Steve Skweres teaches Physical Education and 6th Grade Mathematics at Hamilton Elementary. He has been teaching at Hamilton since 2008 and teaching in CPS since 2005. Steve received his Type 75 in Administration at National Louis University in 2007. He also teaches Drivers Education after school at Amundsen High School. Mr. Skweres is a graduate from Western Illinois University, where he received a Physical Education Degree.
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2/17/12
Dear Parents,
We covered more of ISAT prep this week, testing begins March 6th!!! The class covered more on Geometry with 2 & 3 Dimensional Figures and Object Transformations. They also worked on their Study Island, I am putting in grades for this every week so they need to make sure to stay on top of it!! Below is the weekly assignments for this week.
Tuesday 2/14: 2 & 3 Dimensional Objects Packet
Wednesday: Object Transformation and Coordinate Graphs Packet
Thursday: Study Island
Friday: Similar and Congruent Objects; Object Transformation and Adding Positive and Negative Numbers Worksheets. I gave them class time today to work on these so they should have done a decent amount in class. Students also need to work on Study Island in the Geometry Section. Will be putting grades in for that on Tuesday night! They will get some class time in the morning on Tuesday to work on it as well.
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
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2/10/12
Dear Parents,
Good to finally have a 5 day school week! We reviewed more on ISATs this week. We are now into Geometry going over Shapes and Angles. I even gave the class an Extended Response Question on Tuesday. Today the students received there progress reports I reminded them that their grade is only based on two week, but they need to stay on top of things and not fall behind! For homework this weekend they have Study Island Assignments and two packets to finish. Most of them completed the majority of the Polygons packet and then I gave them another on Area and Perimeter. This will all be due on Tuesday as they have Monday off. As always if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to ask! Below is the weekly assignments.
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
Weekly Assignments for 2/6/12 to 2/10/12
Monday 2/6: Graph Inequalities Packet
Tuesday: Extended Response Question
Wednesday: Coordinate Systems Packet and Short Response
Thursday: Study Island-Graph Inequalities, Coordinate Systems, Angles and Lines
Friday: Study Island, Polygons Packet, and Area and Perimeter
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2/2/12
Dear Parents,
Yet another short but productive week with the kids having no school tomorrow. We covered a lot of topics this week with Number Patters, Formulas, Measuring Angles, and Linear Equations. I was very happy with the progress everyone is making this week. Today the class worked on problems on Study Island dealing with everything we reviewed this week. For homework this weekend they need to complete all the sections on Study Island we covered this week and I also passed out a worksheet. The majority of students should be almost done with Study Island, but make sure they complete it by Sunday night. I will be checking it on Monday morning and putting in their Study Island grade. This was the first week of the 3rd quarter so I’m hoping for everyone to do their work and stay caught up on whats going on in class. Below is the weekly assignment. As always if you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to ask.
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
Monday January 30th-Number Patterns and Measuring Angles worksheets
Tuesday January 31st-Formulas worksheet
Wednesday February 1st-Linear Equations Worksheet
Thursday-Finish Study Island; Multiplication Positive/Negative Numbers Worksheet
Friday-NO SCHOOL
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1/27/12
Dear Parents,
Well the second quarter is officially over! Cant believe we are already half way done with the school year! This week we worked more on Area and Perimeter. They took on a quiz on Tuesday, but with Scantron Testing and no school today the week really flew bye! I do feel the class is working hard and we are improving each week. All their grades are in and if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask! Hope everyone has a great weekend! Below our the weekly assignments.
Monday-Scantron Testing, work on Study Island
Tuesday-We had a quiz on Area and Perimeter
Wednesday-Scantron Testing, work on Study Island
Thursday-Scantron Testing, homework packet is due on Monday!
