"Hale Goers"

My 'students weren't alive to see Hale Bop, but today they were very alive to see "Hale Goers" :) Even though we were disappointed to not be able to go to the chocolate factory, the day was not a total wash because we had our comet experiment to liven up the day!

The students measured, mixed, and hypothesized on what would happen with our ingredients. Some of the boys were allowed to get out some excess energy by smashing the dry ice and getting it ready for Mrs. Hartman and Mrs. Goers to add to the mixture. We then allowed our comets to harden, while students watched them boil. Finally, we were able to head out to the parking lot and play catch with it while we watched it dissipate. The experiment was enjoyable and a great learning experience for all.

We took our history test today on the French Revolution and will finish up our learning packets over the next couple days. We also read the culmination of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and will enjoy the movie production over the next couple days. Feel free to send in popcorn and coffee filters for the students to enjoy.

Coffeehouse - Since we were unable to get to Mrs. Cavanaugh's, please provide an opportunity for your scholar to get some goodies for his or her table for Friday night. The scholars can bring them to school marked with their name and I will put them on the tables when we set up on Friday. Scholars will be able to find their tables based on their centerpieces that they will finish tomorrow. Please try to be to the school by 6:20. We would like to start on time.

Sam working hard

Precise measurements!

Mirko taking a stab at it!

More measuring

Final ingredient

Hardening process

The ion and dust tail following the comet

watching it boil

Time to play!

flying through "space"

observing the holes made by gases and organics

Time is Flying By!

It's amazing how when our lives are busy and full, we can glance at the clock and find that it's midnight and we have still have a list to complete! Hours run into days and soon we are buried under a million small requests that nip away at our time. We have been so busy in the suite that it's hard to look back over a couple days and even catch up!

We are deep into Tale of Two Cities and the Scarlet Pimpernel at this point. The test for the French Revolution is tomorrow in History. We will be finishing up these novels and moving on...ALREADY!  It's seems as if January just came...and now we're closing in on February!

We will go on our field trip tomorrow to Mrs. Cavanaugh's, AND run an experiment in the afternoon. We are working on Astronomy in Science and today took the Unit 8 math test. Scholars averaged an 87 on the test! We are good to go right into coordinate planes! I love this next chapter and I am hoping the scholars enjoy it also!

Friday evening will be upon us soon. Please remember I need folks to help unload the tables at Wasatch after school on Friday. We also need folks for set up and tear down. Please be sure your scholar is dressed in his/her finest and is ready to go by 6:30 on the nose! We hope to enjoy our evening and be done by 8:30.

Enjoy the photos, taken while enacting Tale of Two Cities and Mrs. Jensen explaining the Sousaphone to music class. We also have a photo of our Deans and Honor Roll students, as well as a photo of the massive amounts of snow we have been BLESSED with! :)

Out of This World!

Our photo today is all of us....on MARS! :) since we are totally out of this world!

The class took the first phase of the Silver Status Math Counts Grade Competition today. We aced it easily, and hopefully tomorrow we will take phase two. There are five phases that determine whether we earn the Silver Trophy (which we earned last year) for 2012-2013. If we earn Silver we also earn the opportunity to compete for the Gold. We are hoping to do that within the next month.  This part of the Math Counts Competition is special every year because EVERY sixth grader gets to compete in it, just as we will the Noetic Math Competition coming up in April.

Tomorrow morning our scholars will take the NWEA for math at 8:15. Please be certain that they have a HIGH PROTEIN breakfast and are ready for the test. We will have very little time to get ready before the exam so please get students to school early! Thank you!

Students should be working on their on their science experiments. Please be sure to take photos and begin getting supplies for their presentation boards. Remind your scholars to bring home the packet that defines what the board needs to look like and how to lay them out. We will be to that date before we know it!

Next Thursday after school I will need some boys and gentlemen to help haul tables over to Wasatch Christian School for our Coffeehouse. If you can help, please email me separately. Scholars should be reciting their poetry nightly. We are only a week away! :)

Book reports are due on the 31st. It is written this month and scholars have an outline that they are to follow. It should be in the center keeper of their language arts folder.

