Perseverance Walk

Clark challenged us to learn about people who have persevered to attain a goal. I found a great lesson online called "Perseverance Walk". In the past, I have done this in the Gifted Student Program, but I do believe it is something that all students can learn very valuable lessons and learn a little something new about a family member.

Here is the link to the lesson:
https://www.edutopia.org/research-made-relevant-grit-perseverance-walk-video

My students this year had a great time interviewing friends and family. They learned that not everything comes as easy as it may look.

Dawson interviewed his dad about climbing a mountain. His dad may several attempts before being successful, but never gave up. Dad even took the family dog on the hike with him!

Kirra interviewed her cousin who is a Jet Ski racer. He had to overcome injuries to continue his dream of being an award winning racer.

Connor interviewed his dad, who now works with aeronautics. He had lots to learn and it was not easy. Connor's dad was in the military to get the experience he needed.

Spencer interviewed his mom. She works with kids who are autistic. She definitely had to work hard to learn everything she can to help these students. Mom has earned several awards for her work.

Kierra interviewed her aunt who is a teacher here in town. She loves what she does, but each day is a challenge. Becoming a teacher took a lot of hard work and education.

Christie interveiwed her mom who is a Speech Pathologist. Her mom went to school after she had a family, so there were many obstacles to her goal. Taking care of a family AND going to school takes loads of perseverance!

Sarah interviewed her dad about his goal of becoming a Black Belt in Martial Arts. Her dad admitted that even though he was working so hard, he became jealous of people that were advancing more quickly than he was. Sarah's dad is now a Black Belt. The hard work paid off! The lesson learned...things come to each of us differently. It is ok if it takes you a little longer to reach your goal.

Brodee's dad works in aviation. Brodee learned that there were many hurdles for his dad, but in the end, he reached his goal and has a job that he loves.

Kyle's mom is still on her perseverance walk! She continues to go to school while caring for her family. Her ultimate goal is to be a nurse. Time and money are obstacles that she is overcoming daily!

I love this project! I highly recommend it. As a teacher, you learn a little more about the students in your class. Who they decide to interview and what they learn is invaluable. Such a great lesson to learn!

On a side note, we continue to make our community a better place daily! To help defer the costs for students' field trip fees, our sixth graders hosted a breakfast fund raiser at Applebee's! This is Brodee in our car loop drumming up business! 

We continue to work with our custodial staff to keep our campus beautiful!

Thank you for taking a look at our month!

~ Mrs. James' 6th Grade Class

Classroom Champions ~ November/December

Jamestown 6th graders have been very busy the last two months at Sabal! Our challenge from Clark was to better our community. Students had many ideas. We collected donations for our local animal shelter and delivered them after our last day of school before the winter break.

We also met with our Head Custodian to make plans for keeping our campus beautiful! We will be a part of a committee that will not only pick up the trash around school, we will encourage others to do the same.

Mrs. Cwiklinski, one of our kindergarten teachers, came to speak with our class about raising money for MS. We plan to participate in the MS Walk in March. She has asked us to create a team name and t-shirt design to help raise money for the cause. Mrs. Cwiklinski was diagnosed two years ago with MS. Our participation will not only help Mrs. Cwiklinski, but the entire community. Students are very excited to help with this project! We would even like to invite Clark to join us for the MS Walk in March if he is able to make it!  This is the link that Mrs. Cwiklinski shared to begin her talk with the students:

https://www.youtube.com/watcj?v=Naecv3h868c

On top of all our community service, we have had visits from some of our middle schools in the area to discuss Life After Sixth Grade! Stone Middle School came to discuss their STEM program and Johnson Middle School came to discuss their STAR/Cambridge program.

Sixth graders also went to Kennedy Space Center for an incredible field trip. They participated in a bridge building activity, toured the center, and got to ride the Shuttle Experience. This is a free program to all public school sixth graders in our county. We are fortunate to live so close to this history and science!

I am personally looking forward to January's challenge! Perseverance is definitely an area for improvement for many students. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from Jamestown Sixth Graders!

Classroom Champions

My homeroom class got to meet our Athlete Mentor, Clark Rachfal!!! Clark is a Paralympian who competes on a tandem bicycle. He is legally blind so this is really impressive! Think of his grit, perseverance, drive...to get where he is today.

Here is our welcome video from Clark!

He has given us a challenge to set a BIG goal for this school year and three small goals that will help us reach that big goal.

Ready for that challenge!

Jamestown Houses Up and Running...Genius Hour...and more!

From the Ron Clark Academy comes the idea of placing students into houses similar to those at Hogwarts! Mr. Clark sorts his newest students into their house the first year and students remain in that house from fifth to eighth grades. Students learn teamwork and friendly competition. We have already had a nice Kahoot.it game with tons of points being awarded and students are practicing being a good winner and a good loser. It was so wonderful to hear..."Great job, Green House!" at the end of the game. Ms. Robinson and I are going to be attending a Teacher Training at the Ron Clark Academy in February!!! We are super excited for this once in a lifetime opportunity!!! We will be getting some more great ideas to share with our students AND we get to be Slide Certified!

Wednesdays are early release days every week. We lose a little over an hour with our students. It is also a day that several students are in another classroom for enrichment, so Wednesdays are going to be our "Ketchup" (get it...Catch Up!) Day. If students need a little more time to finish up a project from earlier in the week or from the end of the previous week, they will have time to do that. All sixth grade teachers are able to offer a little more assistance if needed. Perhaps Mr. Dorricott sees that Ethel and Fred need extra help with a math skill, he can bring them to his room. If Ms. Robinson sees that Lucy and Ricky didn't quite get that science concept, she can bring them to her room for a little tutoring. Same with reading and me. This seems like it is going to be a great way to handle our Wednesdays. Students will still have reading for 90 minutes each day, but the rest of the day is for whatever needs to be completed or studied. What about those kids who have nothing to catch up on? In Jamestown, students will have the opportunity to work on a Passion Project. We call it Genius Hour and the idea comes from Google. One student is planning to use pieces of watches that he takes apart to create a piece of art. After learning about Genius Hour, another student said, "I LOVE THIS SCHOOL!!!"

Donorschoose!!! We have three copies of most of the SSYRA books for sixth grade this year thanks to a Donorschoose project posted last year. We are waiting for some short stools for our reading table that will be here any day. Thank you for allowing your students to be photographed to share with our donors so that they can see the projects in action! Currently we have two projects posted, but we are waiting for Target to fund all but $98 and then it will be funded by anyone who wants to donate. Donorschoose is a great way to get things for the classroom that are out of the ordinary. People all over are willing to help classrooms. I am so grateful to have found Donorschoose! Here are a couple of the pictures from the Book BASH project Thank You package.

#Jamestown @Sabal is having the #BestYearEver!!!

SUPER EXCITED FOR SIXTH GRADE!!!

Ms. Robinson, Mr. Dorricott, and I have BIG PLANS for sixth grade this year! We are super excited to meet our students and parents on Monday, August 8th during registration. Registration is from 8:00-5:00 in the cafeteria. Sixth grade teachers will be in our classrooms throughout the day to welcome our new students and parents. We will have some back to school information for you as well. We hope you have enjoyed your summer, as we have, and we look forward to seeing you soon!