Overview
The simultaneous questioning of and celebration of life will pervade this year in the 5th-6th grade class at Mountain Road School. Academic and creative excellence, ethical and spiritual development, knowledge of self, the building of community and the expansion of perspectives will be cultivated in the 5th and 6th grades.
The curriculum has many components that are directed by student needs and interests (an emergent curriculum). Learning will take place in countless ways, including project work, thematic units, individual and cooperative learning, self-directed learning and the teachings life brings us each day. Students will have opportunities to interact with the community and spend every Wednesday outdoors, interacting with and building awareness of the beautiful land surrounding our school. Throughout the year students will be offered various techniques to build awareness and concentration.
Mathematics
Our mathematical journey this year is being guided by the recommended content strands of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and New York State. These strands include Number and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Data Analysis and Probability.
Students receive daily math lessons and complete exercises from resources including Macmillan McGraw-Hill’s Math Connects, Glencoe’s Mathematics: Applications and Concepts and various Marilyn Burns books. We have 3 math groups this year investigating similar concepts at different depths. Below are the expanded topics of investigation for each group.
Place Value, Comparing/Ordering/Rounding Whole Numbers, Addition/Subtraction Properties, Analyzing Data, Probability, Applying Multiplication and Division Facts, Expressions, Equations, Patterns, Function Tables, Geometry, Number lines, Length, Area, Temperature, Capacity, Weight, Volume, Fractions, Decimals
Divisibility Patterns, Powers and Exponents, Order of Operations, Algebra, Statistics and Graphs, Decimals, Fractions, Integers, Equations, Functions, Graphing, Ratio, Proportion, Percent, Probability, Measurement and Geometry
Algebra, Powers and Exponents, Order of Operations, Variables, Expressions, Equations, Properties, Sequences, Scientific Notation, Analyzing Data, Integers, Linear Equations, Inequalities, Functions, Lines, Fractions, Decimals, Percents, Ratios, Rates, Proportions, Probability, and Geometry.
United States History
We began the year looking at how historians tell history. Students explored and wrote about the sides historians take and what viewpoints are neglected after reading different accounts of Columbus “discovering” the Americas. Our two main resources this year include Harcourt United States and Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States. While practicing non-fiction reading and reading response skills, we will study history to identify issues and problems, including war and peace, wealth and poverty, racial division and other means of dividing people. Questions we will consistently ask include:
Why is it like this?
Who benefits?
Who suffers?
Does this play out in my life?
What are the values of the historian?
Who is the author trying to get you to root for?
With controversy and conflict as old as our first two-legged ancestors, students will be presented with as many sides as possible of many stories and invited to take a stand. A significant part of our exploration includes how issues and problems play out in the world today, our own lives, in our own minds, and how to engage such issues. Below are the time periods and events we will learn about during the 09-10 year:
Exploration
First colonies and Racism
Revolutionary War and other Revolutions
Young Republic, the War with Mexico
Civil War, Slavery and Emancipation, and the other Civil War
World Wars and the American Empire
New Wars (50’s)
60’s and Vietnam War
Black Revolt and Civil Rights
70s and America overseas
Wealth and Poverty in the 80’s
90’s, Desert Storm, Food not Bombs, Social Issues
New Century and the War on Terrorism
Reading
Beyond comprehension, students will be invited to practice applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating what they read through written and oral responses. While reading literary texts both independently and in book groups, students will generate questions before, during and after reading to enhance recall and expand understanding. Students will analyze characters, make inferences and predictions, build vocabulary, and make connections to self, the world and other books. The books read together in small groups will include historical fiction, fiction, diaries and nonfiction accounts of inspiring people and undertakings. Students will participate in discussions in which they will practice expressing ideas and actively listening to others. Some books students will read throughout the year include:
The Sign of the Beaver
Indian Captive
Birchbark House
My Brother Sam is Dead
Johnny Tremain
The Giver
Three Cups of Tea
Non-fiction texts will be interacted with daily as students explore American History and Geology, as well as practice reading nonfiction passages and utilizing graphic organizers. Pre-reading, question generating, summarizing, obtaining information from text features and synthesizing information are among the skills that will be emphasized.
Writing
Students will practice the 6 Traits (idea development, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions) while going through the writing process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing many different pieces of writing. Genres of writing will include responding to literature, fiction, writing prompts, non-fiction, nature journaling, biography and critiques on United States history. Students will utilize rubrics to guide their writing as well as conduct teacher and peer conferences to gain feedback throughout the writing process. Lessons on writing craft will be specific to student needs.
