Week 27: State, STEM, and Skate

 

Thursday we had a good sendoff for our girls and boys basketball teams and the cheer squad.  They headed to Jeff City to play in the Lutheran State Basketball Tournament.  God's blessings to the teams as they compete and enjoy worship and fellowship with other Christian athletes.  

Thanks to class photographer Ellie for the shots of the pep assembly!

Friday we were off to Great Skate!  Ana's mom led us through an introduction to STEM and the many ways Science, Technology, Engineering and Math influence our lives. 

The kids tried "reverse engineering" which is taking something apart to investigate how it is made and how it works.  They had the opportunity to disassemble roller skates.  

After identifying parts, properties, and purposes, the students reassembled the skates and tested them out on different surfaces to demonstrate the affect of friction.

Math skills for calculating perimeter, area, and cost of materials to try to design a rollar rink with a $50,000 budget.  Very cool to see real world application of math concepts!

And of course we enjoyed a bit of skating!

Literature Lessons
 We wrapped up our Nonfiction unit with a look at biographical writings.  Our essays and narratives featured Jackie Robinson, Abraham Lincoln, Beverly Cleary and Helen Keller.  Students are creating graphic organizers of the Elements of NonFiction to review with partners using Prezi.com.  We will spend a few days learning more about Helen Keller's childhood and exploring  disabilites, after we test.

 
Bobcat News

Don't forget...Spring Auction Round Up is next week (Feb 27th – March 3rd)! The class with the most donations will receive 30 minutes of extra time in the gym! Need donation ideas? Grab a leaf with a donation idea off one of the Auction Trees the week before round up to help you shop. Monetary donations are also accepted and any help is appreciated! Thank you for your generosity!


Thank you Bobcat Nation! You have once again shown your generosity and  compassion for others in a huge way. We have had another record breaking year raising money for the American Heart Association. Our goal for the year was $12,000.00 but we actually raised over $16,400.00. Students turned in donations ranging from $5.00 to $1,500.00. Each donation made a difference and together our donations will make a huge difference right here in Missouri. Thank you Bobcats! Thank you volunteers who helped with our events! Thank you Lord for your endless blessings! 


Grandparents Day is coming -  Grandparents Day is coming March 10!  We look forward to special activities to share with our Grandparents and special friends.  Please keep those white dismissal forms coming in.  Remember its an 11:15 dismissal that day.

Scholastic Book fair - March 8-10!  
Please sign up for Book Fair Volunteers!
Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:
1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on SignUp.com: http://signup.com/go/ujQW77
2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on SignUp.com)
3. Sign up! Choose your spots - SignUp.com will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!
 

Week 26: Back to Health

Thanks to all the students who have been absent for their hard work to get caught up!  We are almost back to health in 6R.  Be sure to check in one more time with each teacher to be sure you have finished anything needed still.  I appreciate the cooperative nature of this class in supporting a substitute on Wednesday as I was out with one of my own sick kids.   We finally had all 3 back in school after 3 weeks of having someone home sick.  Praise God that He gives us our health!


A Note from Mrs. Dersch:
English 6   Week of February 13-19
Spelling: Unit 19, packet and quiz due Friday

English: We had a quiz over the rest of the verbs unit, lessons 9-13. Quizzes should be returned on Tuesday. Next week we are beginning a new unit on Adjectives.

Writing: We wrote a tall tale in class. Some students are choosing to read their tales aloud so we can practice our speaking and listening skills.

Make-up work: Most all students are caught up on make –up work. Thank you to students and parents as I myself handle make-up grading (for I suffered a bout of the flu!)

Look ahead: We will be spending next week on close reading (the process of marking up a text for deep analysis/discussion.) We will also be finishing up argumentative writing. We will begin our research unit in March. The first assignment will be to interview a parent or grandparent, so be ready to share stories about the day your child was born.

Blessings to you and your family,

Rebecca Dersch

Starting in Science:  Cells and Heredity!! 

Send off to State -  We send the boys and girls basketball teams and our cheer squad to the State Tournament on Friday.  Join us for a pep assembly Thursday at 2:00 to send them off!

