November 18th-22nd

This week, sixth graders are mostly focusing the development of law in Mesopotamian city-states.  Students will be reading a secondary source, a Jr. Scholastic article about Hammurabi and his code of law, and Hammurabi's Code, a primary source.  Students read about and discussed the difference between a primary and a secondary source in class today.  Students will be starting a project on Hammurabi's Code at the end of the week.

Students will also be building city-states this week!  On Wednesday, students will be working in small groups to build a Mesopotamian city-state.  Students will be using factual information about the typical Mesopotamian city-state to inform their design, and students will be participating in both a self-evaluation and a peer review post-construction.

Homework this week:

For Tuesday- Finish annotating "Laying Down the Law"

For Thursday- Finish annotating "Hammurabi's Code"

For Friday- Finish answering Hammurabi questions

**(Students have had class time to read and annotate both articles before it becoming homework.)

November 12th-15th

This week, students are continuing to work on ancient Mesopotamia.  We are wrapping up a discussion of the writing simulation we did in class last Friday, finish up some work analyzing an article on water, and beginning to build city-states in small groups!  On Friday, we will have a short quiz on Mesopotamia- students should be studying the study guide they received in class all week.

Home work this week:

Study Mesopotamia Study Guide

November 4th-8th

This week, sixth graders are continuing to focus on the early civilization of Mesopotamia.  Students finished short center activities today in class, they will be reading some articles tied to modern concerns over water usage and rights, and at the end of the week students will participate in a simulation that will help them explore why and how writing developed around 5,000 years ago.  Our major themes in our Mesopotamia unit are the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates), writing, the city-state, and the development of written law.

Homework this week:

None- students will be completing their work in class this week.  Some students may have some work to finish at home, but the majority of work should be done at school.

October 21st-25th

This week, sixth graders are wrapping up our unit on culture and geography, and beginning to transition into our first civilization, Mesopotamia.  Students will begin delving into Mesopotamia next week.  This week, they will be doing some reading and writing response work tied to culture, as well as investigate how and why farming is an instrumental step towards the development of civilization.

Last week, students took a short pre-assessment identifying the continents and oceans.  There will be a post-assessment next Tuesday, October 29th.  Students who demonstrated accurate knowledge of all continents and oceans during the pre-assessment will not need to take the post-assessment.  Students will be informed in class if they need to take the post-assessment or not.  Practice work will be distributed to students who need to take the post-assessment, and should be used by students to study for the post-assessment (the practice is not due for a grade).

Homework this week:

Continents/oceans post-assessment will be Tuesday, October 29th

October 15th-18th

I hope you all had a wonderful three day weekend!  This week in class, sixth graders are spending time working on their Artifact Project.  Rough drafts of the project are due on Wednesday.  Students kicked off the project today in class in their school Google account- we are doing the project in Google Presentation.  Final projects will be due on Friday, October 18th.  Most of the project should be done in class, but students will likely need to finish up their work at home for homework.

Homework this week:

Artifact Project rough draft due Wednesday, October 16th
Artifact Project final draft due Friday, October 18th

October 7th-11th

This week, students are starting the week taking a look with current events by taking a look at the present conflicts in Syria and in Egypt.  Students will also spend time plotting catastrophic events using coordinate points, and will learn about a new artifact project at the end of the week.  We will also have a short assessment on the geography themes on Thursday and Friday this week.  Please remember that parent/teacher conferences are being held this Thursday, October 10th.  If you still need to schedule a time, please contact your child's conferencing teacher.  If you are unsure of who the conferencing teacher is, contact your child's advisory teacher or me for clarification.  School on both Thursday and Friday runs from 9 AM to 12 PM, and there is no school on Monday, December 14th in recognition of Columbus Day.

Homework this week:

* Study Geography Themes Notes
* Artifact Project visual rough draft due Tuesday, October 15th
* Artifact Project written rough draft due Wednesday, October 16th

September 30th-October 4th

This week, students will continue to investigate culture and geography.  We begin the week with taking a look at the opening of Written in Stone by Rosanne Parry in connection to culture and geography.  Ms. Parry is visiting us for a sixth grade assembly on Tuesday this week, October 1st.  We will follow up with some class discussion in class on Tuesday and then we will also begin some practice using latitude and longitude to find a location.  We will also be taking a careful look at an artifact this week to make some inferences, as an archaeologist might do.

Homework this week:

Geography Theme Brochures are due on Wednesday, October 2nd.  Brochures should be in final draft form- the assignment details and rubric are posted here under 'Class Handouts.'

Thursday and Friday- Study geography theme notes.

