

We will be spending Monday/Tuesday this week discussing the topic

of Bullying. In the upcoming days we will continue to add
information to our Geo-Journals. We will look take a close look at the
differences between maps and globes. Well analyze several different
types of map projections and try to determine why some maps look
so distorted. Well also be doing some measuring using map scales and some more
review of latitude/ longitude skills.

Science Mrs.Simpson
Dorisa.Simpson@indianola.k12.ia.us

Students continued their substantive conversations regarding their opinion of what area
of science (that was researched) would be the most difficult to live without. Students
were expected to make a claim, support it with evidence, and defend their thinking.
Please ask your student about the prompts they were using and which area of science
they believe is the most important and why they think so. This week we also started our
LTPs (Learning Target Packets) which help students focus on the standard being taught
and reflect on their learning. In addition, students have completed their first two
assessments in Science class. Since not many concepts were assessed before midterms, please check Infinite Campus over the next few weeks as more assessments will
be given and graded. As more scores are entered, the student grades may fluctuate as
they will be a more complete representation of their current Science knowledge.
Students have an opportunity to Redo/Retake assessments; they will just need to
complete the Request to Retake form and get a parent signature. This form has been

explained this week. Overall, the students were well prepared and most were successful
on the assessments!

Computers Ms. Petersen

Kathy.Petersen@indianola.k12.ia.us

In Computers next week, Mrs. Wanamaker will be co-teaching computer class with
Mrs. Petersen. We will be learning about the ethical use of technology as stated in
the 21st Century Skills for technology:
Demonstrate awareness of legal and ethical responsibilities when using copyrighted
material, and how a disregard of legal and ethical responsibilities affects others.
Students will also be practicing good note taking skills, in order to avoid plagiarism.

Math-Mrs. Vetter
alisha.vetter@indianola.k12.ia.us

Math 6
This week we wrapped up our work with Unit 1 in the Everyday Math book;
Collection, Display, and Interpretation of Data. Students are taking the Unit 1
Assessment today 9/25 or Monday 9/28. Following are the concepts on the
Assessment:
Find the minimum, maximum, mean, median, mode and range of a given set
of numbers
Make a Line Plot
Make a Stem and Leaf Plot
Make a Bar Graph
Read a Broken-line Graph
Estimate and Measure Sectors of a Circle Graph
Comparing Median and Mean-which is a better
representation of the data
Math 6/7
This week students took the Big Ideas Chapter 1 Test on Monday after a bit of
review. Many students needed some time on Wednesday to finish the test. We also
began Big Ideas Chapter 2-Fractions and Decimals. The main topics in this chapter
are Multiplying and Dividing Fractions, Decimals and Mixed Numbers.
There will be a quiz on Thursday October 1 over the 1 st 3 lessons: Multiplying
Fractions, Dividing Fractions, and Dividing Mixed Numbers.
Math 7/8
From Mr. WesterlyMath 7/8 students have been solving equations with variables
on both sides, in addition to still combining like terms and two-step equations. They
are also discovering that some equations have no solution and there are some that
have infinite solutions. We are also working on rewriting equations and formulas,

for example Volume of a rectangular prism(V)= Length(L) x Width(W) x Height(H).

What does H =? H = V/LW. After we finish this last section there will be a unit test.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Phone: 961-9530 ext. 3147
Have a wonderful weekend!

Art-Mrs. Smith
lisa.smith@indianola.k12.ia.us

This week in art class students completed their square 1 artwork. All the students work
is SO creative! Please see the above attachment for more information on buying your
childs artwork on a variety of products. You can view the products offered at
www.square1art.com
Upcoming week: The Still Life drawing unit is next, which students will learn all the
tricks to drawing objects realistically from observation.
Homework: Students should be studying the elements of art vocabulary and drawing
terms in their vocab packets. Knowing these terms will get them ready for critiquing one
anothers artwork.

Dear Parents:
Your child will be participating in Square 1 Art this
semester! This is a fundraising opportunity that benefits
students, families and the art department! Our goal this
year is to buy technology resources for the art room.
During art class your child has created a unique work of
art which will be submitted to Square 1 Art. You will be
able to view their artwork in a personal art gallery at
square1art.com, and choose to place it on any of the
really cool custom products they have to offer. These
items are great for gifts or to keep as mementosand
just in time for Christmas! All students will receive a free
page of stickers with their artwork on it for participating,
as well as a personalized custom catalog with their very
own name and artwork on the front!
Fundraiser schedule:
th
September 25 : School will ship artwork to Square 1 Art
October 9th: Custom catalogs will be distributed to
students to take home to parents

October 23rd: Deadline for orders to return to school. This

date will print on the custom catalog student order form.
November 12th: School will receive products
Many Benefits to Online Ordering this year!
Parents can view what their childs art will look like
on Square 1 Art products
Parents have their own online account with their own
art gallery of their childrens artwork
Parents may forward their childs art to a family
member or friend for purchasing. This means more
than one order per child may be accepted.
Backpacks 4 Hunger
No Child Goes Hungry Over the Weekend
Sign up for Backpacks 4 Hunger- Food for over the weekend
Backpacks are filled Friday and sent home with meals and snacks for over the
weekend.
Backpacks and contents provided by donations and volunteers in the community of
Indianola.
ALL students are eligible.
TO SIGN UP: Contact 961-5755 or your School Counselor, Lacey Cherniss,
at 961-9530 X3106

Sixth Grade Redo/Retake Policy

As a sixth grade, students will be expected to retake an assessment or redo a project/paper if they are
not proficient.
Students who are proficient may choose to retake the assessment or redo a project/paper to improve
their score.
Students are required to make arrangements for retaking/redoing with the content teacher.

Secure = 80%-100%
Nearly Secure = 70%-79.99%
Developing = 40%-69.99%
Beginning = 0%-39.99%

Secure and Nearly Secure are proficient