Westside Academy at Blodgett Homework

1.  Westside Academy at Blodgett's ClassDojo

Teachers will be using the website ClassDojo to track behavior in our classrooms.  An invited should be going home to parents giving them the ability to join this program.  Parents can access their child's account to see how their child is doing in their classes as well as use this as another way to be able to communicate with the teachers.  If you have not received an invite please feel free to let the teacher or teachers know that you would like an access code to be able to join.

  2. The Vocabulary Project

Last year our students made gains in both Math and ELA.  Our goal is to continue this positive trend and one way to achieve this is to increase our students' content and academic vocabularies.  This is why we are implementing the vocabulary project which will take place throughout the school year.  Below are the lists of important 6th grade vocabulary from ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  There will be a grade given for the vocabulary in all four core classes.

In order to create more organization to the project, students will be turning in smaller sections of the project at the end of each marking period.  This means that the list is divided into four sections which are differentiated on the vocabulary lists by font.  Here are the following due dates:

• BOLD words are due at the end of Marking Period 1  (by October 26th)
• Italic words are due at the end of Marking Period 2 (by January 18th)
• Underlined words are due at the end of Marking Period 3 (by April 5th)
• Regular words are due at the end of Marking Period 4 (by June 25th)

Since this is a project students should be creative and neat when representing the vocabulary words. The words can be complied into a dictionary or ABC book.  The required components for each word are as follows:

1. Definition of each word
2. CHOOSE ONE:  Antonym, synonym, translation OR creative interpretation of each word
3. Graphic representation
4. Meaningful sentence or question 

Although your child will be given time during their "tutorial" class to work on this project a majority of the work will be happening at home.  Please sign the second page of the packet that will be coming home with your child so that we can confirm that you are aware of this year long homework assignment.  If your child has lost/misplaced the packet there is a link to a copy of the document below so that you can download, print it, and sign it.


Here are some online resources that students can use to find the vocabulary words.

1. Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary - http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/
    (Since this is a district paid resource it might need a username and a password.  If so the username is syrsls and the password is       syrsls.)

2. Kids.Wordsmyth - https://kids.wordsmyth.net/we/

3. Word Central - http://www.wordcentral.com/




3.  Million Word Challenge 

The "Million Word Challenge" is a literacy movement WSA is implementing to increase the amount that students read.  The goal is to have students read one million words independently by the end of the school year.  This is achievable if students read independently both at school and at home.

At school there will be time dedicated to independent reading during CREW (homeroom), Intervention and ELA classes.  Along with the reading students are to complete comprehension graphic organizers and share out about what they are reading.  Students will also be tracking their words and/or minutes during CREW on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Although students will have independent reading times at school they also need to read at home for them to achieve their goals of one million words.  The goal is that they read independently for 20 minutes a night and seven days a week.  It is recommended that middle school students read 25 chapter books during the year.  To help keep track of the word count you can use the site Word Count Assistance at http://www.arbookfind.com/default.aspx

A printable reading log and word tracking graphic organizer are available below.