• Smiling students
• Curious minds
• Families and friends
• Coffee & morning chats
• Our school
• AHA moments
• Time spent together
• For all of you

Students took time this holiday season to reflect and create mandalas that focused on being grateful.  At such uncertain times, it was important to our community to share what we are most thankful for.  Student’s thoughtful work was made into a placemat that became the centerpieces of our holiday table.  We enjoyed ham, mashed potatoes, cinnamon rolls, and of course pumpkin pie, and spent the day playing games and working on puzzles.  Our classroom is grateful to be together.

Something is growing in E6!

Visit our photo gallery to see what is growing in our classroom.  Students identified bacteria, built virus models out of clay, and studied the characteristics of protists.  The culminating lab sent students to various locations around the classroom to swab samples and observe growth in the petri dish.  Can you guess which location grew the most cultures?  It was the student bins, which were quickly cleaned out with soapy water and bleach.  Ms. Amy’s phone case was a close second.  

To understand the varying classifications of fungus, students dissected mushrooms and grew fungus in mason jars.  Our classroom smells great!  So thankful for candles.  Look at our photo gallery to decide… ascomycota, basidiomycota, or zygomycota?  Ask your students, they should know.

The 6th year community garden is growing and I am thankful that the rabbits have stayed away.  Sweet peas, tomatoes, wild flowers, lima beans, and tomatoes are sprouting and we will do our best to keep them safe during the winter.   Thanks to Ms. Amy for the frequent weekend rain showers!

Mindset Math

Students spent some mornings working together to solve tough problems.  The polygon party started with a four corners game and ended with a tangram puzzle challenge.   Students were then given a rectangle and asked to find as many perfect squares within the rectangle as they could find.  There were various answers, creative solutions, but most importantly a lot of hard work and deep thinking, and even some spontaneous celebrating.  We are thankful for loud AHA moments.

If you are interested in finding out more about Mindset Math visit youcubed.org.  

Please take a moment to visit our photo galleries.  We are so thankful for the students of E6.  Their curious minds, kind smiles, and of course, daily doses of laughter.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HtDfUYD4SGyg6N1UEpza6FkAvdF7Espq?usp=sharing

We experience all the “feels” in E6.

The last half of October was full of emotion!  Studying bacteria in science, traveling the high seas with Prince Henry the Navigator, bone-chilling scary stories, and celebrations in Spain. Throw in a career dress up day and our Friday fitness elective and you have a month filled with creativity, experience, cooperation, and of course, daily doses of laughter. 

THE BASICS of BACTERIA

Students have been studying the six kingdoms of life, and Archaebacteria and Eubacteria sparked thoughtful questions about the microorganisms all around us.  After learning about the parts of both the animal and plant cells, students investigated the life cycles of our single celled friends. Students learned the importance of categorization based on specific characteristics.  Please visit our photo galleries to see spherical, cylindrical, and spiral bacteria models made of clay.

It’s all about word choice…

E6 writers spent the month of October brainstorming, reading, searching, and studying descriptive words.  Murky, suspicious, pulsing, and deafening are some of the words students used to create a spooky story to share with their friends.  Students listened to readings of the great Edgar Allen Poe to borrow description, understand mood, and create suspense.  Here are a few examples from our authors.

“It was a Sunday night, the winter trees were bare and the night was cold.  The crease of the moon smiled knowingly at the lone house.”

-Addi B.

“I’ve always liked to stay in the shadows and work secretly.  It’s fun to do that kind of thing when you are a child.” -Cian

“I sneak away into the trees.  The trees start to shutter as I go further into the forest.”  -Phynix

“Hello Eric, I’ve been expecting you.”  He says in his scratchy voice,  I’m speechless.  He puts his cold, knife-like fingers on my shuddering shoulder and walks me into the living room.”  – Cooper

“Grace, a freckle-faced, tall, 13 year old girl, stepped down the cracked street.  Her emerald green eyes boiled with anger as the three girls behind her laughed.” – Lilian

“Lightning appeared, and the wind whistled. They entered through a tiny gate and unsteadily got out of the car.”  -Isabella

Stay tuned for announcements regarding our upcoming poetry slam.

Celebrating the creative culture of Spain

International Children’s Day was filled with festive food, cubist painting, and ship building.  We ate together, we created together, and we enjoyed each other’s company.  We missed seeing parents in the classroom and appreciate all who helped make materials and prepare food.  Please visit our photo gallery to see the smiles in their eyes. 

Thanks again to all the parents, students, and staff who have helped make this year possible.  E6 is grateful every day.

Make sure to check out our photos! There are some fun pictures of your children enjoying our new Fitness Elective! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HtDfUYD4SGyg6N1UEpza6FkAvdF7Espq?usp=sharing

Our garden is growing!

Making personal connections to books facilitates deeper reading comprehension and understanding.  The sixth year students planted a community garden as a response to reading the book  Seedfolks by Paul Fleishman.  The book focuses on the diverse lives of characters living in the inner city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  The community is forever changed when a young girl plants some seeds in a run down, garbage filled, vacant lot.  The students chose seeds that held meaning to themselves or their families and have been watering and watching daily to see if we can share a community experience.  Finally, after much tending, the seeds are starting to grow.  Now the real nurturing begins.  

Adjectives are in BLOOM!

