Monday, June 4, 2012

Final Weekly Update :( 6/6/12


SIGMA'S FINAL WEEKLY UPDATE:
Today we ended a GREAT year of learning on the team.  Mr. Aho, Mrs. Lussem, and Mrs. Ziegenfuss will really miss everyone and hope they'll come back to share all of their 7th grade successes next year.  We also hope everyone has a fun-filled, safe summer.  Thanks to all of our parents, teachers, administrators, and especially STUDENTS for a fabulous year!!  


Sigma Team, 2011-12


Bottle Rocket Launching in IT!!
Before our skating party on Monday, we launched the rockets we built last week.  We were lucky that it was a beautiful, sunny morning.   


Launching the big Science Olympiad rocket!


Andrew and Sammi's rockets being launched high in the sky.

Mr. Grant getting the scuba tank ready to start launching.  Our rockets were powered by air and water pressure.  We were interested to know that it took 60 psi to launch our rockets.


Hannah, Sammi, Jasmine, and Katherine


Everyone decided to try to catch the rockets as they landed.


Eddie, Shane, Mick, and Lucas


Max, Samson, Stephen, Matthew, and Mr. Aho


Josh at the start of the launching line


Competing to catch the rockets

SKATING PARTY!  Monday afternoon we had our sixth grade party at Orbit Skate Center.  We had a great time skating with our friends, playing games, eating snacks, and just hanging out.  Watch the videos below and look for us whizzing by!




Some of us played the math game Set with Ms. Atkins and Mr. Craig 
when we were taking a break from skating.

Lucas bought just a few things at the skating party!

Jasmine and Kate taking a break at the snack bar.

FIELD DAY!  On Tuesday morning, the whole sixth grade participated in Field Day activities set up by Mr. Craig and Ms. Renno.  We got to try 12 different activities.  We were lucky again that it was really sunny and not at all hot.  Thanks Ms. Renno and Mr. Craig!!!


Tug-of-War--everyone's favorite!

Everyone loves dodgeball!

Mr. Keadle and Mr. Kuch look pretty serious!

Ms. Renno is on a dodgeball rampage!


Kickball


Mrs. Schuh, Mrs. Geisel, and Sr. Deluca manning the rest station


 Lauren and Kate taking a break
Ultimate Frisbie!


The girls of 6-12 were the only group to successfully make a 10-person pyramid!


The boys had a little trouble with their pyramid...

SIGMA AWARD CEREMONY
On Wednesday morning, our last day of sixth grade, we signed yearbooks with our classmates and had an award ceremony.  Two students received awards in each academic category.  Congratulations to everyone for a great year of learning!
Chinese Award:  Sammi & Kyle

Industrial Technology Award:  Lauren & Andrew

Language Arts/Writing Award:  Mili & Lucas

Math Award:  David R. & Eddie

Spanish Award:  Katherine & Mick

Music Award:  David P. & Gina

Drama Award:  Elton & Anna

Technology Award:  Jake & Stephen
(and James, absent)

PE/Health Award:  Samson, Josh, Jaz, & Matthew

Science Award:  Shane & Nicholas

Language Arts/Reading Award:  Hannah & Morgan

Art Award:  Cici & Kate

Social Studies Award:  Max & Kevin

Thomas Middle School Team Citizenship Award:
Kyle & Sammi

Poor Teddy!  Morgan and Lauren decided to use their Kraft Teddy Grahams package as a pinata!  :(









Friday, June 1, 2012

Weekly Update 6/1/12


Weekly Update 6/1/12 by Morgan and Shane, with help from many others :)

In science we made our own lava lamps using alka-seltzer tablets, a small water bottle, water, and  vegetable oil.  We made the lava lamp to show how water and oil mix--or actually don't mix.  We learned that water is lighter than oil and oil is denser than water, so the oil sank.   The reason the oil droplets move is because of the carbon dioxide gas from the alka-seltzer.



In IT we got to choose the top five different modules that we wanted to work on out of all twelve, and then we got assigned one of our choices.   We really liked having a choice of stations and learning about new things.  We also like that we got to do hands-on activities.
Andrew and David working on a chaos tower


Cici at the enlargement drawing module making a picture of Ariel from The Little Mermaid


Josh and Mr. Grant got to use lasers, and with a special hazer they could see the beam :D


Sammi with Mrs. House at the forensics module.  She is testing pens to investigate the"crime" 
to find out who stole a dog and left a ransom note.


More enlargement drawings:  Morgan, Lauren, Mili, Anna, and Max


Shane and James at the K'nex station with the cars with attached trailers that they built


Stephen and Kevin at the modeling station making a car

Katherine (with Cici) is using a kit to make a model hot rod


Here is a close up of the enlargement drawings. 
Lauren is coloring Snoopy and Morgan is drawing Piglet. 


Lucas at the flight technology station.  He learned the three laws of motion and also about how planes fly and how rockets are built.

Nicholas and Elton at the solar energy module

In IT, we are also building rockets. We learned that you can use water to power rockets.  We also learned that building a rocket looks harder than it actually is.  We are excited to launch them next week.  Below are pictures of us designing and making our rockets.








On Wednesday, Mr. Tom Spicer, the young adult librarian from the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, came to Thomas to talk about what is going on at the library over the summer. He told us about a book called Legend, a science fiction book.  The author, Marie Lu, is coming to visit AHML on August 16.  Mr. Spicer ordered 60 copies of Legend and he is having a "pass the book" activity where people can check out the book, log on with where they read it, and pass it to the next person.  Lots of us are going to try to get copies right away.  We think it's going to be as popular as The Hunger Games!

Mr. Spicer told us about the filming equipment and practice room you can use at the library over the summer. Also, he told us about other things going on in the summer, like a phonepics photo contest and a film festival in August.  
Here is a link to the AHML website:
http://ahml.info/teens
We are all excited about the new things we can go to at the library over the summer!

Mr. Spicer talking to the class


Checking out some good books

Kate went out and bought Legend the very next day because she couldn't wait to read it!

In social studies we learned about Arabian Achievements.  We got to choose the achievement that interested us most, and then we read about it in History Alive and presented what we learned to the class.  We also shared how the achievement still impacts the world today.  Then we used our creativity to make connections among the different achievements.

Astronomy:  Shane and Elton learned that the Arabians invented a variation of the globe.


Kevin and Mick taught us about Arabian architecture.  One thing we learned is that they built a lot of dome-like structures.


Jake and Matthew are making a "formal" presentation about Arabian art.  The learned that Arabian people put rugs on walls.


James and Morgan learned that our letters came from Arabian letters.


Mili and Lucas taught us about medicine.  One thing we learned is that they had water flowing through all of the rooms in their hospitals.  We were surprised about that!

Mrs. Lussem drawing connecting ideas among Arabian achievements.

Last week we said thank-you and goodbye to our social studies student teacher, Mr. Daley.  
We wish him good luck with his teaching career!