Family Digest · Quarter 2 · Week 12
Sparta & Athens — Two Visions of the City-State
Two opposing models of citizenship and society.
6.NS.C.7
6.NS.C.8
RI.6.6
W.6.1
MS-LS1-5
C3 D2.Civ.1.6-8
ELA this week
- Monday: Read Plutarch on Spartan upbringing; author's perspective (RI.6.6).
- Tuesday: Vocabulary: democracy, demos, kratos, ostracism.
- Wednesday: Argument planning: 'Which polis would you live in?' (W.6.1).
- Thursday: Draft argument essay body paragraphs.
- Friday: Argument essay revision and conventions.
Words to know
democracy
demos
kratos
ostracism
Standards
RI.6.6
W.6.1
Math this week
- Monday: Distance between points on a coordinate plane with same x or y (6.NS.C.8).
- Tuesday: Polygons on the coordinate plane; find side lengths.
- Wednesday: Inequality statements with rational numbers (6.NS.C.7).
- Thursday: Real-world inequalities (temperature, debt, elevation).
- Friday: Mixed practice: rational numbers, coordinate plane.
Standards
6.NS.C.8
6.NS.C.7
Science this week
- Monday: Environmental factors that influence growth (MS-LS1-5).
- Tuesday: Investigation: light vs. dark on bean-seed growth — set up.
- Wednesday: Record growth data; introduce variables in experiments.
- Thursday: Heritable vs. environmental variation in plants — discuss.
- Friday: Bean-seed week-2 measurement; analyze treatment vs. control.
Standards
MS-LS1-5
Social Studies this week
- Monday: The agoge; helots; dual kingship; women's expanded rights at Sparta.
- Tuesday: Solon's reforms; Cleisthenes and the demes; citizenship in Athens.
- Wednesday: Side-by-side comparison: government, education, role of women, economy.
- Thursday: Ionian Revolt; Persian Empire under Darius; tensions rise.
- Friday: Diorama or comparison poster.
Words to know
government
education
role of women
economy
Ask at the dinner table
- 1.Ask: "Who is the main character or speaker in what you read today, and what do they want?" Then have your child read aloud one favorite sentence from "Read Plutarch on Spartan upbringing".
- 2.Ask: "Who is the main character or speaker in what you read today, and what do they want?" Then have your child read aloud one favorite sentence from "Vocabulary: democracy, demos, kratos, ostracism".
- 3.Ask: "Who is the main character or speaker in what you read today, and what do they want?" Then have your child read aloud one favorite sentence from "Argument planning: 'Which polis would you live in?' (W".
- 4.Ask: "Who is the main character or speaker in what you read today, and what do they want?" Then have your child read aloud one favorite sentence from "Draft argument essay body paragraphs".
- 5.Ask: "Who is the main character or speaker in what you read today, and what do they want?" Then have your child read aloud one favorite sentence from "Argument essay revision and conventions".
- 6.Ask your child to teach you tonight's idea in 60 seconds: "Show me one example of distance between points on a coordinate plane with same x or y." Teaching it back is the fastest way to lock it in.
How to help at home
Read together. Spend 15 minutes on any text — fiction, news, even recipes. Talk about new words.
Show your thinking. When you do math in real life (cooking, shopping, budgeting), narrate it out loud.
Ask "why" and "how." For science and social studies, open-ended questions matter more than right answers.
Celebrate effort. Six hours of school is a long day. Notice the work, not just the grade.