Our wonderful 6th grade students continue to take pride in and ownership of their learning! This month we are pushing our 6th graders to learn how to learn through investigation and reasoning.
In science, 6th grade gets ready to become geologists. They will participate in a project
where they will plot earthquake data to decide where they would want to build a vacation house. Next, the geologists will look at fossil evidence to determine what these fossils tell
us about Earth's history.
In a cross curricular field trip involving science and social studies 6th grade went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History to complete a fossil lab with really cool (and very old!) fossils. Thanks to the hard work of Mrs. Worsham students enjoyed learning about fossils and the history of early man through exploration and investigation. This field trip has inspired the 6th grade team to see how we can bring more of this type of learning to the classroom so students learn how to think instead of relying on being told what to do.
In social studies, Mrs. Worsham prepared her 6th grade archaeologists for the field trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History by completing their field journals, examining and analyzing prehistoric artifacts to gain insight into the lives of early hominids. Of particular interest to these young archaeologists has been the role played by technology in shaping lives, both of early hominids and their own.
In math, students are working on ratios, rates, and proportions. They focused particularly on how these concepts help them to interpret the world around them. Students opened up the unit with a lemonade tasting contest to help them conceptualize ratios and how they impact taste when comparing lemonade powder to sugar. Students broke down and solved problems involving social justice issues such as making calculations based on the earnings ratio of men vs women. Students beliefs were challenged when they discovered equality meant boys pay would have to go down in order for there to be a $1 to $1 earnings ratio between men and women instead of the $1 to $0.78.
In ELA, 6th graders have demonstrated pride in themselves and the impact they have on others through writing "This I Believe," essays. Through working on these essays, they persevered through the process of exploring their beliefs, and the life experiences that led them to the beliefs they have!
As we come to the mid-point of the year, we wish to supplement students agenda books with an online resource that has daily homework assignments on it.
Check homework assignments online >>