Sixth Grade News

This week has been very productive! The students are continuing to learn about ecosystems and what factors can add balance or cause unbalance. Next week we will dig into how an invasive species unbalances an ecosystem. In reading, we have also been looking at character traits and how to use the actions, dialogue, and thinking of a character to determine a trait that fits them. We also have been working hard on finding the main idea in non-fiction and a quote from the text to support our thinking. The students are also learning the importance of citations to avoid plagiarism. They have then been applying this to their writing by summarizing a text and using quotes from the text to support their thinking. We are look forward to our upcoming field work in a couple of weeks and are working hard to build the background knowledge necessary for these outings.  Those permission slips will be headed your way soon!

What an incredible journey this week has been! Yesterday, we handed you back some tired, sore, but pretty joyful children.  You may or may not have been able to get much of the story of the adventure out of them yet so I thought I'd take a moment to offer some questions to ask your child about their journey. What activities did you participate in? Which one was your favorite and why? Which were the most challenging and why? What did you do when you go scared on the high ropes/zipline? What did you learn from these experiences? What was it like to be away from technology for 3 days? Did you make new friends or talk to someone unexpected? What did you learn from being out in nature? What did you learn about yourself on the hike? Thank you for trusting us with you precious little ones for 3 days. Having a chance to see them in this setting and watch them grow and spread their wings gave us such a new perspective that will positively impact the rest of our year as we cont

Last Thursday was the last chance for these kids to enjoy field day in elementary school. They had a great time with each other and showed great sportsmanship. Their favorite game was Drip, Drip, Drop which is played like Duck, Duck, Goose, only with water. They also enjoyed running an obstacle course, swinging on ropes, tossing a water balloon with a blanket, and various other games. Before enjoying our own field day, the sixth graders had the opportunity to stretch their leadership skills by running stations for the other grade levels. They did a great job being role models and helping the younger kids have an enjoyable experience. We received many complements about how gentle and kind they were the younger students.

On Wednesday we had a chance to stir up some curiosity about the world around us and the plants right in our own neighborhood. Through our kick-off at Cheese Ranch we began to ask some questions about invasive species, particularly plants. Some of the questions the students developed were: "What makes something invasive?" "Do we have invasive species in Cheese Ranch?" "What happens when they take over an ecosystem?" "Where did they come from and how did they get here?" The event started with the students walking to the nearby park. As they walked some talked and laughed with friends while other sang nursery rhymes. It was so fun to hear the joy. Through the use of pictures, studying the plants at the park, and reading an article, the students developed their curiosity around invasive species. Towards the end of the visit the students took pictures of plants that they were wondering about. These pictures w

This year we have the wonderful opportunity to be an older buddy for Ms. Annette's 3rd grade classroom. On Friday, we met our new buddies for the first time and got to spend some time getting to know them.  Our crew was such a great role model! Everyone was so attentive and actively listening to their younger buddy. I heard a lot of great connections being made and got asked numerous times when we could see them again.  Our hope as buddies is to be able to support each other in major learning experiences that we have throughout the year.

Welcome to 6th! The first few days of school have blown by so quickly! We have spent the time getting to know each other both as learners and as crew mates. The students and I have been working closely together to create a safe and respectful environment where everyone can learn and grow. We have really enjoyed our time together so far and even had some time to laugh together as a sixth grade (Check out the awesome video!)