6th Grade News: End of Year Edition!

Humanities: 

Wow – what a crazy, back-and-forth, challenging, surprising, exciting, and fun year it’s been! I’ve been so impressed with the 6th graders’ resilience and positive attitude these past several months while adjusting to new routines, tiresome protocols, and ever-changing schedules. Being around their joyful energy inspired me to stay positive and persevere during this long-lasting pandemic, and for that I am truly grateful.

We closed out the semester in Humanities with a multi-media group project that required students to imagine and create their own medieval manor (country village). In small teams, students researched the daily lives and customs of peasants, knights, and nobles, and then wrote diary entries and newspaper articles based on their research. Afterward, each group set to work building their own manor out of a variety of materials: clay, cardboard, popsicle sticks, straws, tissue paper, cups, and more. Each group made sure to include elements such as a castle or manor house, peasants’ huts, farms, shops, fields for grazing, a church, and forests — emulating real manors from a thousand years ago. The finished products were innovative, colorful, and informative (not to mention beautiful!). Earlier this week, we all enjoyed talking in (sub-par) British accents while each group presented their original writing and physical manors to the class. Beyond their new knowledge of life in the Middle Ages, students should be proud of what they learned about teamwork — as they assigned roles to each other, became leaders, voiced opinions, and arrived at compromises. Working as a team to create a complex product is not always easy, but learning to navigate these challenges will help prepare students to become stronger classmates, colleagues, and teammates in the future.

Enjoy these photos of students working on their manor projects (Can you guess who is hiding inside that knight armor?!):

In addition, here is a slideshow of all of the students’ manors, with links to their presentations. Feel free to browse!

See more photos from this year in our 6th grade album (and share with your child!):

I feel lucky to have been a part of the Senesh and 6th grade community during this one-of-a-kind year.

And now…. summer! Enjoy the warm weather, and stay in touch. 🙂

Naomi

Math: 

We made it! I am so proud of the 6th grade class. This worked so hard this year and were so adaptable. These past couple weeks of school, the 6th grade completed  their final project which was to create a carnival/festival type game and analyze the theoretical probability of winning it. They then found the experimental probability and got a change to try each other’s games. The 6th graders also learned about the origin of the number 1 and used critical thinking to create specific numbers using certain criteria.  It’s been quite a year and your children did amazing, I am so proud of them. I hope that everyone has a wonderful and restful summer. 

Hebrew Heritage: