Week 38: 6th Grade Science

Week: 38

Over the past couple of weeks the 6th Graders completed their Virus Projects.   They used proportions to figure out the size of a virus and that 19 million viruses would fit on the head of a pin.  Using simple statistics the class also predicted how many turns it would take to infect the whole class if one classmate is infected.  For me the best part of this lesson is the great discussion that evolves.  Make sure you asked them about their projects.  

Can you believe it is over and everyone survived.  I hope your son or daughter enjoyed this year in science and found a new understanding of it.  Have a safe and restful summer!

Sincerely,

Mr. T

Colonies Jigsaw

Today, the 6th graders are finishing up their final unit, which was about the American colonies.  They are taking their test today.  Earlier this week, the class was split up into three groups.  Each group researched one of the three regions of colonies (New England, Middle Colonies, Southern Colonies). Then, they looked for similarities and differences between the colonies and taught one another what they had learned.  This unit is preparing them for 7th grade social studies, which will cover early American history, starting with the French and Indian War.  Have a great summer!

Algebra

This week in 6th grade math we continue to work on our unit on algebra.  We started the unit by learning about the distributive property.  We have now expanded on the distributive property and are using it to simplify expressions and combine like terms.  The class really had a tough time today with some equations that required using the distributive property several times and then having to combine like terms.  It was great to see their perseverance because they never gave up.  For the rest of the year, we will learn how to solve more complex algebra problems and then learn about the Pythagorean Theorem.

I hope everyone has a great summer and I will see you all next year!

Algebra equations

This week in 6th grade math we finished up our unit on proportions, ratios, and percents and we are moving onto our final unit on algebra.  We started the week off by taking our unit 8 test, which took two days to complete because there was a great deal of computation on the test.  For the rest of the week, we will begin to learn about the distributive property.  We will start by looking at area models and then apply that to creating a formula for the distributive property.

6th Grade Language Arts: Poetry Review

This week, sixth graders will create a poetry review.  Poetry uses sounds and images to reach beyond your mind and grab your heart.  Other forms of writing may inform or entertain, but a poem’s purpose is to make you feel and respond—and sometimes even soar!

One great way to respond to a poem is to write a poetry review.  Like a book review, a poetry review tells what a poem is about.  It also explains what makes the poem work so well.  Students will choose a poem that they enjoy by class on Wednesday and then they will begin writing their own poetry review.

The American Colonies

Last week, students finished their Enlightenment unit by taking a quiz.  Now, we are shifting our focus from European history to American history with a unit on the American colonies.  This will help prepare students for the curriculum in 7th grade, which will cover early United States history. Students will be using a lot of primary sources for this unit to look at the formation of the colonies from multiple perspective including the colonists, Native Americans, and slaves.  For example, today, they looked at primary sources from the perspective of John Smith, the leader of the Jamestown colony.  They used primary and secondary sources to defend their opinion about whether or not the story of Pocahontas saving John Smith's life was really true.  Later in the week, they will learn about the Plymouth colony.  Next week, they will finish the school year by completing a project about the different colonies and their last test will be on Friday, June 3.

Question for your 6th grader:

• Did Pocahontas save John Smith's life?

The Enlightenment

Over the past few weeks, the 6th graders have been learning about the Enlightenment in Social Studies.  They are learning about many "new" ideas that changed the way people viewed society and government in Europe during the 18th century.  Last week, students discussed the question "How do humans achieve knowledge, freedom, and happiness?".  They did a graffiti wall activity where they brainstormed what each of those words means and how people can achieve them.  Then, students came up with their own definitions.  We used these words throughout the unit and looked at ways that different groups of people tried to achieve them during the Enlightenment era.  On Thursday, they read primary sources written by Enlightenment philosophers about the role of women in society and discussed them in a socratic seminar.  Tomorrow, they will debate what the role of the common people in government should be.

Questions for your 6th grader:

• How do people achieve knowledge, freedom, and happiness?
• How much power should the people of a nation have in the government?