Welcome to Sixth Grade Communication Arts
Here’s to a wonderful year in sixth grade! I am looking forward to getting to know
you and working with each of you this year. I hope you find this year fun and
exciting for I have a lot of fun activities planned for the year. Below is a detailed
syllabus. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to call. Once
again welcome to sixth grade!
Mrs. Hennrich
Sixth Grade Syllabus
Conference:
Parents may talk to me by calling the school office and setting up an appointment. My plan
period is 1:48-2:35. We can also meet before or after school. You can reach me by calling or
emailing.
Email: mrshennrich.ohs@gaggle.net
Phone: 816-675-2217
Grading:
Grades will be taken for Reading, Language Arts (Spelling, Writing, Grammar) and Seminar.
For Reading 50% of the grade will be from homework and 50% will be from tests. For Language
Arts 50% of the grade will be from homework and 50% will be from tests. A participation grade
will be given daily for Seminar.
Homework:
This is an important part of our extended school day. The students will be given time in class to
work on the majority of the work, however, due to limited time work may have to be done at
home. Spelling words should be studied daily at home. A spelling pre-test will be given on
Wednesday and the final test on Friday.
When test are given your child will be required to take notes during the review, which is a day or
two before the test. Studying for test is expected and part of your child's homework. I also
encourage the students to read every night. The students will be expected to do book reports,
which will not be done in class.
Late Papers will receive 50% off!!! All assignments are to be turned in at the beginning of the
day they are due. If the assignments are late, the student will be given 50% if turned in the next
day. If the assignment is 2 days late the student will receive a zero. Exceptions will be made for
being sick, funerals, etc. Tests are always due the day given. If a student is absent from school
he/she has as many days as they were absent to make up the work. If the student is absent when
a test is given, they will be expected to take it the day they return.
Grade Watch:
This program allows me to track the student’s missing assignments and notifies you in a more
efficient manner. If you have an email address a computer generated email will be sent home on
the day your child had a missing assignment. If an email address is not available, then a letter
will be sent home each Friday stating the days your child was missing an assignment.
Planners:
Each student will receive a planner at the beginning of school. This planner is expected to be
filled out every day and signed that night by a parent or guardian. I will be checking the planners
daily. A grade will be given for having the planner filled out and signed.
Book Reports:
The students will be required to complete 18 book reports. They are a combination of Fiction and
Non-Fiction. These book reports will be written, Reading Counts tests and one will be a project
each quarter.
These book reports will meet the requirements for the Book It Requirements. As long as the
student turns their book reports in on time, they will receive a Book It each month.
The students will receive the dates each book report is due on the first day of school. The
form will be stapled in his/her planner.
Classroom Rules:
1. I expect the students to come to school ready to learn.
2. I expect the students to be responsible by completing their work and handing it in on
time.
3. I expect the students to respect themselves and their property and others and their
property.
4. I expect the students to follow directions the first time.
5. I expect the students to do their best.
6. I expect NO BULLYING of any kind (pushing, kicking, excluding others, saying rude
and mean things to one another, making faces, etc)
Consequences for not following classroom rules:
1. The students will be given a warning the first time they break the rules.
2. The second time the student breaks the rules his/her name will be put on the board
resulting in 10 minutes off recess.
3. The third time the student breaks the rules they will receive a check mark next to their
name resulting in no recess and a phone call will be made home.
4. The fourth time the student breaks the rules the student will be sent immediately to the
principal’s office.
If a student makes it to step 2 twice in a week then the third offence will immediately
result in consequence 3. If a student acts out again during that week they will
immediately move to step 4.
Seminar:
At the end of each day there will be time for the students to receive one-on-one remediation if
needed. This time will also be used for study time, group activities, reading, and enrichment
activities. During this time those who are struggling in a subject will get help from that teacher.
In addition, those students who receive a D or F must meet with the teacher during the seminar
time. If a student does not complete their homework they will be sent to the ZAP (Zeros are
Prohibited) room to complete the work. Students will only be allowed 3 ZAP referrals per
quarter, per class, and on the fourth zero or incomplete assignment for the class the student will
be referred to the office. Those who receive 0 ZAP referrals or Fs will be awarded with biweekly enrichment activities.
Reading:
We will be reading several fantastic books this year. We will be learning about reading
strategies, doing Literature Circles, whole group reading, and reading poetry. Some of the
possible books we will be reading are:
Hatchet
Witches
Shakespeare Secret
A Wrinkle in Time
Old Yeller
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lightning Thief
Knots in My Yo-Yo String
Maniac Magee
Loser
Crash
Milkweed
Esperanza Rising
Brian’s Winter
Crispin
Where the Red Fern Grows
Among the Hidden
We will also be comparing nonfiction and fiction short stories through Best Practices in Reading.
In addition, we will be working out of brand new reading text books to enhance reading
strategies.
Language Arts:
During this time we will be working on spelling, grammar and writing. The students will be
given spelling lists weekly and will use the words for grammar lessons. In addition, we will be
following the writing process to publish several writing pieces throughout the year.
Prewrite! Rough Draft! Revise! Edit! Publish! The students will be required to follow this
process when writing any piece. We will be writing several pieces. Some of them are:
Narratives including a power point presentation
Halloween Story
Poems
Persuasive Essay
Research Paper
At the end of the year, we will be putting together a writer's portfolio that will consist of all the
pieces each student had written.
Wish List:
I would appreciate it if you could help with our projects by saving and sending the following
items.
Empty Cereal Box (required for a book report project)
2 Metal Hangers (required for the first quarter book report project)
Shoe Boxes
Craft Items you are no longer using or needing (yarn, buttons, string, fabric, etc)
Looking forward to a wonderful school year!