First 14 Days! AND MORE!

What a great first few weeks it has been!  We have been busy in the classroom creating a strong classroom community and learning how to work together!

As a team, we started our year bringing all three classes together to learn about working in a group.    The first thing we did was called Broken Squares.  Students were placed in groups of 5 and given an envelope with pieces of a square inside.  The activity was complete when ALL members of the group had a square.  Now the tricky part was that they were not allowed to talk to each other and they couldn't take a piece from someone else....they COULD give someone a piece.  After 10 minutes, we stopped the students and asked what they needed to succeed.  It was clear that communication was needed.  Students were then allowed to talk to each other to solve the problem.  Success was had!  Activities like this have continued each day for students to understand what is need to work with others.  Collaboration Communication No one is done until everyone is done  In my class, I have also incorporated Building Our Character.  We are focused on  Responsibility Respect Perseverance Confidence Enthusiastic 
We have been brainstorming ways that we can build our character within ourselves and keep a chart for reference throughout the day.  Some things that the students thought of:  Get up with their own alarm clock Believe in yourself  Engage in your own learning Persevere Use strategies to stay focused

I just can't express how exciting this is in the classroom each day.  I'm feeling very enthusiastic and love coming to work each day to see these smiling faces!

PART 2 I started to write this a few weeks ago and to work on it over a weekend and get it out to all of you.  Well, that didn't happen.  I don't remember what I had going on that weekend but it stopped me from continuing this blog post.  So here I am back again, with more exciting things we are doing.  In our ELA block, we are reading Fish in a Tree. This is a wonderful book and is about a classroom that is filled with students that all learn differently and all have stuff.  It also offers us a lot of opportunities to talk about our classroom and how we are building our character by recognizing the differences we all have.  Today we had Fun Friday and with the theme of the book, made Friendship Bracelets that we will give out within the school to let them know, they have a friend in us.  Four girls from our class taught us all how to make them and we spent a great morning listening to music and making bracelets and most importantly building our relationships together.  In writing, we are beginning our Narrative writing.  We are using videos from Pixar Story Tellers and how they develop their stories to guide us in developing ours.  It's been really engaging to see how the work that we do in 6th-grade could possibly, maybe, someday lead to being a storyteller at Pixar.  One activity for character development was picturing our character trapped in an elevator.  What would their reaction be?

In science, we completed our Science Secret Agency Training preparing us for working with matter and how we measure it.  Our training agents had to pass a series of tests to move onto our first official Secret Science Agent Assignment.   Chemistry!   This is a great unit filled with hands-on activities that are engaging and exciting for students. It's one of my favorites and is great practice after completing the Scientific Method and helping us be ready for our Science Fair in March. 

Welcome to the 6th Grade 2019-2020!

Welcome to 6th Grade!
It's the first day of summer and I have already had emails about supply lists for next year!  I love that the kids are already thinking ahead and excited for 6th-grade!  I have updated the list for ELA and Science and will add Math and Social Studies soon! 
I do hope that everyone has enjoyed the first day! It was great to see the sun!  This is a bittersweet time for me.  I'm always really sad to see my class move onto 7th grade but it mixes with the excitement of my new class coming in and all the great things we will do.  It's really the best part of teaching.  You always have new beginnings and fresh ideas. The ever-changing world of teaching allows you to sort of start again. So as I just begin my summer vacation and I'm happy to have some time with my family ( I have a new granddaughter, Willow), I can't help start planning what we will be doing in September and starting to lay out the plan for the upcoming school year!
I hope that when we see each other in September that you come in rested, excited, and ready to do some great things in 6th-grade!

So Much to Share....

What a busy time of year it has been!  Science Fair, snow days, Sticks and Stones, snow days, snow days and snow days!  Hopefully, Spring is arriving and soon we will see the signs of the flowers starting to bloom. 

Let's start with the Science Fair!  OUTSTANDING!  The students did such a great job!  For many, this is their first experience with an At-home project that is very detailed and that they will be presenting to more than just their peers.  This is our second year having the Science Fair and it is one of my favorite things.  It really shows how much time and effort each student puts into their experiment. We are really happy to say we have 100% participation.  And while many may not "win" with the judges, they certainly win with me.  

Here are some highlights!

The anticipation of everyone arriving!

Next is the Sticks and Stones Kindness Project!  WOW!  Again I was taken back by my class and how well they worked together and that goes all of the 6th-grade classes!  It was so awesome to see the whole show come together and each classrooms contribution.  I was lucky enough to work with Skip many years ago and when I saw his new venture I thought that this would be great for our school since our focus is Kindness. I really had no idea how awesome it would be.  

Admittedly at first, my class was not excited about the performance and many came up to my desk to do a little complaining.  "I don't want to perform" "I don't think I can make it to the Parent show",  My words were, "Just see what it is before you make a judgment."   Off we went to our first rehearsal... and when we returned all of a sudden chatter, laughter and excitement filled the room.  Plans got moved around and the kids were excited about the performance.  Every day they were asking, "When is Sticks and Stones today?"  And then PERFORMANCE DAY!  And they blew it away!  The performance wasn't the only thing they took away from this though.  We had a recap after our school performance to just hear what they thought and learned from this experience.  Words students used to describe how they felt: Proud, confident, perseverance, happy, and working together.  It was hard not to get teary listening to them.  ( I do get teary pretty easily though)  :)   I really feel that this is something they will carry with them and will remember to show kindness to others.  I hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did and continue to share the message. KINDNESS!  

The message during rehearsal

I hope this video works for you.  

Science Fair Update

The Science Fair is rescheduled for Friday, March 16.

Our team will be at 10:15-12:15 (Burns/Economos, Boyle, and Stewart)

Science Fair

Just a reminder that the Science Fair Poster is due Wednesday, March 7

 and the 

Science Fair will be held Friday, March 9 in the gym.   

Our teams time is 10:45-12:15  

(Burns/Economos, Boyle, and Stewart-homerooms)

I'm sure everyone is working hard and getting excited about our day!  

Good Luck!  

Fossil Assessment:  Thursday, January 11 (moved from Wednesday, January 10)   Please look in our Google Classroom for a Study Guide and more information

We Gotcha!, Ms. Burns!

What a great time we had last Friday fooling Ms. Burns to think she had a new student!  It's hard to believe that a new haircut and adding glasses can make someone look so different!  Everyone had a great laugh, even Ms. Burns!  She is such a good sport!  You can see what Matthew looked like in his before picture above his head in the bright green/yellow shirt!  Would you recognize him?