HOW IS QUARTER THREE ALREADY OVER?! It's spring break! This year is flying by! Despite rain and conferences, our final week was a packed one! Sixth graders finished out the week with a math test, and submitted their archeological dig group's site plans and artifacts! There are some amazingly intricate ones, but I'm not going to post here quite yet for fear of giving it away ;) Friday included a field trip to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art's program on Greco-Roman art at the Ridley Tree Education Center. First, students observed pieces from various civilizations in slideshow form, starting with ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian works, works from Ancient India and Pakistan, and finally those of Greece and Rome. Topics of conversation included how clothing and expressions were stylized, how the materials were used, and how body positions in sculpture changed through time--from the rigid Frontalism of Egyptian work to the contrapposto of Greek and Roman pieces. Second, students had the opportunity to touch and hold small, real bronze and marble sculptures from ancient Rome! They tried their hand at chiseling stone, using a tool to measure the dimensions of the face, handling different kinds of stone and learning how the wax-mold process enabled bronze work. Finally, students enjoyed creating their own pieces. They began by pressing their clay into a mold of a face, and embellished each piece to their own liking. It was an enriching field trip!
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Only one week until Spring break! This was a packed one! On Thursday, the Grandparents came and visited sixth graders in their Spanish and Science classes. In Spanish, they worked in groups to complete an online questionnaire about the Mayan Ruin of Chichen Itza, experimented with GoogleCardboard Virtual Reality, and discussed packing a suitcase for what they'd need if they were to visit. It was a good sampling of the interactive practices for language acquisition they get on a weekly basis! In Science, sixth graders worked in groups to design the digestive system through various forms: life size drawings, minecraft, and baking are some of the main choices! In Language Arts this week, sixth graders revised the final drafts of their research papers and began creating their artifacts for the Archeological dig, which will take place the week after break. In History, we wrapped up our unit on ancient China by learning about the Silk Road through a simulation. Each student "started their trading journey" at one of five ancient cities along the Silk Road: Antioch, Ctesiphon, Kashgar, Kucha, and Dunhuang. They were given five cards of a specific 'good', and sent to other trading posts with the goal of meeting traders from across the continent, as well as trading for different goods. In Math, sixth graders practiced expanding and factoring algebraic expressions. Over two hundred students, including many of the sixth graders, chose to walk down to the fields on national Walk Out day to honor those killed in the Parkland shootings.
This week brought some new activities and ended with an enjoyable indoor field day. In Language Arts, sixth graders began the annual Archeological Dig project! They have been divided into four teams: The Crimson Dragon Squad, the Black Panther Crew, the Golden Duck Gang, and the Silver Serpent Squad. Each team randomly selected an ancient civilization to research. They are keeping these civilizations secret from each other; and will be writing research papers and creating artifacts for each. This week, they took turns going to Laguna's library to learn about library research, as well as learning online, textbook, and encyclopedia note-taking. In History class, sixth graders learned about Emperor Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China. Having ruled incredibly harshly and with extreme censorship, he standardized weights and measures and began work on the great wall of china. These controversial choices led to some excellent debate about what makes a ruler effective. In Math class, we wrapped up our chapter on converting between Percents, Decimals, and Fractions. Science class brought the end of a long food-truck unit, and sixth graders celebrated with a sampling of their food on Thursday morning. It was a fun finale! Unfortunately, Friday morning brought more rain so 2018 Field Day turned into 2018 Gym Day. The middle school worked with their Swoop Groups for the first hour of the day, enjoying reading, juggling, boardgames, film-watching, origami, and all other activities depending on their group. We came together for a big dodgeball tournament in the gym, followed by a fun pep-rally and lunch with the lower school. It turned out to be a fun and enjoyable end to the week!
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June 2018
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