WMS: THE LAST Math/Science Update! :)

Dear Families,

Thank you all so much for a fantastic year! I feel so privileged to have worked with your children. We had fun, we learned a lot, and it all happened SO FAST! 

I wish you all a wonderful summer break and the BEST OF LUCK to my students as they enter 7th grade next year! 

Warm regards,

Brian MacNevin

BoxPlot Quiz sent home today... Grand Canyon studied in science...

Dear Families,

Just a mid-week check in to let you know what's what and what's what.

Math

Yesterday students took a quiz on box plots (also called box and whisker plots).

I am experimenting with using a different way of assessing and I want to explain to you about the quiz and its "percentages" because these percentages don't work the same way that percentages worked for most of us in school for establishing "grades".

The quiz contained 10 questions.

• Six of those questions were basic to solid "level 3" questions. That means I anticipated anyone who had mastered the at-grade level understanding should get these completely right and to build in some "wiggle room" I decided that with these first 5 (50%) or 6 (60%) correct, a student could demonstrate to me that they are at-standard (level 3).
• This is important to understand. 50% or 60% means that the student demonstrated grade-level understanding to me 5 or 6 times. I feel this provides me enough evidence to determine that someone is at-grade level. 
• Two harder questions were still grade-level, but required a more thorough understanding of the grade-level ideas. If students demonstrated the equivalent of ALL level 3 and at least one of these questions, I marked their quiz as Level 3.5 (70% or 80%).
  
• Two questions, in my opinion, extended beyond what I would expect students to be able to answer after learning this material. If students demonstrated the equivalent of ALL of level 3 and ALL of level 3.5 and at least one of these questions, I scored them as a Level 4 (90% or 100%). 

Today in class students began a reflection letter that they are going to share with you this evening. They need to have that letter signed and I will check that in tomorrow for homework.

I will also offer a make up quiz tomorrow for anyone below a 3 so that they can improve their score. To prepare for that, students should revise their quiz from yesterday.

Science

In science we have been watching a video called "How the earth was made" [link] I asked students to simply watch and we talked about what was shared throughout the video to help students build an image of how the grand canyon was formed. A super simplified outline:

• 1.7 trillion years ago, successive layers of sediment were laid down on a crustal plate by successive rising and lowering ocean levels.
• The crustal plate was lifted up, forming a mountain range similar to that of the Himalayas.
• The mountain range was weathered/eroded down into a more-or-less flat plateau and the Colorado river fed into a gigantic lake that was located on top of it.
• About 5.5 million years ago the lake over-flowed and spilled westward over the edge of the plateau. At the edge of the plateau it formed a huge waterfall that soon eroded a canyon backwards to the lake bed.
• The Colorado then could flow into the canyon the way we now recognize it... more or less.
  
• More recent volcanic eruptions (within the last few hundred thousand years or so) spilled lava into the canyon, forming rock dams that created lakes behind them until the lake's pressure tore them down and eroded them away.

Tomorrow we will be doing a sequencing activity to try and match up these major events with the evidence that was presented on the video.

I hope you have a great evening!

Warm regards,

Brian MacNevin

Math Update: BoxPlots!

Dear Families,

I just wanted to let you know what we are up to right now in math and science. 

Math:

• We learned about a data representation in science called a BoxPlot (used for describing a set of data and for comparing two data sets). This week in math we are practicing it to get ready to show independence with a quiz on Wednesday.
• Students will need to know (and are practicing):
• Finding the range of the data.
• Finding the minimum, the maximum, the median, the first quartile and the third quartile of the data.
• Plotting this information on a graph called a box plot.
• Making statements of comparison between groups of data based on the range, the interquartile range, and the median.
• Tonight's homework is here: [link]
  Answers to tonight's homework are here: [link]

Science:

• We are currently examining rocks from cliffs that are about 35 miles apart from each other in the Grand Canyon so we can see if there are any similarities between them. Spoiler: yes there are! :)
• We are wrapping up our observations of the rocks today and tomorrow. Then we will be comparing the two canyons together with rock-type correlation as evidence for how the Grand Canyon was formed.

Warm Regards,

Brian MacNevin

Online Testing Samples...

