6th Grade

 

 

WEST WING SCHOOL

Sixth Grade Expectations

2025-26

Dear Parent/Guardian:

We are looking forward to a great year of learning with your children.  The following is a list of the 6^th grade expectations that will help us facilitate your child’s learning. Please review the following information with your child and sign the Parent/Student Acknowledgement Form.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY:

• Each student will have a RED folder to house their character card and any other important documents (ie. homework, permissions slips, report cards, etc.)

• Students will document homework and upcoming assessments in their agenda. 

• This folder will be called their “Responsibility Folder”

STUDENT DAILY EXPECTATIONS:

• Have respect, compassion, and integrity. 

• Defiance and disrespect toward school staff or peers will not be tolerated. 

• Be prepared for all classes with personal supplies. 

• Attend school as much as possible! Be on time to school and class. 

• Listen and follow directions. 

• Utilize Canvas as directed by your teachers. 

• Do your personal best. 

• Follow the character traits. 

PARENT RESPONSIBILITY

Please check your child’s agenda and responsibility folder so you are aware of all homework assignments, unfinished class work that needs to be completed as homework, and upcoming tests/project dates. Please also check your student’s grades in PowerSchools at least once a week!

STUDENT ABSENCES

Upon returning from any absence, it is each student’s responsibility to obtain class work and homework, as well as arrange any test make ups with each of their teachers. Teachers will make their absent work policy clear during the first week of school and students should be sure to follow procedures to pick up any work they missed. Sixth grade students, not parents, should take responsibility to contact the teacher regarding absences.

CELL PHONES

Cell phones, smart watches and any personal communication device must be OFF and stored in backpacks during school hours of 8:45am-3:30pm. ARS § 15-120.05. There will be no exceptions to this law, outside of medical necessity. 

DRESS CODE

Students should dress in a manner that, in addition to the following guidelines, takes into consideration the educational environment, safety, health and welfare of self and others. 

• Clothing must cover the entire buttocks. Shirts may not expose bare midriffs, bare shoulders, nor be deeply cut or narrowly cut in the front or back, or under the arms. Halter tops, spaghetti straps, and strapless tops are not acceptable. 

• Clothing that exposes undergarments will not be tolerated for males or females.

• Hoods are not to be worn over their head inside. 

• Bare feet are never acceptable. In the interest of safety, shoes must be worn at all times. Closed toe shoes are to be worn for any type of physical activity. 

• Jewelry or ornamentation shall not be worn if it presents a safety hazard to self and others. 

• Defamatory writing, obscene language or symbols, or symbols of drugs, sex, or alcohol on clothing or jewelry are prohibited. 

FOOD/GUM

Gum, food, and drinks other than water are not permitted in the classroom unless otherwise directed. Students should not bring food to share for the safety of others. No glass containers are allowed anywhere on campus.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT

• To be college, career, and community-ready, students in the Deer Valley Unified School District are expected to demonstrate academic integrity. Academic integrity is all about being honest and fair in your schoolwork. It means doing work that is entirely your own and giving credit to others (including generative Artificial Intelligence tools) through proper citation when you use their ideas or words. If you have questions about the guidelines for academic integrity, you should discuss them with your teacher.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY STATEMENT

• Academic dishonesty refers to any action that compromises the integrity of academic work or evaluation processes. This includes but is not limited to:  

  • Copying or stealing another person’s work or data (plagiarism);  

  • Allowing another person to copy one’s work;  

  • Doing another person’s classwork;  

  • Creating more than one copy of one’s work for distribution;  

  • Providing another person with the answers on tests or quizzes;   

  • Noncompliance with teachers’ test-taking procedures;

  • Unauthorized copying or development of software; and

  • Unauthorized use of generative Artificial Intelligence.

• Consequences for instances of academic dishonesty range from a conference and loss of credit (student will be given another opportunity to show mastery of learning) up to a 5-day suspension and loss of credit.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• In the Deer Valley Unified School District, we are committed to providing our students with an extraordinary education while ensuring their safety, privacy, and well-being. As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance learning experiences, teachers may incorporate generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the classroom for use by students. 

