Ms. Chicoine

Welcome to a new school year! I am thrilled to be your teacher and excited to see what we can accomplish together this year. I look forward to getting to know each of you. As a teacher it is my job to help each of you grow as

learners and as leaders. So get ready to work hard and have some fun!

I grew up in a large Chicago suburb before moving to Tennessee in 2008. I was actively involved in Girl

Scouts, volunteer work, horseback riding, and school clubs. After graduating high school, I attended UTM,

where I earned my BS in Education. During my college career I took a year away from school to attend a school of

ministry in Alabama.

I am passionate about teaching, church, animals, and travel. When I’m not planning lessons or grading papers,

you can find me spending time with my Australian Cattle Dog puppy, Journey. During the summers I enjoy making weekend trips with friends to new places. This

year we checked hiking to Greeter Falls, TN, backpacking Garden of the Gods, and swimming at

Pensacola Beach, FL off our bucket list!

Favorite Places: Garden of the Gods, IL

Colonial Williamsburg, VA Door County, WI

Hobbies:

Dog training Hiking

Trail riding

Favorite Subject: Science

Favorite Restaurants: Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

Chick-fil-a Olive Garden

TV-Shows:

Dr. Pol What Would You Do

Gilmore Girls Fixer Upper

6th Grade Science Ms. Chicoine

2016 - 2017

How to reach me: Class Materials:

Reminder! Class alerts: Grading:

Classroom Rules:

amy.chicoine@fultonind.kyschools.us Remind App chat I encourage parents/guardians to remain active in their child’s education and contact me if they

have any questions or concerns.

Loose leaf paper Mechanical Pencil Binder

Sign up for class text alerts for updates on homework, tests, quizzes, and other important dates. Check out the Remind Parent Letter for details on how to sign up.

1. Be on-time, on-task, & prepared to learn every day. 2. Respect the teacher, the classroom, other students, & yourself. 3. Be responsible for your own learning. 4. Keep all electronics put away. 5. Be positive.

Test and Project grades are “weighted” and count twice. Daily Work and Homework grades count once. After tests are weighted, all grades are totaled and divided by the total number of grades.

Students are required to have a pencil in hand before the bell rings.

Classroom Consequences:

Classroom Leaders:

During class, post-it notes will be given to students who choose not to follow the class or school rules. The students will be responsible for writing the date, time, their name, and infraction on the post-it note. Refusal to fill out the post-it note will result in an automatic detention. At the end of class they will turn the post-it note(s) in to the teacher. The consequence will correlate with the number of post-it notes that the student receives in a single class period as follows: 1. Retained in the room for 30 seconds after the bell. 2. Break Detention 3. Lunch or Opportunity Detention 4. Before School Detention 5. After School Detention

The teacher reserves the right to move up and down the scale of consequences as they see fit in order to appropriately match the misbehavior with its consequence.

While a certain level of leadership will be expected of every student in our school, the rotating positions of classroom leadership will be chosen in Ms. Chicoine’s classes. These students will each be responsible for :

• Helping their group to stay on task during group-work • Fulfilling one of 5 classroom positions • Collecting/passing out materials, textbooks, and workbooks for the group

If a student repeatedly fails to complete their duties as a classroom leader or is frequently absent, then another leader will be chosen to lead the group. The classroom leader positions available are:

• Board Manager – record class homework on the whiteboard and erase board notes at the end of class • UPS – deliver notes/materials to and from the classroom • Greeter – open and close the door at the beginning and end of class, and open the door during class

for visitors/students • Inspector – check desks/lab stations at the end of class for messes • Secretary – pass back papers before class and collect student work

This year a ticket system will be in place in Ms. Chicione’s classroom. Students will be given tickets during the day for good behavior, demonstrating leadership, making academic improvements, participating in class, etc. They will be given out at random throughout the week. When handed a ticket, the student will be responsible for writing their name on the back of the ticket and placing it in their classroom period’s jar before leaving class. Every Friday the teacher will draw 1-5 tickets from the jar. The students whose names are drawn will get to select from one of the following rewards:

1. A piece of candy 2. A Free Choice Seating ticket for the following week. This ticket gives them permission to sit on the

bean bags or another form of alternative seating during independent work time for one week. This privilege can be revoked if students fail to follow classroom rules.

