Time is flying by in sixth grade. In addition to our regular school work, we are participating in the D.A.R.E program with Chief Wyman and Lisa Remick (retired DEA), writing superlatives for our yearbook, making preparations for our Merrowvista field experience, and getting inspiration from author/illustrator Marty Kelley. Whew! Just writing it makes me tired. J
We have collected $130.00 toward our class gift, A Brick at Ford’s Theatre, but are still $120.00 short. Be on the look out for an end of the year fund raising opportunity.
Math: The Veterans just wrapped up Unit 8 and are looking ahead to Unit 9, which is heavily based on geometry. We will explore the coordinate plane, area formulas and the properties of polygons. In addition, each student will apply fractions, percents and decimals to these concepts. It will be a fun chapter filled with plenty of challenges.
The sixth graders will finish Unit 8 next week. They have been focused on rates, ratios and proportions for the last two weeks. Ask your sixth grader about the “Ninja Move”. Looking forward to Unit 9, we can expect a heavy dose of algebra. This is a great unit, but with things such as the distributive property, like terms, and solving equations, it will be challenging. I completely expect the room to be filled with smoke by the middle of the unit.
Social Studies/Language Arts: Have you ever considered what life in a medieval manor might be like? Maybe you might be a blacksmith, a tailor, or maybe even a gong farmer. In any case, the sixth graders are doing just that. They have picked a profession that interests them and are building that person’s place of business or dwelling using Sketch-Up. Each building will be authentic and built to an appropriate scale. In the immediate future, each student will collaborate with their classmates to create their own three-dimensional manor.
To compliment our creative work, we are reading the novel Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi. The book follows a medieval peasant boy through a winding plot of adventure and mystery.
Science: In science we continue to study the fundamentals of chemistry and chemical reactions. We have explored pH at a molecular level and made Chem-eleons, using red cabbage extract (indicator) and household liquids (colors). We are also using the Vernier digital thermometers to find out if sodium bicarbonate and citric acid is an exothermic or endothermic reaction. The popular hypothesis is…exothermic.