TWIS 5/19-5/23

Parents,

  Our time is running short, and as I reflect on the school year I feel very blessed to have had your student in my class.  It has been my great pleasure to get to know them, challenge them, and watch them go.  Thanks for sending them to me everyday.

  This week is a big one; we will be heading to Hartman Reserve (finally!) on Thursday, and our field day is Friday afternoon.  Again, let me know if you are planning to go to Hartman with us.  Feel free to meet us here at school and follow the bus to the reserve (we leave around 9:15 am). Here's This Week in Switzer:

Literature: We are trying to finish a novel this week- it has been a great deal of reading at a high pace, but I am certain that we can finish our books!  I challenged the students to choose a character and make a "Fakebook" page for that character- a fake Facebook page that shows how the character develops and interacts with other characters throughout the story.  These are usually VERY fun, but require LOTS of thinking.  Your student should be reading their novel every night.

WIN: Switzer's WIN class is continuing to work on designing a solution to the student population increase at Lincoln using iPad CAD software.  I don't know how far we'll get, but I am excited to see lots of futuristic classrooms, buildings, and furniture.  How cool!

Math: This week, all 6th graders are taking the end of the year test which covers everything we covered this year.  It's a big test, but it is not used to determine grades or placement for next year.

Social Studies: Students are in the middle of Chapter 8!

Science: We are continuing to look at body systems and how they interact.

Writing: We are continuing to blog, and expand our writing in different ways!  Feel free to read our blogs and leave comments.

Have a great week!

--

Matthew Switzer
6th grade teacher
Lincoln Elementary

TWIS 5/12-5/16

Parents,

  Another exciting week in 6th grade!  As we finish up our Exit Interviews this week, feel free to ask your student about their interview and what they have learned from the experience.  Your student will be able to take home their portfolio during the last week of school.  

  There are various band concerts in the morning this week, so check with your band student to see if they need to be at a different school in the morning.  Friday, we'll leave school around 9:15 am to head to Hartman Reserve.  I sent a letter home about this before the weekend.  It will be a great day!  Here's This Week in Switzer:

Literature- I challenged your student to do something great for their community last week, and tomorrow they will present their "Genius Hour" ideas- some students are organizing 5K races, bake sales, and donations for a number of local agencies.  Thank you for your support in this- I am leaving all the planning up to your student and will check on their progress periodically.  It is so encouraging to see our young people so passionate about helping others!

On Tuesday, we'll begin a final novel project for the year.  Students will most likely have a reading assignment every night.

WIN- Mr. Switzer's Win class is designing a new school (or classroom, etc.) to help solve overcrowding using CAD software on the iPad.  The software is also available free online through Autodesk (the app is called 123D Design).  We'll export our designs into Augment (a free iPad app), which allows us to visualize the design to scale.  

Math- We are beginning the last two topics in the textbook, and will take the end of year test soon.

Social Studies- Students took a test last week over Chapter 7 and will begin the new chapter this week.

Science- There will be a quiz over the Skeletal System next week.  Feel free to allow your student to study and play games using the Science section of Lincoln6.com!

Writing- Along with finishing Exit Interviews, we are turning our attention to our blogs and extending our learning by connecting with other classrooms around the world.  We'll wrap up the year with the Great Blogging Challenge- stay tuned!

Have a great week!

--

Matthew Switzer
6th grade teacher
Lincoln Elementary

TWIS 5/5-5/9

Parents,

   Welcome to Exit Interview Week!  Your student has been assigned an interviewer and will defend their data notebook/ portfolio learning sometime in the next two weeks.  At the end of the process, we'll celebrate by having a great day at Hartman Reserve.  Speaking of which,

-If you'd like to hang with us at the Reserve on Friday, May 16th, just let me know.  We'll find a spot for you!  Whether it's fishing, canoeing, hiking, orienteering, grilling, or providing popsicles at Pfieffer park, we can use you!

-Student portfolios will go home with your student to keep at the end of the year.  There are great artifacts in there to display at open houses in a few years!

A few reminders- Monday, 6th grade band members are travelling to give concerts to elementary schools and need to be at school early.

-The Variety show will be on the last day of school

Here's This Week in Switzer:

Literature- We are going to take a week to work on Genius Hour- where students decide what they want to learn about and how they can present their learning- along the theme of: Community.  I'm excited to see what they'll create! Next week, we'll begin our final novels of the year.

DEAR- We are still working and testing over vocabulary.  Encourage your student to read at least 20 minutes every night.

WIN- I posed a problem to the WIN group- how can we design a new Lincoln school to accommodate our growing population?  We'll use the free iPad apps 123D Design by Autodesk to design the schools, and Augment by Augmentedev.com to take virtual tours of our designs.  This task will take the rest of the year to complete!  I am also bringing in Brad Leeper from Invision architects to talk about school design.

Math- We are beginning to look at volume and surface area, then will move into graphs and data analysis.

Social Studies- Chapter 7 test will be on Thursday of this week.

Science- The skeletal system is what the 6th grade is learning about this week!

Writing- Along with Exit Interviews and Data Notebooks/ Portfolios, we'll be revisiting our blogs and looking to expand our writing to classrooms around the world.

Family Living- We covered the growth of a person from infants to adulthood, and how and why puberty works.  This included talks about the Endocrine system.  We'll continue this conversation this week- be prepared for some heavy questions at home!

Have a great week!

--

Matthew Switzer
6th grade teacher
Lincoln Elementary

Science -Elizabeth-

          In Science, we learn about body systems. Currently, we are reviewing all the body systems. We are cutting and coloring, a paper skeleton and digetive system.

Writing -Sabrina-

In writing we are working on our portfolio for our exit interviews. For our exit interviews we have to go threw our portfolio that holds all our important grades, and read some reflection tags to an adult. A exit interviews is a interview that you have to pass to go on to seventh grade. If you don't pass the first time you will have to do it until you pass. 

Math -Sabrina-

In math today we are learning about solid figures. We have to find out the vertices, edges, faces, and bases. Every time we go to math we have to turn in our homework, and if we don't get 80% or higher we have to redo it and turn it in the next day. For some people its easy and for some its hard. We are also learning about  the perimeter and area of shapes.

Social Studies -Elizabeth-

            In Social Studies, we are working on chapter seven. Chapter seven is about World War 1, Wilsons Fourteen Points,Wilson's League Of Nations, and Womens Rights. We have a test coming up next Thursday, on chapter seven.