Family Digest · Quarter 2 · Week 13
The Persian Empire & the Persian Wars
Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes; Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis.
6.RP.A.3
6.NS.C.5
RI.6.3
W.6.7
MS-LS1-5
C3 D2.His.4.6-8
ELA this week
- Monday: Read on Cyrus; analyze how individuals shape events (RI.6.3).
- Tuesday: Begin Herodotus excerpts; primary source vs. secondary source.
- Wednesday: Vocabulary: tyranny, hoplite, phalanx, trireme.
- Thursday: Mini-research: choose one Persian War battle (W.6.7).
- Friday: Publish mini-research with a 'works cited' line.
Words to know
tyranny
hoplite
phalanx
trireme
Standards
RI.6.3
W.6.7
Math this week
- Monday: Percent as ratio per 100 (6.RP.A.3); convert fractions ↔ percents.
- Tuesday: Find the percent of a quantity; tax & tip basics.
- Wednesday: Find the whole given a part and a percent.
- Thursday: Percent increase/decrease with negative-number framing.
- Friday: Mixed practice: percent and rate problems.
Standards
6.RP.A.3
Science this week
- Monday: Plant response to gravity (gravitropism) — design a tilt test.
- Tuesday: Light direction & phototropism investigation setup.
- Wednesday: Daily phototropism observation; record bend angle.
- Thursday: Compare gravitropism vs. phototropism evidence.
- Friday: Lab journal sync; what variables affected results?
Social Studies this week
- Monday: Cyrus the Great; satraps and the Royal Road; Zoroastrianism.
- Tuesday: The Battle of Marathon; the runner Pheidippides.
- Wednesday: Leonidas, the 300, and the strategic pass.
- Thursday: Themistocles and the Athenian fleet; Greek alliance victory.
- Friday: Delian League → Athenian Empire; tensions sown for later war.
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 on Cyrus".
- 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 "Begin Herodotus excerpts".
- 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 "Vocabulary: tyranny, hoplite, phalanx, trireme".
- 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 "Mini-research: choose one Persian War battle (W".
- 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 "Publish mini-research with a 'works cited' line".
- 6.Ask your child to teach you tonight's idea in 60 seconds: "Show me one example of percent as ratio per 100 (6." 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.