Our Essential Question: What are the lasting contributions of the ancient civilizations and how do they impact our lives?

Questions to Ask Your Child:
Show me a math magic trick from your CPM text and then explain to me how it works! How did you compare and contrast the Han and Shang Dynasties of ancient China? Invite me to your Thrively website so I can see your strengths, interests and passions!

Crew News
Fieldwork: California Wonder Tour was AMAZING! First crew to walk TO the bridge, UNDER the bridge, and walk across in the springtime! We are reading The Lightning Thief and writing our own narratives using the format of a hero’s journey. Our math focus is writing algebraic expressions using inverse operations and the distributive property. We’ll end the year in statics and probability by starting a hands-on, real world project to use that knowledge in fun service to our school!

On May 19th we saw a performance of Chinese Drumming by the GuGu Drum Group. You can watch this internationally famous group here:
http://kmpartists.com/gugu-drum-group/

SELS News
Passages will take place Wednesday and Thursday, June, 21 and 22 from 12:30-2:00.
Middle school service day: May 26. We will be planting trees at Waddle Ranch for the Truckee Tahoe Airport.
Culminating fieldwork: June 1 & 2, overnight at Pyramid Lake.
Ancient World Summit is our final product – see you on Celebration of Learning Night, June 15th, from 5:00-6:00.
Last day of school, Friday June 23, is a minimum day.

Highlights
Parent Volunteers – Thanks to all the parent volunteers who made the California Wonder Tour possible!

Our Essential Question: What are the lasting contributions of the ancient civilizations and how do they impact our lives?

Questions to Ask Your Child: How did geography affect where the Chinese Dynasties developed? What can you tell me about the Silk Road? How is my life different today because of Chinese inventions and advances? Teach me how to combine “like terms” to simplify algebraic expressions. How do algebra tiles work?

Crew News
Investigative journalists did some deep digging to learn about rats in honor of our new class pet, Nova. Nova’s presence has been inspirational in both writing and our Who Am I expedition. We used the soil samples we collected from Lassen to make soil paint. We used it to replicate ancient cave paintings like the Ajanta Caves from ancient India.

Finally, fieldwork is on the calendar! April 26-28 we hit the road for our mini-California Wonder Tour! More on that next month…

SELS News
• Spring Break April 10-15

Parent Volunteer Highlights
Thanks to Niki Riley for our March Coffee Shop treats and Forrest Rader for April!

Our Essential Question: What are the lasting contributions of the ancient civilizations and how do they impact our lives?

Questions to Ask Your Child:
How did geography affect where the Egyptians settled?
What can you tell me about the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt and how they ruled?
What was a typical day in the life of an Egyptian?
If you lied in ancient Egyptian society, which social class would you have wanted to belong to? How is my life different today because of the Egyptians?
Teach me how to multiply fractions and mixed numbers.
What was this week’s Hot Topic and how did your thinking change around it?

Crew News
We are sharpening our narrative skills with a daily visual creative writing prompt followed by “Author’s Chair” readings of our work. CoffeeShop book discussion day this month is for chatting about our personal choice books. The math focus is spiraling up into more portion relationships – multiplying parts of parts in the form of fractions and decimals. Fridays start with our “Hot Topic” discussion of crew-selected topics. Ask your child to see the online Padlet with crew responses after the conversations.

SELS News
Tahoe Safe Alliance presentations covered middle school topics with a very engaged crew.

Check our full school calendar for events & happenings: https://truckeecharterschool.org/calendar/

Highlights
Parent Volunteer – Thanks to Melissa for secretly arranging our Adventure Day! Crew members went dogsledding with Wilderness Adventure tours in Squaw Valley and ice-skating at the resort!

Our Essential Question: What are the lasting contributions of the ancient civilizations and how do they impact our lives?

Questions to Ask Your Child:
How did geography affect where the Egyptians settled?
What can you tell me about the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt and how they ruled?
What was a typical day in the life of an Egyptian?
If you lied in ancient Egyptian society, which social class would you have wanted to belong to?
How is my life different today because of the Egyptians?
Teach me how to multiply fractions and mixed numbers.
What was this week’s Hot Topic and how did your thinking change around it?

