Grade 6 Welcome Letter
Dear Students and Parents,
Welcome to our Grade 6 Class at C.W. Perry! Please find this letter as my initial welcome. It is a pleasure to pass along a few tips about start-up, grade basics, and the exciting ways we will be working together.
Over our first few days of classes, we will be make sure that everyone is settled in, set to go, and ready to have an amazing year. I always work hard to develop an ultra-supportive team and sense of community in class, so initial activities focus on ensuring everyone quickly discovers that “Our class is a place to be excited about learning, where we celebrate diverse creativity, and we will help all students find confidence, bravery and joy through amazing success we accomplish.”
Our first activities look at goal planning, leadership, healthy choices, and an overview of ‘Spartan Strong’ virtues. As we approach the weekend, I will try to provide a clearer picture of what to plan for in following days and how to do great. Office staff are working hard to update class data, and I’ll try to send more pointers along through email and agendas quickly. I send updates often, and I’m always glad to hear from you if there are questions.
Many kids are curious what to bring these first few days. Our Grade 6 team keeps our supply list modest (We know kids have enough to carry anyways!). There are a few supplies everyone needs right away (listed below); as for the rest, there are some minor items that may be required throughout the year (e.g. paper restocking, small project supplies, etc…), but I will send updates with plenty of time for those. Here’s what everyone should bring for week one:
- Pencils and lined paper.
- Pencil crayons, scissors and glue stick.
- Two Kleenex boxes (school requirement).
- Either one main binder with dividers for all subjects (advised) or one smaller binder/notebook for each subject (student choice – either is fine, so long as paper can be removed and later re-filed when work is handed in).
- A ruler and calculator for math (Any basic calculator will do, but I advise one that’s large enough to tap keys efficiently; please do not use cell phones for calculators as touch screen inaccuracy frequently results in errors for many kids).
- Geometry tools (especially a protractor to measure angles) are required later in the year. You don’t need these immediately, but they are a must later on. Most kids in this age range tend to gain confidence quicker with the simplest protractors – nothing too fancy with holes in them or dials – just clear, easy to read lines and numbers.
- Duotangs may be required by some of the option teachers. I advise 2-4 overall.
- All locker locks must be school issued. Please do not buy one outside of the school. Bring yours from last year, or our admin team can issue a new one.
Textbooks are assigned for math, social studies, and occasionally (novels) language arts, however, a large amount of our activities are more project based and work with class-wide learning and discovery. Two important steps in managing this are attention to maintaining notes and agendas. Notes and examples we work on in class provide extremely important advice for each project, and agendas should go home nightly as part of each student’s job. I will provide frequent updates that should help also, but nightly agenda checks are a great practice and are highly advised.
As for me, 2019/2020 is my twelfth year teaching middle school grades for RVSD, following years serving Calgary and Ontario schools also. It is my ninth consecutive year teaching Grade 6, and I am a proud member of the team that originally opened CWP. I am a firm believer that every child can and will do amazing if he or she simply learns the ways ‘how’, so let’s help every child make those discoveries, seize confidence and find joy and success through learning!
Welcome to our fantastic Grade 6 year!
Mr. Robert Saipe,
Grade 6 Teacher, CWP School,
rsaipe@rockyview.ab.ca
587-775-3523
