Team Aspire

Miss Waks - Social Studies update

Hello Team Taylor Families!

My social studies class has completed their study of Ancient Greece and has moved onto Ancient Rome. I will post a couple pictures of our end of Greece. One pictures is of our Greek Olympic winners and the other is a compilation of all the words they recognized from their study during a video about Ancient Greece - it was quite an impressive list!

We are working on our study of Ancient Rome and the students have really been enjoying this unit. We started off with geography and they were most impressed with the fact that modern day Rome is in the same place as ancient Rome. We learned all about the cultural influences from the Etruscan people as well as the Greeks. We moved into the politics and how the government was structured. They were able to make a lot of connections between their ancient republic and our modern day three-branch democracy. We discussed how Rome expanded from a city into a massive empire through a variety of periods of expansion. The students learned all about the influences of Caesar and Augustus on the development of the empire. We even did a play based on the murder of Caesar - pictures here! The major assignment they are currently working on is a claim essay arguing that either Caesar or Augustus was the more influential leader. Check in with your children and see how their essays are coming - parental eyes are always helpful.

Enjoy the pictures!

Cells and Waves

Hello Team Taylor Families!

I haven't written a blog post in over a month and we have done so much in science class, I felt like I wanted to share with you all. Last time I wrote, the students were working on a socratic seminar. Since then we have finished an entire unit on cells and the different organelle functions. The students were taught how to use light microscopes and were able to observe specimens and other more daily objects. The students really enjoyed using microscopes and were really blown away by the microscopic things they could see using the different zoom lenses. We wrapped up our study of cells by completing a Cell Analogy project. The students worked in groups and compared either a plant or animal cell to something else. We had comparisons to sports teams, hotels, beaches, amusement parks and more! The students were so creative in their work and were proud to share with their peers in mini presentations. They are currently hanging up on the walls and the students love to walk by and see their peers' hard work.

After we finished our study of cells, we dove into a brand new unit that has never been taught before - waves! The students are excited to be learning something that no other 6th grade has learned and I am just as excited to be teaching something new. This unit is incredibly student driven, which means there is a lot of discovery learning taking place. The students are exploring with creating waves, using online simulators, and doing a lot of the learning more independently. This is a very new, fun way of learning and I think they are getting used to it. They were apprehensive at first, but in only a couple of weeks have already begun to enjoy ownership of their learning.

I am posting a few pictures for you of the end of the cell unit as well as the beginning of our new waves unit.

Team Taylor May Newsletter

May Newsletter

Hello Parents and Guardians,

It is hard to believe we are already in May! With that being said, students will be taking the math portion of the MCAS. It will be on Wednesday, 5/10 and Thursday, 5/11 for sixth grade. We want to make sure your student gets enough sleep, eats a healthy breakfast, and brings a healthy snack to school. Remember, it's okay to chew mint gum or eat mints, but only during MCAS.

Now that the warmer weather is here, some students tend to get a strong case of Spring Fever. Parents, please remind your student that school is in session until June 21st and we will indeed be teaching until then. This is not the time to let things slide or to fool around in school. We expect that students continue coming to school ready to learn up until the last days of school.

As always, we want to extend our thanks for your continued support, as we value the home/school team approach to educating your child!

Warm Regards,

Team Taylor Teachers

Science Update:

Hello families-

The past few weeks the students have been working very hard on preparing for a Socratic seminar. We studied bacteria, viruses, and the use of antibiotics through a variety of videos as well as articles. Some of these articles were high level and the students really rose to the challenge. The question that was posed for them was: Should antibiotics be prescribed to treat illness if doctors are not 100% positive their patients have a bacterial infection?? The students were assigned either yes they should or no they should not and were given time to perfect their arguments. Last week we held the Socratic seminar in which half the class discussed in a center circle and the other half observed. This was entirely student run discussion without direction from me at all. They were incredibly polite and well spoken. I am very proud of the work they have done and the arguments they were making to support their point. We are now taking all of this work and writing a claim essay both in class and at home.