Crew News
We are sharpening our narrative skills with a daily visual creative writing prompt followed by “Author’s Chair” readings of our work. CoffeeShop book discussion day this month is for chatting about our personal choice books. The math focus is spiraling up into more portion relationships – multiplying parts of parts in the form of fractions and decimals. Fridays start with our “Hot Topic” discussion of crew-selected topics. Ask your child to see the online Padlet with crew responses after the conversations.

SELS News
• Progress reports are complete for the semester and will be coming home in February.
• Tahoe Safe Alliance presentations covered middle school topics with a very engaged crew.
• Ski Skate Week February 20-24

Highlights
Thanks to Melissa for secretly arranging our upcoming Adventure Day! Crew will be dogsledding with Wilderness Adventure tours in Squaw Valley and ice-skating at the Resort at Squaw Creek!

The week ahead:
Math: We resume an exploration of area in our CPM textbook.
Expedition: We’ll dig deeper into the water cycle and the effects of tectonic plate motion on the Earth’s surface.
Literacy: Protected reading in Book Club on Monday and Tea & Treat discussion Wednesday / Writers Workshop Tuesday and Thursday with grammar Caught Ya’s and informative writing.
Fix-it Friday will happen Friday morning before Community Meeting to accommodate the BearWalk – this is for crew who need to re-test on expedition learning targets.

Other Happenings:
SELS Summit Day on Tuesday – permission slips needed! We will ride the bus to the trailhead for Castle Peak that begins behind the I80 rest area. Parent drivers will bring us back to school.
McMains Crew will run this Friday’s Community Meeting.Friday is the SELS BearWalk – students are reminded to wear school-appropriate costumes and comfortable walking shoes. Crew, remember to get those friends and family pledges for your laps – every cent you raise goes to your crewroom!
SELS will host a parent Math Night on November 6th – come experience the College Preparatory Math / Common Core math program to really understand the rich learning your child is experiencing. Discover the benefits of collaborative study teams and how this structure deepens your child’s fundamental conceptualization of mathematical ideas.

Minimum days all week – please come prepared to your conference, with goals written.

Math – students are working to attain 85% accuracy on 5th grade /6th grade skills practice this week. No new lessons in the CPM program until after fieldwork.

Literacy – book clubs began reading their chosen books and are preparing Response to Literature papers to drive their part of discussion day on Wednesday.

Science Expedition – crew will have an assessment on the Lassen fieldwork Learning Targets and last week’s Q-notes about plate tectonics.
They began filling out a study guide today to prepare for the test – it is downloadable here!

science_expedition_study_guide.docxFile Size: 76 kbFile Type: docxDownload File     

Expedition – Character 6th grade is all about choice and responsibility. Crew began by taking responsibility for choosing their own best-fit math study team, individual “ThinkSpace”, and cubby.
Dojo is a hit – and thank you parents who have logged in and are following along. Remember, this is just a snapshot of times during a day I may notice your child practicing habits of work in positive or negative ways.
College Prep Math – Crew took a pre-assessment on all the concepts we will explore this year. It will come home Tuesday. Chapter 1 is designed to learn and practice Study Team Roles and the processes we will follow this year while introducing concepts we will study late this year.
Expedition – Science -Kick-off is the Lassen Volcanic Road trip on September 30!
Literacy – Using their items from the summer reading assignment, crew began creating an idea board for themselves as if they were the next character in Seedfolks. We will develop that idea into our first narrative writing.
We will explore VERSO as a way to read, write, and respond to other’s ideas.
Look For and Reminders: This week math pretetss, parent info on math, and Grizzly Adventure Camp permission slips ( due September 9th).

Via::

Authoring a digital book is a gigantic undertaking, but crew has dug in and our room looks like a press room!

• Chapter authors are finishing their drafts this week so editors and fact checkers can begin to review them.

• Editors and fact checkers have been brainstorming ideas to expand the chapter information and researching to help their authors. They have also been searching for quotes to begin each chapter.

