Sixth graders become journalists

Sixth graders, with the help of Ms. Zive and a program called In Design, produced newspapers this month. Each newspaper included an editorial, a feature article, and a news story, plus an ad or editorial cartoon. They were awesome. Soon, I will post some of these papers on my web site.

What was your reaction to the newspaper project and journalism as a whole? What did you like and dislike? Why? As we begin to prepare to write our class blog, show your skill at responding to blogs, by offering a response to this blog. Be sure to back up your responses with examples, and remember your audience: me, your classmates, and parents. Only sign your entry in the way we discussed in classs. I look forward to reading your respectful comments. Remember, you may read each other's comments also.

Fifth Graders Build Lego Paragraphs

Fifth-grade students put their understanding of paragraphs into action by building models of paragraphs using Legos. Each model had to show understanding of a paragraph's components: topic sentence, body, and concluding sentence. See the kids at work and view some of their creations, including an ice cream cone (topic sentence) of four flavors (body sentences with examples) and a cherry on top (conclusion); a Christmas tree (body) with lights (details), a trunk (topic sentence), and a star (concluding sentence); and others. The kids enjoyed building paragraphs without even putting a pen to paper.

Hallowe'en Brings out the Best in Us

Sixth-graders dressed up in costume on Hallowe'en and travelled to class in style.

Sixth Graders Write Memoirs

"I looked around and ran to the garage as my feet thumped against the hard wood floor." (Tyler W.)

"'I'd hate to be in that position,' I thought as I watched the poor guy in the kayak paddle fiercely from the swallowing, giant, jagged rocks." (Brad)

"I was going to the doctor. I couldn't remember how or why, but I knew it was important." (Isaiah)

"The kid beside me flung his arm around,and my mask fell. Then his arm flung the other way and knocked out my regulator. I started to panic. I couldn't breathe." (Maria)

"Someone was pounding on me. It was 7:00 AM on a Saturday at the lake. No one should have been up yet. Was it my dog, Princess, getting angry I hadn't walked her, so she was walking on me? Was it my dad, waking me to go? We weren't supposed to leave until Wednesday. Who was it? (Rachel)


"I rushed through the hotel as my mom screamed, 'It's in the water! Quick boys, come here. You have to see this.'" (Tom)
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Whether using an action lead, a dialogue lead, a reflective lead, or a combination of the three, sixth-grade students found a variety of ways to begin their memoirs, which they finished recently. Come read your classmates' memoirs and learn about their memory stories--the wonderful tales that complete these leads.

Predicates say, "Everything revolves around me!"

Fifth graders in Writing Workshop took center stage today as they took on the role of either a subject or a predicate. Subjects wrote a speech to an audience at an athletic banquet, and their speeches were entitled, "It's All about Me." Predicates, on the other hand, had to write a song, "Everything Revolves around Me," to sing to "Top 40" radio listeners. The students had to take on the role of their respective sentence part and create the words to their speech or song, considering their audience and their own attributes. Take a look at the video and pictures attached.

A Special Visitor

A sparrow flew in the room and paid the students a visit yesterday. Finding friends nearby, the bird fluttered around the room before perching on a Kleenex box in search of a window. Some kids screamed, and some "shushed," and eventually the bird found friends of its own species on the other side of the window. While kids worked on memoirs, the bird helped them make a new memory.

Kids Discover their Unique Writing Neighborhoods

This week, students took the concept of "neighborhood" to a new level by drawing a place that had eight to ten significant memories for them. Some drew their back yards, including the places they remembered hiding out, breaking a bone, or building a fort; others drew their camp and all of the poignant places that made the camp special to them. Whether showing a yard, a camp, a house, a vacation spot, or a closet, the students worked to convey special places with special memories. They will use these memories as they think about the memoirs they will begin writing next week.

Recess Rocks

Sixth Grade recess
Blog #1
September 6

Going into our second week of school, the sixth graders are getting back into the swing of things: waking up early, not being late to school, managing lockers, tolerating school lunches, doing our homework, and not staying up all night. The sixth graders’ favorite part of school seems to be, not surprisingly, recess! With some playing tetherball, some on the swings, others playing football and basketball, and some just hanging out by the hangout wall talking, everyone seems to find something to enjoy doing for recess. With our first pep-rally this year today, we will hopefully end this week on a good note!

Posted by Alexandra

The First Days of Writing Workshop

On August 23rd and 24th, students in the fifth and sixth grade found a new class and cool air in the Sutton third-floor room. With air conditioning and a chance to write freely on topics of their choice, students welcomed the new school year with relatively wide eyes. Fifth graders wrote rambling autobiographies, and sixth graders played a signal- passing, hand-squeezing game to sharpen their focus and garner the spirit of teamwork they will need to have in this year's workshop.

Creating Cubist Faces Reminds Students of Dodecahedron--3-5-07

Language Arts students used www.mrpicassohead.com to create Cubist faces today, in honor of the Dodecahedron from Phantom Tollbooth. They researched Picasso using the Web and learned a bit about his style; then they tried to create their own artistic works. Check out the Web site gallery to take a look at their efforts.

Welcome to the Word Market--3-2-07

Mrs. Sutton's and Mrs. Nockowitz's sixth graders combined for a visit to the Word Market today. Using their $4 credit, students chose words that they thought looked useful, taking care not to mix them up as Milo did in the Phantom Tollbooth. When finished buying nouns, verbs, and interesting adjectives, as well as other parts of speech, they learned the importance of choosing and using words correctly. They learned that "um" was not available and that "like" and "quite" had appropriate uses. Also, words that looked good, like "castle" weren't the most useful. The kids are now using their words to earn credit by making sentences while avoiding taxes on substitutions, additions, and alterations.

Fifth Graders Experience Sensory Overload--2-28-07

The fifth graders tried different sensory experiences today as a way to understand imagery better. They felt sandpaper, listened to music, ate sour candy, smelled perfume, and watched the disco ball illuminate the room. All in all, they tried 20 sensory experiences, reflecting on each one. By the end of the day, the room really smelled interesting! The kids will now use these experiences to write poems using terrific imagery.

Fifth Graders Take a Satisfying Sensory Walk--2-26-07

Today, the fifth-graders read poems using strong imagery and investigated the ways poets created vivid pictures by using sensory language. Then, they donned their jackets and hiked a bit around the school and grounds looking for objects that might inspire them to write with such fine imagery. Rocks, leaves, snow (melting), as well as markers, magnets, and other objects may turn up as the subjects of tomorrow's poems!

Fifth Graders Experiment with Voice--2-22-07

Fifth-grade Language Arts students tried their hands at writing some poems today, focusing on the voice they used in the poem. After reading poems with different speakers, some students chose to write poems as if talking to an object (apostrophe). One child wrote to her sock. Others chose to use a lyrical voice, including first-person perspective in their poems, for example, pretending to be in a basketball game. Some used dramatic voice, pretending to be an object or item, such as a leaf talking to its visitors under the tree or a pencil, ready to write. Still other students used narrative voice and told a story through their poems. All enjoyed hearing each other share writing samples, which will be edited and placed into each student's poetry booklet. Keep on writing!

Sixth graders act out the King Azaz's Royal Banquet

Today, the sixth graders acted out the Royal Banquet that Milo attends in King Azaz's banquet hall., as described in chapter seven of Phantom Tollbooth. They served pretend food on pretend platters and learned to be careful about what they say because they might have to eat their words!

Advisory goes to kindergarten--2-21-07

Today, we visited Mrs. Farrenkopf's kindergarten class and read about the ocean with the members of her class. The kindergartners had just started a new unit on the ocean and enjoyed reading with their sixth-grade buddies.