What a busy few weeks in room 407! Students are knee deep in their books, we finished up our math unit, and we switched to Mx. Spencer's class to learn all about the Black Death.
In Literacy, students have been focusing on a deep study of character in the 3 books they were assigned last month: Esperanza Rising, The Sign of the Beaver, and The Hunger Games. Students have been utilizing their reader's/writer's notebooks as a tool for tracking information about the characters in their books. We have
looked into choosing strong character traits, tracking page numbers with important information, and even acknowledging when characters in our books aren't likable. In addition, we have been studying how the setting impacts a character by the mood/attitude it portrays. Students showed their understanding of this concept by creating a Literary Polaroid, where they chose a photograph that captures the mood of the setting and captioned the photograph with a quote from the book that describes the setting. There were so many thoughtful quotes, and not one was alike! This showed students that there are multiple parts of novels where the setting demonstrates its importance.
The group that is reading The Hunger Games is exploring dystopian genre elements and pulling out examples from the text that match the genre. We discussed that a dystopia is the opposite of a utopia. In a dystopian world, freedom is restricted, conformity is expected, individuality is rejected, surveillance is normalized, and there is a constant fear of the outside world. There is also a break of conformity in dystopian worlds, which students are REALLY seeing in Katniss and how she is often trying to "outsmart" the gamemakers. Our 6th graders are doing an impressive job identifying these different components of this new genre!
In Math, students just finished up their unit about unit rates and percentages. We worked on mastering multiple problem solving strategies such as using ratio tables, double number lines, and ultimately using equations to get the answer every time using minimal steps. In our study of percentages, we thought of percentages as a rate per 100. Thinking about dollars and cents helped students grasp the value of each percentage. These are applicable skills that students will continue using for the rest of their lives.
Our class was SO helpful this past week! Each student wanted to help the Kindergartners sort the change their classes raised for the Big Change Roundup. The 6th graders really helped out and were outstanding role models for the younger students in our school.
What's happening in library? Students are working on a creating a weekly news broadcast that is broadcast around the school each Friday. Ask your child what their role was in their group for this rotation!
PBIS Update: Our class earned our whole class celebration by being respectful, responsible, and safe! The kids voted on a board game day. We took 30 minutes before lunch on Wednesday to enjoy some time bonding and playing board games. We even had a few students go on a mission to create their own board game!
Thank you to all families who brought in treats for our Valentine's Day party! We all really appreciate your support!
In Literacy, students have been focusing on a deep study of character in the 3 books they were assigned last month: Esperanza Rising, The Sign of the Beaver, and The Hunger Games. Students have been utilizing their reader's/writer's notebooks as a tool for tracking information about the characters in their books. We have looked into choosing strong character traits, tracking page numbers with important information, and even acknowledging when characters in our books aren't likable. In addition, we have been studying how the setting impacts a character by the mood/attitude it portrays. Students showed their understanding of this concept by creating a Literary Polaroid, where they chose a photograph that captures the mood of the setting and captioned the photograph with a quote from the book that describes the setting. There were so many thoughtful quotes, and not one was alike! This showed students that there are multiple parts of novels where the setting demonstrates its importance.
The group that is reading The Hunger Games is exploring dystopian genre elements and pulling out examples from the text that match the genre. We discussed that a dystopia is the opposite of a utopia. In a dystopian world, freedom is restricted, conformity is expected, individuality is rejected, surveillance is normalized, and there is a constant fear of the outside world. There is also a break of conformity in dystopian worlds, which students are REALLY seeing in Katniss and how she is often trying to "outsmart" the gamemakers. Our 6th graders are doing an impressive job identifying these different components of this new genre!
In Math, students just finished up their unit about unit rates and percentages. We worked on mastering multiple problem solving strategies such as using ratio tables, double number lines, and ultimately using equations to get the answer every time using minimal steps. In our study of percentages, we thought of percentages as a rate per 100. Thinking about dollars and cents helped students grasp the value of each percentage. These are applicable skills that students will continue using for the rest of their lives.
Our class was SO helpful this past week! Each student wanted to help the Kindergartners sort the change their classes raised for the Big Change Roundup. The 6th graders really helped out and were outstanding role models for the younger students in our school.What's happening in library? Students are working on a creating a weekly news broadcast that is broadcast around the school each Friday. Ask your child what their role was in their group for this rotation!
PBIS Update: Our class earned our whole class celebration by being respectful, responsible, and safe! The kids voted on a board game day. We took 30 minutes before lunch on Wednesday to enjoy some time bonding and playing board games. We even had a few students go on a mission to create their own board game!Thank you to all families who brought in treats for our Valentine's Day party! We all really appreciate your support!
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