Welcome to a new school year at our 6th-12th grade campus! We are very excited to be getting started and are confident that it will be full of great learning and growth - spiritually, academically, physically, and personally. We are going to work hard, have fun, and develop great relationships.
We are here to invest deeply in the development and success of SMCA students and families, and we're really looking forward to working together to see all of our students thrive. We have an amazing team collaborating to make this 6th grade year one of the absolute best of your child's educational journey.
This blog is the hub for all of the 6th grade news, updates, links, important dates to put on your calendar, assignments (especially for Bible and English), and all resources that will be helpful for you. It will be the first place to check for almost everything you need to know. Students will use it for accessing homework content, descriptions, examples, and resources.
Please let us know any time you have questions, concerns, or anything you'd like to make sure we know in order to help your child or your family thrive.
Sincerely,
Evan Chandler
echandler@smcak12.com
6th Grade Syllabus and Expectations
Communication
I will frequently send short group messages and announcements through email.
Parents are welcome to text or call me any time at (503) 666-7133. Email is also a great way to communicate with me.
If you need to get a message to me right away during the school day, please call me. I may check text messages during breaks, but if I'm teaching, the lesson will have my full attention unless my phone is actually ringing.
Students should communicate with me in person or by email, and I am always happy to set up times to work with students who would like additional help completing or correcting their work.
Feel free to send me a message at any time. I have my phone set to almost never interrupt me, so early morning and late night messages won't disrupt me at all. I set Sunday aside to focus on family and my church community so I don't check text or email messages, but I will reply as quickly as possible.
Academics
This blog will display the assignment descriptions for the current week in the classes that I teach - Bible and English - and our other teachers may use it for posting their assignments as well. Refresh this page each time you check it so that any new resources and updates will be displayed. The word UPDATE will indicate any content that was added after the post was initially published.
Curriculum for each of our core classes
Our schedule of classes can be found here.
Taught by Mr. Evan Chandler - echandler@smcak12.com:
Bible - No formal textbook - Survey of the New Testament and practices for living out faith in Jesus, relying heavily on reading the Bible and content from BibleProject. We will memorize scripture and complete projects, tests, or art assignments to represent the learning from each week. Personal reflection and application of biblical concepts is a central part of this class.
English - English 6 Writing and Grammar (consumable work-text), published by the Bob Jones University Press, in addition to many additional writing, reading, speaking and listening projects
Taught by Mr. Hayden Rogers - hrogers@smcak12.com:
Science - Science Level 6 (and a consumable workbook), published by Purposeful Design
Taught by Mrs. Tammy Litchfield - tlitchfield@smcak12.com:
Math - Math 6 (consumable work-text), published by the Bob Jones University Press
Taught by Mr. Josh Jen - jjen@smcak12.com:
History - Heritage Studies 6 (and an accompanying consumable activity manual), published by the Bob Jones University Press, focusing on ancient civilizations from all parts of the world
Other enrichment classes - twice per week each
PE (taught by Ms. Charley Kozol - ckozol@smcak12.com)
Russian (taught by Mrs. Larissa Dorokhov - ldorokhov@smcak12.com)
Enrichment - every day (taught by Mrs. Tammy Litchfield)
Materials
As previously noted, students will have consumable work-texts for grammar, science, and math. There are textbooks with separate workbooks for history and science. Students will make sure to have their textbooks and workbooks at school for any classes scheduled on a particular day.
Being prepared for every class, every day, is absolutely essential. Students simply cannot learn what they need to learn if they are not on time for class with all required materials.
Refer to the SMCA supply list for a complete list of school supplies for 6th grade this year.
Students may want to bring a book of their choice to read every day.
Expectations
Please refer to the SMCA Parent-Student Handbook, the dress policy, and the school website for complete descriptions of policies and information regarding activities, attendance, discipline, late or missing work, and the school calendar. They contain a wealth of really important and helpful information. Please note that some details are subject to change.
Schoolwork Standards
All assignments should be fully completed by 8:20 am on the day they are due. They should be turned in or submitted by email (including sharing a Google doc) at the start of each school day.
Students should not work ahead in their books without first talking to their teacher.
The top left corner of every paper, including typed assignments, should list this information, in this order:
ASSIGNMENT TITLE in all caps
Student First and Last Name
Subject (Bible, English, etc.)
Date
Note: Bookwork that is checked in class should still list the student's first and last names in the top left corner of every page.
Written assignments may be handwritten or typed in a Google doc or an email, as long as they include the required heading (TITLE, name, subject, date).
Bookwork should be completed in the appropriate book or on a separate sheet of paper as necessary as long as the answers are neatly organized, clearly labeled, and easy to locate. Incomplete assignments and math that is turned in without showing work will be not be graded until it has been corrected.
