Beginning soon, your sixth grader will begin working on his/her World’s Fair project. This is an interdisciplinary project involving your student’s Reading, Language Arts, and Social Studies classes. All sixth graders participate in these activities, with different parts assessed in the aforementioned subjects. To begin the research, he/she will be assigned a foreign country, will check out a non-fiction book on that country, and will read that book. Next, using the book as well as other reference sources, your child will take notes on his/her country using the Five Themes of Geography. During Language Arts, he/she will use the notes to generate a written report (expository essay). Based upon that information, your sixth grader will then build a cardboard display for the World’s Fair night, which will be held on June 8^th. This fair will be open to the public; so many people will be able to enjoy the fruits of the students’ labor. Finally, in his/her Language Arts class, an oral presentation will be given on what your child has learned about that country. As you can see, this will be a huge undertaking, so you may want to begin discussing it with your child sometime soon.

This month the sixth graders will be learning about figurative speech. Students will be learning about:

1. Similes (comparing two things using like or as) She is as pretty as a picture.

2. Metaphors (saying one thing is or is not another unlike thing). The daisy was sunshine in the field.

3. Personification (giving human characteristics to non-human things). The wind whispered through the trees.

4. Alliteration (using repetitive sounds like "Sally sells seashells by the seashore")

5. Hyperbole (ridiculous exaggeration) - If I've told you once, I've told you 1000 times. "

6. Onomatopoeia (words that make the sound they are describing: buzz, shhhh, quack, etc.)

At the end of the month they will be taking a test requiring them to know the definition of each of the types of figurative speech, and be required to give an example of each.