Welcome to 6th Grade Math

Dear Parents,
My name is Rocky Contreras and I am your child’s 6th grade Math teacher this year. This
is my second-year teaching math here at NSMS. I was born in the Rio Grande Valley and grew
up a migrant. I am married with four children of my own and my wife is also a teacher.
Sixth grade math will require the students to learn skills that will be needed as they
continue with school. For this reason, students are expected to pay attention, take notes, be
respectful of each other, cooperate with each other, and participate in classroom discussions.
When a student is being disruptive, belligerent, or disrespectful they will get 3 warnings from
myself to correct this behavior. After the third warning, I will contact parents to discuss the
issue and if any action will be required by the school.
Grading is mostly done on the Summit Learning Platform. You child is to keep up with
the platform by completing the Power Focus Areas and Additional Focus Areas. The grade they
receive by completing their Project will be by taking a test. The test will grade the student by
the number of indicators they are able to get correct on the test. The grade is based on a rubric
for the Project Area currently being taught. The student has an opportunity to get bonus points
by showing their work to the problems on the test on a scratch sheet of paper. Make-up tests
will be a alternate test that will have the same indicators being tested, but the questions will be
different. There is no homework given, the students have a period called SDLt (Student Driven
Learning time) where your child can work on the platform.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by e-mail or call the school to
get a hold of me directly. If I am not able to answer the phone, please leave me a message and
I will get in touch with you as soon as possible by e-mail or phone call. If you child needs to
meet with me, I am available to meet with them immediately after class or we can arrange a
time to meet. Your child is very important and I want them to have a wonderful, safe, and
successful year here at NSMS.