As a middle school, we participated in the nationwide walkout to raise awareness about school safety and gun violence. The students walked out of class to pay tribute to the 17 people who died in Parkland, Florida because of a school shooting. Some of the older students read poetry, spoke about the individual people who were killed, and the choir sang "Where is the love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.This was a very special moment of solidarity among the students and staff. Thank you for being a part of this. Oh the places we went this week. This week the school had a chance to celebrate Read Across America week, which culminated in a buddy reading activity. The students were able to read with their 2nd grade buddies and share in the joys of reading together. We also read a few Dr. Seuss books throughout the week and discussed the many hidden themes in the wonderful books. From a discussion about the Lorax and our impact on the environment to the Sneetches and their need to be unique, everything had great meaning for the sixth grade class. What an honor to celebrate such a wonderful man and his many impactful works. This week we celebrated random acts of kindness by recognizing our classmates and friends for the kind things they do each day. Students had the chance to pick an act of kindness they wanted to complete by the end of the week and display it for the whole school to see. Students also wrote down acts of kindness that others completed toward them, to be looped in a school wide chain of kindness. This week is just a beautiful reminder that the world is colored with kindness. It just takes one act of kindness to brighten someone's day. Remember to be kind!
This week we took time to discuss the power of failure and what one can do with their failure. Truly, failure is a chance to learn and grow. The power of YET is a facet of growth mindset, which empowers students, parents, and teachers to believe in their ability to grow in mental capacity. It was important for the students to be reminded that a failure can be the next step in one's success and as Nick Foles says "[failure] is an opportunity for your character to grow." Remember to always encourage your students to ask what else can I do? What can I do more of? It's important to be reflective on what you have done and what you can do more of. Want to know more about growth mindset, check out this link.
As we wrapped up our introduction to Algebra, Unit 4. The students had the chance to become the teachers. Students worked together to determine how to teach their peers the new math vocabulary related to properties of math. Check out the students teaching their classmates what each property means.
Along with a super fun day of tubing, the students got to explore the science behind the fun. The students were each given responsibilities in order to track mass, time, distance, and friction. They were spread out throughout the mountain and the indoor spaces to run tests, gather times, and conduct experiments. Today, back at school, they were able to calculate the average speed of objects traveled at different weights. The calculations also took into account friction and outside forces that might have skewed the data. Check out the fun we had on the mountain! In order to practice our math facts, the students were able to play a competitive game to test their skills against two opponents. Given 4 numbers the students had to write their own equation to get as close as possible to a goal value. This required students to utilize their understanding of order of operations, parentheses and exponents. Students were also challenged to embrace their cooperative, collaborative, and communicative skills as they worked with their teammate. Check out all of the fun we had!
Although it may have been smelly the students learned about our ability to convert our trash to renewable energy. It was enlightening to hear from some of the engineers of the plant about the chemical process that goes into the steam process. After learning more about the facility the students were able to get a tour to see the equipment for themselves. One of the best parts was actually wearing the hardhats, vests, and goggles.
This past week the students were introduced to topics that they will see in our new book, Hatchet. The students were divided into teams to learn about the Canadian wilderness, survival skills, heart attacks, and more. The students did a great job of presenting their learning to their classmates in a group presentation using Google Slides. The students worked well together and did a great job of communicating their learning.
Ask you student... Which topic did you learn about? What was the most interesting thing you learned? What was something interesting you learned from a different groups presentation? After weeks of reading logs, finishing books, and working on projects the students finally got to present their work to their peers. Check out some of the beautiful projects. |
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June 2018
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