Welcome to Water For Sixth Grade

Sixth Graders, I would like to offer you a very warm welcome to Water for Sixth Grade. This year you will have a blog experience like never before. You will soon come to realize that blogging and this blog in particular, can greatly enhance your learning. Water for Sixth Grade can provide ample opportunities and choices for you to be the best student you can be. This blog will allow ALL of us to share our ideas. We will be able to help each other, learn from each other, and experience Ancient Civilization together. On this blog, I will post pictures, videos, discussion topics, homework assignments, study guides, and anything else I want. With Water for Sixth Grade, there is no limit. You may or may not be familiar with blogging. It is actually quite simple. It will take very little time at all to become a Master Blogger. Basic blogging is this: I post something on the blog, and you respond to it by posting your comments. Yes, you will be posting your thoughts and ideas on the internet and Yes, the internet is used in over 200 countries world wide. By the way, to give you an idea of what type of audience you are dealing with on Water for Sixth Grade, last year this blog was visited by people in over 120 countries. Last year, Water for Sixth Grade had people blog from Turkey, Great Britain, Scotland, Egypt, and Russia. Water for Sixth Grade had over 30,000 hits last year alone. This website you are dealing with is not just some low level thing. It is a big deal. It is a big deal because of you, the student, and your ability to post ideas and thoughts that are provacative. Our goal this year is to beat the number of countries that visited last year. Our goal this year is to become the best students we can be. Water for Sixth Grade will help that goal. Once again, Welcome to Water for Sixth Grade.

Ancient Civilization Highlights PowerPoint

Ancient Civilizations Highlights

View more presentations from Dan Klumper.

Respect

Let's practice Blogging. I thought it would be appropriate to pick Respect as the topic of our first blog post. This, in my opinion, is the biggest thing one can give. To practice blogging, let's talk about respect. I will give you a few questions to get you started on this "respect" discussion.

1. What does the word Respect mean?

2. How do you show Respect?

3. How do you earn Respect?

4. How does someone LOSE respect?

5. Tell me who you should respect and why.

6. How will you earn the respect of your teachers?

7. How will you earn the respect of your classmates?

Respect, Respect, Respect. Very important Stuff. Good Luck.

Ancient Civilization Preview

The MesoAmerica Spot

Welcome to the Unit of Mesoamerica. Unlike past units, Mesoamerica is not very far away from Brandon, SD. Mesoamerica is located in Present Day Mexico. You and your group members will be working on a Mesoamerica project. You will be researching and putting together a PowerPoint to teach us about your topic. There may be times in the computer lab in which you are not able to work on the powerpoint. For instance, your partner is working on it, and you are waiting your turn. So, you may be asking yourself, "What should I do then?" Well, the answer is simple: Blog. On the Right side of WSG, there are many Mesoamerica Links. Go to them. Read them. Think about them. Write about them. This will greatly enhance your understanding and knowledge of this Ancient Civlization. You do not have to only do your topic. You can research other topics as well. If I were you, I would start with "Present Day Mexico." Those links are very interesting because that is what is happening right now in the world.

Task: Go to websites on the Link Lists, read them. Share what you have found. Give us Mesoamerica Information. Educate us.

Presenting the 2009 Joust Champions

The 1st Annual 2009 Joust Championship ended today with excitement the likes of which Brandon Valley Middle School has never seen. Five Joust Championships-Five Joust Champions. These Five individuals "climbed the mountain" of Jousting and defeated every opponent that crossed their paths. The tournament was not for the faint of heart. It took guts, courage, humor, charisma, bravery, mental toughness, and physical toughness. This tournament pushed the limit of what the Human Body can endure. This tournament was made up of elements of skill, luck, and everything in between. This tournament witnessed heart-break at its deepest level, and jubilation at its highest level. These, ladies and gentlemen, are the 2009 Joust Tournament Champions.

Pictured From Left to Right: Dylan, Alex, Jessie, Dani, and Macy.

Essay Preparation

Hello, Students. Your Medieval Times Exam will consist of TWO essay questions. I have listed four possible essay questions below. I will select two of them for the test on Friday. In order to be prepared, please think about all four questions, because you have no idea what two I will select. Also, you may post some comments about each of the four essay possibilites. Help each other out! That is the beauty of the Blog, after all--students learning together. Good Luck!

Here are the Four Possibilities:
1. Discuss the Black Death by answering the following: how did the Black Death affect society? How did it spread? Why was Europe a good place for it?

2. Tell me about the Religion of Islam.

3. Discuss the 5 W's of the Crusades.

4. Explain Feudalism by focusing on the following: Who founded Feudalism? What are the four levels? What does each level do? Why is it a pyramid?

