Quarter 4, Week 8, 6/1 to 6/5

6th-grade Science:

Week of June 1 to June 5, 2020 - 

This week's Science Zoom Meeting will be at 12:30 pm again on Thursday, June 4.

Every week I post everything we did at the Live Science Zoom meeting for those who could not attend.

I have begun helping students with the Water Quality assignment so that when they start to work on that one they will have enough background knowledge to get it done quicker and better. Each week I host our Science Zoom meeting I record the session for those who couldn't attend live as well as share the Pear Deck slides for them to work on and the Quiz Game that we played live. I want to make sure all 6th-grade students can access the learning! :)

Quarter 4, Week 7, 5/25 to 5/29

6th-grade Science:

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Week of May 25 to May 29, 2020 - 

This week's Science Zoom Meeting will be at 12:30 pm again on Thursday, May 28.

At this point all students should have completed the Think Like a Scientist activity on Classcraft. Everyone should either be done with the Climate Change assignment or at least be working on it. Of the 66 sixth graders, only 29 are done with the Think Like a Scientist activity, and only 11 are done with the Climate Change assignment. 

Those who are done with the Climate Change assignment can move on to the ACE DOT assignment! 😁

Quarter 4, Week 6, 5/18 to 5/22

6th-grade Science:

Week of May 18 to May 22, 2020 - 

This week's Science Zoom Meeting will be at 12:30 pm again on Thursday, May 21.

Here's a list of what 6th graders should be doing for Science with some flexible due dates (students can finish the assignments ahead of time or after the due date if needed) all on Classcraft:

1. Students should be done with the Think Like a Scientist Activity (only five videos) - Due Date, Friday, May 1. This one is essential so that Climate Change can open up for students.
2. Climate Change (there are 15 videos, each 3 to 6 minutes long) so if students watch three videos per day they can be done in one week - Due Date Friday, May 8 so kids need to keep working to catch up.
3. Those who finish Climate Change can go straight to Water Quality to get started on that activity!
4. Then kids can work on the ACE DOT activity that follows Climate Change.
5. Next is the Ocean Acidification activity that comes after the ACE DOT activity, and they can do numbers 3, 4, and 5 on this list in any order they want!
6. For those who haven't finished their Hydro Dynamics and the Public Service Announcement, that can be turned in anytime now. 

Here are Science activities that are on-going for kids who have finished all of the above or for kids who want to take a break from the above and have some fun while working.

1. Complete any or all of the six Minecraft Science Challenges.
2. The Earth Day 2020 Pear Deck is due for those who have not done it yet.
3. The COVID-19 Escape Room can be done at any time.
4. Play any of the Science games on the Gonzalez Legends of Learning Playlists.
5. Leave comments on each other's blog posts.
6. Watch the Classdojo videos.
7. Finish the Star Trek class story.
8. Bonus: The Great Optional Science Reading Classcraft quest assignment.

Quarter 4, Week 5, 5/11 to 5/15

6th-grade Science:

Week of May 11 to May 15, 2020 - 

This week's Science Zoom Meeting will be at 12:30 pm again on Thursday, May 14.

Since a majority of the 6th graders who responded to a poll I sent out said they could play Minecraft Education Edition, the FREE one, at home to do some fun Science projects, I will be assigning those soon! All students need to do is complete the Climate Change assignment and they will unlock the Minecraft projects later this week! (There's some added motivation for those who haven't finished their Climate Change assignment!) 

Quarter 4, Week 4, 5/4 to 5/8

6th-grade Science:

Week of May 4 to May 8, 2020 - 

This week's Science Zoom Meeting will be at 12:30 pm again on Thursday, May 7.

Last week I polled students to see if there was any interest and if they could do some Science projects on Minecraft Education Edition. Of the 29 kids who responded 24 are willing and able to play. 

It's free for students of Chimacum Elementary to play so it would cost families nothing. You would just need to download the free game. That way kids could be playing a game while learning and doing Science! I know that video games are distracting some kids and keeping them from doing all their schoolwork so I want to use that to my advantage. To that end, I'm working on hosting a few Science Projects on Minecraft Education; stay tuned. :) Message me on Bloomz if you have any questions.

I put together a quick webpage sharing some 6th graders' daily schedules, challenges they are facing, and advice they are giving each other to all get through this and still get their education. It's great stuff: Click Here (scroll down to see all).

