Milky Way Mountains & The Third Dimension

Math: We are close to beginning the final investigation in our current unit. It will focus on surface area and volume. My students struggled to recall much (if anything) about parallelograms when we began the last investigation(on area of parallelograms), so rather than assume they learned 3D shapes in previous years, I researched online - is Pinterest research?? ;) - for a hands-on activity that would allow pictures, examples, and info on 3D shapes to be with them at all times as we moved through the lessons. I found an excellent one (see below). I plan to  have them take this to 7th grade with them. It was neat to hear them whisper, "I love this" and "This is so fun" as we color coordinated everything in the foldable...

 

 

Science: They just thought Math would be the fun "half" today! Tomorrow will be our test over Earth's layers, plate boundaries, and plate movement/continental drift. To finalize our learning and make plate boundaries really stick in their minds, we used Milky Way chocolate bars. The kids broke them in half, drew what they saw and identified the chocolate as crust, caramel as mantle, and nougat as core material. Then, they labeled on diagrams that "pulling apart" was like a divergent boundary. The best part came next...working in partners, they "collided" their "plates" to represent convergent boundaries. This was a wonderful teachable moment...they saw quickly that if both students had equal strength, it was like two pieces of continental crust colliding to form a mountain-like shape. If one student wasn't as strong, subduction occurred (one piece slipped below the other) and a "trench" formed - which was an example of oceanic and continental crust colliding.

 



This is Why I Teach...

Before Christmas break, we had been working with area of rectangles. The curriculum we use for Math had a Unit project suggestion of having the kids design aquariums that fit a certain number of fish/materials/etc. to apply the skills they were learning. I know my 6th graders very well...and knew this was a good project, rich in content and skill application. But, I also knew it would mean one thing to them - we would have to get an aquarium in the room. Knowing how busy I am, and what it take to care for an aquarium, I quickly posed the idea that THEY brainstorm a structure to design that did NOT involve Mrs. Baxter buying animals;) The following is only a glimpse of the result...

First, they came up with the idea that we needed to design something for our middle school that (of course) would benefit them. A couple days later, our lesson focus was on constant area and perimeter and the book's example was storm shelter designs. It wasn't long before a couple of students pointed out that we don't have a tornado shelter for our school. A few months prior, students in a nearby state were killed when a tornado ripped through their town-largely because the school had no shelter...and just like that, a great idea was born.

I had to plan a math project that technically didn't exist and I had to do it quickly! Here's what we ended up doing:
1)Viewed news clips of the Moore, OK tornado  (this really hit home for them, as the victims were their same age)
2)Researched our district policies and looked for info on which schools in our district do/don't have shelters and why
3)Researched how to get funding (I explained that if we had the money laying around-we'd have a shelter already)
4) Plan their designs: calculate how much room 1 student would need in a safety position...and do the math to calculate what the area of the shelter needed to be to hold all 800 students/staff at our school, choose dimensions based on the area they chose, walk the school grounds & pick a logical location, and finally-create the design on paper.

I required a floor plan with labeled dimensions (even the bathrooms they included-which required them measuring how much space a stall takes up:)), a report explaining everything in their design, and a letter to our principal explaining to main ideas - why our school needs a shelter and why their design is the best and should be chosen. The letter also had to explain where they thought we could get the money to build the shelter. The notes you see are from our Math Coach, Assistant Principal, and Principal.
When I saw the final products my only thought was, "This is why I teach."

Convection Currents in the Mantle

In Science, we did an inquiry lab on convection currents. Students observed fluid movement patterns when placed over a lit candle. This movement helps them visualize movement in Earth's mantle...which causes plate movement and volcanoes (our next topics of study)!

I had to add this below...it's another Layers of the Earth project, and a VERY creative one at that - a rap. Not sure how well you can read it, but it was amazing!

Today, we finished layers of the Earth projects & started notes on convection currents in Science and wrapped up our investigation into triangle areas in Math.
1) One student's choice: a brochure

In Math, our last lesson before a quiz is usually an extension of what we've discovered over the first few lessons. This time, each group did the problem on chart paper and we hung them around the room for a "gallery walk." I give the kids post-its and they move around the room leaving "grows" and "glows" (compliments and ideas for improvement) on other groups' work. They also include a 4-3-2-or-1; what they'd give as a grade if this were a real open-response problem. It's a great respect lesson too, because as 6th graders, they're quick to be critical of each other! I always link it back to what I expect to see on their work daily...and MY favorite par-it is an excellent opportunity to teach them what meaningful compliments and critiques are...like the one below!:)

They insisted on being in the pic

somehow :)

Layers of the Earth

Today we wrapped up our learning of the Earth's inner layers with what I call a "Show What You Know" project. I try to do at least one of these per unit in Science. Prevoiusly, we'd done a K-W-L, videos, and a layer foldable so the kids had plenty of info to use.

Students could choose how to show me what they've learned as long as it met the rubric requirements...most chose posters (which looked great as most of my students are excellent artists), but there were some fun raps and brochures in there too!
Some -UNFINISHED;)- examples:

I'll add finished products and a better view of the layer foldable on Monday:)