6th Grade Field Trip: Calvert Marine Museum

Our team is planning a field trip for the 6th grade Fusion Team students to Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD and Calvert Cliffs State Park in Marbury, MD on Wednesday, November 18, 2015. The cost of the trip for students will be $35.00. Checks can be made payable to Bennett Middle School. Please return permission slip and trip money to Mr.McCrobie no later than Friday, October 30th, 2015. Students will start to recieve the field trip letter on 10/13/15. Another copy can be found at the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-18JOqyPQcsUXV0SGRmXzBKNFU/view?usp=sharing

Homework Response Posts

A friendly reminder that a discussion question has been added to Edmodo, and is due by Friday for 6th and 7th grade. 8th Grade students should finish their document analysis through Edmodo by Friday. 

6th Grade: Program at a Glance!

Welcome to 6th Grade! Wicomico County’s sixth grade social studies curriculum includes several content areas, which focus on the study of Ancient World History from the earliest cultures and civilizations to Ancient Greece. As a result of this study, students will be able to develop values and habits which will help them become critical thinking citizens who contribute to our democracy. In order to become critical thinking citizens who contribute to our democracy, students need to be prepared for post-secondary study and the 21st century workforce. To accomplish this, this course will utilize a STEM instructional approach. STEM education is an approach to teaching and learning that integrates the content and skills of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students will engage in inquiry, logical reasoning, collaboration, and investigation through hands-on-learning and project-based-learning experiences. For more information on the course expectations, as well as units of study, please visit the links below.

• Classroom Guidelines/ Expectations
• Unit Outline

6th Grade/ Block Printing!

Homework Response Post [Due Friday, 5/15/15]:
How does wood block printing compare to other methods of communication?

6th Grade/ Inventions!

Homework Response Question:
How does geography effect the things invented in certain regions? Explain your answer!

6th Grade/ Shi Huangdi!

Homework Response Question:
List two ways that Shi Huangdi unified China. Explain how these would be helpful.

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMSMcCrobie (@BMSMcCrobie)

Like on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/mr.mccrobie

6th Grade/ Great Wall!

Homework Response Question:
How did the creation of the Great Wall of China impact common Chinese Citizens?

6th Grade/ China Geography!

Homework Discussion Post [Due by Friday, 4/17]:
How does Geography influence the food in China? How is it different in different areas?

6th Grade/ Religion!

Homework Response Post [Due by Friday 4/10]:
How does religion influence daily life?
- Make sure to reference Buddhism and Hinduism as an example on influencing those in Ancient India.
- Feel free to use your own as well for an example. 

6th Grade/ Pyramid Design Challenge #1

It is 2580 B.C. You and your team have been hired by Pharaoh Khufu as one of several teams of royal engineers who will potentially build his pyramid. To test your engineering skills, Khufu has designed a challenge where your team will have to build a mini pyramid out of every-day materials. After your team has been provided the materials, and the time to build your pyramid you will answer a series of discussion questions. After you have answered these questions, please complete the following homework discussion question: 

Homework Discussion Post [Due by Friday, Feb. 27, 2015]:

What was the biggest challenge your group faced? Were you able to overcome it? If yes, how did you overcome it? Make sure to read and respond to each others posts.

6th Grade/ Hammurabi's Code

 Homework Discussion Post [Due by Friday, 1/23/2015]:
In your opinion, was Hammurabi's Code a fair way to rule the people of Ancient Mesopotamia?

6th Grade/ Hammurabi's Code

Homework Discussion Post [Due by Friday, January 16th]:
Do you feel that those working in government positions should receive equal, harsher, or less punishment than common people for the same crime? Explain your thoughts!

6th Grade/ Development of Communication!

Cave paintings quickly transformed into pictographs, and finally into cuneiform, the world’s first writing system. Our investigation today involved the use of the Papyrus plant. The papyrus plant grew in abundance along the Nile River in the marshy areas. Egyptians were able to use the papyrus plant to create a paper writing surface for scribes to record important information using a style known as hieroglyphics. Next, we will focus our attention on the development of this process into modern paper manufacturing. We will continue to study this process hands-on. As we complete these investigations, continue to evaluate the advantages of these new methods compared to past and present communication methods in order to explain how communication developed overtime.

