6th Grade News
May 1
We hope this "6th Grade News" update finds everyone doing well. The sixth graders are in their final marking period and the beautiful weather is definitely here. It is important that the students remember that school is not over. We have some exciting skills and content still to learn before the year ends. This year has been an amazing quest thus far and we are excited to see it finish strong.
Thank you -
The Sixth Grade Team
Our Sixth graders in Shrek are ready for Broadway!
Thanks to Mr. Konradi (Elena's father) for sharing information about Russian history and current events!
Academic Updates
In social studies students are ending the year with a study of economic systems. Sixth grade entrepreneurs will participate in a simulation in which they create a good or service based on the needs and wants of consumers. Students will create a prototype of their good or service, conduct a market analysis, write a business plan, create an advertisement, and write formulas in an excel spreadsheet to calculate projected profits. We also have entrepreneurs sharing their knowledge and expertise with the students.
The good or service must include up-cycling, recycling, or re-purposing in some way. This can be in the actual good or service, the packaging, or the display.
This is a simulation and students will create one prototype. There is no exchange of “real” money; students will be creating their checks and keeping a balance sheet as well.
P.S. Thank you in advance to the entrepreneurs in our guest speaker series!
Science
Sixth graders are currently learning Newton's Three Laws of Motion, of which they intuitively already know and have experienced many times in their lives. From pulling a tablecloth out from under some "fine" china, to sending a classmate in a bin over a hundred colored pencils, things are definitely moving in science class! The biggest movement, of course, will be the egg drop plunge from a six-story parking garage on May 14th. Everyone should be working on building and trying out their container (with or without parachute) for the BIG day!
Language Arts
A week ago, we published the first rendition of The Crusader Chronicle online; it features writing, photography, short videos, and website design by 6th grade students. Please follow this link to check it out! We will continue to update this online publication for the remainder of the school year. This week in Language Arts, students finished reading World War II books (historical fiction, memoirs, and non-fiction) in small discussion groups. Now they have begun working on final writing projects to be published in a special WWII section of our 6th Grade Newspaper. Our next (and final) novel will be And Then There Were None, which students will bring home over the weekend to begin reading. They will also have a final portfolio due on May 22.
Students just finished a project on probability. They created games involving probability and played them with their peers. We will spend the next two weeks exploring different Geometry concepts and finish the year with some more exploration of Algebra Concepts and a review of the year. It is highly recommended that every child spend some time this summer working with operations of fractions, decimals, and percents so that they have mastery of these concepts (skills) entering seventh grade. Taking off the summer from any Mathematical learning is not recommended.
We will have our math placement tests in mid-May. These are not something that your child can study for at all. The sixth grade students will take the Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test, and the Orleans-Hanna Algebra Prognosis Test. These two tests will help us evaluate where your child is presently at in his or her cognitive development as a sixth grade math student. The goal is to place your child in a math section next year that allows him or her to continue to be challenged as his or her math skills continue to develop. Both math sections (Pre-Algebra or Algebra 1) will allow for your child to be moving forward in a math program that will allow for Calculus to be reached in their high school math career. If you have any questions, please reach out to me and ask.
Latin
In 6th grade Latin students are beginning their study of Vergil's Aeneid, the ancient Roman foundational epic. Students are reading an English abridged version during class and discussing the historical and cultural context of the story. Although no reading or written homework is expected, students will have occasional assessments on the characters and major points of the storyline, which they are keeping track of on note handouts in class.
Spanish
I can’t believe that the school year is almost coming to an end. This is actually my favorite part of the year because the students have the opportunity to create a fun and engaging project these last three weeks. In the continuing 6th grade class the students have been learning all about reflexive verbs and what reflexive verbs do in the Spanish language. They even played with a boomerang to understand this concept. The students now get the opportunity to structure their own learning opportunity by putting this knowledge into a creative culminating masterpiece. In the beginning 6th grade class the students will be working on their first major writing project using descriptive words to describe different items. The students will also be creating a final project that is creative, fun, and engaging.