A note to parents from Mrs. Jacobs

I am at a teacher workshop this week from Wednesday through Friday, learning new techniques of engaging our sixth graders in science.  I have prepared lesson plans for my substitute, who will be keeping our sixth graders on track with the material we would have studied if I had been there.  Tell my students I miss them, and I'm bringing back lots of great activities to help them connect with science.

The rest of this week I am at a STEM workshop, studying new ways to bring authentic science and math to the sixth grade classroom.  Lots of great ideas here on how to involve students in activities that help them learn for themselves, not just study science out of books.  I can't wait to bring some of these into the classroom.  Tell my Jewels I miss them!

Fossil sandwiches...sound yummy?

In writer’s workshop today we wrote acrostics for our grandparents.  Unfortunately, some students were elsewhere, so not all did it today.

We played games using spellingcity.com today so that your child could see how easy it is to get on at home and prepare for our spelling tests on a fun  site.

In science we made fossil sandwiches.  Ask your child about this activity.

Class does a great job presenting their book in Rise 'n Shine

Today we had our Rise ‘n Shine and all of you should be proud of your child, because each student helped in one way or another with our presentation.  Not all were on stage but all helped with the writing of our book that we shared this morning.

In spelling we took our pre-test.  I will put the words on Spelling City as soon as I am finished with the blog.

In science we checked our notebooks, as they are a large part of our grade and some were not caught up.  It is important that if your child misses, he/she needs to talk to a classmate to see if anything was added to our notebooks.  It will be written on the absent note, as well, but it is good practice to ask a classmate. 

Tomorrow we will be working on problem in a story for writing.

Tomorrow is also Grandparent’s Night.  I hope to see you there.

Sixth graders finish preparing for Monday presentation

It doesn't sound like much when you read about it, but today was a full day for sixth graders.  In spelling we took our test.  We're performing the book we wrote in Rise 'n Shine on Monday, and we did a lot of work on that today.  Presentation skills are important for sixth graders to develop, so we worked on every aspect of performing before an audience.In science we went to the computer lab.

Have a great weekend!

Writers finish and practice performing book for next week's program

In writer’s workshop we continued working on our book.  We also practiced our speaking parts for Rise ‘n Shine next Monday.

In science we measured 8 irregular-shaped items, using the displacement method.  We used graduated cylinders, pipettes, and several different objects.  The children seemed to grasp how it works. 

Here is our completed book:

Cooperate means, “You cut the paper while I glue.”

Patient means waiting for the bell to ring.

Proud means, I am proud of the 100 I made on my AR test!

Modest means you don’t run around telling everyone you made a 100, even if it is true.

Respect means listening when there is someone talking to the class or school audience.

Trustworthy means, if you ask me to hold your pencil, I will still have it when you return, in the same condition.

Fair is when you are working in a group, everyone gets a chance to participate.

Unfair is when you’re working in a group, but you do everything and don’t let others help.

Compassionate means giving half of your candy to someone that dropped his.

Greedy is not sharing supplies with those that don’t have any.

Generous is sharing your supplies even if you don’t have a lot.

Pessimistic is thinking you will fail before you even begin an assignment.

Optimistic is thinking you will do well on your spelling test because you studied.

Courageous means letting an adult know that a bully is picking on you or someone else.

Polite means, ‘Your hair looks nice today.”

Honest means, you found a dollar and you turn it into the teacher rather than keeping it, because you know it isn’t yours.

Envy means I can’t get over the fact that you won an award, and I didn’t.

Loyal means still being friends even if your friend makes you mad.

Open-minded means I will try to play the recorder even though I don’t like music.

Regret means not finishing your work when you had time to do it.

Content means I am happy with the backpack I already have.

Sixth graders work on book they are writing for next week's presentation, add to science notebooks

In spelling today your child got to choose his/her assignments from three given ones.  He/She chose two of the three.

We are still working on our book for next week's Rise 'n Shine presentation.

In science we added answers to questions in our notebook.  We also did some more activities dealing with displacement.

Classes measure volume of irregular shapes in science

It was great to be back today; although the pain has not gone away, it has ebbed a bit with the help of some medicine.

In writer’s workshop we worked on our book that we will read to the school at Rise ‘n Shine next Monday.

In science we went over what they read yesterday.  We also figured out to measure the volume of irregular shapes.  We discovered by using displacement, we are able to measure the volume of such shapes.  This is the bathtub way.  When you get in the tub, the water rises, right?  We measured the amount of liquid in a graduated cylinder.  We then placed an object in the water, and read the water level with the new object. Since 1 ml of liquid is equal to 1 cm cubed of solid, we were able to figure out the volume.  For example, we started with 130 ml of water in our graduated cylinder.  We added a tornado tube and then it showed 145 ml.  We subtracted and found that the volume of the tornado tube was 15 cm cubed.

