Welcome to 6 th grade earth science

1. Welcome to 6th grade earth science Mrs. Shannon Zajac

2. Important information • Contact me at any time with questions or concerns. We are a team to help your student be the best they can be! • Standards-based grading system…only summative assessments count toward grade. • Why Standards-based? • Celebrates growth over time and hard-work; takes focus off of “the grade” and puts it on “the learning”. • Each Learning Target gets its own score. This allows us(and the students) to see exactly what your student knows and what he/she needs to work on

5. TARGET TRACKERS • PATHWAY TO EACH LEARNING TARGET = STEPS TO LEARNING SUCCESS! • Students self-assess where they are in their learning with each step of the pathway using the rubric provided on the target tracker. • FINAL Learning target scores are based on a separate rubric that details what a 4, 3, 2 and 1 look like for each learning target!

6. Show target tracker and Target Rubric here!

7. SCIENCE NOTEBOOKS • All students will keep a science notebook in which we keep our notes, observations and thinking. • Almost everything we do will end up in our SNB’s!

8. Science literacy • We don’t use the textbook for everything. We supplement our learning with articles, websites, interactives, etc. • Students will be taught and are expected to be active readers of science. • This means they monitor their comprehension and are metacognitive about their reading…they think about what they are reading and use strategies to help them understand what they are reading • Reading = Thinking! • Strategies may include: Monitoring Comprehension, Visualizing, Questioning, Determining Importance, Making Connections, Predicting, Inferring, Synthesizing, Using Fix-Up Strategies when meaning breaks down, annotating our thinking as we read = leaving tracks of our thinking (Stop and Jot, Coding, etc.).

9. Science literacy continued • Students will be taught strategies to become better writers… • Getting what’s in our minds onto paper • Writing with Depth • Supporting what we say with evidence

10. What we value and strive for in 6th grade science • Sharing our thinking both orally and in writing • Growing better science readers, writers and thinkers • Making mistakes and learning from them. • It’s ok to be wrong, especially when we are first learning concepts! • Asking lots of questions to fuel our minds and engagement! • Reading of any and all kinds • Fostering a love of reading and learning!

11. MODEL CLASSROOM • I am blessed to be a Model Classroom Teacher for District 28. • What does that mean? • I teach the processes of reading and writing about science content, not just the science content itself! • I am considered a teacher with “experience” in teaching content area literacy but am not an “expert”. • I’m still learning! • There will be days that we will have visitors in our classroom to observe my teaching and the kids learning. This is an invaluable part of the process for both the observers and myself!

12. Thank you! • Please contact me at any time if you have questions or concerns. My contact information is on the first page of the handouts! • I really look forward to getting to know each and every child and learning with them this year! • Thank you for partnering with me to help your students reach their maximum potential! Thank you in advance for your support!