Students have spent the past weeks ridding their vocabulary of words that are boring and “dead”.  Words like cool, awesome, and nice, need to be “weeded” out to make way for new growth.  During grammar, students were able to act out adjectives like annoyed, radiant, stunning, and awkward to demonstrate the emotions associated with descriptive language. 

In writing, students are preparing to write suspenseful stories.  They have been listening to readings of classic literature to find and borrow haunting, weary, and dreary words to give the reader a bone-chilling experience.

The “root” of scientific classification begins with the six kingdoms of life.  The students of E6 spent the week learning how scientists classify all living things.  After note-taking and discussion, students ended the unit dining at the “Kingdom of Life Buffet”, make sure to ask them what was featured on the menu. (yummy)

Thanks to the lessons started by Prince Henry our students are growing into quite the navigators.  We have learned about the Kingdoms of England and Spain, and traveled to Portugal to witness the beginning of the “Age of Exploration”.  We built astrolabes, and many students were able to locate the north star in the night sky and get an accurate reading of our latitude.  Hopefully you were able to see the other objects burning bright in the night sky…Mars and Saturn are particularly beautiful this time of year.  Students will be using their knowledge of navigation and exploration as we prepare for a class simulation at the beginning of second semester.  We have a lot of preparation to complete before we let these new sailors set sail.

We are looking forward to International Children’s Day, on October 29th, as we spend our day in the country of Spain.  Please visit the link to our classroom photos.  We have many fun experiences to share. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HtDfUYD4SGyg6N1UEpza6FkAvdF7Espq?usp=sharing

Stay healthy and happy,

The E6 Teachers

Celebrate science,

Unraveling the stories of history,

Listening, learning, and retelling.

Trying to make connections.

Unique challenges,

Recreations

All together, working to make

Lasting Impressions.

Acrostic poems are a method we use in E6 to help students quickly summarize information presented in lessons, especially the information we are introducing in science and history.

“The End of the World”

In order to understand the vibrancy of the Renaissance , we first had to understand the turmoil of the Middle Ages.  Nothing captures the attention of the students like the “Black Plague”.  Plague masks and herb pouches were worn around the classroom for protection. The end of the plague led to the Hundred Years War and the inspirational Joan of Arc.  After all this unrest we have nowhere to go but up!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Joan of Arc (student sample)

Jailed by the English

Obstacles to overcome.

Angels spoke to her.

Nineteen when she died.

Out of the ordinary.

From France, fought for France.

Acknowledged after she died.

Religious, respected.

Courageous, cared for her country.

Cells Alive!

Cells are the building blocks of life, and what better analogy than a lego challenge to introduce such a complicated topic.  Students have spent the past two weeks, seeing cells under a virtual microscope, learning terms like cytoplasm and golgi body, and recreating an animal cell with household items.  Check out the pictures in our google photo album to see how students compared a cell to a city, analogies make these lessons stick.

• 

• 

The students are working so hard.  We look forward to seeing the parents during conferences.

Thanks to all for helping to make this year so successful.

Check out this link to see all of our photos! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HtDfUYD4SGyg6N1UEpza6FkAvdF7Espq?usp=sharing

The E6 teachers

We kicked off our math week with whole group lessons that focused on the different ways students learn math.  Through a series of whole group lessons, students learned that everybody sees math differently and that all students have the creative ability to learn math to the highest levels.  We investigated different ways to work together to solve difficult math challenges.  Students studied research that proves that mistakes are important to brain growth and development.  Students started small group math lessons with confidence!  

If you are interested in learning more about “Mindset Math” please visit youcubed.org.

Enthusiasm for science could not be contained.  Students were happy to put on their gloves and start experimenting in science.  Ms. Taylor introduced the students to the scientific method with an experiment on surface tension.  Students also applied cooperative learning and problem solving and they worked together to “Save Fred” from drowning.  Ask your kids what worked…better yet, see if they can replicate the experiments with objects you may have in your home.  Enjoy some “experimenting” for yourself.

What do you get when your class needs a mask break but you don’t want to stop teaching?  You invent a game called “Preposition Hide and Find”!  Half of the class was asked to go outside and place themselves in a good spot, while the other half had to find their partner and write sentences explaining their position using sentences filled with prepositions.  Ms. Taylor then used their sentences to generate an assignment.  Students love seeing their words printed on paper.  

Just a reminder to check the google drive photos. We upload new photos every week. The link is listed below.  

Here is a sample of a rhyming poem and a prepositional phrase poem written by E6 authors.   Happy Reading.

The Tree

By Cayden

Standing under the moon on a starless night.

The moon provides the only light.

Wandering around only one thing to be seen,

And that is the long fields of green.

But in the fields there is a tree,

That grows taller than the eye can see,

To climb it would take a while,

However I could climb for hours.

On a branch I had sat,

Along with my birthday hat.

But if I looked down I’d be filled with fright,

Because I am afraid of heights.

I sat there till the sun came up,

And climbed down until I could jump.

I landed and on the very day,

My fear of heights went away.

Football

By Rocco

Across the road

Into the park

Near a playground

Through some trees

Underneath the setting sun.

With a football

From home

On the grass

Since 6:30

Toward the cone I run.

Past my friends

Against my opponent

Until 7:30.

Throughout the drive home

Down beneath the mountains

During night

In the care

To home

Outside my house

Inside my room

By my bed

Reading a book.

Check out our photos using this link! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HtDfUYD4SGyg6N1UEpza6FkAvdF7Espq?usp=sharing