6th Grade/ Aswan High Dam!

As part of your challenge of solving the issues along the river systems in ancient times, many groups chose to build some type of structure that blocks the water. It just so happens north of the border between Egypt and Sudan lies the Aswan High Dam, a huge rock fill dam which captures the world's largest reservoirs, Lake Nasser. However, the question remains, is the building of a dam necessarily a positive for the Egyptians?

Homework Response Question [Due by Friday, 12/12/14]:- I will allow this to be completed late with credit!
What are the positive and negative effects of building a Dam? Has the Aswan High Dam been a positive or a negative for the Egyptians? Explain in detail!

6th Grade/ Developing Farmland!

You are an ancient farmer working with other farmers to develop agricultural lands in the southern lowlands. Next class, you must identify the problems and challenges that your community might face in developing this farmland along one of the mighty rivers. You must be able to explain your ideas of how to overcome these problems to your community using a model and community presentation so that work can proceed smoothly.


Homework Discussion Question [Due by Friday, 12/5/14]:- I will allow this to be completed late with credit!

›Explain basic design features of your model, and how your model solves the problems of Mesopotamia:

›Drought during growing season

›Flood during harvest season

›Transportation of water to the fields

6th Grade/ River Systems and Soils!

Our investigation of farming practices in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt began with a challenge of creating a device to transport water from a river to a field. However, the Nile River in Egypt, and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia provide much more than just water. Our investigation has led us to a need to explore and observe how river systems change overtime and the soils they produce that allow plants to grow. Are you ready?

6th Grade/ Transportation of Water!

Transportation of water from rivers to fields in an easy manner was a problem for early farmers. They certainly didn’t want to carry it all by hand. Using only simple machines they created methods or devices to move water. Your challenge starting tomorrow in class is to create a device that will move water (rice as a substitute) from the river to the field, which is 1 meter away, in as short a time as possible. You will only have certain supplied materials and several constraints! Are you up to the challenge?

6th Grade/ Physiographical and Environmental Features- North Africa and Near East

We now move into our second unit of study for the year. We are going to be studying the geographical effects of North Africa and the Near East in order to see how this area effected settlement in the civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The first part of our investigation required us to fully understand the physiographical and environmental features of the area. In order to understand these features, students will complete a mapping laboratory exercise that will require them to analyze and evaluate the impact of these features.

6th Grade/ Iceman!

Discovered by hikers in 1991, the Iceman, also known as "Ötzi," is 5,300 years old---the oldest frozen mummy ever found. Forensic scientists and archaeologists investigating the cause of his death have uncovered new evidence that reveals a shocking conclusion. Scientists hope to use this information to reconstruct the last hours of the Iceman’s life. Before we can learn about when and how this “Iceman” died, we need to understand how this man lived by interpreting the evidence. As a result, you will be able to make an evidence based argument for how this “Iceman” died!

Homework Response Question [Due by Friday, 10/24/14]:

•Climate is the weather in a particular area which includes the temperature, humidity, and air quality of an area.

•How has climate had an impact on the evidence left behind by the Iceman? Explain!

6th Grade/ Climate and Archaeology

We have started an experiment involving the effects of different climate conditions on archaeological findings in which we will observe the changes over the course of four weeks. In the meantime, we focus on the question of whether climate can change in an area overtime, and thus bring forth differing archaeological findings. To help us, a team of Smithsonian scientists have just returned from a fossil hunt and have asked your class to help them analyze some of the fossils. At two dig sites in Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin, they found bones of mammals that lived in the early Cenozoic era, about 10 million years after the dinosaurs. We will analyze these fossils of leaves from prehistoric trees in order to calculate ancient temperatures to see if climate can in fact change in an area over time.