Memoirs

Writing a memoir is something that not only shares information about yourself, but can be a source for comfort, healing and revelation. Writing is one way to express any and everything you want to, but sometimes can not say. So write, write and write more... express yourself. Once creativity sparks, the mind holds no boundaries.

Overview for the week of Sept. 26

I am very excited about the progress our class is making!  We are constantly learning new information every day!  Remember to ask your child, "What is one thing you learned today?"  They should be able to tell you multiple facts......that is my goal everyday :)

Monday

• Read our biographies discuss literal, interpretive, evaluative, & universal questions
• Numerator and Denominator Relationships
• Chemical Changes and Reactions
• Yucky, Gooey, Gunk
• Social Studies Word Teach

Tuesday

• Memoirs and making personal connections
• Irregular Verbs
• Going beyond equivalent fractions
• When was that invented?

Wednesday

• Memoirs and textual & world connections
• Graffiti Wall: Predicative adj., superlatives, and comparatives
• Review for Equivalent Rational Numbers Test
• Elements, Compounds, Mixtures
• Contemporary Art and Science

Thursday

• Discuss memories -- bring picture to school
• Storyboard of memory
• Review for Equivalent Rational Numbers Test
• NAFTA & Different Economies

Friday

• How do memoirs work? 
• Begin rough draft of memory memoir
• Rational Number Test
• Food Day Lesson: Local Food Benefits

Commercial

Here is Bethany, Luis, Karyna, and Jocelyn in their commercial about the Midwest.  Great Job!

The students loved it at the art museum!  Here is a clip of them listening to the docent talk to them.

Overview for the Week of Sept. 19 - Sept. 23

Art Week was a success!  We will be filming our commercials tomorrow morning! I am excited to see what the students have been working on all week.  The poetry notebooks came out great!  I will be posting pictures of what the work online this week.

Here is an overview of this week:

Monday

• Review of Literary Elements
• Math Benchmark Make-Up
• More Equivalent Numbers (Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions)
• Mystery Powders Experiment

Tuesday

• Literary Elements Test
• Peanut Butter Fudge Math (Decimals and Fractions)
• Complete Lab Write-up
• Discuss Disney Project
• Social Studies Vocabulary Day

Wednesday

• Intro to Literary Nonfiction
• Peanut Butter Fudge (Percents)
• Solid, Liquid, & Gases Concentration Review
• 20th Century Changing History

Thursday

• Memoirs
• More Fudge-ness
• Physical Properties, Solids, Liquids, and Gases Test

Friday

• Memoirs and Reading Techniques
• Food Day Preparation: "Real Foods"
• Political, Economic, and Cultural Differences
• Guadalupe Cultural Center Field Trip :)

Spelling Practice

I have posted our class spelling list on SpellingCity.com.  You just need to search for our class by typing in Lochridge in the search bar.  There is practice for spelling, vocabulary, and sentences.  I would like everyone to use this resource to help study for our weekly spelling tests!

Here is the link:
Spelling City Link

S-Test: Spelling Test
V-Test: Vocabulary Test
Teach: Practice - This give the pronunciation, spelling, and definition
Games: Have fun while learning your words :)

Pointillism

Matter is made up of tiny little things called molecules.  Some are close together and some are far apart; therefore, the way the molecules behave will determine what state of matter a substance is in.








Seurat was a pontillist. Pontillist painted by using dots to represent images the painting looks like only dots of color when up close, but when you stand back the dots blend together to make a picture. Newspaper print is similar. Look closely at a comic strip and you will see many dots, but back away and all you see is the images and not the dots! 

We are going to create a picture of the molecular make up of solids, liquids, and gases using pointillism.  You are free to choose any medium you would like to use.  Your picture should show what the molecules look like inside of each state of matter.  Good luck and have fun!

Tribute to America's Heros

I had a friend send this to me.  It is a nice tribute to America's Heros done by an artist who paints in front of an audience and to music.  This takes great talent and concentration to accomplish a masterpiece like this.

Idioms

Idioms are a figure of speech in which what is being said is not meant to be taken literally.  For example: "Hang in there,"  means to be patient and wait, not to actually hang on something.

Look at the list of idioms in the website below and choose an idiom you wish to draw a cartoon about.  Leave a comment saying which idiom you have chosen.

Idioms!!!

Week of Sept. 12 - Sept. 16

Wow, last week flew by!  This coming up week is the official "Art in Education" week.  Although we incorporate art into our daily lessons, this week will be an explosion of art integrated projects!!  We will be finishing up or poetry notebooks, making our own molecular pointillism picture, and creating a commercial to explain why people should migrate/immigrate to America.  We are also going to make our first trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art :)  This trip will be to learn how to analyze and appreciate artwork.

Here is the daily breakdown:

Monday:

• Idioms - Create a cartoon
• Creating Equivalent Fractions
• Solids, Liquids, Gases: Their molecular arrangement
• Begin commercial research 

Tuesday:

• Write final drafts of poems
• Brainstorm a theme for your poetry notebook
• Different Forms of Rational Numbers
• Continue with Research

Wednesday

• Begin working on cover for poetry notebook
• Intro to % with base 10 models
• Molecular Pointillism Picture
• Start working on Commercial

Thursday

• Art Museum Field Trip!!!!!
• Work on Commercials

Friday

• Poetry Notebooks Due
• Filming of Commercials
• Spelling Test - Sentence/Vocabulary Due

Overview for the Week of Sept. 6 - Sept. 9

I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend.  I know I did.  We are going to have a few changes take place this week in our class this week.  First, we will be taking our benchmark test for reading on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It is very important for everyone to do their best because this will determine tutoring groups for reading.  Second,  we will change our library day to next Friday because of the short week.  Third, since we are very busy during the school day, we will be alternating Social Studies and Science class every other day.  This will allow for more time to have in depth lessons instead of just barely skimming the surface of our topics.

Tuesday:

• Reading Benchmark
• Equivalent Fraction on the Computer
• Density & Matter

Wednesday

• Finish Reading Benchmark
• Review of Fractions and Equivalent Fractions
• Work on USA and Canada Maps (add resources and physical features)

Thursday

• Alliteration Poems
• Fractions & Decimals
• Solids, Liquids, and Gases
• Fraction Quiz

Friday

• Idioms
• Decimals on the Number Line
• Video on USA and Canada
• Spelling Test and Definitions Quiz

On Thursday, the sixth graders had a lesson over alliteration, which is the repetition of sounds in neighboring words. Throughout the day, many of the students asked me what tongue twisters I knew after Ms. Lochridge's lesson. This website contains many of them, so here it is: http://www.fun-with-english.co.uk/p/fun-with-english-tongue-twisters.html

Language Arts Games!

I recently found this website that I think the students should look at. It is full of fun grammar games, such as "Noun Explorer," "Adjective Adventure," and "Comma Chameleon." This site also features advanced vocabulary, which is extremely beneficial not only for kids, but everyone. I encourage you to investigate it!!!

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab.htm

The six graders have been working on poetry all week. I stumbled upon this website which I thought would be fun for them to check out. It features humorous poems and fill-in-the-blank poems, which encourages kids to create poems of their own.

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/