Sailing The Nile!

Champion students participated in a PBL focused on the benefits of renewable energy. The Ancient Egyptians were the first to harness wind energy to their advantage in trade with their neighbors along the Nile river. After reading, annotating, and writing about the history of sail energy in Ancient Egypt, students constructed their own sail boats using the following set of materials:
one foot of tape, seven straws, and one large note card

From those materials students created, tested, modified, and raced their boats along our "Nile River".
Many students were successful in crossing 'The Nile" and becoming the Queen's and King's of the Nile River!

Getting ready to sail....

And there off..... along "The Nile"...

Our next step was to write a post card to the Mayor of Ventura persuading her to have the city invest more in renewable energy for the benefit of future Venturans in years to come.

Our last step was having students write a reflection of what they learned during the PBL in their on-line portfolio. The reflection included screen clipping pictures of their sail boat and post card.

Way to go champions!

Ancient Egypt Studies: Live It, Be It!

We have begun our Ancient Egypt Studies, and are learning a lot about this impressive civilization!
Focusing on the State Social Studies 6th grade standards at:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/glc6thgradecurriculum.pdf


Just a few of our lessons so far have included comparing and contrasting Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt in a variety of ways.
We have also read multiple versions of the Myth "Osiris and Isis" (and acted it out).

 After reading, acting, and creating, students are ready to write an impressive essay of what they have learned.

Students also tried to make their own pyramid....

We are very proud of the Champions of A8!

Ancient Egyptian Deities!

We studied Ancient Egyptian Religion, then students created their own deity to re-create using a Lego figure. Next, students created a word bubble of what that god/ goddess would say as an attention grabber to a persuasive essay as to which deity is the most interesting and why! Champions students did an amazing job!

Something Old, Something New

The old..... Ziggurats from Mesopotamia, and the new... blending it with technology using our netbooks....

A perfect combination...researching, constructing, and archiving.
Great job Champions of room A8!

Mesopotamia....

We are comparing and contrasting Paleolithic Era to the Mighty Mesopotamians. Did you know they invented writing in the form of Cuneiform?
Champions in room A8 created their own tablets as well:

Each one has a different story with a key to interpret what their symbols represented...

Well done Champions!

Welcome to the 2015-2016 School Year in Room A8!

2015-2016 is off to a great start!
We have begun our school year learning about Early Humans (The Stone Age). Students have been reading, taking notes, writing claims, and supporting them with facts. We also created some "Cave Art". Great job Champions!

Next up.... Student created board games that we will be playing to review for our Unit 1 exam.

Great Job Champions!

Mission To Mars....Egg Landers!

Farewell 2014-2015 School Year. It's been a great one!

Our Final 6th grade P.B.L. of the year was a Mission to Mars Project.
We learned about the potential for a mission to Mars, all about Mars, and built a Mars Lander that protects an egg from a very high drop (as if it were landing on Mars).

The Ventura Fire Department brought their 80 foot ladder to drop our Mission to Mars Egg Landers!
What an amazing event!

                                        

To see the view from the sky, check out the aerial video from the amazing Mr. Wulff and Mr. Hubert (follow the link): https://youtu.be/KxEsRlLrGIQ


To learn more about this project please email any of the 6th grade teachers at DATA including:
amanda.lynch@venturausd.org

Champions Build Air Powered Boats!

Today students built balloon air powered boats to see how far and fast it could travel.

Students were given a meter of tape, a balloon, a note card and a foot of string.

Next students built/ tested and modified.

The most challenging aspect of this project was getting the balloon to stay on the boat.
Most students were able to make their boat travel and glide more than five feet!

Our last step was writing a reflection of what we learned today using our new engineering academic vocabulary...

Well done Champions!

Champions Build Balloon Air Powered Zip Lines!

Today students built a zip line that was able to get a Lego dude down a zip line using air power (balloon).
Students were given a balloon, string, a paper clip, tape and a Lego Figure..


They were challenged with getting their Lego Figure across the zip line...

 then, for fun they made a mini zip line......

Students did an amazing job creating, testing and modifying.
Our last step of reflecting on what we built using our new academic vocabulary.

Well done Champions of Room A8!

Champions Build Balloon Lego Cars!

Today students made a lightweight hybrid Lego/ cardboard cars (using Lego Wheels) propelled by the release of air from a balloon that was attached to their "car".

First we did a V.T.S. activity studying the pictures below:

Next, we got our materials and began building. Many students needed to modify their cars to make sure the balloon was able to release the air and push the car without assistance.

The first challenge was for it to go across the students desk at least three feet. Once they were able to do that, they were invited to move on to the class "Race Track".  If they were able to get their car across the five foot track with balloon power, they were then invited to test outside on the "Champions Raceway". We had so much fun!

building....

 Testing and modifying....

and some bloopers...(this really was a fun day!)...

Our last step was reflect on what we did and what we learned today. Well done Champions!

Champions Build Marshmallow Towers!

Using just 50 toothpicks and 25 small marshallows, students were given two challenges:

1. How tall of a stucture could they build?
2. Could they build a structure with at least a three inch base that could support a standard box of Crayons?

Students were given 20 minutes to enginer their structures. They were able to build some very inpressive (and tall) sturctures. The highest was ten inches!

Most were able to build their stucture in a way to support a box of crayons.

Our last step was reflecting on what what we learned today in a short refelction essay.

Well done Champions!