This is the blog for the 6th grade of 2009-2010. Here you will find weekly posts by students, photos and more. To learn about what 6th grade is all about, click on the “about 6th grade” tab on the orange bar.
The class trip to The Hancock ShakerVillage was great fun despite the cold rain that fell on us. I had visions of a beautiful April day and students leaping like happy gazelles over the grass. Instead, we scurried on slick, wet boardwalks from building to building, hunched inside our raincoats.
Still, the students had a gret time and, as always, their enthusiastic, intelligent, probing questions and comments impressed our tour guides. We learned about the Shaker traditions and how they differed from the Shakers we met in our book, A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck.
The Shakers were incredible innovators and inventers. They invented clothespins, a hospital bed that can be raised and lowered, the flat broom and many other practical things we take for granted today. They ran their wood shop and laundry with water powered turbines and built a beautiful round barn with entrances to the outside on two levels.
Enjoy our slide show!
Vanessa Park
Yet again Dutchess Day School’s Special Friends Day was a huge success. In group Y, my grandparents were my special friends. Carter’s older brother and Gavin’s grandmother were their special friends. Also, a family friend of Danielle, Deborah, was her special friend. In group U, Jake’s grandparents and Henry’s grandfather were visiting.
Although there was a wide array of people, everyone had a good time. Ms. Park really got the special friends involved by having everyone lying down into human diagramed sentences. (See pictures below.) Both groups made some really funny sentences out of the words Ms. Park gave us, one having to do with an apple storm!
Next, group U went to math and we played review Jeopardy. Although the special friends let us answer most of the questions, they were very interested that the way we are learning to do things in math is different from how they learned to do them!
Next, we went to an assembly, where the whole school gathered with their special friends. Each grade had a performance. From videos to songs, each class offered something unique. The 6th grade played two songs on their dulcimers and everyone was happy with how it turned out. Overall, I think that the best thing about Special Friends Day is how our friends and non-immediate family can see what our lives at school are like. I am sure everyone in the entire school cannot wait for next year!
Rose
Here at DDS every Friday in the winter we leave school early to go skating or skiing. I ski and I have so much fun every time. It never gets boring, not even the bus ride there because I am with my friends. I think that this is a privilege to us and I really love that about DDS. Every Friday we leave school at 11:30 and we go to Catamount. The school prepares lunch for us if we want it to take it on the bus and at 11:30 sharp we are off to the slopes!
When we arrive at the slopes we get ready and then go to our lessons to become better skiers. Even if we are not in the same lesson as our friends, it doesn’t matter because we know the people we are with. We aren’t really at a lesson to talk to friends, anyway. We are there to learn. There are different levels in the groups so we are put where we are comfortable skiing. We have a lesson for an hour and then we have the rest of the time to ski with our friends. Even though this is a lot of fun there are the rules that we have to obey. We can’t go off jumps and we always have to ski with someone so we have ski buddies.
Once we have had our fun on the slopes for the day we can go back to the lodge and check in with the teachers. Then we can wait till there is a teacher on the bus to go back or we can get food at the lodge or just talk with our friends. Then we are on our way back to school. We go to Catamount about 6 times a year and it is always fun. It goes by so fast! We all wish that we could do it all the time. I love going skiing with DDS and I am so happy that they give us this chance to experience this much fun.
by Caterina
Some sixth grades in the lodge
The Crash Test Dummies with coaches Mr. Blakley and Mrs. Yager
This week the robotics team was congratulated for bringing a Lego trophy to our school. The team, The Dutchess Day School Crash Test Dummies, won a trophy for teamwork on Saturday, February 27 at the regionals. Five of the six team members were 6th graders. Sam and Henry are the team’s researchers, Ben and Jack are the team’s programmers, and I am the team’s builder. 7th grader, Nick Akst, is also on our team. We had a great time representing our school and we are grateful to our teachers Mrs. Yager and Mr. Blakley.
This week our class also did our amazing science presentations on the human body. We were split into groups of two or three to research a part of the human body. It was hard because of the snow days the previous week, so coordination was tough. Nonetheless we pulled it together and did very well. Some of the things brought by students for the presentations were a lamb’s heart and a bird’s head, used in a brain presentation.