Friday-NO SCHOOL
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
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We had a short but busy week in Math. They took a Math quiz on Estimating on Tuesday. A lot of people struggled with that quiz so I passed out retake forms that you need to sign in order from them to retake. We also started a new unit covering Area and Perimeter. I was actually pretty impressed with how the kids did figuring out Area and Perimeter. On Thursday I gave them an example of an Extended Response using Area and Perimeter. Then I gave them another Extended Response problem to work on their own during class. I think it went well and the class seems to be getting a much better understanding of all the expectations that go with Extended Response Questions. On Friday I put the kids in groups and we worked on Math Stations. The four stations consisted of IPAD Station, Independent Review, Extended Response, and Using the Smartboard. Thought today’s class went great with the stations and I plan on doing stations once a week using different material each time. Below is a list of the weekly assignment for this week. The kids need to finish their Stations Packet this weekend and they will be having their last quiz of the quarter on Tuesday. Last day of grades go in this Thursday January 26th, so we have a big week coming up! As always if you have any questions or concerns dont hesitate to ask.
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
Weekly Assignments
Tuesday January 17th-1.1 Designing Bumper Car- Rides Finish All Problems
Wednesday January 18th-1.2 Pricing Bumper Car Rides Finish All Problems
Thursday January 19th- 1.3 Decoding Designs Finish All Problems plus Application Problems 1-10 on pg. 10-12. Problem 1 is extra credit if completed correctly.
Friday January 20th-Station Packets due on Monday. Math Quiz on Area and Perimeter 1.1-1.3 on Tuesday.
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Dear Parents,
Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! This week in Math we covered Estimate Fractions and Ratio’s. The students seemed to be improving each day, but still a little bit of a struggle. They will have a quiz on Section 1 Estimating with Fractions on Tuesday January 17th. We also worked on Study Island this week. I am putting in grades from Study Island so please remind them to finish these! The class got to work on three new sections Tuesday and Thursday. They covered Estimating Solutions, Ratio’s, Proportions, and Percents as well as Real World Problems. The sections are due this Monday January 16th at the end of the day. Please make sure they do this. Students are able to take it more then once to try to get their grades up. I want them to try for an Exceeds but at least Meets. Anyone with an Academic Warning should retake it! Weekly assignments are listed below. Homework for the three day weekend is Study Island, Study for Quiz, and Application Problems.
Monday January 9th-1.1 Getting Close Using Benchmarks
Tuesday January 10th-No homework
Wednesday January 11th-Worksheets
Thursday January 12th-Study Island
Friday January 13th-Study Island, Quiz, and Application Problems.
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
sskweres@cps.edu
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Dear Parents,
We had a very busy week in 6th Math. Trying to get a bunch of stuff in before the Holiday Break! On Monday the class took their Unit Exam. It was over fractions, decimals, and percents. I feel like we did well but still need to cover a little bit more on it. The rest of the week focused on review and covering more materials for ISATs. We have been going to the computer lab every Thursday to work on Study Island. I believe this has been extremley helpful so far and will continue to give the kids a better understanding of what will be covered for ISATs. During break I want the class to work up to letter L Properties of Arithmetic in the NUMBER SENSE section. We have been working on this the past couple of weeks so majority of students should almost be done with it. We will begin working on letter M Estimate Solutions when we return from break. You can log onto Study Island at home or wherever internet is available. All students known their password to sign in. I passed out a work packet for them to do during break. It covers a wide variety of topics we have been working on this quarter. Below I have listed the assignments for the week. As always if you have any questions or concerns please send me an email, sskweres@cps.edu. I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Break!
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
Assignments for week of 12/19/11 to 12/23/11
Monday-We had Unit Exam no Homework given
Tuesday-Review Questions at the end of Unit due on Wednesday
Wednesday-Work on Study Island
Thursday-Work on Study Island
Friday-Work on Study Island and Homework packet due on 1/9/12
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PAST ASSIGNMENTS
Dear Parents,
We had another productive week in 6th Grade Math. This week we covered percents and fractions. The students learned how to turn a decimal into a percent and fraction. I feel the students are improving. We did have a quiz last Monday that was a little bit of a struggle, so if your child brought home a retake slip I need that signed and brought back to me. We will be having another quiz on Monday as well as there Unit Exam on Thursday December 15th. Next week we will be starting Study Island on Tuesday! This will really help towards ISATs so I am very excited to get it going. Below are the weekly assignments.
