Cluster 1 Newsletter

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya! We’re continuing to read Refugee in ELA and rounding the bend toward the conclusion of the novel. Students are gripped by the story and can’t wait to see how it ends. Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are all so close, yet so far from their destinations. We’ll complete a 5-paragraph essay at the conclusion of the unit; more info coming on that shortly. Check PowerSchool to see if your student owes any missing work as the end of the term is just 3 weeks away and students can turn in missing work until 3/24.

Yours,
Mr. Allen

We have now tackled addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with decimals. Students have used multiple strategies (area models, fractions, etc.) to make sense of decimal multiplication and division. We will spend some time practicing before a quiz next week.

After decimals, we’ll spend a little bit of time on common factors and multiples before beginning Unit 6. Unit 6 will be our algebra introduction unit. Students will start by making models of expressions and equations with variables.

“The Paramecia are at war!” exclaimed one student as he looked at the tiny organisms swarming under the microscope. Indeed, Sixth Grade Microbiologists have been sharpening their microscope skills by focusing on a variety of tiny creatures including Paramecia, Amoeba, and Euglena. In the culminating activity, students worked with a fourth organism called a Tetrahymena. Students chose a spice to “feed” the Tetrahymena and then observed the reaction to see if the Tetrahymena were attracted to or repelled by it. Through this experience, students were introduced to the scientific method using independent and dependent variables. This activity was made possible by a Science outreach program at Cornell University.