Our fish tracking race started today! I created a 6th grade Science Team on Survive the Sound and some students joined and picked a fish. We can all log in and see how our fish are doing - they track real, live salmon as kids learn about habitat and salmon migration! Here's how our fish were doing this morning (so far on Day 1 ALL our fish were still alive!):

Click on Image to Enlarge

--------

Here's a list of what 6th graders should be doing for Science with some flexible due dates (students can finish the assignments ahead of time or after the due date if needed) all on Classcraft:

1. Currently - Climate Change (there are 15 videos, each 3 to 6 minutes long) so if students watch three videos per day they can be done in one week - Due Date Friday, May 8.
2. Students should be done with the Thinking Like a Scientist Activity (only five videos) - Due Date, Friday, April 24, or May 1.
3. For those who haven't finished their Hydro Dynamics and the Public Service Announcement, that can be turned in anytime now. 
4. The Earth Day 2020 Pear Deck due this week as well for those who have not done it yet.
5. The COVID-19 Escape Room due this week.
6. The Flipgrid check-in, for those who haven't done it please finish this week, or if your child cannot do it have them message me on Classcraft.

Here are Science activities that are on-going for kids who have finished all of the above or for kids who want to take a break from the above and have some fun while working.

1. Play the review Gimkit games. 
2. Play the Kahoot games.
3. Play any of the Science games on the Gonzalez Legends of Learning Playlists.
4. Leave comments on each other's blog posts.
5. Watch the Classdojo videos.
6. Finish the Star Trek class story.
7. Bonus: Play any of the many Hour of Code Games!
8. Bonus: The Great Optional Science Reading Classcraft quest assignment.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Quarter 4, Week 3, 4/27 to 5/1

6th-grade Science:

Week of April 27 to May 1, 2020 - 

This week for our Science Zoom Meeting we will have Rian Plastow from the North Olympic Salmon Coalition teaching a lesson to 6th graders on benthic macroinvertebrates in Chimacum Creek! Parents, feel free to join us this Thursday, April 30, at 12:30 pm!

Details and the Zoom Meeting link will be shared on Classcraft Thursday a few minutes before we start!

To keep our Zoom Meetings safe from Zoom Bombers we need everyone to use their real name or they may not be admitted from the Waiting Room. It also helps to have cameras turned on so we can be sure only our students and their parents are joining. In order to keep the distracting sounds out of our meeting, everyone will be automatically muted. You can type questions in the chat room and wait until Mr. G unmutes you to ask a question. You can also use the Raise Hand feature. Thank you.

In order to get some background knowledge for the guest presentation, kids need to start the Climate Change unit! (Kids are getting this YouTube Playlist on the Classcraft Climate Change assignment to help guide them!)

If your kids need help have them message me on Classcraft or you can message me on Bloomz. By now kids should be finishing their Hydro Dynamics Public Service Announcement blog post so they can focus all their Science attention on the current unit of Climate Change!

Quarter 4, Week 2, 4/20 to 4/24

6th-grade Science:

Week of April 20 to April 24, 2020 - 

Wednesday is Earth Day and I'll be doing an Earth Day special Zoom session at 11:00 am. I'll record it like I did last week for those who miss it. In honor of Earth Day this week we are starting our Climate Change unit! (Kids are getting this YouTube Playlist to start the Unit!)

Students who aren't finished with their Hydro Dynamics Challenge Public Service Announcement (PSA) blog post can still work it and turn it in late (Here are sample PSA Blog Posts). That's okay. Their Water Pollution PSA and their Climate Change PSA work are all part of our Ocean Guardian School Environmental Stewardship Project!

Note: I jumped the gun on choosing Wednesdays at 11:00 am for my Science Zoom office hours. The elementary is currently working on a schedule to accommodate the entire school and Wednesdays might be the day for staff meetings. To that end, I might be moving my weekly Science Zoom meetings to Thursdays at 12:30 pm. I'll let your kids know on Classcraft and Google Classroom when that happens, and I will always post the Zoom Meeting link on Classcraft right before I start the meeting. That way we won't get Zoom Bombed!

BTW, if your kids are missing any of the Google Classroom classes, here are the codes again:

6th-grade Band Google Classroom Join Code: l7jksl6

6th-grade Choir Google Classroom Join Code: h5hrnlu

Mrs. Moriarty's Library Google Classroom Class Join Code for 6th grade: p3mp4lx

Mr. Meacham's P.E. Google Classroom Join code: zsvkjhe

Mr. Haddenham's PE Google Classroom Join code: w4pcyil

Mrs. Kaster's Counselor Google Classroom Join Code: ydz5zjb

Also, here's Mrs. Kaster's phone number if you need to contact her: 360-302-0041