SIXTH GRADE TIPS
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Sixth grade is a time for learning, having fun, meeting new people, and enjoying new activities. It is also a time for gaining some independence and taking responsibility for your future. This outline is prepared to give you a few tips that might help you feel more confident and be more successful as you enter the sixth grade. Please remember that all of your teachers, your counselor, the principal and assistant principal as well as all other staff members are here to HELP you when you need the help. Please ask whenever you are confused or unsure or just feel you need the help. We want your middle school experience at Cheldelin to be the very best it can be!
I. The First Week of School
a. Humanities Block: Humanities is a two-period class that focuses on Reading, other Language Arts, and Social Studies. You will have the same teacher for these two periods. (Some of you may even have this teacher for three periods.) It is also a group of students with which you will be spending the most time. Get to know these students well. Whenever you are unsure where to be during this first week of school and even later in the year, go to your humanities teacher's classroom. This is the person you will be spending the most time with and will get to know the best.
b. You will start your full schedule of classes during the first week of school. However, during the first three days of school, teachers will be doing some get acquainted activities and activities to help you feel more comfortable with this new school. These first three days will give you time to learn what it is like to be in middle school and adjust to lockers and changing classes before having to take on the responsibilities related to the curriculum work of all of your classes.
c. One of your scheduled periods is Extended Learning Time, or XLT. It will be a time for Daily Silent Reading in books of your choice, weekly instruction and practice with keyboarding skills, and time to get homework done at school, once homework is assigned. Be sure to take your binder, dividers, paper and writing utensils to this class each day. Until the library is open for students to check out books of their own to read, the instructor will be reading to the class.
II. Skills of Independence
a. Your locker: memorize your combination and DON'T share it, even with your best friend. Teachers and other staff members will be there to help you with your locker if it should stick or you forget how to use the combination locks. Organize your locker, and keep it neat. Don't let it get filled with "stuff." Clean it out periodically and keep things in organized places where you know their location and can get to them quickly.
b. Different classrooms: Cheldelin appears to be a HUGE place at first. But after the first week or two, it will seem like you've been there a long time. One new thing that comes with different classrooms, however, is different teachers. Get to know each of your new teachers and how they operate in the classroom. What is the teacher's signal for attention? Where and how is work turned in and collected? What is the best way to find out about missing assignments if you are absent? Learn the day-to-day operations of each classroom you are in during the day. It will take time, but it will help you be successful.
c. Being on time: As you learn your schedule and get into the routine of being in a middle school where you change classes nearly every period, you will be expected to be in class on time. What does this mean? In EVERY class it means that you are in your seat, with everything you need for that class, WHEN the bell rings. Most teachers post a "What's Needed" sign on their door, but you can assume that each day you will need your binder and writing utensils, as well as any homework that was assigned and is due that day. This also means that you have sharpened your pencils, gone to the restroom and quenched your thirst before class starts. It may seem impossible, at first, to get all of this done in the short passing time. However, most classes in the sixth grade are across the hall or down the hall two or three doors. Don't worry. An organized locker and binder will help.
III. Getting Organized
a. Your Notebook: This is an essential piece of equipment. Organize it well and it will be a great help. Put your pencil pouch at the very front with sharpened pencils (or mechanical pencils and extra lead), pens, scissors, and glue. Don't fill it too full, but have what you use frequently in it. Right behind that, put your assignment calendar. (More about that next.) Then label each of your dividers with a different class. At the very end, put about an inch of lined paper; leave the rest in your locker. Now, whenever you do work that will be due later, file it right behind the appropriate divider so that it will be right where you can find it when it is needed. And when teachers hand back work after a score has been recorded, put it behind this same divider, but behind the papers you are currently working on. Keep these papers until grade report time. If you think something on the grade report is inaccurate, you will have the evidence in your binder to check it out!
b. Daily Planner: Another essential piece of equipment for success. Your humanities teacher will give you an daily planner and show you how to use it. S/he may even require that you use it for a while and assign point values that affect your grade. Eventually, if another tool works better for you, you can use it. However, the main point is to use the planner. At this stage in your education, you are responsible for knowing what work you are to be doing, how it is to be done, and when it is due. The daily planner will be your lifeline to remembering these details. During the first month of school, write down something for each class, even if there is no homework. Write what you did and whether or not there was an assignment. Then at the end of seventh period, check your planner to see what you need to take from your locker to your house.
IV. Being a Student
a. In the Classroom: Because your teachers see 120 or more students in a day, and students change classes each period, it may at first appear harder to get the attention and help you need. But the best students have developed behaviors that all students can use to learn more and be successful. The best students listen actively; they raise their hand to respond to a teacher's question, they ask questions and challenge something that has been said that doesn't make sense to them, and they offer what they already know about the topic. These students also use their time effectively. They, too, want to get to know people and have a good time. But they don't want their time after school to be filled with homework. As a matter of fact, they probably have other things they are doing after school like soccer or music lessons. And if these students are unsure of the teacher's expectations, they ask for help, or they show the teacher their work and ask if they are on the right track. Follow the example set by these students. You will get WAY MORE out of your school experience.