1. Welcome to room 43

2. Schedule for 2014-2015 Period 1…Leadership II Period 2…Prep Period 3…Tynker Period 4…Social Studies Period 5…Language Period 6…. Tynker

3. Teacher web page Check school web page http://teacherweb.com/CA/MillerMiddleSchool/MrVillafana/

4. Flu Prevention -Out of consideration for other people, please keep your child HOME if they are sick! If your child has flu-like symptoms, they should stay home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever, or signs of a fever, without use of medicines. If they are sick, we will send them home. -Encourage your child to wash hands and use hand sanitizer often! - If your child needs to sneeze or cough, teach them to cough into their shirt or elbow and to use tissues if they need to sneeze.

5. Social Studies 6th Grade Social Studies World History and Geography: Ancient Civilizations The sixth grade curriculum covers a broad sweep of time from early human development to the Roman Empire. Students study the people and events that ushered in the dawn of the major Western and non-Western civilizations. Students develop higher levels of critical thinking by considering why civilizations developed where and when they did, why they became dominant, and why they declined. Students examine the connections between the various cultures, emphasizing their lasting contributions, and the link between our world today and ancient worlds. The following topics are covered throughout the year:  Geography and Map Skills  Archaeology  Development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution  Geographical, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of:  ｧ Mesopotamia  ｧ Egypt, Kush  ｧ Israel  ｧ Greece  ｧ Indus Valley (India)  ｧ China  ｧ Rome For a reference point, following are individual grade level focuses: 4 th : California History 5 th : American History up to 1780 6 th : Ancient Civilizations (early human development to the Roman Empire) 7 th : Ancient Civilizations ( Europe, Africa, and Asia in the years A.D. 500–1789) 8 th : continuation of American History ( framing of the Constitution to World War I)

6. Language 6th Grade English-Language Arts Students will be focusing on the following standards: READING  Word analysis, fluency, and systematic vocabulary development – ｧ word recognition – ｧ vocabulary and concept development  Reading comprehension – ｧ structural features of informational materials – ｧ analysis of grade-level-appropriate text  Expository critique – ｧ literary response and analysis – ｧ structural features of literature – ｧ narrative analysis of text – ｧ literary criticism WRITING  Writing strategies – ｧ organization and focus – ｧ research and technology – ｧ evaluation and revision  Writing applications – ｧ narratives, expository compositions, research reports, response to literature, and persuasive compositions WRITTEN AND ORAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS – ｧ sentence structure – ｧ grammar – ｧ punctuation – ｧ capitalization – ｧ spelling LISTENING AND SPEAKING  Listening and speaking strategies – ｧ comprehension – ｧ organization and delivery of oral communication – ｧ analysis and evaluation of oral and media communications  Speaking applications (genres and their characteristics) – ｧ deliver narrative, informative, and persuasive presentations – ｧ deliver oral responses to literature and presentations on problems and solutions

7. learLeadership II Civic Duty Community School CSM Recycle Leadership One Word

8. Tynker ThThis class uses a program called Tynker to teach coding. The program itself uses scratch as its model. Tynker will eventually assimilate Java Script to scratch.

9. SAFETY- Please help us by… -Making sure your child does not arrive before 8:25 am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and before 9:35 on Wednesdays. There is no supervision for your children during this time. -Not coming onto campus during the school day without checking into the office. If you have a lunch to drop off, drop it off in the office. This is out of concern for student’s safety. -Practicing courteous and safe driving in the morning. Avoid unnecessary u-turns and stops. Watch out for pedestrians and bikers.

10. How You Can Help- -Check up with your child on what they’re doing in class. Have discussions on topics that we might be studying. -Model reading at home. Set aside a time that everybody can read together. Get quality books at home, either through the library, or through Scholastic. -Encourage independence. 6th grade is a time of transition and change. They still need support, but they also need the gentle prodding to take responsibility of their own work. The least beneficial thing you could do for them is to do their work.

11. - Encourage your child to take risks. Learn lessons from failure. Our children will never learn to take risks if there is always a negative stigma attached to failure. -Talk about current events. Keep track of the news, and encourage your child to read the news. -Set aside a quiet place for your child to work. -Please, no computers in child’s room. Know what your child is doing on the computer.

12. CONTACT INFORMATION! djvillafana@comcast.net villafana_dave@cusdk8.org 408 252- 3755 ext. 243

15. http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.ht mlhttp://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.ht ml