Leigh Meinig

Subject: 6th Grade Social Studies

6th Grade Countries and Cultures

School Improvement Team Leader

Outdoor Ed. Liaison

Syllabus: click here

email address: leigh.meinig@adams12.org

About Mrs. Meinig... This is my 24th year of teaching - all in district 12. I have taught everything from elementary, to gifted, grades 1 - 7. I am licensed to teach elementary as well as secondary Lang. Arts and Social Studies, but Social Studies is my favorite. I have three grown and semi-grown daughters who both challenge and delight me! Parents - I know what you are going through! I really enjoy the Middle School age group and especially 6th grade. The students this age are just beginning to really think and to care about the world... Keep in touch - I hope to have an excellent year with your student! LM

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TEAM - We meet once a month on Tuesday evenings here at CMS. We start right at 6:30 p.m. and try very hard to be done by 7:30 p.m. We welcome everyone and really value the support and input our parent members give to us! Please come and help make CMS a World Class School! The upcoming meeting dates are;

Oct. 21, Nov. 18, Dec. 16, Jan. 20, Feb. 17, Mar. 17, Apr. 21, and May 19.

OUTDOOR EDUCATION - All district sixth graders participate in ODE. Students attend either Mon. - Wed. OR Wed. - Fri. The cores have been assigned weeks, but students have not yet been assigned to M - W or W - F. Here are the core weeks:

Extreme Core - April 13 - 17

All Star Core - April 20 - 24

Outer Limits Core - April 27 - 29

Students who are unable to attend ODE must complete an intense alternate research assignment covering the same concepts (survival, mountaineering, geography, history, ecology, safety, etc.). Questions? Contact Leigh Meinig at leigh.meinig@adams12.org.

CLASS NOTES: the week of 10/27/08

SOCIAL STUDIES -

This week: Lots going on! We started out with a quick survey of a packet of material about the Maya and a look at a cool magazine about the Maya. We took notes based on the Universals of Culture from both sources. On Wednesday we will take a short break and study our country's election process. We will focus on the electoral college and how the winner will be decided next week. IB students will have a homework assignment to go along with this.. Non-IB students may also choose to do the assignment - for Extra Credit. It will require them to pay attention to what is happening across the country as we get closer to a presidential decision. Remember - good, involved citizens are made, not born! :) Please feel free to discuss your own beliefs and views with your child. Our focus in the classroom will be on a respectful exchange of ideas as well as a thorough explanation of the process.

Please remember - no school for kids either Thursday or Friday this week so that our entire staff can attend the National Middle School conference in Denver. Happy Halloween!

Next week - back to theMaya!

*** The first District Assessment is coming up! I will let you know about a week ahead so that you can help your student to prepare (go through the notebook, study the continents and oceans, be familiar with latitude and longitude and how to find absolute location, reading graphs, etc.).

OLD STUFF:

Activities - At the start of this week we are finishing up our "Design a Land" presentations. Once the students have finished, we will move on to studying the Maya! We look at as many aspects of their culture and history as we can and try to keep in mind their unique climactic and geographic conditions. Please expect lots of exciting discussions at the dinner table! When answering your student's questions, remember that no culture develops in isolation. All cultures arise as a result of the conditions they live in, their unique beliefs and reactions to their environments, and the history/traditions they have brought with them. We try to avoid saying that a culture is "bad" or "good" - but they certainly are different! And the Maya were WAY different when compared to mainstream American lifestyles!

Notebooks - We have been learning a lot of new vocabulary words since school started. Students have taken extensive notes on their new words, all kept in their Social Studies spiral notebooks. This week we are adding a few more words and learning how to study - both alone and with a partner. The students have already received their second notebook grades. Points can be lost for missing: notes, illustrations, neatness, color, reflections, etc. Students with good notebook grades really worked hard for them! Congratulations! Ask to see your son/daughter's notebook.

Vocabulary - here is a list of words your son/daughter really needs to know! By now, most of the kids are familiar with these words, but if your child is struggling, please help him/her to go over the definitions of: landforms, climate, cost, benefit, incentive, alternatives, consequences, command economy, demand, economics, inflation, market economy, monopoly, scarcity, perspective, culture, history, artifact, core, mantle, crust, hemisphere, equator, physical map, political map, map key, symbol, continent, ocean, latitude, longitude, elevation map, regions, distribution map, International Date Line, Prime Meridian, Cardinal Directions, Intermediate Directions, Compass Rose, map scale, geography, tectonic plates, volcano, earthquake, magma, Continental Drift Theory, Pangaea, natural resources, man-made resources, renewable resources, non-renewable resources, Ice Age, glacier, migration, land bridge, nomads, mammoths, isthmus, peninsula, strait. This week we will be adding to the students' notes and vocabulary lists.

Concepts - Cultures develop to fit their environments. Cultures do NOT develop independent of the environment. As the environment changes, the cultures must change in order to survive. There are many ways a culture could develop to fit the environment! For example - a mild climate with a lot of natural resources allows a culture to develop that has a lot of people and big families. In such a case, each individual human life might not be valued as highly as if the tribe were very small.

Students also need to be able to locate and name the 7 continents and the major oceans.

COUNTRIES AND CULTURES - We have just begun studying Ireland!

Thanks so much for your support!

Leigh Meinig