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