Welcome to Sixth Grade Math!
This letter is written to give you an idea of what Math class will be like this year. Some students love Math class and love the challenge of problem solving. Some students don’t like Math class because they don’t understand math concepts or it’s just “too hard”.
Keep in mind is that there are really only two things needed to be successful in Math class: 1) you need to know your basic facts (add, subtract, multiply and divide); and you need to be able to follow directions. That’s all Math is!
If you need to practice your basic facts, one good way to practice is to have someone (a brother, sister or parent) give you problems orally and then you give them the answer as quickly as you can. No paper and pencil or other materials are needed and you can review a huge number of facts in a very short time.
Math is a skill that is learned much like learning to play an instrument, learning a particular sport skill, or learning how to cook – the more you practice all of those skills, the better you become at each skill.
Math is all about practicing skills we learn in the classroom. That means you will have math homework almost every single night. The homework shouldn’t take you any longer than 15-30 minutes to complete. I require that all students use pencil in Math class and on your assignments so that you can erase any mistakes you may make.
When you do your homework, you will need to show your work unless I tell you otherwise. If you don’t understand an assignment, you need to make sure that you ask for help. I can’t read your mind and figure out if you understand something or not; you have to let me know.
Sometimes you might forget how to do your homework when you sit down at home that night. You always have two places to go for help: your Math book (the 2-3 pages before the assignment page usually give you 3-5 examples of how to do the problems); and your notebook (I ask that you take notes -- example problems that we go over in class).
Your grade will be determined by your scores in the following three areas. Daily assignments will be 25% of your final grade. Practice tests (which are really a review of the daily assignments and contain problems comparable to the actual test) will be 25% of your final grade. Tests will be 50% of your final grade. You will not be able to take a test unless all of your daily work and your practice test for that unit are completed satisfactorily.
We will be using calculators to some extent in Math this year – I will let you know when it’s permissible to use them as well as why we’re using them on that particular assignment. I have a set of calculators that you may use in my classroom. If you want to use your own calculator, that’s fine, a very simple calculator will work for most of the things that we will be doing.
At the Middle School we will be grouping our math classes in an attempt to better meet the needs of all of the students. I will have three levels of instruction (basic, regular, and advanced). Everyone will be introduced to the same math concepts during the year, but each group will proceed at a different pace. Some students will be placed in a basic math group with Mrs. Cordell (similar to Title 1 help in the past), and some students will be in a special education math group with Mrs. Poirier (based on their IEPs).
When determining the placement of your child in a math group, I will take into consideration the following items: 1) the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment test from last spring; 2) the sixth grade placement test (administered the second week of school); 3) how successful each student was in his or her fourth and fifth grade math classes; and 4) how each child is doing in his or her sixth grade math class during the first month of school.
These are the five Minnesota Academic Standards in Mathematics that are covered in our sixth grade curriculum:
1) Mathematical Reasoning – determining if answers are reasonable; translating problems; explaining why strategies and solutions are valid; and determining whether all relevant information is supplied for a problem
2) Number Sense, Computation & Operations – working with whole numbers, decimals, fractions, mixed numbers, percentages and integers; and determining appropriate uses for calculators
3) Patterns, Functions & Algebra – coordinate graphs; order of operations; variables; expressions; and equations
4) Data Analysis, Statistics & Probability – collect data for the creation of graphs and tables; uses for statistical data such as mean, median and mode; representing possible outcomes of an event in order to calculate probability
5) Spatial Sense, Geometry & Measurement – study two- and three-dimensional shapes and their properties under certain transformations; examine geometric attributes such as angles, triangles, parallel and perpendicular; finding the perimeter or circumference and area of geometric shapes; work with both the standard and metric systems of measurement
I’m looking forward to working with you this year. My goal for the year is that every student become comfortable with working on math problems – the problems might not always be easy to solve, but you shouldn’t be afraid to tackle them.
Have a great year!
Mr. Houselog
Parents: If you have any questions about what we’re doing in Math, please communicate with me by writing a note in your child’s planner, e-mailing me at or by calling me at 763-271-0516.