Those bright, light shades of green bursting forward in the springtime get me every time. It got me thinking about the power of environments. I remember living in Los Angeles years ago and feeling an ache in my chest when the rolling California hills were bare and brown. I was spoiled by a lush and green childhood in the upstate of South Carolina, and those neutral shades of dirt and dust had the same impact on me that many associate with winter grays or cities who live under constant rain and cloud cover. The presence of one color, the right flora and fauna, and I’m a new girl.
Though I can’t always find the perfect environment, being aware of what my environment needs leads to productive problem solving. I’ve learned to walk my dogs to escape writer’s block, put a record on to get house cleaning done in a flash, and only visit Southern California during super blooms 🙂
So what is that magic environment adjustment for our kids? I’ve seen the wonders of playing a low hum of jazz on class speakers, adjusting the lighting in my room, offering a bean bag chair for reading time, or learning outdoors. The Cooper School is a school that has always taken ‘environment’ seriously, and I think the thoughtful choices we make in every classroom are often the foundations of productivity and fun. I encourage everyone to think outside the box about what sparks safety, comfort, joy, or focus for your kiddo! Is it a shade of green, a genre of music, or just tidying up so they can feel clear? Do they need a change of scenery or do they need to see the same sights and sounds each day? It might be a fun creative exercise for your family to experiment with your environment and see what it does for you.
-MK
Math:
This week, 6th graders applied their new knowledge of negative numbers to absolute value, and explored changes in depth and temperature. We finished off the week by learning about adding positive and negative numbers, which will carry into next week when we practice subtraction, multiplication, and division of negative numbers. We’ll apply this to the coordinate plane in quadrants 2, 3, and 4 as well!
ELA:
6th grade Shakespeareans finished their unit this week – we wrote sonnets carefully in cursive on hand pressed paper and completed our reading of Romeo and Juliet. We began practicing our performances of these sonnets, looking forward to our Spread the Word event on April 9th at High Falutin Coffee! Students also tested their vocabulary on Thursday, so be sure to ask for those grades.
Next week, 6th grade will begin a novel study The Last Cherry Blossom. We will begin with historical context for WWII and the bombing of Hiroshima. We’ll conduct a close reading of character and setting in the exposition. They will also transition back to a two week grammar study with a test planned for April 10th.
Social Studies:
Sixth graders have now finished India and will be moving into our next unit which will be Ancient Greece. Before we begin, we will be starting a new project which will be writing a historical paper. This will be on any sub-section of study from any of the units we have covered this year as a class. This will be a great opportunity for them to see how historical writings differ from other styles of writing and will help them think critically about the subject they choose.
Science:
The sixth graders learned how our organ systems are connected. They started to explore the circulatory and respiratory system in more detail by comparing their resting heart rate and breathing to their heart rate and breathing after exercising. Next week, they will learn more about the digestive system and its importance to our energy levels.
Important Dates:
March 31st-April 4th – Spring Break
April 9th- Spread the Word (11:30 dismissal)
Upcoming Assessments and Deadlines:
Sonnet due date 3/21
Grammar Test 3/6
