Wants & Needs Presentations

Today was the final presentation of the sixth graders Want's and Needs Project.

Meeting fundamental needs on K-2

 In groups ranging in size from one to four the students presented their ideas on how the basic human fundamental needs of air, water, food, warmth, and shelter would be met int environments they had chosen. During the presentation there was a lively class discussion on whether education and hospitals should be categorized as fundamental needs, needs, or wants. One of the students stated that this sounded like the kinds of things, "Republicans and Democrats are talking about."

Learning specialist MaryBeth Ventura, who was visiting the class, pointed out that there was also a national debate on this very issue.


Homework:
Due every day: Reading for 30 minutes
Due Friday, September 28th: Reading Response Letter.

Wants & Needs Group Project II

Today in class we finished up our Wants and Needs project. The next step is to present the project to each other. We ended the class today by creating the first draft of a rubric with which we can assess this project. After brainstorming together, below are the criteria the  class came up with:

• how well we worked together
• positive communication
• volume during classwork
• does the poster make sense
• presentation

In tomorrow's class we plan to present our projects to each other.


Homework:
Due every day: Reading for 30 minutes
Due Friday, September 28th: Reading Response Letter.

Community Agreements

One of our focuses this year in Wildcat Humanities will be looking at early societies and their journey towards becoming civilizations. In our exploration of early humans and ancient civilizations we will learn about the various ways that communities came up with rules, laws and agreements.

Sixth Graders working on community agreements.

In keeping with this theme, The Berkeley School sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are in the process of creating their own community agreements which will be used to guide the Middle School's values throughout the year. 

In Humanities class today the sixth graders worked in their table groups of four to five students to create three community agreements. When each group had finished, they joined with another group to synthesize their ideas and create another three agreements. This continued until a final three agreements was agreed upon. The student worked hard to collaborate and come up with a consensus.

Homework:
Due every day: Reading for 30 minutes
Due Thursday, September 20th: Reading Response Letter.

Wants & Needs

Today we continued our work on our Wants & Needs Project.  Last week we established that the basic needs of humans were air, food, water, clothing, and shelter. Working in small groups today, the students chose an environment that did not have any air, and then began working on their assignment, to design a method of living in that environment for one year.

Homework:
Due every day: Reading for 30 minutes
Due Thursday, September 20th: Reading Response Letter.

And We Are Off!

After the first week of the 2012/13 school year, I have been really impressed by how all of you sixth graders have dived headfirst into the beginning of the school year.

We have already thought about what a writing workshop looks, sounds, and feels like. We have used the I See, I Think, I Wonder, thinking routine to discuss the Ronald Wallace poem, "You Can't Write A Poem About McDonalds." Finally you have all attempted your own 1st drafts of a poem. 

I am impressed by how immersed in reading you all seem to be during our Silent Sustained Reading periods.

I will be using this blog about the 2012/13 Wildcat Humanities class to reflect, discuss, and share some of what we do throughout the year. I hope this helps all of you to do some of your own reflecting, as well as giving your families an opportunity to see what we are doing in class.

I will also use this space to post homework, and class handouts.