Outdoor Classroom

This year in sixth grade, we are pleased to announce that we are participating in the outdoor classroom. When we are there, we will be studying science topics outdoors.

When we first get to our outdoor classroom, we find a quiet spot to write in our weather proof journals 10-15 minutes.

Most recently, we played a game called Survival that reinforced our ideas about how ecosystems function. To play, we all assumed the roles of predators and prey and were faced with the task of finding food, water, and avoiding predators.  Players also had to beware of fire, disease and human.

When we are there, we love that we can learn about our environment first hand, have time to reflect in our journals, be outside, play games, be loud, and examine wildlife.

We are so fortunate to live in an area were we have unlimited access to such a beautiful and teeming environment.

Sincerely,

Sixth Grade

Our First Day!

Our first day of school was AMAZING! We transplanted baby kale plants into a larger tray and are enjoying watching them grow.  We also played Taking Sides, Fortunately/Unfortunately and Four Corners. These games got us moving and helped us learn more about one another. It was fun. Soon we will be adding critters to our fish tank. We also have a cactus that is growing rapidly. We had a great first day and are very excited for the rest of the school year.

In sixth grade we are fundraising for camp Keewaydin by selling Little Caesars products like cookies, pies and multiple different kinds of pizza kits. We have sold over 20 pizza kits and hope to sell more before March 7. Our next fundraiser will be the Chili Cook-Off on March 10 at 12-2pm. There will be a silent auction for a hedge trimmer, an artisan cake and a hand-painted chair. If you want to enter the Chili Cook-Off  ($20 to enter) or for more information contact Kathyrn.st.george@wnesu.com . It will be held at the Grafton Elementary school gym . We  are approaching our goal of 4,000 dollars

Longitude and Latitude

This week we have been working on longitude and latitude. We used Google Earth to find NFL stadiums with coordinates. We've learned about the hemispheres. We also learned how to find places with coordinates and how to write coordinates.  We even learned how to read coordinates. We also learned about how longitude and latitude is split up into hours, minutes and seconds. The four hemispheres are Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern.

On Monday our class made eco-bottles.  It was three bottles taped together.  One bottle {bottle A}  has dirt and leaves like what we have in the forest. There are crickets and worms as animals.  Then we have bottle B, it has nothing in it.  Bottle C, it has rocks and water with some water plants. We have two fish and one snail in there as well. It represents symbiosis, a relationship where at lest one organism is benefiting. They provide nutrients for one another and the plants provide oxygen.

The sixth grade went apple picking at Hidden Farms (Grape's orchard) for our apple pie bake sale on Oct. 8th at the Grafton post office from 10-2 pm. We picked honey crisps which are a favorite for most of the class. We ate a lot of apples!  We picked over 20 bags of apples! We want to thank the Grape family for allowing us to pick at their orchard.

Purpose

We created a vision for our class on our first day. We did this so that we will have confidence in ourselves and have trust in each other. We believe this will make our classroom a better place and enable us to focus and learn.

Our vision: To learn we need to challenge ourselves to do our best at trusting and respecting each other.

Our mission: Pay attention to what you are doing and saying and communicate when our vision is threatened.