Thank You for the Support!

There are certain things that happen in a classroom that need a lot of support.  As we completed the zoo projects this week, we were reminded just how fortunate we are to have the support of so many! From the parents who joined us in the freezing Arctic cold of our Brookfield visit, to the great team of teachers we have at Skokie, to the students who trust us with their learning, to the administrative team that gave the thumbs up to 20 cardboard cutters and glue guns and paint going at once, we've been truly supported through this whole project.

We couldn't have done the zoos without our parents (that's you!).  When we needed chaperones for a trip to the zoo in mid-December, you supported us.  When we reached out to you to ask for assistance at home for our students who were struggling to finish research, you supported us.  When we needed all hands on deck for the zoo build days, you supported us.  When we opened our doors for zoo presentations and visitors, you supported us.  And these are just the supports that were visible!  We know how many hours of supporting your students undoubtedly went on "behind the scenes" in order to pull off a project like this, and we thank you!

We couldn't have done the zoos without the students we have this year.  Our students embarked on this journey with us and showed complete faith at every turn.  We asked them to complete challenging tasks: the math was difficult, the notetaking was tedious, the writing required precision. They stuck with us every step of the way.  These kids showed a lot of grit.  They put in extra time and extra effort at every turn.  Students came in early for everything from writing help to hot-glue assistance and everything in between.  Many groups set up times to meet in the art room in order to add extensive details to their zoos.  We know how many extra hours went into making these zoos a reality, and we can't thank our students enough!

Finally, we couldn't have done the zoos without the awesome support systems we have at Skokie. Mr. Weir and his tech team in the Marker's Lab were a critical part of this journey.  We learned about effective Internet searching, Lego 3-D building and Adobe Spark Page from him.  The tech team was always available to help troubleshoot.  It's also amazing to work in a building where your colleagues and administrators support your efforts so much.  The number of teachers who stopped by to lend a helping hand (Mr. Greenman was in almost daily once the building started) and showed their support by bringing their classes to see the finished products was inspiring.  We cannot thank our colleagues and administration enough for allowing this thought to grow wings and fly!

The final projects were nothing short of stunning!  We thank you for taking this journey with us.  We are so proud of the accomplishments of the students!

Social Studies Unit 3: The Characteristics of Civilizations

Students began their third unit in social studies: The Characteristics of Civilizations.  We began this unit with a reading about ancient Sumer.  Students took notes to help them remember each characteristic of civilization.  This week students completed a scavenger hunt to review the characteristics and begin writing research questions that will be revised and used to help guide them through the unit.

Students used their notes to help them complete
a scavenger hunt and write research questions.

Over the next weeks in the classroom, students will begin researching the ancient civilizations looking for evidence of these seven characteristics:

• Stable Food Supply
• Government
• Religion
• The Arts
• Writing
• Technology
• Social Structure

We'll also ask them to look for evidence of these seven characteristics in the world around them. Through multiple engaging tasks, students will see how these characteristics are what make our civilizations unique and unite us.  It's an exciting unit!

Media Recommendation: Planet Earth and Planet Earth 2

I know I usually reserve this space to recommend a book or two, but I have to take a moment at the end of our zoo projects to highlight the Planet Earth series.  These documentaries are true feats of cinematography!  Many of the moments they've captured have never before been seen.  The landscapes are stunning, and the animals are the stars.  We've had a chance to watch clips at school recently as we've put our rooms back together, and the kids' wonder at the natural world has truly been sparked!

Current Events Seminar: A Window into Character

Thank you to all the parents (and grandparents!) who were able to join us for our most recent current events discussion.  It meant a lot to the kids that so many were able to witness their preparation and dedication to talking about the events happening in the world today.  We really appreciate those parents who participated right alongside us.  We learned a lot from you!

After the discussion, a compliment was given to the class.  A parent complimented how respectful they were in their discussion.  I cannot emphasize enough how important that has been for our sixth graders to hear!  Respectful discourse is exactly what these seminars are meant to help them practice. And they do an amazing job!  They are patient with those who share differing viewpoints, kind to those who stumble over their thoughts, and encouraging to those who are reluctant to share.  They listen with open minds and open hearts as others give their view on world events, and they respectfully disagree when that does not match their own.  They are eager to share, but they refrain from tearing anyone else down in order to do so.  Though these sessions are just practice, they are a great window into the lovely young men and women you are raising!

