5th/6th Grade Spelling Words: Test on Tuesday, April 5th

5^th/6^th Grade Spelling Words.  Next Test is Tuesday, April 5^th  

often              spent              section           wouldn’t       their              

first                 every             cattle              choose           dead              

already          teeth              usually           they’re          a lot

sense              heavy             animal’s        evening         its       

ring                 spread           there              strange          similar

(I realize we have had many of these before, but the Sitton

Spelling Program says these are the words we must study.)

BONUS WORDS:   (These are words that a few of my students

selected.)                militiamen                admiration              

determination         representatives       distinctions              

Pennsylvania           Massachusetts        independence

7th Graders Religion Projects are due March 25th

The 7th grade students have been working on their World Religion projects for the past 2 weeks.  Each student chose one religion to study.  Then each student had to research and complete an intake form answering 13 questions about their chosen religion. 

After completing the 13 questions each student must make a poster analyzing one interesting aspect of the religion they selected.  These should all be completed by March 25th.

5th/6th Grade Spelling Test is Tuesday, March 22nd & History Quiz is March 24th.

Here are the words for the next 5th/6th grade spelling test: 

their     rather       a long (as in "a long way")       brown      people    learn    family    

only    sense    should    money    thick    spread    water    because     again 

business    mouth    clean    control    without    evening    nearly    plateau

Bonus Words:  circumference    Chihuahua    civilization    revolution   

earthquake    tsunami    irrigation    domesticated

History Quiz  The 5th/6th graders have been studying colonial America (1740 - 1769) for the past week.  They have been taking notes, and they'll have a quiz on Thursday, March 24th.

February 6th - 11th

5th/6th Graders:
As you know, you have a spelling test on Monday (February 7th).  Here are your words:
pictured, opposite, sure, broken, listened, course, hope, man's, bears, their, similar, there, finally, engine, across, through, thought, mountains, traveled, songs, warm, hundred, children, board, train, remember.

The "bonus word" (as selected by 2 students) is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Then we will start our lessons on human evolution. 

7th Graders
We start our lessons on world religions this week.  We will begin with a brief review of the religions of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.  Then we will focus on the story of Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

January 18th - 21st

This week my 5th/6th graders will finish their "Family History Story" (if they haven't already completed it already).  In addition, you should complete your drawing for the Famous American Woman Contest. 

Next week my 5th/6th graders we will start  a lesson on human evolution.  You should look at the following PBS web site, as we will be following the lesson contained on that site.  You will learn about anthropology, paleontolgy, and what science tells us about our evolution.  Perhaps by understanding where we came from we can have a better idea of where we need to go.  For those of you with internet  at home, here is the site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/lessons/lesson5/act1.html.  For those who do not have internet at home, I will give you a photocopy of the pages.

My 7th grade students are about to start their analysis of world religions.  Each student can pick one religion to study (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism).  Although they can reserarch in teams, each students will have to create a "Glogster" (which is a poster that you make online) depicting one of the five most popular religions.  Students will need to present their Glogster to the class.  Rest assured, parents, I do not do any proselytizing during these lessons.  We discuss the Old Testament, the New Testament, the tenets of Islam, the beliefs of Buddhism, and the growth of Hinduism.  I do, however, hope that the students see the common themes and persons who are frequently mentioned in many of the five great religions. I will give each student a handout on Tuesday.

Have a great Martin Luther King Day.

Mr. Shea
(802) 371-8068
 

Jan 10th - 14th

A.)  This week the students will be continuing their work on their Family History projects.  First each student made a family tree.  Then each student was supposed to onterview a parent or guardian and learn a story about their family's past.  last week the students began writing a story about their family's history.  The story must be factual (no tall tales) and they could write about when their ancestors came to America, or they could write about one particular ancestor.  Their story could be about a grandparent or a great aunt or uncle.

This week we will continue to type our family history stories.  Many of the students have finished their first draft.  Most are stunned to learn that they need to make revisions and type a 2nd or 3rd draft.  It's all part of the learning process.  The paper does not have to be long, eve 1 page is adequate.  However, many of the students are discovering that 1 page is usually not enough to tell their story.

When I grade their papers, I will only look at 3 things:  (1) Do they have an interesting first sentence (or is it boring)?  (2) Are all the words spelled correctly?  (3) Do they have capital letters when necessary?

B.)  On another note, we have an exciting climax to our Danville Geo Bee last week.  Logan Larose and Brodie Talbot slugged it out for 3rd place, and Logan won.  In our Championship round, Christina Cassidy beat Haley Loura.  Christina will be travelling to Middlebury College in the spring for the Vermont State Competition.  I want to extend my sincere thanks to all of the students who participated in the Danville Geo Bee!

C.)  We are still making plans for the 7th/8th grade ski program at Burke.  More news should be coming soon.

D.)  After we complete our Family History papers, the 5th/6th grade students will spend time studying famous women in history.  The federal Women's Program Council of Vermont is sponsoring a poster contest.

