6th Grade Christmas Festivities 2011

Nativity Mural: Created in Mrs. Mattoon's Religion Class

"Stained Glass" Christmas Tree Project: Artist Credits--Jordan Meier

6C Nativity Dioramas

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The Fizzies Virus

Our current focus in Science is on Viruses and Bacteria, which is always a fun chapter to study! We started by learning some basic facts about Viruses. For example, did you know that viruses are not alive? We also did a fun lab to go along with our studies. The lab was a simulation activity on how disease spreads, and the disease that "spread" in our classroom was the "Fizzies Virus." Each student received a cup of water, and only one cup in the class was "infected" with the Fizzies Virus. (The infected cup contained Hydrogen Peroxide, which looks exactly like water.) Each student exchanged with three other students and mixed their liquids. After the exchange process it was time for Dr. Koehnke ;) to test each student for "infection." To test for infection Dr. Koehnke dropped a few drops of bleach into the cup. If the liquid fizzed and bubbled the student was "infected." 6A had 5 students infected, 6B had 7 students infected, and 6C had 8 students infected. After recording all of our data, we were able to be detectives and find "patient zero" the original carrier of the virus. It was a fun lab! Ask your 6th grader about it!

  

We were also fortunate enough to have Mr. Lutz, our school Technology Coordinator, come a speak about computer viruses so that the students could compare/contrast what they know about viruses in biology to viruses in technology. Thank you, Mr. Lutz!

Now, here are a couple of virus cartoons for you to enjoy!

Jello Cells! September 26, 2011

Time for mass quantities of Jello to be made! :) This was my fourth year doing the Jello Cell project with my 6th grade classes. It's so fun to see the unique ideas that the students bring to the table each year. In this lab activity, the students are reinforcing what they learned about a simplified animal or plant cell. Within their groups they are to choose items to represent different organelles in their specified cell (green jello = plant cell and red jello= animal cell). Some popular themes involve edible items, such as candy or fruit. Take a peek at the pictures below to view this year's Jello Cell projects. To see the previous year (Sept. 2010) click here. Enjoy!

Special thanks goes to Mrs. DiCarlo for being the parent helper/photographer. All photo credits go to her!

6A: Jacob, Gabbi, Alyssa, and Noah

And now here are the 6B creations...

Jason, Henry, Maili, and Gillian

Nadia, Jake, Nipa, and Mandi

Daniel, Noah, Ben, and Lexi

Last, but not least, 6C jello cells...

Kyle, Jordan, Dane, and Katie

Mitchell, Parker, Trevor, Syd, and Meagan

Red Ribbon & Reformation

The Girls!!

One section of the boys...

The girls again (minus the teachers)

...the rest of the boys :)

Some of the girls

First day "Foto" booth Fun

Sky High

 

Fueling up at McDonalds before we got our jump on!

The Last Day

June 8, 2011

Summer vacation is finally upon us after a long year of learning, bonding, growing {spiritually & physically}, and FUN! I have really enjoyed getting to know this bunch of 6th graders, and I feel truly blessed to have had the chance to be their teacher. Our last couple months of school we have been able to go on some fun field trips {Outdoor Ed., Walk About LA, and Beach Day} and I was able to grow even closer to my students, which makes it even harder to send them on to 7th grade. Of course, I had to take advantage of my last chance to snap some pictures of these kids as 6th graders.
Below is each 6th grade teacher with their homeroom class.

Top Row: Mrs. Koehnke, Brittany, Jordan, Korey, Josh, Kevin M., Nick, AJ, Kyle G., Aaron
Middle Row: Katie, Kyle Q., Andrew, Kevin G., Evan, Charlotte, Sarah
Bottom Row: Haley, Taylor, Kara, Emily 

Of course, a silly picture is a MUST ;)

6A: Top Row: Mrs. Klitzing, Matthew, Jacob, Brandon D., Cole, Hayden, Jake, Ken, Aaron, Adam, Kameron
Bottom Row: Angela, Kendell, Brittany, Ally, Zoey, Becky, and Ellie

Lookin' good, 6A

Mrs. Koehnke and her 6C boys

Now, the lovely ladies of 6C :)

Fun times!

6B: Top Row: Mrs. Mattoon, Madi, Ryan, Kristen, Cade, Emily, Scott
Middle Row: Brie, Noah, Nathan, Joh, Chris, George
Bottom Row: Madi, Alex, Anthony, Pierson, Jack, Garrett

Mrs. Mattoon and the 6B Boys

Oh, boys!

The girls of 6B {They were heavily out-numbered by the boys}

SAYING GOODBYE:

The last day was a half day, so it went by super fast. I did a good job of keeping it together up until the final class prayer. As my homeroom class {6C} and I bowed our heads to pray, I wanted to lift them up and thank God for each and every one of my special students and praise Him for our amazing school year. However, as soon as I began to verbalize this I was filled with emotion and I couldn't continue. The only thing I could get out was, "Can someone please take over?" and Josh Odle thoughtfully stepped in and finished the prayer for me. After that my students gave me a group hug!. :) What a special moment...a moment I won't forget. Happy summer everyone!!!