• Photo editors have selected the best photos and video clips from fieldwork and begun taking new pictures to suit their chapters. They also began choosing title page photos.

• Graphics committee chose a book layout.

• Illustrators are drawing maps, diagrams, and organisms for their chapters.
• New upcoming tasks will include embedding links to websites, bolding terms for the glossary,and creating the glossary.

We are simultaneously creating two entirely differernt products to share our expedition learning: a soil mandala and a scientific illustration, Audubon-style. Each crew member is creating a mandala that tells the story of one geologic process and how that, in turn, created a specific ecosystem in California. Mandalas are being drawn and today we began making paint for them from the soil samples we collected during fieldwork in Lassen. They are stunning works that will be displayed at Celebration of Learning next Thursday night.

MathDogs…service project!

Applying their learning of fractions, percents, least common multiples and greatest common divosors, crew worked to determine the best combinations of donated items for our Humane Society gift bags. Thanks to our community for donating so many wonderful treats, toys and supplies!

This week we hope to deliver twenty-six bags that can be given as gifts to those who adopt a dog. Each bag contains two items and a unique gift card explaining the service project.

Book Clubs…are running themselves!

Each student has a self-selected comprehension or vocabulary strategy on which to focus during independent reading throughout the week. On club days I hold individual conferences with students. They share evidence of using their strategy, read aloud to me and we discuss who they are as a reader and what steps they will take next toward their goals. Clubs continue to respond to their books in journals and add to their book wikis.

Circle of Power and Respect…now planned and facilitated by crew!

Crew members are grouped in daily teams that plan and run the morning meeting. Daily crew determine the greetings, activities and debriefing questions, and prepare the reading and discussion questions associated with our design principle of the month. Wow.

Special thanks to all our Parent Crew for the love, treats, and encouragement during Bearwalk – we love you!

“What’s on Our Plate” Expedition

Crew have been exploring and applying their knowledge of California’s varied ecosystems. Using the Coastal Ecology Tour fieldwork trip to the coast’s tidepools, fens and redwood forests, they have been challenged to create mini-ecosystems representative of California’s ecology in our classroom. Projects will be on display during Celebration of Learning.

In addition, work has begun on our final product. Students have brainstormed ideas for our iBook and our production board is outlined with tasks. The month of December will be a flurry of authoring, editing, graphic designing and scientific illustrating!

MathDogs

We have been busier than a puppy in a roomful of squirrels!

Crew hosted Erin Ellis from the Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe to share the results of our Tennies and Tails event survey data. Our Kennel Club groups shared the results of the data collected in slide presentations. Clubs were required to choose appropriate graphs to represent the data sets and incorporate the types of graphs studied in class during our statistics unit.

At the start of our school year we were given a tremendous gift of three days of team-building camp at Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. All they asked in return was that we pay $10 per student and choose a local charity to receive that money. During an all-crew brainstorming and discussion session about many worthy Truckee charities, crew chose the Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe. Jackson and Sophia were nominated by crew to present our $240.00 donation from Walton’s Grizzly Lodge. They explained our math expedition and gave the check to Erin.

Going forward, McMains Crew MathDogs want to apply our learning in factors, multiples and fractions with this month’s design principle of Service and Compassion in a service project for our math partner, Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe. We want to assemble gift baskets for the Humane Society to be given to families who adopt dogs as well as for the volunteers to use with the dogs who are awaiting their new homes.

We are asking for donations of new dog items –  toys, beds, leashes, collars, boxed treats, dog food … anything a dog or new dog owner might enjoy. We could also use decorative gift bags or baskets, tissue paper and ribbon.
**If you can donate an item, please drop it off in our classroom.**

Adventure in Reading:

Book Clubs have been a rousing success with clubs participating in peer scored discussions, creating high-level discussion questions and keeping reading response journals. Readers are making connections between the text and their own experiences, the text and other reading, and the text and the world around them. Book discussion days are lively! Great questions and involvement are complimented with hot tea and cookies!

Each club is also creating a Book Word Wiki – an interactive collection of new and exciting words found in their books. Book Clubs are a rich adventure in reading!