ALL SCHOLARS need a calculator. A simple dollar store one will work, but we have challenges that we will need to use a calculator to complete. Please help them procure one before Monday.

We will finish our college business letters tomorrow and scholars can write their final one and hand them in on Monday. If you have a stamp you can spare, please send it in with your scholar so we can write out our envelopes and get them in the mail!

Have a great evening!

We are out of this world! :)

Moving the Math Test!

Yes parents....your scholars are not fibbing when they say that the math test has been moved! We are moving it to next Tuesday, the 29th. I want to be sure that we have plenty of practice in chapter eight, inequalities!

Everyone should have gotten an email from ET yesterday in regards to the coffeehouse. Please refer to that to see where you can best be of help to make the evening special for the scholars. For those who are interested in the decorating end of things, feel free to check out the last two years' websites so you have an idea of what we actually did. those sites are www.sixthgradesagaciousscholars.blogspot.com   www.sixthgradesavvyscholars.blogspot.com. We will need help loading tables and unloading tables on Thursday of next week. If any of the young men who are not currently in debate would like to help, we certainly could use their muscles. We will take one load of tables and some extras over to Wasatch Christian next Thursday after school. We will also need to unload them when we get there and load them back up again after our evening is complete.

I am looking forward to our parents watching our scholars and listening to their classical poetry. I hope you will enjoy the evening. Please RSVP via the invitation your scholar gave you. We need a positive count of people before next Tuesday. Each scholar may invite nine other people. If we have extra seats we will designate them to other families.

Thank you all so much!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

Important Information!!!!!!!!! -

1. Report cards have gone home, envelopes need to be signed on the second quarter line with a SIGNATURE and returned to Mrs. Goers ASAP.

2. PERMISSION SLIPS for tomorrow's trip are in your scholar's backpack with their report card. Permission slips need to be returned in the morning. Students without a signed permission slip will be staying behind for the day.

3. CONGRATULATIONS to the second quarter Headmaster Honor Roll and Dean's List Scholars. They are:

Headmaster Honor Roll:
McKenna Tracy
Jacqui Earl

Dean's List:
Alexsis Kemp
Bella Cardon
Chance Weldon
Isaac Barreto
Sam Pope
Jared Maxwell

Well done scholars! :)

Vive l'assemblee!

As difficult as it was to concentrate today on all of the make up work we had before us, the scholars still managed to muster up some excitement when it came to History class. We are in the midst of the French Revolution and we are about to overthrow the ancien regime. Today's class consisted of the representatives from the three estates coming together and taking the Tennis Court Oath to work together and write a constitution that provided fairness for all. Even though Jean-Sylvain Bailly (Isaac Barreto) was able to lead and get the attendees to sign the oath, he later lost his head to the revolutionaries. Knowing this Isaac was still brave enough to take on the task! Long Live the Assembly!

Scholars have a Latin test tomorrow morning, as well as charting the moon, math work tonight, and starting on their essay for this week. Most have made great progress on their poetry memorization, but should be working on that nightly. If it is memorized already then every scholar should be reciting it for someone at home each night. Over practicing does not exist with poetry memorization. For many this will be their first time in front of a mic with 200 people watching them! :)

Friday is our trip to Clark. Please contact Mrs. Tracy if you can drive. We will be leaving the school at 8:30. Please have scholars to school EARLY that day. I will bring them up and start our spelling test at 8:00 on the nose. I need them done with that so they can take the vocabulary test before we leave for Clark. Also, please pack their lunches that day as we may get back to school too late for hot lunch! Thank you.

Two weeks from Friday is our coffeehouse. Scholars will make invitations on Monday and bring them home. Each scholar is allowed to invite 9 guests for a total of 10 people. We will be asking specifically how many guests each student will have when we get to the 23rd. If some are bringing less, then that will allow for others to bring more. The coffeehouse will be at Wasatch Christian School at 6:30 pm. More info to come on that soon....

