Dear Sixth Graders,
August 2013
Welcome to Middle School! We hope you had an awesome summer and have some
adventures to tell us about. Your 6th grade teachers are Maggie Daly and Rachel Ramsey. We have
been working hard to get the classrooms ready, creating fun expeditions, and are looking forward
to meeting everyone next week.
During the first few weeks of school in our classrooms we will be working on building a
community of learners. We’ll get to know each other, trust each other, and build a safe and caring
learning environment – one where each one of us can be excited about learning, creative and
curious, willing to take risks, and ready to work hard, laugh hard, and learn together every day.
To encourage our crew building, our first trip of the year will be to Synergia. This is a high
and low ropes course in North San Juan. We will need drivers to drop off students and pick them up
when we are finished. This is not fieldwork where parents can join the activity, but we thank you for
driving (don’t worry, there’s more fieldwork soon where we will welcome parent chaperones).
Ramsey’s Crew will be going August 30th, and Maggie’s Crew will be going September 3rd. Please
keep those dates in mind, and let us know if you can drive.
We are including the Middle School schedule for next year. We will start by building crew
each morning, then move to our core expedition and literacy time. Our first expedition will be
science based, but we’re saving the details for our official expedition kick-off. Due to fieldwork
impacting math classes, math will be taught in the core classrooms instead of switching classes. 6th
grade will be using a new math text called Course I Mathematics, by Prentice Hall. This is based on
Common Core Standards. We also purchased new science textbooks from Glencoe. This year
rotations will be in 5-week blocks. You will do each rotation once throughout the year. Classes will
be a mix of 6th through 8th graders. We are continuing with art and computers, Mr. Maddock is
teaching creative writing, and we have hired new teachers for drama, P.E., and movement. After
rotations in the afternoons we will have another expedition block.
On the next page there is a list of supplies that will be helpful for you to have during the
school year. The most essential items are listed first. It would be great for you to have your
supplies by Wednesday, August 21st. Rotation teachers may require additional items, so you will
have a week to gather everything you need.
If you would like to stop by and say hello before school starts, the classrooms will be open
on Tuesday, August 13th from 2:00-3:00. Ramsey is in Room 20, and Maggie is in Room 18. They are
located in the back hallway, and have a nice view of the playground.
We are looking forward to seeing you on the first day of school, August 14th, at 8:30am,
ready to begin our learning adventure together.
See you soon,
Rachel Ramsey & Maggie Daly
6th Grade School Supplies
(Please recycle as many of these items as you can from home)
Please bring for the first day of school
(will be needed for the rest of the year as well)
 A backpack to keep everything in— plan on carrying a backpack back and forth EVERY DAY
(a cool satchel will also do). They will be hanging on hooks, so please avoid a large backpack
with wheels.
 A healthy snack (required every day!)
 A sack lunch or lunch money
 A chapter book of your choice at your reading level
 A positive attitude!
Require by August 21st
 A pencil pouch (NO hard case boxes, pouches fit in desks, cases don’t!)
 A plastic coated pocket folder for carrying homework and other important papers back and
forth from school— find a cool one that says you all over it.
 Colored folders, blue and yellow
****PLEASE NO BINDERS, WE DO NOT HAVE THE ROOM FOR THEM AND
THEY REALLY ARE NOT NEEDED*****
 4 composition notebooks
 1 spiral bound notebook with graph paper for math
 Sharpened pencils (mechanical is fine)
 Dry erase markers (due to allergies, please look for low odor markers)
Optional
o A refillable water bottle— the best kind is a sports bottle designed to be refilled, and
not spill when tipped over.
o Erasers
o Highlighters
o A personal pencil sharpener—the kind that traps shavings—and has two sizes of holes,
if possible
o Markers, colored pencils, or gel pens: bring what you like to color with — We have big
baskets of coloring tools, but not organized sets.
o A box of tissues to share