Friday December 9th-Finish Math Reflections 3 and 4. Also study for quiz on Monday.
Thursday December 8th-4.4 Moving Between Representations A-E
Wednesday December 7th-4.3 Expressing Data in Percent Form
Tuesday December 6th- 4.2 Using Percents to Compare A-C
Monday December 5th- 4.1 Making Sense of Percents.
12/2/11
Dear Parents,
Well it was great to finally have a 5 day week of Math!!! I felt like it was a very productive week. We wont over a lot of challenging topics such as Ratios, Percents, Equivalent Fractions, and Decimals. It was confusing material, but I think the kids are starting to feel more comfortable as the week went on. For homework this weekend they have 2 worksheets to finish and we will be having a quiz on Monday. Below is the list of assignments for the week. As always if you have any questions or concerns dont hesitate to ask, sskweres@cps.edu
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
Monday November 28th-Finish 3.3 Decimal Benchmarks pg. 41
Tuesday November 29th-ISAT Practice questions
Wednesday November 30th- Finish 3.4 Moving From Fractions to Decimals
Thursday December 1st-Finish 3.5 Ordering Decimals
Friday December 2nd-Finish worksheets and Study for Quiz
Thursday November 17th Homework-ISAT Practice Test questions.
November 18th Parent Letter
Dear Parents,
We had another short week. I had the chance to meet with the majority of you on Tuesday and Wednesday. I feel a lot of positives came out of our meetings and am hoping for bigger and better things to come in the second quarter! A big focus will be ISAT Testing. As most of your know ISAT Testing start in February and with it being almost December figured now was a perfect time to get going. For homework this weekend I gave the class twenty ISAT Test Practice questions. We have gone over problems similar to the ones they will be working on. As always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email me, sskweres@cps.edu.
Thanks,
Mr. Skweres
PAST ASSIGNMENTS
We had another busy week in 6th Grade Math. Our class went over Equivalent Fractions, Mixed Numbers, and Finding Fractions between Fractions. This material was very difficult and will take time for the class to fully understand. I plan on going over more of this on Monday. We had Common Core Testing on Thursday and Friday. Since it was a busy end to the week I pushed their project due date to this Monday November 7th. Below is the explanation of the assignment. I also told the kids their will be a quiz on Monday, but just now decided to move it back to Tuesday to give them an extra day to study. This Wednesday November 9th is the last day of the quarter. Make sure students finish project and study for quiz! This will be a big week for students moving up or dropping down their letter grade! If you have any concerns or questions please let me know, sskweres@cps.edu.
Thanks and Have a Great Weekend,
Mr. Skweres
Project
PROJECT DUE ON MONDAY. FIND TWO DIFFERENT ARTICLES FROM NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINES THAT CONTAIN FRACTIONS, DECIMALS, OR PERCENTS. IF ONE ARTICLE USES MAINLY ONE OF THESE FORMS, THE OTHER ARTICLE MUST CONTAIN AT LEAST ONE OF THE OTHER FORMS. WRITE A TWO PARAGRAPH SUMMARY OR ARTICLE. TELL HOW THE FRACTIONS, DECIMALS, OR PERCENTS ARE USED IN ARTICLE AND WHAT THEY REPRESENT
PAST ASSIGNMENTS
Monday October 31st-Finish 2.3 Comparing Fraction to Benchmarks on pg. 24 A-D.
Tuesday November 1st-Finish worksheets from My Access and complete 2.4 Fractions Between Fractions pg. 25 A-C.
Wednesday-Finish 2.5 Naming Fractions Greater Than 1 pg. 26-27 A-E.
Thursday-Application Problems due on Monday. Project is due on Friday!! Study for Quiz
Friday-Quiz, finish Application Problems over the weekend.