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• Students must adhere to the specific guidelines provided in the assignment details. If no explicit guidance is provided regarding the use of generative AI, students are expected to follow the “restrictive” level outlined in the Student Use of Generative AI chart. If a student is unsure whether a tool or website is permitted, they should contact the teacher before using the resource or submitting their work.

GRADING PRACTICES

• The team understands the importance that families place on a student’s grades. As a team, we focus on growth over grades. This means that we strive to meet your child at their current proficiency level and help them grow throughout the year. Please help us by encouraging growth in your student instead of grades. For example, “Katie, we know reading is difficult for you. We are so proud that your Lexile (reading level) grew fifty points this quarter!” is more constructive than “A C is an unacceptable grade.”

• All class work and homework should be completed in a timely manner.  Homework/practice may receive a 1/1 for completion or marked as late or missing work in the PowerSchools grade book. Late work may be accepted at the teacher’s discretion within 2 weeks of the assignment due date or return from absence.

• Assignments that are completed over a period of time, including but not limited to, Read Theory, Common Lit, Zearn, Goblins, and Magma Math lessons, essays, or projects will not be accepted late.

• If a student is missing more than 9 assignments in a quarter a “needs improvement” (N) will be indicated under “effort” on the report card.  Please check your child’s Power Schools for a record of missing assignments

• Extra credit is not given to raise grades as it is not an effective way to show mastery of standards.

• A score of 50% will be recorded even if a student earns less than a 50% on an assessment.

• Practice is essential to learning.  If a student is missing or has not completed more than 2 assignments, the students may be expected to stay in at lunch recess as an “opportunity” until all work has been completed. All missing assignments will be recorded as a 49%.

• Retake opportunities are at the teacher's discretion. Other assignments may need to be completed in order to receive a retake opportunity. 

• District grading policies: All 1st-12th grade teachers' gradebooks will utilize the following categories in the gradebook. ASSESSMENT: This category includes all items used to measure a student’s proficiency towards the learning standards once the student has had sufficient practice and at a specified point in time. This category can include summative tests, performance assessments, reports, unit or module assessments, quizzes, long-term projects, short-term projects, presentations, capstone projects, research papers, and lab reports. COURSEWORK: This category includes formative work that provides students with the opportunity to learn content and skills and to receive feedback on their learning.  Coursework is assigned to provide meaningful, independent practice, reinforce learning targets, and extend learning. This category can include in-class assignments, quizzes, exit tickets, checks-for-understanding, and daily activities. PRACTICE: This category includes formative student work that a student completes while in the process of learning specific skills.  Student work that is done inside and outside of the classroom, such as classwork and homework, falls into this category. Category Weights: ASSESSMENT: 80%, COURSEWORK: 20%, PRACTICE: 0%

POWERSCHOOL

Teachers typically update PowerSchool on a weekly basis.  This powerful resource allows parents and students to have up-to-the minute information on student performance and progress toward mastery of standards.  Check PowerSchool regularly to make sure your child is staying current with all assignments by visiting ps.dvusd.org/public and entering your access code.   

If you are new to West Wing, your student will receive their username and password within the first week of school. Parents/Guardians will also get their access code provided to them by the front office, usually within the first week of school starting. If you do NOT receive any information about how to create/access a parent account within the first TWO weeks of school,please send your child’s homeroom teacher an email and we can check on it for you. Please know that this is a very long and tedious process for our office staff and we ask that you practice patience with them.  As teachers we  are not able to give out parent access codes.

Canvas grades are not an accurate reflection of students’ quarterly grades. Please only use PowerSchool to check your child’s grades.