Have a great evening!

Teacher misses school today

I have been out sick today with some kind of muscle strain in my neck and shoulders.  I went to a walk-in clinic yesterday and was given medicine, but that didn't make a dent in the pain, so I saw my doctor today and got stronger meds.  He said it's just one of those back-and-neck issues that can happen and we're not really aware of the cause.  At any rate, I'm still battling the pain but I hope to be back at school tomorrow. Tell my students I miss them and am hoping for a speedy recovery.

Students work in computer lab, finish rough draft in writer's workshop

Today was our lovely day in the computer lab so we were in there for science.

In writer’s workshop we finished the rough draft of our book for Rise ‘n Shine.  It turned out nicely.  Each child will be getting a copy to illustrate for themselves when we are done with it.

We took our spelling test today, as well.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Writers work on book to use in Rise 'n Shine

In writer’s workshop today we worked more on our book for Rise ‘n Shine.  Each student was given a word that we will use in the book and asked to look it up and write five ways it could relate to Broadmoore.  For example, “Courageous means telling an adult if a bully is picking on someone.”

In science we had to identify the parts of an experiment and find the independent and dependent variables in given examples.  We also found one more way to show energy using our energy bags.  Then we added the drawing, including labels and directions, to our science notebook.

Spelling test tomorrow!

Class works on spelling activities

Today in spelling we did some practice activities by using them correctly, finding correctly spelled words and misspelled words.  We also had to write a sentence using 2 given words from list or 2 sentences using one of each of the 2 words.

In Writer’s Workshop we continued discussion about book we are writing for Rise ‘n Shine.

In science, I allowed a few minutes for the few who didn’t finish their tests yesterday.  If anyone didn’t finish in today’s allotted time, he/she will have to come in at recess to do this.  We then took an experiment and wrote a hypothesis, identified the independent and dependent variables, and wrote a conclusion.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Writers respond in peer conferences

In Writer’s Workshop we worked on a piece already started.  We wrote for several minutes then traded papers with our peers.  We then filled out a peer-response sheet.  It had a place to write what the reader liked, a place for any suggestions, and ended with their favorite part of the author’s piece.

In science we took our first test over the tools, equipment, and scientific method.

Have a great Tuesday!

Sixth graders to present Rise 'n Shine program by adapting book

We took our pretest in spelling and corrected our words.

We also discussed our Rise ‘n Shine which will be September 24^th.  We will be working on book that is similar to one I use in class.  Ours will make it relate to Broadmoore, specifically.  We will work on this during some of our writer’s workshop time.

In science we reviewed for our test tomorrow.  We also glued steps of the scientific process in order.  Lastly, I got out the energy bags and first we explored them before beginning our assignment.

Young authors look at ways to improve their writing

Today in Writer’s Workshop we discussed and modeled how to improve on writing.  We then did a quick write, and picked out parts of speech.  It is my philosophy that parts of speech and other mechanics of writing are taught better through the children’s writings.  We also checked over our punctuation practice from yesterday. 

Today was computer lab day for science.

Have a great weekend!

Sixth grade authors do a 'silent write' in writers's workshop

Today in writer's workshop, we did a "silent write," where students connected with their ideas and got them into their writer's notebooks. Writing is such an important activity for sixth graders -- it helps them to articulate their thoughts and tell their stories, plus it helps them to develop as readers.  In fact, one of the best ways to improve reading is to write, because all proficient writers are proficient readers.

We also did a language arts exercise on sentence-ending punctuation.

In science, we reviewed lab safety and equipment and talked about variables and how scientists use variables to move from the unknown to the known.

Have a great Thursday evening with your family.

Nap time for 6th grade? Maybe that's not such a bad idea

The deadline for book orders has been extended through tomorrow.

It was good to be back today.  We were all a little tired and one student even said he wished we could have nap time in 6^th grade.  I thought that was funny, and I knew how he felt.

Since it is a short school week, we will not be having a spelling list this week.  Since my substitute was very difficult to understand, I did not take grades on Friday’s spelling test.  I knew something was wrong when I graded them.  I had way too many bad grades.  When that many don’t do well, it isn’t because they didn’t study!  We did look over the words today, though.  We, then, chose 2 words and found an antonym, found a synonym, wrote the definition, drew a picture, used it in a sentence, and found words using only the letters in the given word. 

In science, the sub also didn’t allow the students to take the assignment home for completion, so after our challenge question and discussion, time was given to work on that. 

I have extended book orders until tomorrow.  Some forgot theirs.

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.