Science
Flying Deer
We are once again fortunate to spend every other Wednesday outside with Devin Franklin of Flying Deer Nature Center. Among the many teachings and experiences we will have throughout the year will be the practice of the core routines, which focus on building habits of awareness based on and using nature. Below are brief descriptions of the routines and their connection to academic learning and life skills.
Having a Sit Spot is an exquisite practice on many levels. Carving out time during a day that is dedicated to observation of both surroundings and in due course one’s own thoughts. This is a time to simply be there, be present, and so much unfolds. Animal signs, a diverse colony on a decaying log, or a realization of how to approach a challenge in life can all be seen if one’s brain is patterned towards such openness. It takes great strength to be alone, but the work is well worth it. Great ideas and discoveries come when our minds are in the state of observation and receptivity.
Journaling too helps train the mind to pay attention and practice observation. Great scientists, explorers and naturalists use(d) journals to record their observations. Looking at something and drawing it fine tunes our ability to see details, develop fine motor skills and strengthens our visual imagination. Writing what one experiences invites detailed descriptions. So much excitement and enjoyment to record what one sees/loves usually translates to forgetting that one is even writing.
How often do you tell someone your Story of the Day? Telling the exciting, or challenging, things that happen to us is a practice that goes back to the hunters and gatherers of the world. The process of “prewriting” and “drafting” a story in one’s mind and then “publishing” it in words is an incredible way to exercise those storytelling/writing muscles of the brain. Stories excite us, give us hope, and inspire us to move toward our edges and try new things. Telling stories inspires writing, and writing inspires telling stories.
In the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, John Young invites us to Expand Our Senses so much that we move toward being aware of everything all the time. Although our survival currently does not require us to be aware of predators and the location of safe wild edibles, there is no end to the benefit of having fully functioning senses. You can catch a hawk in your peripheral vision and enjoy its beauty, or see an accident unfolding to your left. Finely tuned senses open up deeper awareness of self, others, and the surrounding environment from which wisdom and deep joy arise.
The use of Field Guides helps students become skilled researchers. Field Guides are full of information, as students practice many non-fiction reading skills in order to navigate their pages. Observations, questions or a riddle direct student investigations while they interpreting data, read charts, categorize, infer, use prior knowledge, apply and draw conclusions in order to identify or learn about a particular species. And with curious minds, field guides often pull its readers to keep turning the page to discover more and more about more and more.
Tracking and Questioning are exciting undertakings. There are countless clues to a mystery to be solved. Identifying signs, interpreting actions, determining the timeline and trailing an animal are all skills that can be translated to tracking human thinking and human behavior. And questioning isn’t just about finding information. Children often ask questions because the desire you to pay attention to the world through their eyes and to be curious with them. Children want connection and love being a part of a mystery, hearing and telling stories.
An investigation of and imitating Animal Forms helps keep our bodies stretching, climbing, running and being still, all the while gaining a stronger sense of instinct and intuition (walk like a meadow vole for 5 minutes and see if you are always aware of an escape route and where predators may be hiding). Animals teach us the usefulness of hard work, efficiency, inner strength and of course playfulness.
We often encourage students to wander the territory around sit spots and let curiosity draw them in. Discoveries are often made because people aren’t being driven by an agenda. There are many appropriate times and places to allow the mind to wander into the world of ideas, music, stories and so much more.
Learning how to Survive using the surrounding environment reveals our dependency on everything and is a very empowering undertaking. Listening for Bird Language is real life cause and effect. Interpreting slight signals through observation gives students the opportunity to read everything that is unfolding in the environment around them. Such “reading” skills have natural application to reading the energy of others and even one self.
An attitude of gratitude, as learned in the practice of Thanksgiving, is an energy that keeps us moving and ready to learn. Mind’s Eye Imagining and Mapping utilize many skills used in mathematics, language arts and visual arts to name a few.
Earth Science
During the cold winter months, students will spend portions of Wednesdays investigating geology. The main topics of investigation are below.
| Earth Science | ||
Processes and ChangeSurface: landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion, glaciers Internal: plate tectonics |
Rock CycleMetamorphic Igneous Sedimentary Soil Formation |
Composition and FeaturesClassification of rocks and minerals Fossils Landforms |
From this building knowledge of the earth’s structure and resources, students will explore how we use the earth, from economic need/desire and lifestyles, products and materials used, waste/recycling/conservation, impacts of land conversion, interrelation of everything and so on.
Nature Journaling
Students will have ongoing opportunities to draw/write/observe in their nature journals. Students will ask the question, “What is happening here?” and then become a scientist observing everything. Students will also record perceptions and feelings that arise in response to what is going on around them. The many skills fostered include creative and technical writing, layout and presentation, reflection, concentration, questioning and silence.