Scholars should be reading their book report books for their written book reports that are due on the 31st.
please refer to the calendar from the beginning of the month for further dates. :)

seriously writing an oath

final document

anxious to sign

vive l'assemblee!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow! :)

I guess miracles never cease....as with the case of Friday's snow day. I take it that all scholars and their families made great use of the time sleeping, playing, relaxing, and having a great time in the snow!

Monday will be upon us quickly though, and we will be starting behind! We have a full day field trip on Friday, so now we're down to four days to accomplish Core Knowledge, and we have to make up for Friday and finish grades and report cards....THEREFORE, all scholars will be granted 100% as a self-serving gift from their teacher for spelling and vocabulary tests from last week. Essays will still need to be graded, which will be a feat in itself considering the two board meetings next week and forensics ...doesn't leave much time to grade essays! Written pieces from History will also be graded and added into second quarter grades. All other grades will fall into third quarter.

Report cards should be ready by Friday. Please remember that if any student has missing work, they will not get a report card. All missing work has to be completed whether or not they are earning credit. An assignment worth assigning is an assignment worth completing. :)

Scholars will be handing in their moon charts on Wednesday. THE MOON IS GLORIOUS THIS EVENING! Every scholar should be able to see it, the night is clear, the moon is new and barely there.... so very awe-inspiring.

Friday is our field trip to the Planetarium. We will take our spelling and vocab tests first thing at 8:00. Please be certain scholars are not tardy on Friday. We will then load up and head down to Salt Lake. We will return in time to eat their lunches brought from home. Scholars will be released at 1:00 as usual.

Thank you!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wowza!!

Well, after taking one and a half hours to drive home in the snow tonight, I am pretty certain that I could use a snow day tomorrow! From what I have heard, Utahans never have snow days.....but in NY we would have at least 2 or 3 a year! I suppose the morning will tell us one way or another! :)

Scholars have essays, spelling, and vocab tests tomorrow, along with their science project write up to be handed in by the end of the day. Next week we will be moving through an immense amount of material as we work toward the 4 day week that follows. Please consult the calendar for what is due and when.....

We would like to thank MR. PAUL POPE for his help with the class this year. Paul will be relocating to Texas in preparation for his family to be moving over the summer. We will miss him and his input and help with Forensics. Godspeed Paul, and we hope to see you back for graduation!

We are beginning the planning for the Coffeehouse which will take place on February 1st at Wasatch Christian School at 6:30. Scholars will need to be there by 6:20. We will need folks to help set up, keep drinks full, and help clean up. Watch for an email coming soon!

We have four birthdays this month. Please keep in mind that we want to celebrate them on the 25th right before lunch. Feel free to send in or bring in a treat for the class.

Enjoy the snow this evening, and I hope none of you are out stuck in it!
Mrs. G.

Time Management is the Lesson of the Day!

Scholars are really being pressed to be time managers and juggle all that they have on their plates for this month. There is a book report due at the end of the month, science project ideas due this Friday (paragraph written), poetry memorization to be done by the 18th, field trips, and a math cumulative exam coming up. NO SCHOLAR should be reporting that they have no homework. There is plenty for them to be working on,even if they are ahead of schedule.

Scholars who are not currently carrying an 80% or higher in math are REQUIRED to take home a Course A math book and work on chapters where they know they struggle. They are to read through the chapter and do the practice sets. The answers for many of the problems are found at the back of the book. This is training for them to both better their grades, and be self reflective on what subjects they need to be emphasizing. Hopefully by the time they leave sixth grade they will know how to evaluate themselves, and not need direction, but will govern themselves when it comes to schooling. :)

This evening scholars are to analyze their second quarter goals. They should review them with you and determine what they are going to aim for when they fill out third quarter sheets on the 14th.

Mrs. Jensen has graciously allowed students to take another final for the quarter if they performed poorly on the last one. That test is tomorrow. Every scholar should be reviewing music this evening.

