Dear Families,
Thank you for the outpouring of help for our November and December fundraisers and activities. The bookfair and pizza sale could not have been done without your time and energy, and it has been great to have a few extra adults to help with our mapping projects as well.
Winter Dress
Winter is here! Please send your sixth grader to school with boots and snow pants and other outdoor gear every day. My philosophy is to get outside as much as possible, so it is nice if we can leave the classroom whenever we like without worrying about gear. Just assume we’ll be going out.
For our quick 10-minute bonus recesses in the mornings, students will just wear boots- we won’t do the full change. For lunch recess, snow pants are optional- some student don’t need them for the activities they choose on the field- but boots are still important!
In the afternoons, however, at least for the next two weeks, we will be doing mapping outdoors almost everyday. We will be trekking around the property behind the school and snow pants will be important to fully experience the fun of being outdoors in the winter and staying comfortable!
Behavior
A week or so ago, we had a discussion with the class about behaviors the bordered on bullying, but certainly were unkind or exclusive. These behaviors included “ganging up” to tag one particular child during tag or other games and faces and comments made to students who were paired with certain students. Almost every student had noticed at least one of these behaviors. We agreed that this was happening in the classroom both with boys and girls. In our discussions, we made connections to Wonder and the roles different characters played in supporting or preventing the bullying in that book. This kind of behavior is not unusual- that’s why so many books and movies are made around issues of bullying! It’s a common experience. However it is not inevitable. We as a community can choose to not accept it and to stand against it. Students did a reflection for homework, some of which were very thoughtful, others not as much. Some students felt we had the power to change the behaviors, others felt not.
After viewing the film Wonder, we discussed a metaphor from one scene in Auggie's science class in which the teacher, introducing Newton’s first Law of Motion, states, “An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by another force.” We translated this to the experience of bullying- which continues unless people choose to act upon it to stop it or change its direction. We analyzed the characters in the book and the ways they took (or did not take) action to end the bullying. What emerged was the truth that everyone in the situation is in a position of power. In particular, the bystander can make a huge impact.
Please chat with your children about what they see in the classroom and counsel them on the positive roles they can play in creating a kind and in inclusive community. Let me know if they tell you anything you think should be further addressed. I know these situations have not halted entirely, and we will continue to discuss them.
Reading
We have just introduced a new book project for Trimester 2. This project will be to read a nonfiction book and then create a book test. As with the last project, there is a calendar to pace the reading and a worksheet due for each quarter of the book. The worksheets involve drafting a variety of questions about the book that the student can then draw on when creating the final test, due at the end of January. Your child has come home with a packet of information for this project including overview, checklist of what to include, and resources to help with various kinds of questions. I have posted this project guide and resources on our website- go to the homework page. I have also posted a sample test from a past student. Please note that the guidelines for what to include were slightly different that year. Almost all students have had their nonfiction book approved by me at this point. Ask your child what they chose to read about. The first quarter worksheet is due Wednesday, December 20. The second quarter worksheet is due the day students return from winter vacation.
Our field trip to see Wonder was a blast and resulted in a really interesting discussion comparing the book with the film. We are going to speed up our reading of Crash to allow some more comparison of these two texts. Ask your child how they liked the film and how it compared to the book.
Many students earned C’s and D’s on the recent comprehension quiz. For most of these students a big contributing factor was the failure to follow both verbal and written directions to include an extra sentence of elaboration on the short answer questions. I allowed students to add back in the elaboration sentences and earn back half of those lost points. I will not be giving them this option in the future. Sixth grade expectations include more sophisticated writing and evidence based support.
Math
We are currently exploring multiplication of fractions and will soon cover division of fractions. These are a concepts that were covered last year, but not always remembered, and we go further in depth. I spend more time than the textbook does on this because students need to develop strong pictoral models for why the procedures work, and also the ability to understand real life situations that require multiplying fractions. This is not as straightforward and easy as determining when to multiply in whole number word problems. The textbook does not mix problems that require different operations. Instead, there are only multiplication of fraction problems in one section, addition problems in another, and division in another. This doesn’t require students to figure out which operation to use- which is what they would need to do in real life, so we add additional time to practice this.
We also work on estimating the size of a product. Unlike whole number operations in which the product is always larger than both factors, when you work with fractions sometimes you end up with a smaller product. This week we are focusing on analyzing the size of the factors to predict the size of the product.
Depending on how fast we progress through the next few lessons and the number of snow days, we may be able to squeeze in a quiz before December vacation.
Writing
Last week students had an introductory lesson to punctuating dialogue. Ask your sixth grader what a “dialogue tag” is, and where it can occur in the sentence. Soon, after a little more practice, your child should be able to properly place not only quotation marks, but also the appropriate commas and other punctuation needed. These are skills expected of sixth graders and also ones they will put into immediate use in their fiction writing which is already full of dialogue (though not yet properly punctuated!).
We continue with our fiction writing unit, focusing on the value of including small actions and setting description to anchor dialogue. Often students write a story that is just a string of dialogue, leaving the story to sort of “hang in the dark.” We’ve analyzed some published texts such as Owl Moon and Charlotte’s Web to see how they use these strategies in their leads.