Enjoy these pictures and videos!
Miss Waks

Science Update

Hello!

The students began an entirely new unit of study a few weeks ago. We spent most of the year until recently studying Earth Science; we shifted our focus and we are now learning about Life Science. We began our unit of study by thinking about how we know if something is living or non-living or dead. The students did some exploration and thinking about this both in the classroom and at home. We then dove right into the needs and characteristics of living things. All living things have the same six characteristics and the same four needs. The students used their knowledge of those needs and characteristics to create their own living organism. They were so creative and really thought outside the box when creating their creatures. They are hanging up on a bulletin board in my room and the students love walking over and taking a look at what their peers created.

We then moved on and the students started learning about binomial nomenclature and the idea of classification. We discussed what things in our every day lives we classify - silver wear, clothes in closets, school supplies etc. We started out by classifying shapes in as many ways as possible so that the students can see that there is usually more than one way to classify objects. The students became taxonomists and had to classify "creepy critters" based on observable features. They realized how difficult it is to classify and come up with a system that makes sense. We discussed how scientists today classify based on a common ancestor and similar structures. The students learned about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution and how that helps scientists classify organisms today. The students have a quiz on either Wednesday or Thursday (depending on their class period) on sections one and two of their book. Study with your child and have them teach you what they're learning in class.

Miss Waks's Social Studies Class Update

Hello Parents-

I wanted to write you an update for my social studies class to keep you in the loop. My students have been working very hard on a variety of topics and projects lately. The last chapter we read focused on the differences between two ancient Greek city-states: Athens and Sparta. The students were asked each lesson, which city-state they would rather live in and WHY. This discussion is now culminating with a claim essay in which the students need to provide evidence to back up their claim. They have been working very hard on writing their essay and I'm sure they would love to share their drafts with you. Their final copies will be due this coming Friday, so make sure to check in with your children before that. We will have one more in-class day to edit/revise using my comments and a check-list, but other than that they will be finding time at home to perfect their essays.

While they are writing, we moved on to Chapter 28 in our textbooks. This chapter is all about the battles between ancient Greeks and the Persians. We have been reading and analyzing videos about several battles between the two peoples. The students have been enjoying this chapter and really getting into being on the side of the ancient Greek people. As a wrap up the other day, the students created a phalanx of their own. A phalanx is the formation that the ancient Greek soldiers used to protect themselves. The students had Popsicle stick spears and were quite fierce.

Team Taylor March Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

March is a busy month for us in sixth grade! The English Language Arts MCAS exam is approaching, the dates are Wednesday, April 5^th, and Thursday, April 6^th . Students have been working hard in their ELA classes all year and are prepared to show what they know! They have been embracing the strategies they are learning at school and should be proud of all of their efforts. In order to ensure that students are able to do their best on exam days, we are asking you at home to encourage them to get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy breakfast on exam days. Students should also come to school with a water bottle, snack, and independent reading book on exam days.

We continue to encourage students to check Aspen regularly, as we update our grades every two weeks. At this point in the year, we expect students to begin taking more responsibility for their own learning and advocating for themselves if they need help in any areas of the curriculum. We encourage them to use class and Flex time wisely to see teachers for extra help as needed. We will continue to support them and help foster this independence.

As a part of our Admirable Attributes program, Team Taylor recognizes one boy and one girl each month who exemplify attributes of the authors we read in 6th grade. The Admirable Attribute for the month of March is Compassionate. We want to encourage students to be thinking of others this month and finding ways to show that they care.

We truly feel that the success of our students depends on clear communication between school and home. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns or questions about your child's progress. Email is the best method to reach us. Our email addresses available on the ASMS web page. You can also find a link to the Team Taylor Blog on this site. If you haven’t been on it, it’s a valuable page we use to communicate about our team news and curriculum.