Dear Families,

This week our students have been taking their MSP tests. ON Thursday our BLUE group will take their math MSP and on Friday our RED group will be taking theirs. Today we visited the computer lab so that students could try out all the tools and complete a scavenger hunt of where they were located on the screen. They also got to try out many question types. 

If you are curious about it and would like to see what your children are looking at for the online tests, you can visit OSPI's page that has sample tests available: [link] They're located on the right hand side of the page.

Warm regards,

Brian MacNevin

One-Step Equations!

Dear Families,

Today I introduced a new skill: solving one-step equations to find the value of a variable. We imagined a pan balance with some mass on each side and I explained how we need to keep the pan balanced in order for the equation to remain true. So long as we do that, we can do whatever we want to get the variable all on its own.

For example:

5 + x = 8

I can subtract 5 from each side:

5 + x = 8

-5       -5

and that leaves

      x = 3

We practiced using subtraction, addition, multiplication, and division today to isolate the variable on one side and its value on the other.

Here is a video that shows that same process that we practiced today and that we're practicing in homework: [link]

Warm regards,

Brian

WMS: Math/Science Update. MSP Testing this coming week!

Dear Families,

We not only survived the field trips to the Gordon Carter site, but we had a GREAT time! Thank you so much to all of our volunteers and chaperones. And thank you to everyone for making sure your children were dressed appropriately, had lunches, and had a great attitude! We had a GREAT time out there learning about ecosystems in a way that cannot be replicated in a classroom.

One of the questions I was asked was about the lesson about Phosphorous run-off into the water shed. The graduate teaching assistants and the university professor felt the lesson needed to be revised for clarity. After observing it twice this year (and three times last year), I thought I'd have some good suggestions about simplifying the lesson, or about focussing it. Instead, every suggestion I made took too much out of the lesson. These creeks and watersheds are complex systems that we can't recreate in a classroom. And trying to reduce it down to just one particular aspect of perspective doesn't help kids understand the complexity of the system. I think I found myself favouring the complexity because here -- in the outdoors -- the students get to see and grapple with that complexity. These outdoor education experiences are so very important for helping kids put the small pieces together into something that is the BIG picture staring them in the face. 

This Week in Math:

• We will be extending our study of equations and expressions into solving one-step equations. That means if we have an equation like 4 + x = 12, students understand that they can "solve for x" by doing the same thing to each side of the equation: i.e. they can subtract 4 from each side, leaving x=8 as the solution. I will be using an analogy of a single-arm-balance as we learn the strategy, then we will have a few practice sessions.

This Week in Science:

• We will finish looking at Forces and Motion and will start looking at the grand canyon as a model for understanding sedimentary rocks and layer deposition. The big picture understanding here is to get a sense of scale of geologic time and to see some of the evidence for it. We will be investigating this through the rest of the year.

MSP TESTING THIS WEEK:

It's that time of year. We don't really do any specific test prep here at 6th grade at WMS. But we do want students to have plenty of SLEEP at nights, and good NUTRITION. Also, any day a student is testing, they are treated to FREE BREAKFAST in the lunch room! 

Warm regards,

Brian MacNevin 

WE DID IT! YOU DID IT! We're covered!

Dear Families,

I KNEW WE WOULD DO IT! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! We now have enough seats to get our students to the site and back again. 

Here are our awesome volunteers:

THURSDAY AM:
Julie Smith (4)
Christine Lee (4)
Tom McNutt (6)
Christian Carson (4)
Isaac Blum (4)
Matthew Prendergast (4)
Molly Daniels (6)

THURSDAY PM:
Julie Smith (4)
Christine Lee (4)
Tom McNutt (6)
Christian Carson (4)
Isaac Blum (4)
Matthew Prendergast (4)

FRIDAY AM:

Christine Lee (4)
Tom McNutt (6)
Christian Carson (4)
Paula MacKenzie (4)
Michelle Willett (4)
Daniel VanderBrink (6)
Travis Krause (6)

FRIDAY PM:

Christine Lee (4)
Christian Carson (4)
Paula MacKenzie (4)
Michelle Willette (4)
Daniel VanderBrink (6)
Tom McNutt (6)
Travis Krause (6)

Thank you all for your support!

NOTE: PLEASE REMEMBER THAT STUDENTS AND CHAPERONES NEED TO HAVE LONG PANTS AND CLOSED-TOED SHOES ON.

SINCERELY,

BRIAN MACNEVIN