6th Grade - Mary Immaculate Catholic School

“Education is not learning facts, but the training of the mind to think.” Albert Einstein

Hello, my name is Colleen Alexander Garcia, born and raised in the beautiful and tropical country of Belize. I am also a citizen of this God-given, powerful country, the United States of America.

I emigrated to this country years ago, to pursue my Belizean, American dream, of furthering my career, as an educator. Before I came to this promising country, I earned an AA Degree from the Belize Teacher’s College, and one from the University of West Indies, in Jamaica. After years of dedication and hard work, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree, in Liberal Studies, from the Union Institute University, in Ohio, and a Master’s Degree, in English, from Loyola Marymount University, in California.

My philosophy of teaching is based on a belief that learning needs to be student centered and that students need to be equal partners in the learning process. My role involves using my expertise to put the necessary resources in the hands of the students or more likely to be sure that my students are well equipped to find and evaluate the resources they need.

My motto is to always turn adversities into opportunities. With my strong family-support, belief, and faith in God, I strive to never give up; I listen to God’s voice and His message, then, I follow His lead. Beyond striving to ensure that students learn the fundamental content of the courses I teach, I do hope to continue to pass on to my students here at Mary Immaculate School, a great love for God as they prepare to become stewards and great citizens of this world.

What we do in 6th grade:

English
• Enable children to master Grammar through direct instructions, rigorous practice, written application, and on-going assessment.
• Guide children to experience, explore, and improve their writing through the study of writing genres.
• Improve children’s writing skills through the implementation of the writing process.
• Give children speaking and writing practice, and the tools they need they need to communicate with clarity, accuracy, and confidence.
• Provide children with opportunities to use technology as a means to research, take notes, assess, apply news skills, and communicate inside and outside the school setting, orally and in written form.

Vocabulary
• Engage students in learning new vocabulary using card activities/games.
• Provide activities to close the comprehension gap between struggling and proficient readers.
• Use appropriate instructional materials for auditory and tactile learners.
• Promote active learning using graphic organizers and engaging students in activities based on test results.
• Use online memory word games to make vocabulary instruction fun and exciting for students.
• Promote collaborative and cooperative learning activities to enhance learning.

Social Studies
• Explain how major events are related to one another in time.
• Show/construct timeline of events, people, and periods of the historical eras they are studying.
• Use a variety of maps, documents, including google maps to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries.
• Distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, facts from opinion, historical points of view from historical facts, primary from secondary sources, and verifiable from unverifiable information.
• Understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation to historical events.
• Recognize the role of chance, oversight, error in history, and are subject to change as soon as new information is uncovered.