Fairbanks Museum Schedule

This post applies ONLY to the 5th/6th grade students who start the day in my homeroom.  We will be going to the Fairbanks Museum on the following dates:

Jan 5th 8:05 AM ... The Solar System
February 2nd 8:05 AM ... Planetarium Skies - Tonight's Skies
March 2nd 8:05 AM ... The Human Body

Have a great week.

Jim Shea

Cream cheese and oreos!

Dear Students/Parents:

One last thing:  Sarah Boucher will be making some delicious goodies with all the students on Wednesday, Dec 22nd.  Mrs. Boucher has asked that each child bring in one pack of cream cheese and one box of oreo cookies on Tuesday or Wednesday.  These ingredients are apparently necessary for the low fat, low carloie goodies Mrs. Boucher is making with your child. 

Now go for your jog!

Jim

Geo Bee Contestants

I thought I should list the names of the 15 middle school students who won the preliminary rounds and will be in the GeoBee compeition later today:

Grade 5:  Chelsea Carcoba, Hannah Parker, Travis Gross
Grade 6:  Brodie Talbot, Logan Larose, Nick Blow
Grade 7:  Rian Boudreau, Bennett Cochran, Jared Fenby, Christina Cassidy
Grade 8:  Shane DeShone, Kyle Lamphear, Haley Loura, Ethan Sawyer, Keith Tilloton

Congratulations to all 15 contestants!

Thoughts from December 16th

Dear parents/Guardians:

Tomorrow afternoon, Friday the 17th, we will hold the GeoBee.  This is a national competition, sponsored by National Geographic, which tests students in grades 5 - 8 in their knowledge of world geography.  Parents/friends are invited to come and watch.  It will start at 1:05 pm in our auditorium.

We have 5 eighth graders, 4 seventh graders, 3 sixth graders and 3 fifth graders competing.  Of these 15 students, only one will move on to the Vermont State Championship at Middlebury College in April.  The winner of the Vermont State Championship will compete in the National Competition in May and try for a chance at the $25,000 prize. 

I am reluctant to say Danville will only have 1 winner because I believe every student who climbs onto the stage tomorrow is a winner. 

Some of the world's greatest success stories have been people who failed, picked themselves up, and pressed on.  You may want to watch (and show your child) this great youtube video: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6hz_s2XIAU&feature=email

Jim Shea
371-8068

The holidays are nearing...

but the midddle school students still have lots on their plates.

1.)  The Danvilel GeoBee takes place this Friday afternoon from 12:45 - 2:30 PM.  This geography competition is open to all students in grades 5 - 8.  The winner of the Danville compeition will compete next spring in the State Championship at Middlebury College.  So many middle school students were interested in competing we had to do "qualifying contests" in grades 5 - 7.  The students had to answer a 10 question mini-quiz, and the students who did the best on that quiz won the right to be in Friday's contest.  Parents are welcome to come watch the competition on Friday!

2.)  As you may know, students in grades 7 and 8 will be skiing and boarding at Burke this winter.  The papers for the Burke Mountain ski program have been delivered to Burke.  We are now waiting to hear from the people at Burke what days we can ski. We have a total of 44 students in grades 7 and 8 participating.

3.)  The students in grades 5 and 6 have a spelling test on Monday, December 20th.  They need to study (and learn) the handout I gave them.  The students are learning the past tense of some "irregular" verbs.  If you want to help your child study, here are the words:

1.  not keeped, but kept                                                  21.  not knowed, but knew
2.  not beginned, but began                                            22.  not spended, but spent
3.  not grinded, but ground                                             23.  not lighted, but lit
4.  not freezed, but froze                                                24.  not losed, but lost
5.  not breaked, but broke                                              25.  not maked, but made
6.  not throwed, but threw                                              26.  not readed, but read
7.  not bringed, but brought                                            27.  not rised, but rose
8.  not catched, but caught                                              28.  not selled, but sold
9.  not rided, but rode                                                     29.  not sinked, but sank or sunk
10.  not speaked, but spoke                                            30.  not bleeded, but bled
11.  not choosed, but chose                                            31.  not sleeped, but slept
12.  not drawed, but drew                                              32.  not meaned, but meant
13.  not ringed, but rang                                                  33.  not stealed, but stole
14.  not drinked, but drank                                              34.  not teached, but taught
15.  not feeled, but felt                                                    35.  not thinked, but thought
16.  not shaked, but shook                                               36.  not blowed, but blew
17.  not fighted, but fought                                               37.  not weaved, but wove
18.  not forgotted, but forgot                                            38.  not heared, but heard
19.  not creeped, but crept                                               39.  not writed, but wrote
20.  not hided, but hid                                                      40.  not drived, but drove

Have a great week!

Jim Shea
371-8068

Spelling Words for test on December 7

Hi everyone,                   

This is Logan Larose, Logan DeShone, and Zakary Shelburne.

This week's spelling words are: who's, ahead, their, figure, results, whose, perhaps, chance, except, probably, lead, thought, classroom, whole, necessary, simple, rules, method, sit, bought, radio, general, school, family, object, king.