Two Very Busy Days!

Thursday was a busy day in the suite as we finished up studying the Sun, Earth, and Moon so that we could be ready for the test next week. We decided that while the math team was out working, that the rest of us would put together a little jingle rap with motions to remember the phases of the moon and which direction the phases faced. you will see two pictures that your scholars can explain beginning with Addie as the New Moon and ending with Ashton as the waning crescent. We had a great time putting it together and performed it for the math team students upon their return.

Friday was a blur as we started the day with a pop quiz, read a chapter in A Tale of Two Cities, went to PE class, set up for the assembly, tore down from the assembly, turned our room into the three French Estates for history, and wrote legislation for Forensics.

Scholars are studying the French Revolution and reading both A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel to weave together a picture of the time period. While doing so, our class was divided up among scholars to depict the clergy, aristocracy, bourgeoisie, and peasants. There were those of us who were homeless, those who purchased extra apartments for a decent tax, and those who did nothing but collect taxes. The bourgeoisie finally decided that enough was enough and joined with the peasants to revolt against the aristocracy and clergy. I hope it was a beneficial learning experience for all.

For Forensics class we continued writing the legislation for the two bills that the sixth grade will present to the administration. The two bills they decided were most important were 1) adding black to the dress code allowance, and 2) microwaves available for lunches. Scholars voted on sponsors of the bills and those sponsors are preparing the bills for review next week, and then the following week will accompany the President and Vice President to the Headmaster's Office to present. If the Headmaster allows the students to present at a board meeting then they will do so.

The day ended with Jonah and Jared representing our class in the school wide Geography Bee. Congratulations to both boys as they earned first and second place respectively! I am so proud of them, and we will be encouraging Jonah as he works toward making it to the state competition.

Next week will find us busy preparing for testing, memorizing our poetry for the coffeehouse, and working on Forensics. Stay tuned for more from the suite!

Enjoy the photos and have a great weekend!

peasants and bourgeoisie

homeless peasants

paying taxes to the clergy

clergy making peasants work for no pay, homeless in prison

paying taxes.....again....

writing legislation for dress code

writing legislation for microwaves

First and Second Place! YOU ROCK!!

Sixth grade table before the competition

phases of the moon

phases of the moon....

...And Here We Go!

Back to the swing of things today....ever so slightly. Thank you to all the scholars for helping to take down our decorations in the suite and get our house in order. We were then able to apply ourselves to the tasks at hand....

We worked on some Latin this morning along with meeting Baroness Orczy, the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel. We also launched headlong into the first four chapters of A Tale of Two Cities. We will be enjoying these two novels while studying the French Revolution this month.
Then we worked our way into some math review, reviewing chapters 4 - 7 in preparation for our new book and chapter 8 to begin on Monday. For science this afternoon we finished up the Earth, Moon, and Sky book as we read and studied about eclipses and tides.
Homework link:

http://www.neok12.com/diagram/Moon-01.htm

Here is the schedule for the month of January so far: Please note field trips and contact Mrs. Tracy in regards to driving. Thank you.

9 - Science Test
11 - end of quarter/science project approved/essay/spell/vocab
15 - Latin Test
16 - Math Test
18 - Poetry memorized/supplies procured for science exp/essay/spell/vocab/Clark Planetarium trip
21 - No school for students
23 - NWEA Reading
25 - NWEA Math
30 - Chocolate Factory trip/History Test
31 - Book Reports Due/ written

Engrade reports went home today. Please look them over with your scholar, sign them and return them tomorrow.

Book report books are required to be with your scholar daily in class so that they have reading material between transitions. Please send your scholar to school with their book report book or their Kindle/Nook if you have signed the electronics policy.

We will also be needing a committee or group of moms to put together the coffeehouse decorations/food/cleanup, etc. If you would be willing to help out with that event, please get your name to Mrs. Tracy. Our coffeehouse will be February 1st at 6:30 p.m. More details to follow :)