Students create posters to summarize books

The photos on the blog today are of the science summary posters created by our class.  Students summarized books they have read about the oil and gas industry during their study of the OERB-sponsored Fossils to Fuel curriculum.

We took our spelling test today.

In writers' workshop we used another student's great story and learned the term "internal monologue." Dialogue is when characters talk with each other.  Internal monologue is what the characters are thinking.  Our writers really enjoyed working with this new skill.

In Science we went to the computer lab.  if your child did a science fair project, it is due Monday, December 3.

Working with the Oklahoma Writing Project ... and some life-lessons

In spelling we did some lessons using our words.

In Writers' Workshop we discussed the Oklahoma Writing Project.  We will be working on these for the next several days.

In science we took an easy quiz over notes from yesterday.  They were allowed to use their science notebooks.  I purposely made the quiz from the page of notes.  Some chose not to take notes, so they might not consider the quiz as easy as others.  I have had too many trying to wait and copy notes from other students or not write them at all.  Hopefully this will be a good life-lesson learned for those. 

Have a great Thursday evening with your family!

Students look at story written by one of their peers

Today in writer's workshop, we looked at one of the haunted house stories written last week by one of the young authors.  With her permission, I took students through a printed manuscript and showed the many wonderful and advanced literary devices that she had used.  The story, along with others submitted by our writers, is now being prepared for publication.  The students were able to see it in its formatted stage, much like it will appear in print.

In science we had a lesson on taking notes, a crucial skill in high school and college, and certainly for any scientist.  We also reviewed and talked more about kinetic and potential energy.

Students begin keyboarding stories from writer's workshop

Today we edited and started typing our turkey stories.  If your child could type and print his/hers at home, that would be great!  Tomorrow we will be moving on to a new lesson.

In science we continued working with potential and kinetic energy with sand and rock observations.  Be sure to ask your child about this.

Students may do activity for extra credit

We took our spelling pretest today and finished our turkey dialogue stories.

In science we discussed energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, and different forms of energy.  Your child was to read pages 71-76.  Also, he/she has an extra credit opportunity.  On page 69 of the text there are two different activities that may be done at home with your permission.  He/She may choose one of those to do.  He/She must tell me what was done, what was used, what happened, and I want a picture or drawing (include labels) of it.  It is due this Friday, November 30^th.  We also made an energy vocabulary frame and added it to our notebooks.  We will be doing more of those, as the children seemed to respond well and it was a quick way to gather a lot of information.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break!

Sixth graders share stories in writer's workshop

Our young writers worked some more today on their Thanksgiving stories, and some shared with the group.  These were great!  They are really improving as writers.

In science, we wrote thank-you notes to the petroleum scientists who came to share with our classes.  They also finished work on their oil derrick science art.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A day of fun and learning in sixth grade

Book orders are due tomorrow.  Books are great stocking-stuffers!

Since this is a short week, we will not be having spelling.  However we did do a word activity, using a word ladder.  Ask your child about these.

In writing we read a couple of unique Thanksgiving poems, both written by poets who are friends of mine.  Your child then had to write a story, using dialogue, about two turkeys that are getting nervous about the approach of Thanksgiving.

In science we reviewed all of our lessons in our Fossils to Fuel curriculum.  We have gone through the formation of natural gas and fossil fuels through the refinery process.  Today we heated milk and vinegar to show what happens.  We discussed petroleum-based products.

Book orders are due tomorrow.

Students take spelling tests, work on dialogue in stories

We had our spelling test today.  Unfortunately, with the schedule change due to the parties, we did not get to everything.  They were allowed to work on their dialogue stories. 

In science we finished our posters, if we hadn’t.  Then we worked on a community project decorating back packs that will be given to elementary-age children over the holidays.

Book orders were sent home yesterday and are due Tuesday of next week.

Young authors do prewriting for poetry

Today we worked with a prewriting activity into poetry.  We came up with fall words and found rhyming words for some of them. 

We also did a practice page in spelling.  Tomorrow is our test.  Remind your child to study.

In homeroom science we continued working on our posters.  The other three classes had a presentation from Marathon Oil engineers.  The classes did very well.  I was proud.  They asked questions that were relevant and showed they had some prior knowledge.