PAST ASSIGNMENTS
Dear Parents,
Well this was a very short week in Math with the field trip on Wednesday and the Middle School Incentive on Thursday. We did work on Equivalent Fractions on Monday and Tuesday. I thought it took the kids a little while to get a full understanding, but they are improving! I also handed back their quizzes on Monday. With the short week I will give the class an extra week to make-up the quiz if they were unhappy with their grades. So for this weekend we do not have any homework, but if they are planning on retaking the quiz they should study! Just as a reminder the end of the first quarter is November 10th!! As always if you have any questions or concerns please let me know, sskweres@cps.edu.
Thanks and Have a Great Weekend,
Mr. Skweres
Monday October 24th-Finish 2.1 Equivalent Fractions and Equal Shares pg. 20-21 A-E.
Tuesday October 25th-Finish 2.2 Finding Equivalent Fraction pg. 22-23 A-D.
Wednesday October 26th-Field Trip-Pumpkin Patch
Thursday October 27th-
Friday October 28th-NO SCHOOL
Monday October 17th-Section 1.2 on pg. 7 A thru F due on Tuesday.
Tuesday October 18th-Section 1.3 on pg. 8 A thru E due on Wednesday.
Wednesday October 19th-Section1.4 on pg. 10 A thru @ due on Thursday.
Thursday October 20th-Study for Quiz
Friday-Students will take a Quiz during class for the weekend they will have to finish Application Problems 1-23 on pgs. 13-15.
PAST ASSIGNMENTS
Wednesday-STUDY FOR UNIT EXAM on Thursday
Tuesday-Finish worksheets due on Wednesday
Monday October 3rd-Study for Math Quiz over Section 4. The class will be taking this Quiz first thing Tuesday morning! They also need to finish Math Reflections 4.
Friday September 30th-Application Problems #1-24 on page 56 and 57 is due on Monday
Dear Parents,
This week I didnt get to see the 6th Graders in Math as much as normal due to Scantron Testing. We only met three times this week, but felt like it was very productive. We went over Prime Factorization the majority if the week. I felt like it was a struggle at first, but the kids seem to get a better understanding of it by the end of the week. Just a reminder to make sure students are prepared with Math books and pencils. Also making sure they are doing their daily homework! I have the homework listed above and they will have a Math Quiz over section 4 on Tuesday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
PAST ASSIGNMENTS
Thursday September 29th-4.3 Using Prime Factorization will be due on Friday September 30th
Monday September 26th-Today the 6th Graders had Scantron Testing so NO homework was assigned. They have Scantron Testing on Wednesday during Math class as well.
PAST HOMEWORK:
Homework for this weekend, Application Problems 1-30 pg. 42-44 due on Monday September 26th.
Dear Parents,
This week in 6th Grade Math we focused on Common Multiples and Common Factors. I feel students are still getting a little confused of the difference between factors and multiples but we are improving! Just as a reminder if a student struggled on the quiz this week they have until Thursday September 28th to make it up! They can retake the quiz before school, during recess, or after school. If you have questions please let me know. My email is sskweres@cps.edu, I check my email daily. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Homework for Wednesday September 21st due on Thursday: Section 3.3 “Bagging Snacks” A through B on pg. 40-41
Homework for Tuesday September 20th due on Wednesday: Section 3.2 ” Looking at Cicada Cycles” A through C on pg. 40
What we have been up to this week:
Student have been going over Factors and Venn Diagrams. We went over how the Venn Diagram works and the importance of it. They have also been working with tiles to create objects and to see the difference between odd and even numbers. I had them try to make rectangles with certain numbers to see how odd and even differ. They also went over Prime, Composite, and Square Numbers. We had our first quiz on Tuesday which I think went pretty well. They handed in their binders on Thursday, which will be due every Thursday! I give out Math homework daily so make sure they are on top of it!
Homework due on Monday September 18th:
Application Problems #1-21 on Pg. 30-32 ib their Math Book.
I will be giving a quiz on Tuesday over the material learned this past week.