6th Grade Blog

  H A P P Y    H AL L O W E E N ! Leading up to the 6th grade's celebration on Friday, they worked on being "spooky" energy tycoons in science class, where we started our unit on Natural Resources. We learned the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources, examples of each, and read about some real-world examples of when energy resources go "bad"- read about the story of Centralia, PA  here . We also learned about how the U.S has changed how we get our energy over the last 20 years- they might have asked you what energy source is used to heat their home.  For the past week, we've been working on projects where they are working in groups to choose a natural resource and write a proposal to sell a new town of 10,000 residents to their energy resource. They have to research benefits of the natural resource and address the town's mayor to convince them that their energy resource is the best fit for the town. They are also illustrating posters t...

In language arts, the sixth graders are continuing their investigation of Greek mythology. This week, they explored themes present in the story of Pandora's box. As part of All Abilities Month, the middle school students participated in a presentation by Acting Without Boundaries,  an organization that empowers indivdual swith physical disabilities through theater. Our students learned about the ways that some AWB members adapt their environments to make them more accessible.  Sophia and Sam participated in a simulation designed to show how an everyday task, such as putting on  a shirt, can be challenging for a person with a disability. The AWB members shared with our students that although their lives have some differences, they enjoy many of the same experiences as most people. Our very own Mrs. Cefaratti woks closely with AWB, and helps to direct their performances. Reminders: October 30th is the Mission Party - half day for students Please put names in sweats

The 6th graders worked hard this week on their Milestones tests, as well as tests in a few different subjects, so they appreciated the opportunity to let loose a little bit and record a how-to video for the 1st and 2nd graders on making Halloween Masks. They even made one for Mr. Bones, the resident classroom skeleton! 

The students in Mrs. Zwilling's PreAlgebra class have started a year-long unit on financial literacy.  In this unit students will practice and learn mathematical calculations involving decimals, percents, negative integers, and order of operations.  They will apply these skills to financial calculations including balancing a check register, creating a budget, adding sales tax to a purchase price (percent increase), determining the sale price (percent decrease), and determining simple and compound interest.  They will use the probability and statistics they learn later in the year to look at financial reports and stock market data. So far this year, students have been given checks for their collective work on a Gimkit, unit assessments, and IXL.  They will be able to use these earnings for the first time in the PreAlgebra Halloween Class Store (pictured above).   After selecting from items including 24 hours of calculator use, a review game for the class, an...

From robots to Greek myths, our sixth graders are enjoying the wide array of subjects that middle school has to offer! In STEAM class, the students are working in rotations to explore robotics and control technology as well as scientific data and analysis. Arrington, Sophia, and Summer experiment with Ozobot. Sam and John use Scratch to code a knight animation. Izabella and Gabby use Google Earth to create maps of significant landmarks in Philadelphia.  As they work through each challenge, the students record their reflections in their online journals. In language arts class, the sixth grade is using D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths to study figures from Greek mythology. This will give them background knowledge that they'll need in their next unit to tackle literature with many allusions to these Greek myths.  The sixth grade is studying the technique of continuous contour in art class. Mrs. Mueller challenged the students to draw their hands without once picking up their penc...

  The first few weeks of Earth Science has been all about how we use maps to understand the Earth as a whole. We learned about the different types of maps that exist, and how they show us different features of the Earth. We started the unit by mapping the school, and Ms. Zafiris tried to use the maps to get around her new school.              We then explored latitude and longitude, practicing interpreting the coordinates for different points on the Earth. Finally, we looked at topography maps. Taking a 3D landscape and putting it on a 2D map can be hard to comprehend, so we made physical topography maps using modeling clay and water (dyed blue to represent the ocean) and as our "sea level" rose, we drew contour line to map the landscape. This illustrated how the steeper a landscape is (either going up, or down into a valley!) the closer contour lines are, helping us to visualize and read topography maps.  And of course, you can't do sci...