Guest Speakers

This past Friday the 6th graders were very lucky to have a group of students from Cornell College come talk to us about natural disasters (and what causes them), tectonic plates, fossils, and geodes. These are all things we have been studying thus far in science! It was great to meet soon to be scientists, especially to see five of the seven were female! After a whole group introduction, the students were able to move around in groups to learn more in-depth with each of the individual scientists. After the rotations, we all gathered back into one large group to watch as the students cracked open a geode for us. I encourage you to ask your students what the most interesting thing they learned from these scientists was!

 

Today in... SCIENCE!

So far this year in science, we are working with rocks and fossils. With these, we are looking at how they are made, how we can identify them, where we can find them, and how old these objects really are.

Today we focused on time. In order to help us visualize just how old fossils really are, we made a timeline out of receipt tape! Each of the "major" events of life formation were marked on our timeline using centimeters and meters. This visualization made it very easy to see just how long it takes for things to evolve and change over time. While we were making it we started with present day and worked back in time, but in the video we started at the Formation of Earth and worked our way through time to TODAY! I think we were all amazed at just how long the timeline ended up being (46 meters)! 😃 Enjoy the video of our completed timeline:

The students who spoke said the following "major" events: Earth forms, first life, first algae, fossils, fish, land plants, insects, trees, amphibians, dinosaurs - Mesozoic, mammals, birds, horses, primitive humans, ice age, Homo erectus... TODAY (shouted by all).

Big Relaxing Sigh

Iowa Assessments are officially over! Everyone did a great job staying focused and asking questions when possible. I am already proud! With testing out of the way, we are headed back to our normal routine for the week. Spelling words are coming home, and vocab will be given on Monday. Quizzes for spelling and vocab will resume on Friday. As always, weekly math is also being sent home, and current events will be turned in on Friday.

We have made it through most of the novel project presentations, but have a few more for Monday. They have been AMAZING so far! The projects are eye-catching, informative, and very creative! I am very organized and usually do not like things being stored on the back table, but I am beyond pleased to see it filled with all of these wonderful projects!

Enjoy the much deserved weekend Lions! 🦁

The Week Ahead

Happy Friday everyone! Just wanted to touch base about a few things that happened this week and are coming up next week. For starters, the Lincoln Lions have filled the school ROAR tank! Congratulations to everyone for working hard and showing our four traits! This was celebrated school-wide by holding a Drop Everything and READ! event. Let's see how long it takes us to fill the tank again! 🦁 Here is a peek at a few of our classmates enjoying the celebration:

Looking ahead to next week, we will not be having a spelling or vocabulary quiz. This is due to Iowa Assessment testing. We will be testing during our morning reading, language, and writing time Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Please be sure to get plenty of rest and eat a good, filling breakfast! We will pick back up with spelling and vocab the following week.
There will still be weekly math due on Friday (it was sent home today), as well as current events.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend and this wonderful fall weather we have been having!

Student Council

Congratulations to our student council members! This year we have Avery serving as President, Kaitlyn as Vice President, and Sigrid as Secretary. We also held a vote for our classroom representative, who will be Elli! If Elli is ever unable to attend a meeting or event, Gavin will be her alternative.
I am proud of not only our elected officials but of ALL of the students who gave it a try. Each of you had the courage to stand in front of your peers and express why you believe you would make a great student council member. I am proud to see this type of courage in ourselves starting to show!

Please enjoy the long weekend and be sure to use our four traits! Lincoln Lions ROAR! 🦁