5/6 Summit Celebrations

Dear MES 5th & 6th-grade families,

As the end of the first grading period has passed, our students are ramping up and busy working with their classmates, teachers, and mentors to apply their learning — and the results are inspiring! I want to share with you some of the successes we’re seeing each and every day through our hands-on projects and goal setting.

A Project in Action

In Mrs. Maddox’s, 5th-grade ELA students have been writing book reviews. They shared their learning at our Family Showcase night in September. Now they are working on a reading project to develop skills such as comparing, contrasting, and public speaking. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

In Mrs. Maddox’s, 5th-grade Math students have been reviewing place value. These skills will build their number sense and computation mastery. They also learned how to find the volume of a figure by applying multiplication facts. Now 5th graders are working on adding and subtracting decimals. We are practicing with real-world examples with money and measurement. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

In Mrs. Maddox’s, 5th-grade History students have been learning about the causes of the American Revolution and comparing it to other revolutions in history. They used this research to develop an evidence-based explanation about why people declare independence. Now they are comparing the contrasting U.S. territories and states. They will make an argumentative claim about why some territories should be considered for statehood. Within this project, students are also learning about the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens, which are important for all U.S. citizens to know. In addition, students researched the history of Kentucky and how it became a state. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

In Mrs. Maddox’s, 5th-grade Science students are developing skills such as asking good questions, making a hypothesis, planning and carrying out a scientific investigation, interpreting data, and drawing conclusions. Students designed and carried out an investigation using the properties of matter to make observations. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

In Mrs. Troxell’s, 6th-grade ELA students have been creating their own poems and supporting their themes with wordplay. They will be performing one of their poems in an open mic during class. This project is helping students develop important skills like theme, word choice, organization, and speaking. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

Students have created 3 poems: Inspiration poem, Where I’m From poem, and Passion poem. They picked their favorite poem and started practicing it for our open mic.

In Mrs. Troxell’s, 6th-grade Science students have been developing a game that incorporates all 3 of Newton’s Laws. This project is helping students develop important skills like constructing an evidence-based explanation and modeling.  These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

A couple of game examples have been obstacle courses, mazes, car and balloon racing games. They have had so much fun creating and playing each others games while figuring out how Newton’s Laws are working.

In Mrs. Webb’s, 6th-grade Math students are working on Introducing Ratios. This project is helping students develop important skills like understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems and analyze relationships.. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

Students have been reasoning through ratios using visual displays and double number lines. We are beginning to work with tape diagrams and tables! Students have applied these strategies by creating their own ratio scenarios and showing their ratios using multiple strategies. 

In Mrs. Webb’s, 6th-grade History students have been working on understanding the development of agriculture and how that has impacted human development. This project is helping students develop important skills like Argumentative Claim, Selection/Explanation of Evidence, Making Connections/Inferences and Identifying Pattern/Relationships. These are skills that will prepare students for life after school — in college, in their careers, and throughout their life.

Students are answering the compelling question “Was the development of agriculture good for humans?” They must first form an opinion and then use textual evidence to support their opinion. Students are also creating a map to show a place that is ideal for the development of agriculture. They must make connections to what they have learned about Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in order to fully understand the best conditions for their civilization. 

Students learn and grow the most when they encounter challenges and apply their learning to conquer them. Through the work like our students are doing now, they are truly mastering content and developing lifelong skills that research says our students need. We’re excited to see the fruits of this approach in real-time, knowing what it means for their long-term success.

Get Involved in Goals

We encourage you to talk with your child about the projects they’re working on and the skills they’re developing. You also can talk to them about the goals they’ve set with their mentors and how they’re making progress toward those goals. For example, you can ask, “What goals have you set with your mentor? Where are there gaps between your goals and where you are now?” Help them see challenges that they may be experiencing as opportunities for growth. This “growth mindset” is a key habit for success in life.

We are thrilled to see our students developing self-direction skills and working hard to apply their skills and knowledge through hands-on projects. We know our students will continue to thrive in the coming months, and with personalized support and perseverance skills, our students can achieve more than they thought possible.

Please let us know if you have questions regarding how you can best meet the needs of your child. 

Mrs. Shinn, Principal