Bridges Here, Bridges There....Bridges, Bridges Everywhere!

Bridges

By: Lupita

Bridges here, bridges there,

Bridges, bridges everywhere! 

Dangerous lifts open slowly,

majestic cast iron holds faithfully.

The fancy Golden Gate stretches elegantly,

steel towers support strongly.

Bridges above the boats,

bridges between West Portland and East Portland,

the St. John’s Bridge above the Willamette River,

and bridges through the valley.

Bridges here, bridges there,

Bridges, bridges everywhere!

Bridges! Bridges! Bridges!

The month of December has been focused on engineering and design, with the end project of building and testing our own straw bridges. Throughout our study we have learned bridge and engineering vocabulary, written bridge chants, researched and written reports on world famous bridges, read about engineers, famous bridges, and bridge design, as well as visited our beautiful Portland bridges, and finally planned, created, and tested straw bridges.Phew! What a month of fun and engaging learning it has been! 

 

Below are some pictures of some of our activities, be sure to ask your children about their learning because their engagement was astounding!

Peter our tour guide shows and explains the sights and bridges of  Portland on our walking tour.

Our first bridge was the Broadway Bridge. 

Enjoying a view of the Freemont Bridge as we crossed the Broadway Bridge. 

A quick stop at Union Station to learn about many different forms of transportation people in Portland take. 

Taking in the sights and learning about the Steel Bridge's double vertical lift. 

Can you spot our class walking along the lower deck of the Steel Bridge? 

We were so lucky to see four bridge lifts during lunch while eating on the East Bank Esplanade- a floating bridge! 

We had a great day of learning in our Bridge City! 

When learning bridge vocabulary during ELD, we played a fun partner vocabulary game. Be sure to ask your child about this vocabulary and see how many words they can teach you. 

Throughout December we earned Bridge Bucks for good behavior, turning in our homework, walking quietly in the hall, and teamwork! Now it's time to use them to buy our bridge building supplies! A mini-economy at work, lots of real life lessons learned.

After buying supplies, we took our blueprint plans and started building!

Caution: Serious engineers at work!

Engineers using teamwork to work on a cable-stayed bridge design. 

Each group was only allowed 50 straws, 50 paperclips, 1 yard of tape and string. Look how creative our engineers got! 

Final products done! Look at the trusses and anchorages incorporated in this design. 

Ready to test and proud of our work! 

Thumbs up for a strong bridge!

We learned valuable lessons, sometimes our designs don't always work out as planned, but perseverance and determination are important skills to possess. Just look at that final product- very creative use of string as a support! 

Check out those great supports connected to the desk. 

Girl engineers rock! Another thoughtful design. 

Check out that strong and sturdy deck!

We learned that trusses help with the forces of compression and tension that act on a bridge, great design girls! 

Our winning team of engineers- Kylee and Laura. Their bridge held a can with 144 marbles before the can tipped off the side. A design made with strong supports and a barrier on the side was the key to their success. Way to go girls! 

     There was so much learning going on this past month, I'm very proud of everyone's hard work and learning. Enjoy your break! I'm looking forward to seeing you all when we get back and start our study of energy and WWII. 

                                                                    Mrs Dessert 

Sixth Grade City Happenings

    As we have reached the end of the first quarter, it seems appropriate to reflect on all we have done so far. Here is a quick overview of our learning and activities we have completed so far this year.

                                                                  Mayan Simulation

    For the first few weeks of school, we broke up into different Mayan cities and participated in a Mayan simulation. Students took on the roles of noble lord, mathematician, high priest, and others as they worked cooperatively to count their valuables, make trades with other cities, solve problems, and build a strong Mayan city. 

   During this unit we also studied a few other Mesoamerican cultures and incorporated writing into our study. We learned about the Aztecs and Inca civilizations, and then compared and contrasted various aspects of all three civilizations. We also wrote a fictional narrative from the point of view of a Mayan peasant. To finish our study of the three cultures, we learned about myths from each culture, recreated the myths in short skits, and then wrote comparison papers about these myths. 

   All in all, it was a packed first few months, but the learning was evident throughout all these activities. 

Reading 

        This first quarter we have been loving reading and just can't seem to get enough of it. During our language arts block we have had been rotating between literature and non-fiction. During our non-fiction weeks, we have been thoroughly digging into the text and completly understanding it from all different angles. We think about key ideas and details, vocabulary and context clues, and integration of knowledge, all while citing evidence to support our answers. Ask us about how and why we annotate a text. We are becoming pros! 

