Analyzing the Emancipation Proclamation

"Did Abraham Lincoln decide to issue the Emancipation Proclamation mostly for military reasons or mostly because of his moral principles?"

Sixth graders are using the website "Zoom In" to try to understand why Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.    Students are analyzing and taking notes over four primary documents from the 1800's.   Each source can be found in the National Archives and supports a point of view that the students will consider, adopt, and debate in small groups. 

After the debate, students will write a four-paragraph argument essay in response to the lesson question.  Claims will be supported with interpretations of the positions and quotes from the documents.   

Autumn concentrating on the information and forming an opinion.

 Autumn distracted by the photographer!

Sixth Graders/PTA Partner on Yearbook

 The sixth grade technology classes are working with the PTA to produce the 2014-2015 Marshall Elementary Yearbook. 

Students have been compiling pictures from each homeroom teacher and are selecting the designs for the borders and backgrounds of the class pages. They are evaluating templates for the arrangement of student portraits. Students are using proofreading skills as they prepare the book to be published.  The PTA will be offering the book to the student body in the spring for a nominal fee.

Describing Matter With Real World Applications

During the investigation for this week, students measured the mass and volume of four objects and found the average of three trials for each object. Students were able to find the volume of a rectangular object by multiplying the object’s length by its width and height and the volume of an irregular object by subtracting the volume of water in a graduated cylinder without the object from the volume of the water with the object.  The mass was determined by using a beam balance.  Metric units of measurement were used because of the International System of Measurement used by scientists world wide.

Some of the real life conclusions the students came up with after completing the investigation were that Doctors need to know the mass of a patient before deciding how much of a medication to prescribe because smaller patients should receive less medicine. Scientists should use the same system of measurements so that they can share information without having to convert their results to another measurement system.

Using Ratios, Rates & Proportions in Science

Sixth graders are applying math skills learned this year while analyzing data collected when germinating turnip seeds.  Gideon and Preston are pictured planting the seeds within a centimeter grid.  After the seeds germinate, students will count the ratio of germinated seeds to the number of seeds planted.  This number will be converted into a percent and students will catalog and graph the rate of growth of the plants over a six week period.    

6th Graders Convert and Narrate Digital Books for Technology Projects

The sixth graders have been working on a project with Mrs. Countryman.  They are converting books about bullying into digital movies.  The students have used the app, "Book Creator", to capture the images from individual books using their iPad cameras. They narrated the books using references from the 6th grade speaking standards and converted them into a video file for sharing.

Sixth Graders Go Global With International Documentaries

 

International Documentaries?

The sixth graders have been researching, writing, and presenting information on countries from all over the world.   While the finished products may not be considered full-blown documentaries, all students have learned a lot while preparing for the presentations and listening to the presentations of their classmates.

Each student picked a country to learn about.  They used three online resources to find out about the geography, economy, government and people of the country.   The information was written in essay form and then transferred to Microsoft PowerPoint where students added pictures that helped tell the story of their country.

The videos have been placed in each student's google drive for them to share with their families. 

Interactive Rock Cycle

      

Two heads were better than three today, when students in 6A teamed up to learn about the rock cycle.  Students used an interactive diagram to learn about the processes that recycle rock from the Earth's core, to the surface and back again.   Arianna and Autumn were the high scorers of three classes.  They realized that they had to explore the virtual collection of rocks to be able to identify the characteristics that would help them.  Try your luck at completing the final quiz by visiting the website -  http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/diagram.html