Teaching with Ms. D: Fall Yal.

What a perfect week of fall weather (if you like that sort of thing...I'll take a 90 degree day anytime)! Another full week of learning and excitement in the 6th grade!

In history this week, we took a look at why people headed west and what they found when they got there. We also learned about the Transcontinental Railroad and how camels were a big movement in the west at one point! Students drew comics about a cowboy and his trusty camel Clyde (which I may have forgotten to take some pictures of...no worries though, they are tucked safely away in our Student Led Conference folders for later this year). We read a piece on the conflicts between Native Americans and white settlers during Westward Expansion in the 1850s to 1880s in preparation for our first peer teaching opportunities this coming week! We were all shocked by the terrible things that each group did to one another and how it all came down to differences in culture and fear of the unknown (which they quickly put together that this still happens today...those smarties!).

We also got invited to be the audience for Ms. Griffith's Civics classes' First Amendment rights skits. 7th grade did a stellar job writing and performing and 6th grade was so respectful and engaged!

In math, we continued our decimals unit with a project. Students created their own restaurant and menus, and wrote word problems using the four operations based on their menus! Let me tell you...their are some future restaurant owners in the 6th grade! We have had a blast putting these together and will partner check and swap on Monday to solve each others' problems! We have all lived in a state of constant hunger thinking about food all week! Some students were even proactive and signed up for study hall to have some additional time and help on their projects!