Spring Classroom update

Dear Shingobee Families, 

We hope the beautiful spring weather finds you well and that you have been able to enjoy some family time outside. The end of the year is quickly approaching and the students are busy working on projects and planning outings. Currently, we are doing a classroom-wide engineering study. Students are focusing on a subfield of their choice: environmental engineering, structural engineering, and coding. We are looking for recycled materials for prototypes, so if you have toilet paper tubes, bottle caps, and other items lying around, please send them our way!

This Friday, we are planning to spend half of the day at the Como Woodlands learning about nature and sharing some community time outside of the classroom. We plan to leave GRS by 11:15 and walk to the woodland to have lunch and recess and then spend the rest of the afternoon exploring and sharing some of our work with each other. Please send a bag lunch with your student as well as a water bottle and sunscreen. We will be back to school by 2:45 for the end of the day. 

Next week is Spirit Week at GRS! We have talked as a community about what each day will be, but please help your child remember what to wear if they would like to participate in this school-wide event. This is meant to be a community-building event but participation is voluntary. Please do not let our students bring props or wear masks. 

Monday, 7/7 - PJ Day (students visiting the Science museum should bring a change of clothes)

Tuesday 7/8 - Rainbow Day (wear all one color or wear all of the colors)

Wednesday 7/9- Wacky Wednesday

Thursday 7/10 - Book Character Day 

Friday 7/11 - Formal Friday - In Shingobee we are going to have a Roaring 20's party so children can dress for that decade if they like! 

Upcoming dates to put on the calendar:

• June 1st - Upper Elementary Work Share, 2-3pm. Please come to see some of the amazing work in which your children have been engaged!
• June 6th - Como Pool Day, more details to come
• June 8th - Half Day and last day of school (hard to believe!)

Finally, last but not least, Spring allergy season has depleted our tissue supply! We would greatly appreciate more donations of tissue boxes. 

Warmly (and happy for the warm weather!)

Amanda and Alaina

The Humongous Fungus, and other large organisms on Earth!

Fungi are full of surprises! Check out these videos to learn about all of the things that fungi can do. Some can even glow in the dark!

Planning Sheet for 6th Grade Immigration Project

Here is the calendar and planning sheet for the Immigration project. Students choose an option from the project description list and complete a product to showcase their learning. Research for this project may include both primary and secondary sources.

Planning Sheet for 6th Grade Immigration Project

Immigration Study Lesson and Assignment Calendar
2/26/18	Hmong Immigration	Choose long term project, do planning sheet
3/5/18	Somali Immigration	Finding sources, conducting interviews - submit questions for feedback
3/12/18	Latino Immigration	Notes check
3/19/18	Tibetan Immigration Filipino Immigration	Research/Interviews must be complete
3/26/18	Asian Indian Immigration	Submit draft
4/1/18	Spring Break
4/05/18	Khmer Immigration	Presentations must be complete
Week of 4/16	Present Work to Families and A1 Faculty

Immigration Project Descriptions
	Research Commitment	Writing Commitment	Product Commitment
Immigrant Interview	•Find a person to interview •Research how to writing interview questions •Research how to conduct an interview	• Draft interview questions •Transcribe important portions of interview •Draft script for podcast	•Produce a podcast about this person’s immigrant experience •Create a book about this person’s immigrant experience
Family Immigration History	•Research your family’s genealogy (access primary sources) •Investigate historical and cultural traditions •Conduct family history interviews	•Draft interview questions •Transcribe important portions of interview •Draft a report of your findings	•Produce a report of your findings • Make a book about your family’s culture and experience
Primary Sources Investigation - Newspapers, Letters, and Historical Maps	•Access primary sources through the History Center or at the library •Investigate waves of immigration from early settlers to present	•Draft a report of your findings •Draft one or more maps that describe the trends you have found *Directly cite reports from immigrants you find in letters or newspapers	•Produce beautiful and clear maps that represent your research •Produce a report of your findings
Religious and Cultural Traditions	•Choose a culture or religion that is represented here in Minnesota •Investigate beliefs and practices of this culture/religion •Research and visit a place to learn more about this culture/religion	•Draft a report about the cultural or religious practices studied •Record your observations of your visit and integrate them into your report	•Produce a beautiful book to share your findings •Produce a report to share your research

Microbes all around us!

As we've learned, life has a great diversity of strategies to perform its work, and the organisms that are often under appreciated and misunderstood --the microbes--do a significant amount of work that is important for other living things. Archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes like fungi and protists are all around us, if we know where to look. Many of these organisms can only be observed with the aid of a microscope, but others make their presence known in striking ways. Below is a time-lapse video of a yellow slime-mold (a type of amoeba) growing in a British forest.

Tiny protists can also be nature's great artists. Foraminiferans, dinoflagellates, and radiolarans in particular are known for their beautiful shells, called tests. Here are some pictures of radiolarans, and here are some pictures of many types of cells under the microscope. The Micropolitan Museum has many galleries of microscopic organisms in full color!

And finally, in preparation for our upcoming studies of fungi, learn about how trees communicate with one another through an Internet of fungi--the "wood wide web"!

International Women's Day, March 8th

In 1977, the United Nations passed a resolution creating a day to honor women's contributions to world peace and commemorate the struggle for gender-based equity. In many places, this day is celebrated on March 8th as International Women's Day. To learn more, check out this United Nations (UN Women) Interactive Timeline of Global Women's Activism.

Protecting yourself from germs...

Many students were interested in how flu and other illnesses spread. This video offers a quick explanation, and is included with a link from the CDC on how to stay healthy.

Online Resources for Recent Classroom Topics

This video channel Because of Them We Can, includes profiles of African-American luminaries like Mae Jemison, W.E.B. DuBois, and Maya Angelou. Check out all the videos!

If you want to extend your learning from last week's presentations, look up different landmark cases in the Supreme Court.

Or, you can listen to live radio stations from around the world.

This link leads you to poetry collected for children from the Academy of American Poets. Find a poem you like and memorize it!

In honor of Black History Month, look at photographs of unpublished Black History and learn about some of the residents from the Rondo neighborhood, near where GRS is today, with the Rondo Oral History Project. If you would like to add quotes to our quote archive, please do. 

Want to know what microbes affect your body? Explore the Microbiome simulator (only works on Safari and Firefox): 

In the coming weeks, we will be learning about microbes in the context of the evolution of life on earth. Test your knowledge with the NOVA Evolution Lab game.

This website can help you further your knowledge of climate change and what you can do about it. If you are interested in figuring out how much carbon dioxide your lifestyle emits, use a carbon footprint calculator like one of these:

• Carbon Calculator: http://www.ei.lehigh.edu/learners/cc/carboncalc.html
• International Student Carbon Footprint Challenge: http://web.stanford.edu/group/inquiry2insight/cgi-bin/i2sea-r3a/i2s.php?page=calculate

The EPA website's topics on climate change are not functioning reliably, but this website used to be very helpful if it is working.