September 23rd-27th

Happy Autumn!  I hope you all had a wonderful equinox this weekend!  This week we started the week by doing some activities in humanities and science linked to the sun and its connections to our seasons.  In humanities, we looked at sunlight and how it varies throughout the year and world.  During the most of rest of the week, students will begin to work on their first project, a geography brochure tied to the five themes of geography.  Project details will be posted later in the week- stay tuned!  Students will be spending class time this week on the project- they will have class time Wednesday, Thursday, and possibly Friday.  After this week, brochures will go home to be finished and will be due back in class next Wednesday, October 2nd.

This week we also have our first quiz!  The culture quiz will be this Friday, September 27th.  Students should be studying every night for homework this week.  The notes are posted in the sidebar under 'Class Notes.'

Next week, we have a fantastic opportunity for 6th graders!  Rosanne Parry, a wonderful children's author is coming to visit us for an assembly on Tuesday morning, October 1st.  She will be meeting with a small number of our students for a book club during 2nd and 3rd periods.  Applications for this special opportunity were distributed in humanities class last week, but we still have a few open spots available.  If you are interested, please bring back this application tomorrow morning for consideration.  Chosen students will get one of Rosanne Parry's books as their own, and will be expected to read the book by next Tuesday (both books are each under 200 pages long).  Students will then meet with Ms. Parry to further discuss her books and writing generally.  This is a fabulous opportunity for our students to interact with a real author!

Homework this week:

* Study culture notes- culture quiz will be this Friday, September 27th.
* Oak Park alphabet brainstorming activity due Wednesday, September 25th.
* Geography Brochure will be be due next Wednesday, October 2nd, but is not homework until the end of this week since we will have class time to begin working on it first.

September 16th-20th

Students began the week finishing up their stations tied to Orientation in Space in Time in humanities, science, math, and language arts classes.  We will be continuing to do work tied to culture and geography this week.  Students will be bringing some notes home this week to study from at home for homework, and they will also be posted here on the blog later this week.  I hope to see many parents at Open House on Wednesday from 6 to 8 PM!

Homework this week:

Wednesday-Friday: Study culture notes- there will be a culture quiz coming up soon, date TBA!

September 9th-12th

This week, sixth graders will be continuing to learn about culture and begin to learn about geography.  We begin the year with culture and geography in order to establish some common concepts and vocabulary that we will then apply to our study of ancient civilizations throughout the school year.  Students are doing some reading and discussion tied to two questions focused on culture this week: How do we learn about culture? and What shapes and changes culture?  We will also be doing some station work in conjunction with language arts, math, and science on Thursday this week and next Monday tied to the idea of 'Orientation in Space and Time.'  For the humanities component, students will begin exploring how information provided by globes and maps is alike and different, and also start learning about the five themes of geography.

*Remember, there is a teacher institute day this week on Friday, September 13th, so there is no school.

 Homework this week:
*Blog homework due Thursday!  Here it is:

Congratulations, you have found Ms. Dean's blog!  The assignment (due next Thursday, September 12th) is to write down one of Ms. Dean's favorite quotes and who said it.  Here it is:


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead


An additional (optional) challenge: Who was Margaret Mead? Describe who she was in a sentence or two.  **This part is not for extra credit, but it sure will give you extra knowledge if you choose to do it! 

Blog Homework!

Congratulations, you have found Ms. Dean's blog!  The assignment (due next Thursday, September 12th) is to write down one of Ms. Dean's favorite quotes and who said it.  Here it is:


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead


An additional (optional) challenge: Who was Margaret Mead? Describe who she was in a sentence or two.  **This part is not for extra credit, but it sure will give you extra knowledge if you choose to do it! 

September 3rd-6th

I hope you all had a terrific long weekend, and that you are ready to dig deeper in humanities this week!

This week, sixth graders are brainstorming what it means to be a global citizen.  This will be the beginning of a conversation, as we will continue to explore the concept of global citizenship throughout the school year.  Students will also be finishing up their first current event assignment in class this week, and we will begin delving into our first unit on culture.  Please keep checking back here for more sixth grade humanities updates!  I am usually able to post for the new week by 4:30 PM on the first school day of the week.

Homework this week:

Atlas check on Friday- students should have a student world atlas for humanities class this year- I will be doing a class check on Friday.  Students have had luck at Book Table, office supply stores, and at amazon.com.  If you cannot find the atlas listed on the school supply list, any student world atlas will do.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know via e-mail.  kdean@op97.org

August 26th-30th

Sixth graders, welcome to Brooks!  It has been wonderful seeing you this first couple of days, and I look forward to getting to know you better throughout the school year!  Please visit here often to see updates about our time in humanities class together, as well as homework, assignments, projects, etc.  I hope you're all having a great first week! 

Welcome to Brooks!

Sixth graders, I look forward to meeting you next week!  I hope you have all had a wonderful summer and that you are ready for a wonderful year of learning in sixth grade!