This week's "Challenge Words" come from ancient Greece and were selected by Molly Copp.  The Challenge Words are: 

biopsy, android, odyssey, calypso, cosmetic, sarcasm, mathematics, rhinoceros, Olympian, biblical, diagnosis, dynamic, eureka, analysis, autopsy,

Thank you.

Sincerely,

L.D, L.L

Spelling Words for 5th/6th Graders: Test on Nov 22nd

Here are the spelling words for all 5th and 6th grade students.  The spelling test will take place on Monday, Nov 22nd. 

The challenge words come from the French language.  According to the Scripps Spelling Bee web site, "Before the  Modern English that we speak today was fully settled, the French of the Middle Ages - a direct offshoot of Latin - was widely spoken in the British Isles, as a result of the conquest of Britian by France in 1066."  Bon chance!

REGULAR WORDS:

interesting                  learned              there               sure          toward            closely

thousand         break           afraid           little         their         practice      heard   

animals       through          drive             forward         lead        chance         subjects

stones       beautiful          train        fresh       sight       pretty

CHALLENGE WORDS:

diplomat         rehearse             expertise             elite            entourage         collage

gorgeous           denim         ambulance          plateau        surveillance

camouflage          renaissance            chassis       rendezvous          mayonnaise

Challenge words for Spelling Test on Nov 12th

This week's challenge words come directly from the Scripps Spelling Bee.  This is what the Scripps web site has to say about them.  "Japanese is a relative latecomer among the languages that have influenced English, making it a welcome language of origin for spellers: Recently borrowed words are spelled more consistently than are those from languages that English has been borrowing from for centuries. Japanese is written in English according to the sound of Japanese words and is not influenced by the Japanese writing system, which uses symbols for words rather than letters." 

In fact, we had a visiting teacher from Japan in my classroom last week to teach the students about life in Japan.  She showed the students the Japanese alphabets (all 3 of them) and even made origami with many of the students.

Sorry I posted these words so late.  I'm at home today with a bad cold. 

Here are your challenge words:

ninja               karate                haiku                tycoon                sushi           samarai          

futon        tofu         teriyaki               honcho               tsunami           origami           

sayonara         sumo             shogun            hibachi

Call me if you have any questions.

Jim Shea

371-8068

Words for Nov 10th Spelling Test

Dear parents,

Here are the words for our next spelling test on Nov 10th:

Level 5 (Unit 4) words:

explain, then, friends, than, beautiful, there's, that's, farm, music, their, perhaps, travel, there, answers, notice, circle, watch, single, wrote, they're, often, whose, who's, I'm

Level 6 (Unit 4) words:

let's, chance, than, there, their, past, happened, they're, science, whole, women, people, sight, really, reach, thick, pretty, interest, produce, finally, then, million, earth, result, together, common

Within the next few days, I will add a set of "challenge words" for those that want more.

As you may notice, the Sitton words often repeat themselves.  Many of last week's Level 6 words are in the Level 5 list this week.  In addition, the Level 5 words are sometimes more challenging than the Level 6 words.  I attended a Sitton Spelling conference last week in Manchester, N.H., and the instructor recommended that I use just one book (not both Level 5 and Level 6) and challenge the stronger spellers with extra activities from that one book.  I've consulted with Karen Kennedy (our 7th grade Language Arts and spelling instructor) and she agrees.  Ms. Greaves and Ms. Boucher also agree that it would be better for our 5th/6th grade students if we used one book and gave the stronger spellers more of the challenging assignments.  There are many challenging activities in the Sitton Spelling Sourcebook. 

For those compelling reasons, this will be the last week that our 5th/6th grade students have 2 separate lists of words.   Starting next week we will all use the same list of words but those students who need more of a challenge will do more than simply memorize the list. 

Regardless of what grade a student is in, the stronger spellers will now be required to study prefixes and suffixes, proofread stories, write short stories using the spelling words, analyze words in order to make spelling inferences, improve sentence structure, examine homonyms, antonyms, metaphors, change irregular verbs into past tense, and examine how to make words plural.  If you want your child to have more challenging spelling homework, there are many Sitton Spelling assignments I can send home with your child so you can work with your child.  However, since we are trying not not overwhelm our students with too much homework, I won't send those assignments home unless you request.

I firmly believe that this new path will challenge all of our 5th/6th grade students more.  Merely memorizing a list of words does not help our children become better writers and communicators.  Our children must learn how to use words as tools for communication in this 21st century.  These added exercises will help achieve that.

Sincerely,

Jim Shea
371-8068

October 29th Parent Letter

Greetings.

I just returned from a great conference in Manchester, N.H.   The conference was all about the Rebecca Sitton Spelling Program, which is the spelling program we use at Danville School for grades 3 - 8.  I was able to learn more about the Program and ask some pointed questions to the Sitton experts. 

Today (Friday) I will give the students a spelling assessment (that does not count toward their grade) and then we'll review latitude and longitude once again.  I would say that 95% of the students now understand latitude and longitude, and I'm hoping they will all ace the geography quiz next Wednesday. 

The kids should study their spelling words this weekend because they have a spelling quiz on Monday.  On Monday evening I will post their new spelling words.

Have a safe Halloween.

Mr. Shea
371-8068  (cell ph)