Social Studies
As we are now deep in our mapping project, we are using all our extra time for Social Studies, which is why you are seeing no grades in Power School for Science yet this trimester. Of course a lot of the topics we are covering in our Geography unit and assignments apply to science! Maps are essential in many scientific studies. Understanding latitude and longitude will be useful when we study the reasons for the seasons.
Our all-day Pisgah Hike last Friday was a lot of fun. Thanks to Rob Winkler and Dave Dumont for chaperoning, and all the families who sent brownies and hot chocolate. It was both a reward for filling our acorn jar for good behavior, and a chance to apply some mapping concepts. Mr. Hammett kicked off the day with an orienteering lesson and the students got an introduction to using compasses. On the hike we discussed the origin of “East” and “West” from ancient times when life revolved around the cycles of the sun. Of course the sun doesn’t rise exactly due east and set exactly due west. This time of year in New Hampshire it rises in the southeast. With our indoor lifestyles, most children now days have trouble pointing east or west or north or south using the position of the sun. We practiced this in the field and then checked with the compass a few times. Later in the year when we study reasons for the seasons, students should be able to explain why the sun rises in the east and why it rises further south in the winter. Try practicing with your child! On a sunny day when you are outside, ask your child to point north, south, east or west.
During the hike, students carried the GPS units to create a track of our path. They also carried some of the tablets to take photos of points along the way to add to the online map back inthe classroom. We had a great time climbing rocks, playing camouflage, flash flood, and blind old eagle, doing a silent sit, seeing beaver lodges and dams and exploring the woods. When we returned to the classroom, the students uploaded the data from the GPS units and tablets to make a map of their day.
This week, students are completing another activity overlaying maps of landcover and habitat types on the map of their hike to identify what habitats they walked through and which species of concern live in those habitats. Check out the images below of our hike. The red dots are all locations students took photos. Ask your child to log in to their online ArcGIS account at home and show you these maps. In addition to developing critical thinking skills about maps, this is familiarizing students with the software they will be using for our culminating project: proposing a location for an outdoor classroom on the new property.
Thank you for the outpouring of help for our November and December fundraisers and activities. The bookfair and pizza sale could not have been done without your time and energy, and it has been great to have a few extra adults to help with our mapping projects as well.
Winter Dress
Winter is here! Please send your sixth grader to school with boots and snow pants and other outdoor gear every day. My philosophy is to get outside as much as possible, so it is nice if we can leave the classroom whenever we like without worrying about gear. Just assume we’ll be going out.
For our quick 10-minute bonus recesses in the mornings, students will just wear boots- we won’t do the full change. For lunch recess, snow pants are optional- some student don’t need them for the activities they choose on the field- but boots are still important!
In the afternoons, however, at least for the next two weeks, we will be doing mapping outdoors almost everyday. We will be trekking around the property behind the school and snow pants will be important to fully experience the fun of being outdoors in the winter and staying comfortable!
Behavior
A week or so ago, we had a discussion with the class about behaviors the bordered on bullying, but certainly were unkind or exclusive. These behaviors included “ganging up” to tag one particular child during tag or other games and faces and comments made to students who were paired with certain students. Almost every student had noticed at least one of these behaviors. We agreed that this was happening in the classroom both with boys and girls. In our discussions, we made connections to Wonder and the roles different characters played in supporting or preventing the bullying in that book. This kind of behavior is not unusual- that’s why so many books and movies are made around issues of bullying! It’s a common experience. However it is not inevitable. We as a community can choose to not accept it and to stand against it. Students did a reflection for homework, some of which were very thoughtful, others not as much. Some students felt we had the power to change the behaviors, others felt not.
After viewing the film Wonder, we discussed a metaphor from one scene in Auggie's science class in which the teacher, introducing Newton’s first Law of Motion, states, “An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by another force.” We translated this to the experience of bullying- which continues unless people choose to act upon it to stop it or change its direction. We analyzed the characters in the book and the ways they took (or did not take) action to end the bullying. What emerged was the truth that everyone in the situation is in a position of power. In particular, the bystander can make a huge impact.
Please chat with your children about what they see in the classroom and counsel them on the positive roles they can play in creating a kind and in inclusive community. Let me know if they tell you anything you think should be further addressed. I know these situations have not halted entirely, and we will continue to discuss them.
Reading
We have just introduced a new book project for Trimester 2. This project will be to read a nonfiction book and then create a book test. As with the last project, there is a calendar to pace the reading and a worksheet due for each quarter of the book. The worksheets involve drafting a variety of questions about the book that the student can then draw on when creating the final test, due at the end of January. Your child has come home with a packet of information for this project including overview, checklist of what to include, and resources to help with various kinds of questions. I have posted this project guide and resources on our website- go to the homework page. I have also posted a sample test from a past student. Please note that the guidelines for what to include were slightly different that year. Almost all students have had their nonfiction book approved by me at this point. Ask your child what they chose to read about. The first quarter worksheet is due Wednesday, December 20. The second quarter worksheet is due the day students return from winter vacation.