Our class also cleaned the school on Thursday during recess. We vacuumed, sorted, scrubbed and washed. I personally enjoyed making our school a cleaner and happier place.
By Alex
The sixth grade Spanish class is very exciting. We are learning how to count from 1-100 in Spanish, how to talk about sequencing events, and how to conjugate verbs. We are also learning about different countries in Latin America and their traditions, such as Dia de los Muertos in Mexico . This translates into “The day of the dead.” On this holiday Mexicans believe that the souls of the dead return to Earth. During the holiday families gather at the graves of their relatives and decorate them with flowers, tell stories and have a picnic. Te amo mucho la clase de Espanol!
By Nick
For a little over a month the sixth graders have been working busily on their character evolution essays. The book the characters are in, The Secret Garden, are little brats in the beginning and evolve into very nice people. The sixth graders have been learning that a good essay takes lots of drafts… and Ms. Park learned how much ink is necessary to comment on 22 students’ papers!
But what is involved in making a character evolution essay? First you have to have a clear statement of change in your introductory paragraph. Then throughout the paragraphs you need to prove what you originally said about your character’s change, giving evidence and using quotations to support your points. Finally, in your last paragraph, you need to wrap up your essay as a whole. Although it was tons of work, everyone came out of this experience with excellent essays.
by Rose
This week is the second week that Dutchess Day has had their ski/skate program. This article is about the skating students and what they learn at the rink. From preschoolers to the seventh grade, the Millbrook rink is filled with gifted skaters. The smaller children, even though they are young, show incredible capability to skate. The skating instructor, Caroline, helps them along but also gives them the space they need to develop. If they are afraid or unsure, the older students come to help them with what their instructor has taught them during their lesson. The smaller kids learn how to stop, skate fluidly, and how to get up off the ice properly. Some of the children try to rush and actually run on the ice or skate too fast that they fall onto the ice, but they get up and try again.
The little children have great hope, even if they fall, that they will be able to be like the figure skaters in ice shows from Disney or one of the NHL’s most valuable players.
My class, the sixth grade, only has a few students skating, but hose few are amazing skaters. They help out whenever and wherever they can, whether it is helping the little kids at lessons or on their own. These students are in the upper lessons, the advanced or intermediate groups. All the other upper school children help too. They help their fellow classmates and other students as well. The older students learn how to skate on one foot, do spins, the crossover, and how to skate backwards.
Whether it is beginners, experienced skaters, or children who take private lessons out of school, the Dutchess Day skaters are talented kids.
Below are some pictures of skaters at the Millbrook rink!
By Samantha
This week was the first week of ski skate where half of the school goes skiing and the rest go skating. On Friday everyone was excited when 15 people in our class went skiing and the other 6 people went skating. Besides that we learned a lot. Here are some problems based on what we learned this week. Email your answers to my teacher, Ms. Park. Then we will see if you got them right!
math 1 ½* 3/8 = _____________________________________________
science What are the two differences between an animal cell and a plant cell?
1.____________________ 2.___________________
Grammer That boy’s blue shirt is extremely ugly.
What part of speech is the word blue________
Does it have an object?_______
Does it modify anything?__________
If so, what question does it answer?________
What part of speech is the word that________
Does it have an object?_______
Does it modify anything?__________
If so, what question does it answer ______
extremely________
Does it have an object?_______
Does it modify anything?__________
If so, what question does it answer?________
History Who was the third person to rule the Mogul Empire?
By Ben
by Simone
This blog post is about the jolliest time of year, the holidays! I interviewed everyone in our class about what they were going to do this year during the winter break. Most of the kids are traveling to see relatives or going to other states. I personally am going to England for most of the break. Some people are going to stay home and have their relatives come to them. The one thing that greatly surprises me is that most of the people are not going skiing. Now’s the time to ski people, all of the snow is on the ground. Also, several people are doing everything imaginable! Traveling, skiing, staying home and family visiting home. I salute those people because they will have to buy a lot of eggnog for their families! Anyway, I think that everyone is going to have a great time and be full of holiday cheer.
Sincerely, Henry