        While reading literature, we also dig into our reading in much the same way. We come up with our own questions about the reading, find answers based on the text and our background knowledge, cite evidence, and then have a discussions on Friday with our classmates where we share our opinions and ideas. 

       In addition to our language arts block, we are also taking part in small literature circles. We are reading novels in small groups, writing questions, having discussion, and whipping through these books. I often have kids begging for more time to read as they are highly engaged in these relevant and self-directed reading groups. 

      Although kids are getting a lot of reading practice at school, please make sure they are still reading 30 minutes a night every night. 

Engineering and Design

     As we move into the second quarter and head toward Winter Break, we have begun our study of engineering and design, with a focus on bridges. Our final task will be to make a strong bridge, out of straws and paperclips, using all the scientific principles of engineering and design we have learned. 

     So far we have been introduced to the different types of bridges and various bridge vocabulary. If you want a fun game to play with your family, ask your child about the bridge vocabulary game. See how many of the vocabulary words and actions they can remember. They usually beg to play in class, so my guess is they'll remember quite a few! 

    Here are some great blueprints of the different types of bridges that include our vocabulary labeled and explained on each one. These kids never cease to amaze! 

             Stayed tuned and check back often for more updates on our learning in Sixth Grade City!

Welcome to Sixth Grade City

    Welcome back! You've made it! Congratulations to you, on being the first class to attend Free Orchards Kindergarten through Sixth grade.
   This year Mrs. Dessert, Ms. Kolstad, and Mrs Washington are elated to have you join us in "Sixth Grade City." We have a lot of fun activities and learning in store for you this year, so we hope you are well rested and ready to dive in on Tuesday, September 2nd.
    Hopefully you were able to attend Meet the Teacher night to meet us and drop off your supplies. If not, you're in luck! We have put together a few quick autobiographies to let you know a little more about us.
                                                                       
                                                                        Mrs. Dessert

  Welcome back! This is Mrs. Dessert here, ready to rock and roll with another wonderful group of 6th graders. Many of you already know me, (since I was your 3rd grade teacher or even ESL teacher) but for those of you who don't, here's a little more about me. This will be my seventh year teaching, and sixth at Free Orchards. Although I am a Fox... my true heart lies with the Ducks. Throughout the year you will find me sporting my green and yellow and cheering on my team any chance I get. I'm even so crazy that the Duck made an appearance at my wedding last summer. When I'm not teaching or watching a Duck game, I can also be found on the basketball court. I have coached girls basketball for six years, and last year I coached the JV2 team at Glencoe. Roll Tide! I had a great summer traveling around Oregon and Hawaii, but I'm definitely ready to be back at school. I can't wait for all the fun we will have together this year. Sixth Grade City Rocks! 


                                                                      Mrs. Washington

        Hello! My name is Katy Washington and I am so excited to be your 6th grade teacher! Some things about me are that I love to read, I love my dog (her name is Honey) and I love to go to the gym and exercise. One of my favorite places to visit is the beach. Even on cold and rainy days there is something about the sound of the ocean, and the feeling of sand on my feet that is both thrilling and relaxing. Something special that happened this summer was that I got married! After the wedding, my husband and I went to Hawaii and had an amazing time lounging in the sun, swimming in the ocean, snorkeling, hiking and shopping (a few more of my favorite activities). I can’t wait to get to know more about you!


                                                                    Ms. Kolstad

     Welcome to the 2014-15 school year! Sixth grade city is off to a great start. We teachers send complements to all the families and students who are already working hard to make this year a success.

     I’m a teacher of 20 some years and still would rather be in Room 232 than almost anywhere else. But I do love traveling, have visited 10 countries and hope to see more. I enjoy playing the keyboard and writing songs, gardening, reading and going to the beach.

Virtual Field Trip

        Once again we feel so lucky to have the opportunity to use another new piece of technology, our Google Chromebooks, which help hook us up to our Google Drives. No surprise, the students of Sixth Grade City have jumped right in and become experts.
       If you haven't heard about what we are doing yet, each student now has access to their Google Drive, which we have been using to complete interactive assignments, share them easily with each other, and submit for easy grading and feedback. This is a web based drive, so students can start an assignment at school and easily continue it while it at home or anywhere they have access to the internet! Students will have this account throughout their whole time as a Hillsboro student.
       This past week we have taken advantage of our iPads, Google Drives, and Chromebooks (technology overload!) to go on the longest field trip of our lives…a virtual field trip that will follow the path of our main character of latest novel study, Esperanza, as she immigrates from Mexico to California. In order to do this we are using Google Earth to explore the journey she takes. It has been so engaging to actually explore the setting of the story, the city of Aguascalientes. Through the Google Lit Trip we are taking, we have also been able to read about the history of the Mexican Revolution, watch videos about Quincieneras, and even learn and review some Spanish words.

