Week 35: Thrive Week

What an amazing week it has been with the educator from Thrive.  Students laughed and learned; they were challenged and intrigued.  I hope you have had many opportunities to have talks this week with your child and instill your values.  A resource to which you may want to refer is Concordia Publishing's, How to Talk to Your Child Confidently About S....  (I censored that once again in case of spam blockers).  There are excellent resources for different age groups in this series.  This is the series used in 3rd and 5th grades at Zion.

A great conversation took place today when our speaker put up examples from modern media:  "Pretty Little Liars", "Guy Code/Girl Code", "Friends" - which is back "in" with young people, modern music, and then from "classic" family shows "I Love Lucy", "Full House", "Family Matters", and "Fresh Prince."  What a difference in the conflicts, consequences, and how people deal with problems. What a difference in how families are portrayed.  When we listen to music, watch shows, or play video games it can affect us emotionally, even when we don't agree with the message.  Not all media is bad, but we need to be careful about what we put into our minds and hearts.  God has called us as parents to help our children make wise decisions and set boundaries for them. 

Next week we'll spend a day of Religion exploring a variety of Contemporary Christian music.  Students will be leading a devotion based on a song they discover. They will be looking for things in the lyrics that apply to their lives and making a Bible application.  I'm looking forward to seeing them discover the wealth of positive music in the media!


What's Happening in 6th Grade?
 
Science - Magnetism
S.S. -  Transboundary Pollution: Chernobyl and other disasters
Lit. - novel unit: Tuck Everlasting
Eng. - research paper
TMath - positive, negative numbers - coordinate plane
GMath - ending our 3D figures and getting into statistics
Religion - Witnessing: the stories of the apostles in Acts and our own opportunities of writing puppet  shows and devotions to witness our faith


G Math explores Surface Area

Week 33: P.E. Poetry, Midquarter, and Thrive

I caught a few photos of the class on their last day of racquet activities in gym:

 

Playing Badminton at PE

I was so excited to read the concrete poems the kids came up with.  We started our poetry unit with a few groans and ended it with deep discussions of metaphors had the students expressing ideas from different viewpoints as we compared different interpretations.  I was proud that kids picked subjects that were meaningful and took the time to refect, revise and add other poetic elements besides just a good shape.  I'm eager to hear their poetry poster presentations on Monday (a little alliteration for you)

I know its probably TABOO for mom or dad to step into the JH building, but please embarass your child and stop by before or after school to check these out in our lower hallway:

Look carefully - it's the basketball free throw line.

Midquarter today

Be sure to check out updated grades on Sycamore this weekend with your child.  It is a good time to set goals as we head into the "home stretch".  Reminding them to clean out Friday folders is good too.

Coming home today: 
1) permission slip for Thrive (green) and lesson outline to keep at home (white)
2) flyer about our May field trip

Thrive Best Choice

In 2 weeks, we welcome Thrive Best Choice to lead our Religion classes.  Through this program, students will be involved in active discussions about setting goals, healthy relationships, puberty, and making God-pleasing decisions.  A permission slip is coming home today to sign and return for your child to participate.  An outline of the curriculum is also coming home.  To help you prepare for discussions with your child at home, here are the topics for the week of April 25.  I pray that you use these as opportunities to open the dialogue with your child and share your values with them.  Research shows parents are still the number one influence on their teens!

Monday:  Goals, Risky Behaviors, and Decision Making
Tuesday: Respect, Friendships, and Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships, Refusal Skills
 Thursday: Male/Female Puberty  & STDs
Friday: Media Influence, Emotional Consequences, Boundaries, and Avoidance Techniques

Week 32: Discovering the EU

In S,S., Both classes had an opportunity to simulate travel and trade before and after the EU formed.

Before the European Union formed, customs agents did passport checks

Figuring out the currency exchange

How many zloty for a franc? French or Belgian?

I'll buy a bumper sticker please

It's rather difficult to get from one country to another with all these border stops

Guten tag!

When the EU formed, travel became much easier - no passport checks!

That will be one euro, please.

Unless you are from Poland or the UK.  They didn't adopt the euro.

Travel and trad are much easier.

Still learning those greetings, Hola!.... Bonjour!

New On Sycamore:
VBS volunteer information - 6th graders are eligible to be helpers.  See the link at the top right.
  
(Repeat)

SAVE THE DATE - 

Friday May 20 will be our Lutheran Heritage Field trip.  This is an extended day, arriving at 6:40 a.m. and returning at 5:30 p.m. that evening.  Please mark your calendars accordingly.  We will be studying immigration, geneology, and the history of Lutherans in our area.  Our day will include a trip to the Altenburg Museum and Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna, MO.  This is a colonial homestead where students will learn about the first Lutheran settlers and have an opportunity for trying chores such as gardening, laundry, and grinding corn.  Thanks to a generous sponsorship from the PTL, we are able to take a charter bus for the trip.  More information will come home at the beginning of May.