We made our classroom festive and colorful this last week with a directed drawing art project. We looked at several examples of classic nutcrackers and noted features they all shared. Then, students received guidance on proportions to make all drawings similar, but were encouraged to make their own unique in some way. The next day, we used glitter, metallic paint, sharpies, and color pencils to make them vibrant and cheerful.

By reading several articles on different websites and watching short videos in class, we’ve been discussing the event that lead up to America’s independence from England. Creating a bulletin was a fun way to display our learning last week. Students got into groups and traced each other’s feet. Then, they wrote the year and main event on the cut-out foot, chose a picture from Google images, and wrote a paragraph by paraphrasing a website from a list of resources on their topic.

Recently in Room 5, we ended our Narrative Writing Unit with a writing celebration! Students got to travel around the classroom. Using their narrative writing criteria checklist, they left specific feedback notes on their classmate’s desk, received a treat, and nominated their peers to read sections of their narrative. It was a great way to end such a fun writing unit!

6th graders will now be able to help look for the best deals at grocery stores. During our most recent math unit on ratios, we’ve learned about unit rates and how food companies price items at the stores. Students looked at pictures of these prices this week to compare them and find the better bargain.

In science, we’ve been learning about and discussing the function of organelles within their cells. We had fun looking at a comic by “Beatrice the Biologist” and used her comic art as inspiration for our own interdisciplinary science and art lesson. 

Last week students completed their first art piece in class. Every year, students work intently on recreating a Yosemite wildflower of their choosing. The pieces get submitted into an annual at contest at the Yosemite’s Ansel Adams Gallery. 

We’ve been up to our ears in projects in Room 5! I believe our latest project was the most engaging. It brought on creativity, engineering with geometry, and so much teamwork! 5th and 6th graders spent the last two and a half weeks planning, building, and testing out their very own marble run roller coasters.

Not a day went by without several students begging me to give them extra time to work on these projects. One of the most important parts of this project was fostering and discussing leadership skills. After about a week of working on this project, we had an important class meeting all about the qualities good leaders possess. Members from each group talked about the leadership they saw forming in each group. It turns out that some of our most shy and reserved students have way more leadership skills than they thought! These students were elated to hear that their group members saw them as natural leaders. Overall, we discussed that leaders have good ideas, are able to delegate tasks in a kind way, make sure everyone feels like they are an important part of the group, and make good use of their time.

By the end of the project, groups were able to start testing out their marble runs. That’s when Room 5 got especially noisy with cheers and the competitive nature of some students really came out. On the night of Open House last week, families and students voted for the strength of each rollercoaster. The next day, we had our official “Roller Coaster Challenge” Day where we timed and tested roller coasters and groups received awards. It was another day filled with cheer and excitement.