Tomorrow is our party. 

Students study dialogue in book to see how authors use dialogue effectively

We wrote stories using dialogue today.  We also heard Bill Martin, Jr.’s Ghost-Eye Tree to show one example of dialogue.  We also discussed how his word choices made the story more scary.

In science we did another lesson on getting the oil out of the ground.  Ask your child about this activity. 

Science Fair notes will be going home tomorrow.

Science classes study oil drilling

In language today we combined spelling and language.  While some were working on improving their stories, others took turns playing a game on spellingcity.com.

In science we did a classroom observation showing that the next step in drilling is to figure out how to get the oil out of the ground.  The classes enjoyed this, as I almost passed out by doing this one.  We also had a few minutes for the students to work on their posters that we started yesterday.  Today is the last day they will have to work on them in class.

Friday is re-take day.  If you were unhappy with your pictures or you were absent, you may take pictures that day.  The office has all the information.

The canned food drive is still going on. 

A day of learning and involvement in sixth grade

We had our pretest in spelling today.  Remind your sixth grader to prepare for this week's test by going to our online spelling resource, spellingcity.com.

My class went to the computer lab to make up for Friday's missed session. On Friday, they had two "petro pros," petroleum scientists from OERB, speak in class.  The reviews were great.

Other classes started book summary posters today.

Have a great evening.

Petroleum scientist speaks to class

Broadmoore's food drive starts Monday.

The teacher was out of town today, but this was a good day to miss because classes were only working in the computer lab.

My science classes did have a special visitor today, a petroleum scientists provided by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board to talk about how scientists work with the oil industry to find oil.

We had our weekly test in spelling.

Remember that the food drive starts Monday.

Hope your family has a great weekend.

Students learn to punctuate dialogue

In language today we punctuated a page of dialogue.  Learning to use quotations marks correctly is a great skill.  Once they have learned them, they sometimes get carried away with them. 

In science we read another article and answered questions, as well as labeled items by their type of matter. 

Spelling test tomorrow! 

Canned food drive begins next week!

Students learn about states of matter

In spelling we worked with our words in many different ways.  We also took turns on spellingcity.com on the Smart Board.

In language we did a quick review of using the words to, too, and two.

In science we finished up our derricks.  We also read an article over the three states of matter and answered questions.  We also added a layer to our mural.

Writers work with dialogue

In language we continued working on our dialogue lesson.  The young authors are learning how to write all kinds of dialogue and to punctuate it. We took Friday’s conversation and wrote in play form.  Then we wrote it in dialogue form from that.

In science we finished our oil derricks and tested them.  Some did quite well.  If any group didn’t finish they will be allowed to come in at recess on Wednesday to do so.

Students begin work on oil derrick project

We took our spelling pre-test today.  Remind your child to return his/her corrected pre-test, as it is for a grade.  I had too many students not taking the time to correct their papers.

We also copied a poem called A Special Day by Sandra Liatsos.

In science we started working on the building of our oil derricks.  Each group received 50 straws, 10 paper clips, and 100 cm of masking tape.  They are coming along nicely!

Several have not sent their $3 for the party that we will be having on the 16^th.  Please send that as soon as possible.  Thank you in advance for helping out!

Lots of A's on today's spelling test

We took our spelling test today.  Almost everyone made an A.  We are closer to our goal of everyone getting one!

In language we started a lesson on dialogue.  A student and I had an impromptu conversation.  We then wrote it out on the Smart Board without dialogue, just using words like ”Ms. Jacobs asked…” and “He told her…”.   On Monday we will take that and write it as a play, then into dialogue. 

In science it was computer lab day……yay!

Sixth graders begin doing research in groups

Tomorrow will be our spelling test.  Remind your child that if everyone makes an “A,” I will provide a treat of some sort next week.

In science we started some research in groups but will be doing individual research beginning next week.  Most of this will be able to be done in class.  We also sketched our plans for building an oil derrick out of straws, masking tape, and paper clips.

In language we reviewed types of sentences. 

Tomorrow is Popcorn Day, so your child needs to bring fifty cents if he/she wants popcorn and didn’t pay for the year.

The deadline for Reflection entries is November 15^th.  The theme this year is “The Magic of the Moment.”  

Have a great weekend!