3. A pencil or pen Each class period will have an assigned star posted on the dry erase board. The number of tickets drawn each Friday will be determined by the number of points left on that period’s star at the end of the week. When the class as a whole is off-task or carrying on at too high of a noise level, then the teacher will remove a point from the star. Students will have a chance to earn a point back on the star throughout the week through good behavior.

Classroom Rewards:

Classroom Procedures:

• Entering the Classroom - Enter quietly and politely. Turn in your homework as you enter. Take your seat and immediately begin work on the bell ringer. During this time, the classroom leaders should distribute materials to the rest of the class if instructed to do so. Students who are not in their seats when the bell ring will be marked tardy.

• Turning in Assignments – Turn homework in to the appropriate bin as you enter the room. Homework that is turned in after the bell rings to start class will be considered late. Turn in assignments completed during class before leaving the if instructed to do so. Assignments that are late will receive a 10% deduction per day that it is late. Once it is late 5 days, the deductions will end and the student will have the chance to receive 50% maximum of the total points possible if they pass the assignment and complete it during that grading period.

• Leaving the Room – When leaving or entering the class during class-time for any reason, sign in/out with the classroom log. Write your name, destination, and check in/out time. This includes coming in late when tardy. Students will be allowed 3 bathroom breaks per semester.

• Ending Class – The teacher, not the bell, dismisses class. Do not start packing up materials unless instructed to do so by the teacher. The teacher will dismiss the class as a whole or by groups. Students are responsible for making sure that all materials are put away and that their work stations are clean before leaving class.

• Participating in Group Work – One goal of our class is to function as a team. With that comes the responsibility that all students participate equally in assignments and respect one another. If a student fails to follow the classroom rules or pull their weight during group work then they will lose the privilege to participate in group work.

• Sharpening Pencils, Getting a Tissue, Throwing Away Trash, etc. – Complete these activities before/after class or during group/independent work time. Do not get up to move about the room without permission while the teacher is talking.

• Moving to Work Stations – Do not move to the assigned station until instructed to do so by the teacher. Move quickly, quietly, and politely to your assigned station and do not leave the station unless instructed or given permission to do so.

• Signal for Attention – When a student needs the teacher’s attention they should quietly raise their hand and wait to be called on. The teacher will get the class’s attention by clapping a pattern, which the class will then repeat back to the teacher. When clapping the pattern back to the teacher the students should immediately stop what they are doing, close their mouths, and put their eyes on the teacher.

• Free Time – When a student finishes an assignment they should, 1. work on other on-going assignments, 2. complete late/absentee work, 3. study, or 4. read a book (if they don’t have a book they can read a magazine or book from the classroom library). At no point during the day should a student sit in class with “nothing to do.”

• Noise Level – No talking while the teacher is talking. No talking while working independently. If you need to ask your neighbor a question, do so with a whisper. Use a quiet, inside-voice during group work. No yelling at any time for any reason.

• Paper Heading – Students will be responsible for recording their name, class period, and teacher at the top of every assignment. Failure to do so will result in a 10% deduction from their grade on that assignment.

• Absent Work – Each student will be responsible for filling out an absentee form for their partner in the event that he or she is absent, collecting handouts from that period for the student, stapling it all together, and placing it in the absentee bin. Upon returning the class, the absent student will be responsible for finding their papers in the absentee bin and completing them in a timely manner, as described in the school handbook. The absent student will be responsible for copying missed notes from another student on their own time.

What will we learn in 6th Grade Science?

• Lab Safety, Lab Equipment, and the Scientific Method • Physical Science:

• Motion and Stability - Forces and Interactions • Newton’s Laws • The sum of forces relative to the object and its mass.

• Matter and its Interactions • Atomic Compositions • Chemical Reactions • Synthetics and Natural Resources • How thermal energy effects particle motion, temperature, and state. • Law of Conservation of Mass

• Earth and Space Science: • Earth’s Place in the Universe

• The Earth-Sun-Moon system • Lunar Phases, Eclipses, and Seasons • The role of gravity in the motions within galaxies.

• Earth’s Systems • The cycling of Earth’s materials. • Changes in the Earth’s surface over time. • Fossils, Distribution of Rocks, Continental Shapes, and Seafloor Structures • Water Cycle and Weather Conditions • Regional Climates