And poof! Three weeks are in the books!

Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year and our LA/SS blog!  This blog will be a great place to see what's happening in our LA/SS classroom this year (just in case your sixth grader isn't totally forthcoming with details;).  The plan is to update it every two weeks.  I'll send out an email blast to the parent email list every time I update.  I believe you can also choose to "follow" our blog and that will get you updates when new posts come out as well (but I may be lying about that as it is my first time blogging for a real audience!).  Let's get started, shall we?

Social Studies Unit #1: How do we know with accuracy the lives, times and places of the ancient world?

In social studies this year, we'll study the ancient world.  Most of us have been fascinated by these ancient places at one point or another in our lives.  Pyramids, the Roman Colloseum, the Olympic Games...  What's not to love?!  But how do we know with accuracy about these people and times from the ancient past?  That's where archaeologists come into play.

Students learned concepts and terms related to archaeology and then became archaeologists themselves when they participated in the hands-on Archaeology Box project.  Each student made an archaeology box with artifacts from his/her life.  The artifacts were buried in the box in layers, and the boxes were brought to school and excavated during class.  Take a look at "dig day":

I observed a baby picture and it was so cute and chubby.-Elise

One observation I had was "she was in Ms. Keesbury's class" which helped me guess a few names.-Emily

We used inferences to find out who it was; archaeologists find out what it is.-Kendra

The picture of my person as a baby looked like him now.-Nate

I saw a soccer trophy from 2010, so I knew they played soccer.-Michael

I dig through the dirt and rocks. Archaeologists dig through dirt and rocks.-Asher

Archaeologists inspect artifacts that they find.-Reed

The deeper we would dig, the older the objects would be.-Aidan

Afterward, students reflected on the work they did and how it related to archaeology. Here's what they had to say:

Archaeologists dig up artifacts from the Earth.  The process of digging up the artifacts is called excavating.  Archaeologists use observations to tell what the artifact looks and feels like.  They use inferences to tell what the artifact might have been used for.  Archaeologists use comparisons to see what the artifacts look like from today. -Jack

Archaeology is digging up old things that would be called artifacts.  Archaeologists excavate land all over the world.  When digging up artifacts, the archaeologist will make observations on their findings.  They may use comparisons with other artifacts found. Finally, they may make an inference on how a person may have lived a long time ago.     -Grant

Reading Unit #1: How do I take ownership of my reading life and commit myself to personal growth?

For some of us reading is a great joy and for others it's a discouraging job.  And many of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes.  No matter our feelings toward reading, we can all agree that it's a critical skill we will all need and use in school and in life.  I shared this graphic with students to help illustrate how important their independent reading time is each day:

The first week of this unit really focused on mindset.  Students made a commitment to challenge themselves as readers this year, created personal reading goals and devised plans for tracking their reading habits this year.

Reading is a very personal activity, but we discussed the importance of coaches and inspirational helpers in our lives.  Students identified many instances outside of school where coaches, teachers, siblings, friends and parents had inspired them to get better at something.  You can help your young reader accomplish his/her reading goals this year by:

• asking about reading every day
• setting aside time to read to, with or around your child
• sharing your own reading stories of triumph and struggle with your child
• letting your child see you reading for work, for pleasure, for information, for...

Table Talk: How can I get my tween to tell me about his/her day?

A couple days into school we played the game "Two Truths and One Lie" with our kids to learn more about them.  As we played, one student shared, "I'm really good at this.  We play this at dinner all the time!" I went home that very night and tried it with my seven-year-old, Noah, and I got more information about that one day than he had willingly given me about his entire two previous years of schooling!  Now it's his favorite "game" to play on the way home from school every day.

Here's the gist:

• Think of two true statements you can make about your day and one lie you could say about your day.
• Share these three statements (in no particular order) with one or more people.
• Let the listeners guess which statement is the lie.
• As listeners (that's you Mom and Dad!) guess, they can ask questions about the statements.

Let's see how good you are at spotting a lie.  Here are my two truths and one lie about the first three weeks of school.  Can you spot the lie?

1. I've only called Marcus "Michael" one time.
2. Garrett refers to a doctor for kids as a veterinarian.
3. Owen and Jake stump me with riddles all the time.

Book Recommendation: Why not start with a list?

The Rebecca Caudill list has become my favorite "go to" list.  Each year I challenge myself to read as many of the books on the list as possible, and I'm never disappointed!  The Rebecca Caudill list has something for everyone: realistic fiction, sports fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, poetry, horror, nonfiction.  And the lists always span reader maturity levels.  

Over the next few posts, I'll highlight some of my favorites from the 2017 Rebecca Caudill list.  My most recent favorite: Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan.  Echo is a little bit fantasy combined with WWII historical fiction.  The story follows a harmonica and three of its owners as they experience WWII in varying ways.  As I read the book I could hear the music in my mind.  The notes rise and fall with the lives of the characters until the grand finale pulls it all together.  Echo is a truly beautiful story about the powerful ability of music to inspire, connect and save even in the hardest of times.