      

                            

                            

                             

                             

     After exploring Google Earth and reading the story, students are then logging into their Google Drives to answer comprehension question about what they have learned. Through this interactive document, the students are able to compose their answers, cite evidence from the text, and then share their documents with myself or others to encourage further discussion about the questions. So far the work I have seen demonstrates great critical thinking and shows their deep understanding of the story and the historical background that accompanies it.

                             

     I decided to ask the students what they thought about our adventures with technology this year, and everyone was more than willing to share their excitement. Hearing their responses continues to fill me with excitement, as well as fuel me to find new and exciting ways to incorporate technology into our daily lessons. Check out their thoughtful answers in the following video.

    I have truly appreciated the great attitudes and responsibility all the students have shown when

trying new technology. I don't want to think about how close we are to the end of the year, because we have so many more exciting things we can accomplish. Maybe with our Google Drives we can all continue to collaborate throughout the summer to keep our skills fresh and ready for 7th grade. Online Google Drive Summer book club anyone?

Earth Day Festival

                                                  Happy Earth Day from Sixth Grade City!

    Today we finally got to put all of our hard work into action as we taught the kids of Free Orchards about different environmental issues that face our earth. Each student was in an Earth Day Committee that was focused on one specific issue including recycling, global warming, littering, air pollution, water pollution, replanting, and composting. They spent two weeks researching their issue and coming up with an acttivity where the kids could show what they have learned. 

     I was so impressed with all of their creativy, and more importantly their leadership skills teaching kids from Kindergarten through 6th grade. Check out some of the pictures of everyone in action and the highlight video as well. 

       

         

     Once again these kids continue to amaze me with their respectful and responsible behavior. They all learned a lot about their topic, and did an amazing job educating others about important issues we need to address to keep our earth beautiful. Keep it green! Happy Earth Day!

iPads, QR Codes, and Science...Oh My!!

     Coming back from Spring Break, our class has been revitalized, and we are ready to attack our study of cells, prepare for the math OAKS test, and incorporate technology into our learning however it best fits. Here are a few examples of what we have been up to this week. (I can't believe it's already the end of the week!) Time sure flies when you're having fun learning.

                                                              Science Learning

   

                                   

     This week we started our science unit and are learning about cells. Since we don't have access to microscopes, we used our iPads to find pictures of different living and nonliving objects that have been magnified to levels much higher than we could do with a microscope. The students had a great time exploring all sorts of different objects, they were interested in, that we may not have had access to for a hands on lab. Ever wonder what a guitar string, jelly fish, or fish scales look like magnified? Well Sixth Grade City navigated the web and found those examples, and many more! The ideas and questions just kept coming! 

                                

                                                          Photo Editor- Phonto

       We also used the photo editor Phonto to find pictures of different animal, plant, and single cells to label. Through this program students were able to add graphics and text to the photos to show their understanding of the different organelles of a cell. 

         After creating the photos, we then airdropped them to each other to check for accuracy, and then used the collection of photos we had to compare and contrast the different types of cells during our ELD lessons. It was great to see not only the accuracy in their productions, but also the creativity in their labeling and variety of cell photos they found. 

          The following are a few examples of the students' work! Check it out! 

                                 

                                  

                                   

                                           Practice, Apply, Scan, and Check! 

   Mrs. Dessert's class will be taking the OAKS math test starting on April 14th. In preparation for this, we have been in major review mode practicing and applying what we have been learning all year. With so many different levels of understanding, a great amount of differentiation is needed. In order to assist with this, Mrs. Dessert designed review QR code flashcards. These flashcards reviewed adding and subtracting decimals, points on the coordinate grid, and finding area and perimeter of shapes on the coordinate grid. 

    Students simply solve the problems on the cards, and then scan the QR code, with a QR code reader, and are instantly shown the answer to the problem. This independent activity allows the students to practice their skills in an interactive way, while Mrs. Dessert is able to work with small groups and help instruct students that need extra help. 

    Here are a few kids in action with their QR codes- the excitement I hear every time a code is scanned and a correct answer is confirmed is contagious! Keep solving those problems Sixth Grade City!

                             

     

                             

                             

     We are continuing to make great strides and learn new things every day. I can't believe how fast this year is going, but we still have so much work to do. Looking forward to all we will accomplish before our foxes are off to Evergreen.