Random Act of Blogging

Welcome to the Blogosphere. It is good to see you have returned to Water for Sixth Grade. Blogging has been limited due to the fact that the weather has been nice. It is good to get outside and be active, especially as Pre-teens such as yourself. WSG wants you to be active. Don't sit around on your couch all day waiting for a new Post on WSG. You need to be outside. Break a sweat. Run a couple miles. Put away the Barbie PowerWheel and ride a bike instead. Take your dog for a walk. Take your little sister or brother for a walk. Take your mom or dad for a walk. Take your computer for a walk. Do something. That is the main point. Contrary to some peoples' hopes, the blog is not going anywhere. It will always be here for you to use when it is not nice out. This post is for you to do if you want. If you come in from the outdoors and are tired and hungry for blogging, this will be something for you to work on. Perhaps your energy is zapped and need something relaxing to do while you cool down. Come blog. Share with us. Feed your desire to Blog. "Random Act of Blogging" is exactly that: random blogging. You may tell me/the world anything you want. Something you've been thinking about lately? Share it. Something you heard that interested you lately? Share it. You can blog about anything you want. It does not have to be school-related. It does not even have to be published. Perhaps there is something you only want me to read. Just type "Don't Publish" at the top of your comment. This is an opportunity for you to blog about anything you want.
Task: Blog about anything you want.
Format: If you want your comment published, type "Publish" at the top of your comment. If you do NOT want your comment published, type "DO NOT PUBLISH" at the top of your comment.
Points: Zero school points. 10,000 life points. One million blog points.
DUE: End of May.

As the end of the year nears, WSG is becoming more and more emotional. The blog will miss all of you very much, as will the blog author.

The 1,000 Word Challenge

Hello Bloggers. Water for Sixth Grade is making its glorious return to the spotlight with a Post the likes of which the World has never seen. Before we begin the Medieval Times Unit, we are going to take this opportunity to share what we have learned thus far in Social Studies. But wait, we are not going simply use Social Studies, you can share what you have learned in ANY class this year. This may seem like a lot of material to cover, but you will need a lot in order to 'win' this challenge. This is the 1,000 word challenge. The challenge is quite simple: post a 1,000 word comment. How much is a 1,000 word comment? It's basically one page, single spaced, 12 point font on Microsoft Word. If you reach 1,000 words, you will not only earn an "A" for this assignment, you will also earn the title of Master Blogger. Water for Sixth Grade has been resting for the last four weeks. WSG is now ready to take your comments and continue to share your ideas and knowledge with the rest of the world. I look forward to seeing you attempt this challenge. I am also looking forward to seeing you pass this challenge.
If you are not up to the 1,000 word challenge, perhaps you would like to do the 500 word challenge, in which case you would recieve a "B." Still too many words? Your third option would be the 250 word challenge which would earn you a "C." You may not go any lower than 250 words to gain points.
Task: Post a comment about everything/anything you have learned in 6th Grade.
Format: 1,000 words=A 500 words=B 250 words=C Below 250 words: Zero
Points: A=50 points B=43 points C=38 points
DUE Date: April 17th, 2009. Midnight.

Good Luck. Thank you for your effort and positive attitude.

Hello, Egypt!

Water for Sixth Grade would like to welcome our new friends from Cairo, Egypt-Home of the Great Pyramid. This is our most exciting connection thus far, due to the fact we study Ancient Egypt and learn about Pyramids, the Nile, Mummies, etc. Thank you very much for being a part of International Connections. We are very excited to learn about Egypt. Thank you to Mrs. Kerwood for her willingness to participate. Despite the fact the world is a huge place, the Internet can shrink the world and bring it into our classroom. We may never actually go to Egypt, but with this Connection, we will feel like we have been there because we will be talking to you-students actually living in Egypt. I can not express enough how thankful and appreciative I am to you for participating.
Directions: To answer the following questions, click on "comments" A small pop-up window will appear with an area to type your answers. After you have typed all that you want, click the circle next to "Name" and type your name. Do NOT enter a URL address, just leave that blank.

1. What is a typical school day like in Egypt? (how many classes do you have, do you switch teachers, what types of classes do you have, etc. Anything about your school day.)

2. What do you do for fun in your free time?

3. What type of food do you eat? What are popular foods in your country?

4. What is the weather like in Egypt?

5. What type of clothing do you wear?

6. What Holidays do you celebrate?

7. Share anything else about your country that you want. Can you tell us about the Pyramids? What are the pyramids like? What is the Nile river like? Please tell us more about Egypt. Things that may be simple and uninteresting to you, will be fascinating to us.