Welcome Back Wizards!

It's hard to believe we've only been back at school for a month now. So much has happened in that short time! Below is the highlight reel from the first month of school. 

Back to School Basics

We spent the first few days reconnecting with each other and brushing up on our team-building skills through a variety of activities.

Uncommon Commonalities
Goal: Make Connections
(Figure out what your group has in common)

Cup Stacking
Goal: Use those team-building skills

Hula Hoop Challenge
Goal: More team-building skill practice... such as communication, patience & perseverance
Can you cross the field while keeping the hula hoop in contact with each person's body? 

Back to Back Artists
Goal: Following Directions
Can you draw the picture your partner describes without getting to see it?

Cup Relay
Goal: Problem-Solving
Can your team get all of the colors lined up while only switching two cups at a time? 

Spreading our Wizard Magic

Since we already had a student-developed Wizard Constitution, students did some activities to help them reflect on last year's work and consider if we wanted to keep our document or revise it.  In the end, all of the homerooms came to the conclusion that we needed to add being inclusive and positive to our document based on some of the challenges we've had.  Last week, students signed our revised constitution.  In addition, they worked on how they will personally "spread their Wizard magic" by following our Constitution. 

Friday Funnies

Every Friday we continue to hold a whole team morning meeting with all students in the same room.  Students volunteer to share jokes.  It's a great opportunity to build community, laugh, practice public speaking, and be a respectful member of an audience.  Both the students and teachers love this tradition.

Math

Our wonderful Wizards came to 6th grade knowing the routines and expectations so well that we were able to get started very quickly on our math curriculum.  Over the past weeks, students have been exploring the area of parallelograms and triangles.  We are now beginning to work on surface area and started this with a problem-solving task called The File Cabinet.  This problem is an open-ended, bigger task that allows for students to explore ideas, think creatively, and is accessible to all learners.  The engagement was high, and students were very excited for the final reveal.  Be sure to ask your student about this problem!

How many sticky notes will it take to cover this file cabinet?

Students worked for an entire class to figure out how many sticky notes would cover a large file cabinet.  They had limited information but were able to problem-solve, and every group got to a reasonable estimate.  

Students used problem-solving strategies like drawing models, breaking the problem down into smaller problems, and using friendly numbers to help them find a solution

When we finished the File Cabinet problem, students had some time to practice finding the area of triangles and parallelograms.  They were so proud of their work that they wanted me to take photos, and there was an audible sigh when I asked them to erase their boards.  

Language Arts

I always love teaching year two with the same crew! We are able to jump right into learning. We've started the year by getting some of our new routines established. This year, students will have direct spelling instruction in class and then follow up with some "fun" practice activities for homework. This past week was our first week of spelling. Next week they'll start incorporating the Spelling Choice Board as part of their homework. 

As we establish some foundational routines for the year, we are also learning about what makes up our identities. Our reading units this year will be framed around the identities of the main characters, so it's important for students to understand all the parts of one's identity and how these identity markers affect how they experience the world. More to come on our units for the year! 

Here are some questions you can ask your child about Language Arts class...

• What is feral writing? What do you like/dislike about it? What kind of prompts does Ms. Michael give you? What did you write about this week?
• What are homophones? Tell me about the homophone joke of the day? 
• What's the new absent tray policy? 
• What does the start of class look like during the week? What are the routines?
• What in the world are "C.H.O.P.S."?
• What is your favorite part of Language Arts class? 

Here are some pictures of the students playing an identity game where they made connections to one another. Ask them to share what the prompts were! 

Science

This year in 6th grade Science, the focus will be on Earth Science. We started the year by learning about Earth's Systems (biosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and atmosphere) and how they interact with each other. We will be finishing this unit learning about the role that the ocean plays in these systems. Students are also going to be taking on more accountability with their self direction. We have done stations in the classroom and gone outside for the first time this year. Students then had to self assess whether they were following directions, staying on task, and working as directed by following a rubric. This work is to help build skills that are needed for academic success outside of the content that students are learning. To support some of what students are learning in science at home, talk to your student about what you may notice in nature and ask them what systems (or even cycles) those things may fit into.