We did it! We got through the first two weeks of school! You could feel in the air how students (and teachers) were pleasantly anxious for the new start. We walked in the doors after summer break hopeful for the potential of positive change and the desire to start off on the right foot.
In TCS middle school, we plan explicitly for community building time. We consider the whole middle school community, our advisories, and each grade level. These first two weeks, we had middle school meetings to not just talk about rules, routines, and expectations, but to get to know each other through games! As a middle school community, we played games together to laugh, make eye contact, communicate, and learn more about each other as a whole middle school. To create more community for each grade level, we made time for social and emotional conversations, executive functioning guidance, and more fun get to know you games. As the year progresses, and our communities grow and evolve, our explicit community building will do the same. However, the extra planning and time we put into community building these first few weeks, will help us persevere and respect each other for the rest of the year.
-LD
Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:
What’s happening in Science?
Sixth graders explored the weather this week! They learned about the layers of the atmosphere, the differences between weather and climate, and typical weather patterns here in Charleston. They also learned about technology and designed their own insulated container that could transport a wooly mammoth (ice cube) with minimal melting. The sixth graders were so interested in severe weather, that they began a mini project about a specific severe weather phenomenon they want to learn more about. They will research and then create a presentation that will inform the rest of their classmates about the impacts of severe weather events occurring on our Earth.
What’s up in ELA?
This week in sixth grade we began our novel study of Roald Dahl’s memoir Boy. This unit will specifically focus on the art of high quality annotations and answering daily close reading questions. Sixth graders examined a gallery of exemplary annotations and built out a definition of everything a strong annotation can do. We focused on annotating our own personal experiences with Sandra Cisneros’ short story Eleven and tried our hand at a variety of annotations with the opening chapters of Boy.
Next week, we’ll challenge ourselves to mark up our novels in ways we have not tried before. Sixth graders will begin self-assessing their own annotations and offering peer reviews of one another’s annotation work.
What’s going on in Math?
This week in math, 6th graders explored composing and decomposing figures like parallelograms to find the total area of a figure. They also took their IXL diagnostic test, which Ms. Allison will explain more about during Curriculum Night on September 6th. Next week, we will use this to create a formula for finding the area of parallelograms, triangles, and other polygons. This will extend into finding the surface area of 3-dimensional figures and drawing their nets.
What’s happening in Social Studies?
This week, the students dove into the Ancient World by learning the different roles of the social scientists. Students then moved into complex cultures and learned the difficulty of analyzing cave drawings by completing their own and handing it to a peer to depict. Students then created their own civilizations after learning the requirements of a civilization for success.
Next week, the students will be assessed on the origins of civilizations before moving into Mesopotamia. Student’s will begin by looking at Sumer before moving into Akkadian and Babylonian empires.
Important Dates:
Monday, September 4th- Labor Day (No School)
Wednesday, September 6th- Middle School Curriculum Night (5:30-6:30)
Friday, September 15th- Parent Coffee (8:15-9:00)
Saturday, September 23rd- Charleston Battery Family Fun Night