Cold Lunch Friday - GREAT SKATE STEM Field Trip for those not attending State.  Please send in those last permission slips so I can finish preparations for the trip.

Auction Time  Spring Auction Round Up is coming Feb 27th-March 3rd!  The committee is looking for donations for the Zion School Auction April 7, 2017 at Old Hickory.  The class with the most donations will receive 30 minutes of extra time in the gym!  Need donation ideas?  Grab a leaf with a donation idea off one of the Auction Trees the week before round up to help you shop.  Monetary donations are also accepted and any help is appreciated!  Thank you for your generosity! 

Ski Trip by class blogger: Carter

Last week we went on a field trip to go Skiing at Hidden Valley. It was a fun trip, and I would recommend anyone to go. The trip started with an explanation of how to put skis on. We then had a overview of the 7 stations. Then, we had to side-step up a large hill. After that, we learned how to do the "pizza" maneuver, which is really the to stop. We went up the magic belt at station 5. It took you up a large hill, and then you had to ski down it, stopping at the end. station 6 was learning how to turn. Station 7 was simply a large hill, leading to a rope tow. Once you were up it, you had to ski down a large, steep hill. We had availability to most things, after station 7. Overall, it was a fun trip, and everyone who reads this, should consider going there.

What's Happening in 6th Grade

Here's a few topics we are exploring:

Religion -  Israel's kings - starting with the Rise and Fall of Saul.  We will parallel our O.T. studies with the Lord's Prayer petitions and the application to our lives to day.  SEE TAB ABOVE.

S.S. - Latin America and the Indigenous peoples.  We created skits to show the blend of traditional and modern culture.  What a great way to learn about the culture of where our Chapel offering project sponsors!

Math - G-Math is working with ratios and unit rates.  T-Math has finished fraction concepts and getting into the meat of fraction operations.  Grocery shopping for the best buy based on unit rate and cooking (doubling recipes) are great hands on ways to reinforce these concepts at home.  Both classes enjoyed a math computer lab today.

Lit. - Our nonfiction unit has included essays on African Americans in baseball and Jackie Robinson.  We took time to study a bit of the Civil Rights Movement as we explored informational articles.  We are on a Lincoln biography now (Happy Birthday, Abe!!)  and will compare the style of writing to an autobiography of author Beverly Cleary.

PE - Mrs. Steinbacher reported our class did a great job with Jump Rope for Heart!  It was wonderful to see the generosity of our Zion families for this worthy cause.  ALL FOR ONE!

Art -Mrs. Cluck is working with our class on the art element of texture as they explore camouflaging an animal in a variety of art media.

What a busy week!

Week 24: A Beautiful Day to Ski!

Prayers go out to the 7 classmates who were unable to ski with us today.  Illness hit our class hard!  We have been wiping down desks and doing extra cleaning after school daily.  Encourage your child to rest this weekend.

We had a beautiful day!  I am so proud of these kids for their encouraging words and helpfulness to one another.  A great way to let God's Spirit shine in our actions.  A special THANK YOU to all the parents who chaperoned today.  We certainly couldn't provide and opportunity like this without your help!  Many of the photos below were taken by class photographer Jon R.  If you have any great shots, espcially close ups of groups, please send them my way.


A Note from Mrs. Dersch:  English 6

Week of January 30th-February 3rd

Spelling: Unit 16, packet and quiz were due on Thursday due to the field trip.

English: We are working on subject/verb agreement. We completed two lessons on it, and will review again next week.  (Lesson 10 in books #1-21 completed in notebook)

Writing: Students wrote a compare/contrast mini-essay in their English notebooks.

 NOTE: Students will not receive late points due to any reason this week and next. It is important that students get well, and not anxious about missing work. We will get all caught up soon enough! Grades will go into the grade book as students complete work, so please give your child a bit of leeway if the grade is lower than expected for now. In-class notebook work will be checked and reviewed each day next week to help students get back on track., and missing assignment checks will happen every day.  God’s blessings for healing and stress relief during this winter season!

Rebecca Dersch