Field Trip to the Chicago Symphony!

Today, the middle school classes traveled downtown to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform.  The orchestra performed music that featured different French composers and styles.  

At home questions (that should get more than "it was good" answers):
1. What does the term "avant garde" mean?
2. Why were there two styles of French music, elegant and revolutionary, during the French Revolution?  
3.  Of the two styles, what was Berlioz?
4.  What impressed you the most about the high school soloist?
5.  How was Alex Tran showing an avant garde performance?  

The Enlightenment

The 6th graders just began their Enlightenment unit 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.  Today, the 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 will use these words throughout the unit and look at different ways that different groups of people tried to achieve them during the Enlightenment era.  Next week, they will read primary sources written by Enlightenment philosophers and will discuss them in a socratic seminar.

Question for your 6th grader:

How do people achieve knowledge, freedom, and happiness?

Scale drawing, similar figures and ratios

This week in 6th grade we are finishing up our current unit on proportions.  Today we learned how proportions can be used to in scale drawings and enlargements.  On Thursday we will learn how to use proportions to find lengths of similar figures.  Then on Friday and Monday we will start to make connections between ratios and the Fibonacci ratio.

Test next Thursday May 7th

CSO Next Week

On April 30, the NPES Middle School will be heading downtown to enjoy a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  The themes is "A Revolution in French Music". The middle school students will be hearing excerpts from Bizet, Berlioz, Ravel, Debussy, and many more.  We will be back to NPES before recess and lunch.

Since we are going to a formal venue, I ask that the students dress up for this field trip.  Please no jeans, shorts, or tshirts.  Due to the NFL draft, we may have to walk a few blocks in order to get to CSO venue, so female students need to wear appropriate shoes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. LaGorio at lagorio@npeschool.org

Looking forward to a wonderful musical experience!

This week, the 6th graders have been learning about the Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange.  Students learned that before the Age of Exploration, many plants and animals were only found on one continent.  It was only after this time that people traded new plants, animals, and ideas (not to mention diseases, guns, and slaves).  Students made predictions about where they thought popular foods originated from.  They were surprised by some of the results.  Florida oranges originated in Europe and the tomatoes found in so much Italian food came from the Americas.  Students then looked at ethnic restaurant menus and found that most modern meals have a mix from both.  Next week, students will take their Science and Exploration test on Tuesday.  They will write their in class essay on Monday.  Their question will be "Did the Age of Exploration and Columbian Exchange cause more harm than good?"

Questions for your 6th Grader:

• Talk about the Columbian Exchange at the dinner table.  Is your meal mostly from Old World or New World ingredients?
• What was your reaction to the primary source you read about the slave trade?

Proportions/Ratios/Percents

This week in 6th grade math we continue to work on our unit on proportions.  This week we will learn how to use proportions to solve percent problems and how to do size change factors using proportions.  The goal of the unit continues to be how to use proportions in real world situations.  We used proportions to figure calories in different food.  We will be taking the MAP test this coming Friday.

Unit 8 test Tuesday May 5

Questions to ask your child:

What is a proportion?

How have you used proportions?

When might you use a proportion?

6th Grade Language Arts: The Hobbit Unit

The sixth grade students started reading the classic fantasy novel The Hobbit last week.  Students will read the novel throughout April and May.  They will keep reading logs and personal vocabulary lists with words from the novel.  Students will complete activities and participate in discussions to enhance their understanding of the novel.  The final project is the Middle Earth Gazette.  Each student will write creative articles as a newspaper reporter in Middle Earth.  Be sure to ask your child how Bilbo Baggin's adventure is progressing as they read The Hobbit.

The MAP language test will be given on Thursday, April 23rd, at 8:30 a.m.

Week 31: 6th Grade Science

Week: 31

Topic:  What is life?

Objectives: 

What are the features of life?

Explain where living things come from.

Identify what all living things need to survive.

Essential Question:

 Can something be non-living but alive?

This week the 6th grade class will begin the unit by discussing what is non-living and living.  They will review the features of life and explore the experiments of Pasteur and Redi to see where life comes from.

Key Terms:

spontaneous generation

autotroph

heterotroph

Differentiation:

Observing

Predicting 

Controlled Experiment

Upcoming:

Classifying

6th Grade Language Arts: Poetry Unit

The sixth grade students are starting new reading and writing units this week.  They are studying a variety of poetry techniques and practicing their skills while writing creative poems.  During this writing unit they will create drafts of six poems and pick their three favorite poems to take to the final draft stage.  Be sure to ask your child to see the draft of his or her first poem.  The first poem was created using words that students found to be either beautiful or ugly sounding.  For example, many students found words like sapphire and glisten to be beautiful sounding and the words yolk and curdled to be ugly sounding.

Language Arts MAP Testing:

Students will take the reading and language sections of the MAP during their regularly scheduled Language Arts classes.  The reading test will be given on Thursday, April 16th, at 8:30 a.m. and the language test will be given on Thursday, April 23rd, at 8:30 a.m.

Ratios and proportions

This week in 6th grade math we are starting a new unit on ratios and proportions.  In our first two days of class we have learned about unit rates.  We learned how to find a unit rate and how to use it to find comparable situations.  We also learned that a proportion is two equivalent fractions.  For the rest of the week we will be learning how to cross multiply to solve a proportion and how to use proportions in real world situations.

Renaissance Festival and Scientific Revolution

Thank you to everyone who attended the Renaissance Festival!  It was fun to see parents and students learning about the Renaissance together.

This week, students are learning about the Scientific Revolution.  Students have been doing a great job applying their knowledge from their recent unit in science class about astronomy.  They taught each other about the impact of new scientists like Galileo and Newton and how their ideas improved upon the scientists from the ancient world. 

Questions for your 6th grader:

-What happened to make people question the ancient scientists?

-Tell me about your theories about why we have night and day.

Ready for Renaissance Festival

The 6th graders have been busy preparing for the Renaissance festival tomorrow. They took a trip to the art institute a few weeks ago for inspiration and have made some really nice pieces of art to show you. Their illuminated letters have some nice details and are representative of their personalities.
      We also made egg tempera with egg yolks and ground chalk pastels. The students gave their colors a Renaissance themed name and painted beautiful mini-flower compositions. They are currently working on a Mona Lisa parody using an app on their I-pads. Some finished and others had a little more difficulty learning to use the app that is very similar to Photoshop.

Illuminated letters inspired by the religious manuscripts the monks would paint 

during the middles ages. 

Egg Tempera flowers.

After spring break we will start to work on Chinese landscapes. 

Have a nice break.