Welcome to 6th Grade!

Hi! My name is Mrs. Suzie McGuire, and I am the 6th-grade homeroom and religion teacher. I also teach 5th and 6th grade ELA and History. I am originally from Arizona and have a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Notre Dame. I completed a teaching certification program through Fayetteville State University and have taught in several states. I am very excited to be back in the Pacific Northwest and to be part of the Cabrini family!

Child Development

Spiritual

Sixth graders are looking for a relationship with God that is personal to them.   Authority figures have less influence in their lives.  They respond well to guided meditation and learn from sharing their experiences, questions, and doubts.

Social/Emotional

The students are insecure as to where they belong in the group and can be clumsy and socially self-conscious.  They are experiencing an emerging self-identity, trying to identify their place in the group, have mood swings, and need a lot of affirmation.  They are dealing with peer pressure and cliques and can tend to easily have hurt feelings.

Physical

Sixth graders are changing and often don’t understand what is happening to their bodies.  They are dealing with puberty, changing behavior, and recognizing and being aware of the opposite sex.

Middle School Highlights

Specialists

  • Art
  • Library
  • Music
  • Health
  • Physical Education

Leadership Opportunities

  • Student Council (Executive Council and Class Reps)
  • Student-led Mass
  • Safety Patrol
  • Liturgical Choir

Learning Experiences

  • Camp OSPREY (Environmental Education)
  • Beginning and end-of-year retreats
  • Various field trips

On-campus After-school Activities

  • Art
  • Cross-country
  • Basketball
  • Volleyball
  • Coding
  • Spanish
  • Robotics

Service Activities

Part of our focus is to develop a missionary spirit within our students. Therefore, middle schoolers participate in service projects that relate to Catholic Social Teaching. The school, led by our Middle School Student Council, joins together in a special service project that varies dependent on the needs of our global and local community every school year.

Curriculum

Religion:
• Primary Resources: Alive in Christ and Catholic Youth Bible

Literature and Vocab:
• Primary Resources: Novel-study: Peter Pan, The Westing Game, Black Ships before Troy; Poems: “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”; Nonfiction: Steve Jobs and JK Rowling Commencement Addresses
• Units of Study: Fiction, Nonfiction, myths, poetry


Language Arts (Writing and Grammar):

• Primary Resources: Voyages in English
• Units of Study (Writing): Descriptive, Narrative, Research, Argument, Constructing Paragraphs and Essays, Creative (myth)
• Units of Study (Grammar): Sentences (parts of a sentence and sentence errors), Parts of Speech (emphasis on pronouns), Punctuation (emphasis on commas)

Social Studies:
• Texts:
      • Prentice Hall: Geography Tools and Concepts
      • Prentice Hall: The Ancient World
• Units of Study:
      • Early man through Rome
      • Presentation skills
      • Map skills
• Research Projects

Math:
• Primary Resources:
• 5th – Sadlier Math, 6th – Big Ideas Learning, Big Ideas Math Green (Common Core) • Prealgebra:  Text – Big Ideas Learning, Big Ideas Math Advanced 2 (Common Core)Secondary Resources:
• IXL Online – Math teachers correlate the use of IXL to their specific curriculum.

Science:
• Primary Resource: Text – Prentice Hall: Science Explorer
• Area of Study:
• Earth Science: 
            • Mapping Earth’s surface
            • Weathering and soil formation
            • Erosion and deposition
            • Freshwater resources
            • Ocean waters
            • Weather and climate


Technology:

Our sixth graders are 1:1 with technology and each student has their own Google Chromebook. Throughout each school week, they use it to conduct research, practice note-taking skills, and create presentations that allow them to combine their writing and oral presentation skills with a creative technology component. We reinforce digital citizenship through student collaboration on projects, and they use Google Classroom to allow for effective communication on mini-projects and class assignments.

Enrichment: Students attend weekly enrichment classes for library, music, PE, and Art.