LOTS of Spring Updates

Conferences

As a way to celebrate our students, their learning, and their time on Wizards, we will be holding in-person student-led conferences after school on Monday 4/11 and Tuesday 4/12 in our rooms.  Students will be sharing reflections on their learning and growth and we will be sharing about the transition to 7th grade.  We look forward to finally meeting many of you in person.  Please click here to sign-up if you haven't already.  Here is the link to the locations of conferences.

Field Trip

We have very exciting news that we haven't even had a chance to share with students yet.  On Friday, April 29th, we will be attending the Youth Rally for the Planet in conjunction with our work with Up for Learning.  Students will have the opportunity to be involved in a variety of activities, hear youth speakers, meet and speak with legislators, and march to show their support in the fight against climate change.  We will be sending home permission slips with students on Monday 4/11.  Please sign and return them by Friday 4/15. Here is a link to the permission slip if you would like to view it. 

Hot off the presses...PUBLISHED WIZARDS! 

Last year the Waterbury Historical Society began working on their book project.  They put out a call for students' responses to the following prompts about the pandemic...

How will you describe this time to future generations? What should be remembered and shared? 

We had Wizards write and submit their reflections for consideration.  Well, the book just came out and two of our Wizards are now published in the book! Congrats to Zoe and Beacan!  

Though they were only able to choose a handful of submissions to include in the published book, they also highlighted other students' writing on the website. We also have multiple Wizards students whose pieces appear there!

Congrats to  Vince, Stella, Cora, Leah, Liam, Riley, Nyx, Colin, and Nate! 

All of the students have been invited by the Waterbury Historical Society to read their reflections at upcoming events this spring. If your child is interested in reading at one of these events, you should contact Jane Willard for details. Janew01111@yahoo.com  802-244-6330

If you would like to see their writing, the link to the Waterbury Historical Society is here. You will have to click on the 3 most recently published newsletters to see them. 

But wait there's more! 

Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability

Our work with Up for Learning continues on a weekly basis.  Students have chosen projects based on their interests and are currently contacting stakeholders to determine the needs around their ideas.  A highlight for the adults has been our meeting days when the Wizards teachers and staff from Up for Learning are able to conference with each group, listen to their plans, and truly partner with them to get their projects going.  

Just this week, a team presented their project to Erica Dolan and Tom Drake to reduce and eliminate the use of plastic spoons at breakfast.  A second group collected important data about bathroom equality to determine the need for free period products in our bathrooms.  Another group began a food drive competition which has already produced over 400 items for the Waterbury Food Shelf.  Other teams are planning a spring cleaning drive to collect household items for Refugees living in Vermont, a green-up day contest, and the creation of a website to educate teachers about the global goals.   It truly has been an incredible experience to partner with your children to help them learn important skills while making a difference in our school, community, and beyond.  

Students collecting food from homerooms around the school

Students present to Tom Drake and Erika Dolan

Math

We wrapped up our fraction unit that focused on division.  Students have been working hard to do what mathematicians do which is noticing patterns and making generalizations from these patterns.  We have recently begun our investigation into expressions and equations which has a big focus on algebraic thinking.   

Science

We are in our third week of an investigation into the interactions between the earth, moon, and sun.  Students have created scale models and are investigating why we have seasons.

We created a scale model based on the earth being the size of a hole punch.  If you look closely, you can see the scale sun on the left and the hole punch is with the group of students.  

Students made sundials to investigate the reason the shadows change throughout the day

Language Arts

We recently finished our Civil Rights unit.  After learning about Selma and the Voting Rights Act, we made connections to current-day voter suppression issues.  The students are quite mature in their ability to understand and process these very relevant topics. They are adept at participating in Harkness circles where they lead the discussion without any intervention from me.  It's a beautiful thing to watch them have a thoughtful dialogue about such important issues. 

Please ask your child what their biggest takeaway or learning from the unit was.  Here are a few quotes from their final reflections...

"The most important thing I learned about the civil rights movement was that the protesters were persistent and brave.These people who protested were probably some of the bravest people to walk on american soil because even in the face of danger even in the face of their safety they would continue..."- Colin

"My takeaway from the unit was that many civil rights activists laid down their life just to make the world a better place..." Cora

"This unit has been one of the most eye opening unit yet this year!..." Ella

"The most important thing I will learn about the civil rights movement is that people have fought hard just for equality..." Lily

"The most important thing that I learned from this unit is that together, we can make change..."- Nyx

"I think one of the most important takeaways from the Civil Rights unit is that if you work hard and fight for what you believe in with your words, you can achieve what is right..." Franki

You may have heard about the Chocolate Chirp cookies? If not, ask your child about entomophagy and why it's good for the planet. It's our newest unit that the kids find so intriguing that I "trick" them into learning how to write a really good argument piece.;) Here are some "reviews" from the cricket cookies.

Social Studies

We are learning about the Ancient Greeks and the contributions they have made to our current society.  Student groups researched their city-states (poleis) and created an identity for their team around that.  This past week students researched the original Olympics and then got to participate in some events themselves. 

"Shotput"

Measuring javelin throws

Fight On Sparta!

Joy on Team Wizards

Students were tasked to create something out of snow with the theme "Tropical".   Turns out sunbathing works too!

On Wednesdays during our half-hour team time, student groups have selected, organized, and are leading minute-to-win-it games.  We are impressed with our 6th graders' communication, ability to follow directions and the fact that they have so much fun.

Enjoying the last of the snow