Late work may receive partial or no credit at the teacher's discretion.
Students are expected to complete all tasks and activities that are assigned to them. When they miss school for any reason, they miss out on learning experiences that are often impossible to replicate. Please do everything possible to minimize absences, including using the school calendar to schedule vacations during school breaks. Creating alternative assignments and compiling missed work uses valuable teacher time that could be used for focusing on activities that benefit the whole class instead of individual students.
Students who miss multiple days of school will be required to stay after the end of the school day on their first day back in order to make sure the have an organized list of what assignments need to be completed.
Completing assignments with academic integrity is a nonnegotiable part of our core values. This means that all students always complete all of their own work. When students work together in class, they sometimes work with a partner or a group, but they do not split an assignment in half and then share answers so that they have only actually learned half of the material. Similarly, students may sometimes help each other but that never means saying what the answer is. Copying and pasting information from any source is a form of cheating. The standard practice for any students who are involved in taking shortcuts to find answers or complete work - including those who share their answers with another student - is to re-do the assignment the right way and to receive an automatic zero on the assignment with no opportunity for an improved score. Please note: Students always write their own answers on their papers, conduct their own research, and complete their own calculations. We are privileged to surround them with supportive parents and staff who offer assistance as needed, but that help almost always comes in the form of questions that guide the student's thinking; it must not interfere with an student's ability to clearly demonstrate his or her own knowledge.
Sixth grade students should expect up to 60 minutes of homework per day, with occasional projects that may require more time if students have not worked diligently before the due date.
Students should keep all assignments at least until they have received a satisfactory score on a project or test at the end of the current unit.
Reading is a highly enjoyable hobby and a critically important skill for success in life. Students should plan to read at school and at home every day.
Grading
Assignments for Mr. Chandler's classes will typically be classified as activities, skill practice (homework), or assessments (projects, quizzes and tests). Bible class also has a memorization category for our weekly verses.
Most activities and skill practice tasks will be graded on a scale from 1-4, with the following criteria:
1 - "I barely did any of the work or I completely misunderstood the assignment. It might look like my goal was to finish as quickly as possible without paying ANY attention to accuracy."
2 - "There are significant mistakes or pieces missing from my work."
3 - "I met all of the basic requirements of the assignment."
4 - "My work shows obvious effort, attention to detail, and an attempt complete the assignment with EXCELLENCE."
When students feel like they are finished, they should evaluate their work to decide if it is good enough to meet the basic requirements (score of 3 out of 4) or if it reflects true commitment to creating high quality assignments (full credit).
When an assignment is marked "incomplete" or "missing," our computer gradebook counts it as having received a score of zero. The system also automatically sends a parent email notification any time an assignment earns lower than 70% of the total points possible. This happens daily at 11:00 am for all scores entered in the previous 24 hours, and if multiple assignments fit this description there is usually one single email that lists the tasks that were recently marked missing or inaccurate.
As much as possible, grades reflect student learning and academic skills. This is impossible to measure if work is not turned in. Completing assignments is absolutely essential.
Students usually have the opportunity to improve low scores on activities and skill practice assignments. Assessment scores are modified only under certain conditions at the teacher's discretion, and typically only on campus under the teacher's supervision.
Final grading scale - based on the combination of all assignment categories and weights:
99.5 - 100% - A+ 92.5 - 99.4% = A 89.5 - 92.4% = A-
86.5 - 89.4% - B+ 82.5 - 86.4% = B 79.5 - 82.4% = B-
76.5 - 79.4% - C+ 72.5 - 76.4% = C 69.5 - 72.4% = C-
66.5 - 69.4% - D+ 62.5 - 66.4% = D 59.5 - 62.4% = D-
Below 59.5% - F
Attendance
Students will be expected to make up any work possible for class periods they miss, regardless of the reason. When students miss multiple days because of extended illness or vacation, they will be scheduled to stay after school to discuss the work they need to complete.
Excessive tardies will result in detention being assigned.
Behavioral Expectations
Students will be held to a very high standard of personal conduct and behavior, consistent with the policies outlined in the Parent-Student Handbook. They will be informed in advance of the expectations and then held accountable for following them. Virtually all of our guidelines relate toward treating each other with kindness and respect, taking good care of our school and materials, and using our time and ability to be the best students we can be. Minor infractions will lead to informal conversations, problem-solving, and restorative consequences. Parents will always be informed when misbehavior continues after classroom interventions so that we can agree on strategies to make sure all of our students are fully invested in their learning.
SMCA students at Eastridge leave all electronic devices turned off and put away out of sight for the entire time they are on campus.