BEHAVIOR PHILOSOPHY

At West Wing School, we prioritize respect, compassion, integrity, and celebration. We believe in creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment where all students can thrive and reach their full potential. Our campus will utilize behavior interventions and restorative practices instead of traditional discipline, when appropriate, to foster growth, and understanding and to protect the learning environment for all students. Thank you for being a part of our positive behavior community!

CHARACTER CARDS

Character Cards represent a structured behavior program designed for most students.  Each teacher/administrator has the right to use his/her professional judgment to modify this plan for individual students as needed.  After being seated in a classroom, a student will place their Character Card on their desk.  Positives and Infractions may be given by any staff member to a student throughout the day to help encourage positive behavioral choices. All students are expected to follow the West Wing Way - Have Respect, Integrity and Compassion.

• We consider character cards our daily, primary form of communication with parents. Please “expect to inspect” your child’s character card at least once a week but we urge you to review this daily.

• Each month, all sixth grade students will receive a new character card and are expected to have it in their possession during the school day. 

• Teachers will use the positive side of the character card to record student character that is above and beyond expected behavior.

• Infractions will be assigned if a student chooses not to follow grade level expectations. 

• Each behavior Infraction: Students who are not following teacher directions will be given an infraction to be initialed by a parent and returned the next day to the teacher who assigned the infraction. If the parent/guardian initial is not completed, an additional infraction will be given.

• 3 Behavior Infractions: Students with 3 infractions will serve a lunch detention in a buddy classroom.

• 5 Behavior Infractions: Email will be sent to parents/guardians and Administration. Students will serve after school detention (to be scheduled by 6th Grade teacher)

• 7 Behavior Infractions: Students will receive an office referral. Discipline consequences are progressive and follow the DVUSD Student’s Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. 

• Each Responsibility Infraction: Parent/guardian initial required for each responsibility infraction. If the parent/guardian initial is not completed, an additional infraction will be given.

• Every two responsibility infraction will result in a lunch detention in a buddy classroom.

• Five or more responsibility infractions will result in behavior infractions.

• Lost character cards: First lost character card will result in a responsibility infraction and a white card will be issued. Second lost character card will result in an office referral.

• If a student earns three infractions on their Character Card in one day, they will receive a lunch school detention.   

Additionally, students earn Mustang Money for adhering to the West Wing Way. Students are able to purchase items from our Mustang Store.

Teachers will use the character cards when completing the student conduct portion of the quarterly report cards.  Student conduct areas listed on the infraction side of the character card align with the conduct areas listed in the Deer Valley Unified District’s Promotion-Retention-Assessment Grading Handbook, as well as the conduct areas listed on the quarterly report cards. 

Office Referrals:  Physical or verbal aggression, theft, vandalism, threatening acts, fighting, or any infraction listed in the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook (which can be found on the West Wing’s website) will warrant immediate consequences in the form of an office referral or teacher issued after school detention.  The teacher may also choose to write an office referral for repeated minor infractions when other disciplinary practices have not been effective.

FIELD TRIPS

6th grade will be taking several field trips this year, including an out-of-state trip to YMCA Camp Surf in California. Please remember that field trips are EARNED. Any student with significant behaviors can make field trips outside of school unsafe for everyone. An alternative, educational experience can be made for students at the discretion of the teachers, staff and the administration team. Refunds for field trips will not be given for any reason, no exceptions.

COMMUNICATION

The sixth grade team primarily uses email to communicate with parents. Information may also be available on the 6th grade page of the school website.

Please consider your child’s homeroom teacher your first contact unless your question is class-specific. The homeroom teacher will be sure to respond to your message or forward it to the appropriate party at West Wing School.

If you need to contact us, please send an email or call our classroom phone.  Please note: Our classroom phones are forwarded to voicemail during the school day.  Email is the most efficient way to contact teachers.  We are looking forward to partnering with you to provide your child with an exciting year of learning.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

• 6th grade will have several field trips and special events throughout the year. 

   

  - All payments will be made through the DVSUD Payment Portal HERE

  - Families can take advantage of the Arizona Tax Credit. More information can be found HERE