These are caring, empathetic and kind students who want to understand the world.  And, to do so, they are interested in embarking on discourse with one another where they learn, share and, possibly, change their minds completely.  They are preparing themselves to be informed, interested and passionate citizens, and we are so proud of them!

Zoo Project

By now, you've no doubt heard from your sixth graders about the zoo project.  It has slowly consumed more and more of our day as we strive to combine our language arts, social studies, science and math curriculums into one unifying project.  Next week, for two whole days, it will literally consume our entire time together as students bring their zoos to life in an epic 3D building project!  Many of you have signed up to join us on these days (there is a special place in heaven for you!), and we can't wait for you to help the students put their ideas into motion.

For a little background, here's what has gone into what you'll so innocently walk into this coming week:

• Students began this journey well before winter break with fiction book clubs.  They read books that were about habitats and animals.  The discussions about these fiction books and characters centered around very real topics and issues: habitat destruction, mistreatment of animals, the ethical nature of zoos, global warming.  Students followed themes and patterns across four different books for this experience.
• Students chose habitats that interested them the most in the science classroom.  They broke into groups to study these habitats.  You may have joined us on a cold day in December to see these habitats and study the animals at The Brookfield Zoo.  Students continued that research in the social studies classroom.  They researched their habitat and created an annotated map (complete with circuit lights) to culminate our geography unit.
• Students chose two to three animals from their habitats on which to become experts.  In the language arts classroom, they have embarked on an informational reading and writing unit. Students have practiced research skills to gather information about their animals, organized that research into topics and subtopics, created main ideas for the topics and subtopics and turned their notes into complete paragraphs.  
• Students designed a zoo to scale in the science and math classroom.  They worked together with their habitat group to design the best zoo for the animals in their habitat.  They learned about scaling to create their blueprints.  They then turned their blueprints into 3D Lego models with the assistance of Mr. Weir in our Makers' Lab.
• Students have used their research reports in the language arts classroom to begin another round of the editing process (see more about our methods below).  Once edited, the students will be turning their research reports into e-publications to display alongside their final zoo projects. They will learn about text structures and text features as they build these e-publications.

Please join us on Thursday, February 23rd, in the classroom as the students put these zoo projects on display and present their research.  For the formal presentation (with all group members presenting), please join us from 1:15-2:00 on Thursday, February 23rd.  For an informal presentation (with just your student showing you his/her project), the classrooms will be open from 7-8pm on Thursday, February 23rd.  You do not need to attend both; we just want to be respectful of our working parents.

X-Editing: The Method behind the Madness

Students in sixth grade resist editing whenever and however possible.  You wouldn't believe the excuses I receive for why capital letters aren't getting used to start a sentence, but I digress!  We do our best to make editing painless but purposeful, and our major goal in sixth grade is to help students take ownership of the process.  To that end, we go through two major steps with our editing:

1. Students are taught tools that will help them edit on their own.  This time around, we taught students about "command F".  This function helps them to search and find anything in their document.  Want to see if you put a capital after every period?  Command F ". "!  Want to know if you accidentally capitalized jellyfish in your whole paper?  Command F "jellyfish"! The best part of this feature is that once you've found what you're looking for, you can have it replaced throughout with the "find and replace".  I'm not doing the tool justice with this paragraph-if you want to learn more, ask your sixth grader to show you!
2. Students go through the x-editing process.  In this process, students turn in their "best copy" to me.  As I read it, I note at the end of each line the errors in punctuation, capitalization and spelling I see that I know they can fix independently.  When they get their papers back, they work to fix up these errors.  X-editing is powerful because it helps the students train their minds to look for these editing mistakes.  Many times, when a student has turned in a paper riddled with errors, it is not that he/she cannot fix these.  It is that the student is unable to see the errors because his/her brain is not yet trained to see them.  X-editing helps to put the power in the students' hands when it comes to editing.

This is what x-editing looks like.  P=Punctuation error;
C=Capitalization error; S=Spelling error.

Book Recommendation: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March

During our MLK Day activities, many students expressed an interest in learning more about how people have peacefully protested for the rights that we have as Americans.  This is one of the best books I've read this year, and it fits the bill!  This is a non-fiction book, but it reads like a fiction novel.  I read it in one day because I just couldn't put it down.  The reason I think it's so powerful for students is that it shows how Lynda Blackmon Lowery used her voice and actions to inspire change, and she did it at such a young age.  It was such an encouraging and uplifting story.  I hope you'll check it out!