Our field trip to see Wonder was a blast and resulted in a really interesting discussion comparing the book with the film. We are going to speed up our reading of Crash to allow some more comparison of these two texts. Ask your child how they liked the film and how it compared to the book.
Many students earned C’s and D’s on the recent comprehension quiz. For most of these students a big contributing factor was the failure to follow both verbal and written directions to include an extra sentence of elaboration on the short answer questions. I allowed students to add back in the elaboration sentences and earn back half of those lost points. I will not be giving them this option in the future. Sixth grade expectations include more sophisticated writing and evidence based support.
Math
We are currently exploring multiplication of fractions and will soon cover division of fractions. These are a concepts that were covered last year, but not always remembered, and we go further in depth. I spend more time than the textbook does on this because students need to develop strong pictoral models for why the procedures work, and also the ability to understand real life situations that require multiplying fractions. This is not as straightforward and easy as determining when to multiply in whole number word problems. The textbook does not mix problems that require different operations. Instead, there are only multiplication of fraction problems in one section, addition problems in another, and division in another. This doesn’t require students to figure out which operation to use- which is what they would need to do in real life, so we add additional time to practice this.
We also work on estimating the size of a product. Unlike whole number operations in which the product is always larger than both factors, when you work with fractions sometimes you end up with a smaller product. This week we are focusing on analyzing the size of the factors to predict the size of the product.
Depending on how fast we progress through the next few lessons and the number of snow days, we may be able to squeeze in a quiz before December vacation.
Writing
Last week students had an introductory lesson to punctuating dialogue. Ask your sixth grader what a “dialogue tag” is, and where it can occur in the sentence. Soon, after a little more practice, your child should be able to properly place not only quotation marks, but also the appropriate commas and other punctuation needed. These are skills expected of sixth graders and also ones they will put into immediate use in their fiction writing which is already full of dialogue (though not yet properly punctuated!).
We continue with our fiction writing unit, focusing on the value of including small actions and setting description to anchor dialogue. Often students write a story that is just a string of dialogue, leaving the story to sort of “hang in the dark.” We’ve analyzed some published texts such as Owl Moon and Charlotte’s Web to see how they use these strategies in their leads.
Social Studies
As we are now deep in our mapping project, we are using all our extra time for Social Studies, which is why you are seeing no grades in Power School for Science yet this trimester. Of course a lot of the topics we are covering in our Geography unit and assignments apply to science! Maps are essential in many scientific studies. Understanding latitude and longitude will be useful when we study the reasons for the seasons.
Our all-day Pisgah Hike last Friday was a lot of fun. Thanks to Rob Winkler and Dave Dumont for chaperoning, and all the families who sent brownies and hot chocolate. It was both a reward for filling our acorn jar for good behavior, and a chance to apply some mapping concepts. Mr. Hammett kicked off the day with an orienteering lesson and the students got an introduction to using compasses. On the hike we discussed the origin of “East” and “West” from ancient times when life revolved around the cycles of the sun. Of course the sun doesn’t rise exactly due east and set exactly due west. This time of year in New Hampshire it rises in the southeast. With our indoor lifestyles, most children now days have trouble pointing east or west or north or south using the position of the sun. We practiced this in the field and then checked with the compass a few times. Later in the year when we study reasons for the seasons, students should be able to explain why the sun rises in the east and why it rises further south in the winter. Try practicing with your child! On a sunny day when you are outside, ask your child to point north, south, east or west.
During the hike, students carried the GPS units to create a track of our path. They also carried some of the tablets to take photos of points along the way to add to the online map back inthe classroom. We had a great time climbing rocks, playing camouflage, flash flood, and blind old eagle, doing a silent sit, seeing beaver lodges and dams and exploring the woods. When we returned to the classroom, the students uploaded the data from the GPS units and tablets to make a map of their day.
This week, students are completing another activity overlaying maps of landcover and habitat types on the map of their hike to identify what habitats they walked through and which species of concern live in those habitats. Check out the images below of our hike. The red dots are all locations students took photos. Ask your child to log in to their online ArcGIS account at home and show you these maps. In addition to developing critical thinking skills about maps, this is familiarizing students with the software they will be using for our culminating project: proposing a location for an outdoor classroom on the new property.
This week students viewed a slideshow of outdoor classrooms around the country, made observations and brainstormed ways Chesterfield School might use an outdoor classroom. Then, with the help of Jenna Spear of the Harris Center, we began to brainstorm factors that would affect the location of an outdoor classroom positively or negatively (such as proximity to houses or roads, slope of the land, or proximity to a variety of habitats). Finally we made a list of which of these factors we could map with our tablets or GPS units to include on maps in the final presentation we will prepare for the School Board. This week we begin the mapping!
We want to extend special thanks to Scott Semmens, who is helping us with our mapping project. He was just featured in the Keene Sentinel. Check out the article here.
Thanks again and keep in touch,
Laura White
We want to extend special thanks to Scott Semmens, who is helping us with our mapping project. He was just featured in the Keene Sentinel. Check out the article here.
Thanks again and keep in touch,
Laura White