Mackensie

=//This portfolio at least some of it is what I truly think about the matter. It might be a lot of reading but its because I have ALOT to say. To be true only a quarter of it is interesting. __Dreamy First day!__//= During the summer I was all over the place worrying about going to middle school. I had an extra load on me too. I had practice everyday after school for fieldhockey. Most of you know that sixth graders can't play sports until seventh grade. I was manager for them. The first day was unreal to me. I sat there in class just thinking WOW! I wonder if every single day is going to be this weird feeling for me. I'm telling you I felt like I was in a daze that first day. Once I got to practice I felt better being with my team. I was hit with a shot of lucky for my first year at middle school. I got the best teachers I could have asked for. Everyday even now it feels like the first except I'm not in a daze. Everything happens with my teachers. They sing, they laugh, and make up nicknames. They have made my sixth grade year even more unreal then I could have imagined.

=__Math Class__= I learned a lot in math class this year. We did fractions which I do not like at all. What we learned about fractions was how to subtract, add, divide, multiply, and change them into decimals and fractions. I like math class a lot because Mrs. Yurconic has a lot of enthusiasm like Mrs. Fuini-Hetten. I have a lot of fun in math even though some of the topics aren't so fun. We learned about decimals, fractions, proportions, geometry, exponets, and a lot of other topics. Nearing close to PSSAs we went into high gear to make sure we knew our stuff. Instead of learning math out of are textbook we were learning PSSA math. By the time the test came we knew we were ready for it. The only people that seemed stressed were the teachers. For the end of the year we are doing a project about math relating to the real world around us. The topic I picked was the sport I play, fieldhockey. You had to have 5-7 concepts that related to the subject but were math. For fieldhockey I did mean, median, and mode, circumference, measuring of your stick, area of the field, and elapsed time. I want to stay in this math class next year and the next, because it was really a lot of fun for me.

In reading and english we enhanced our reading and writing skills. In reading we did literature groups and book projects. In literature groups we got seperated into books that we wanted to read. Then we would read a section of the book then when we met again we would discuss about it. The groups would be no larger than about 6 people. Doing these groups we would learn more about using the reading strategies. We did class books too. One was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I really enjoyed doing this project. Here is my summary. 1. Asking Questions 2. Make Predictions 3. Infer 4. Cause and Effect 5. Connections We learned how to use all of the strategies even the ones not listed. Each month we would get a book for our monthly book project. Mrs. Garbin did a book talk about some of the books in that certain genre for that month. Then we would pick our book read it, and do a book project on it. It might be make a cover for the book, just summarize the story, you could basically do whatever you wanted for the project. To share our projects we had a book party. Now at our book parties we got in groups at our desks than we shared the book we read and our projects. We had food to that people could bring in. Yummm!! Now in english we did different ways of studying. So when we were learning our helping verbs and prepositions Mrs. Fuini-Hetten had songs to help us learn them in time for the test! "Helping Verbs! Helping Verbs! There are 23." is one of them in the tune of jingle bells. In english we also had vocab. Every week there was a test on one of the units. Sometimes it was 3 units because of review tests. We might have done bingo to review or whiteboards. Soon we will be done the vocab book. We have to do all the units in our last test which is our next one. There are 15 units! When Ms. Brown was here we did different parts of speech. In reading and english we wrote stories. They were different types of stories, there was persuasive and informative writing. They were a lot of hard work but, I liked doing them. Doing these essays helped me become a better writer. I'm not sure really how this is, but I know that it happened. I feel like just writing the essays and practicing them is what made them better each time. Even though you might think what you wrote the first time can't possibly be good enough.... if you poured what you truly felt about the topic out then it was good enough. You might have had to check for grammar but what you think about it, it is what means you wrote it. A teacher can't make you change it even if they don't think its good. That means that they are writing it. I learned this when I wrote about a death of a loved one. The teacher didn't like it, but when I read it I knew that this was the best essay I had ever wrote. I didnt care what the teacher thought about it. I learned this year that being a good writer means that you wrote it not a teacher. I learned a lot about being a good writer and being better at learning.
 * __Literature Arts__**
 * __Reading Strategies[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Blue_question_mark.png width="179" height="121" align="right"]]__**
 * Book Reports**
 * English Class**

For english and reading we sometimes had to do speechs. At first I was terrified of speaking out loud to the rest of the class. I have always like to express my feelings making it seem more of an important deal then it really is. The first speech I had to do I felt like I was going to pass out from everyone looking at me. Each time I felt more comfortable. Now I still get nervous, but I know that I can do it. I am better at speeches then presenting projects. Well I can work on that.
 * Speak Out loud**

In science we had a lot of options. The topic I remember the most was the ocean animals and ocean webpages. We got to create a lifesize animal that lives in the ocean. They were 3-D, and a lot of fun to make. Everyone's animal looked amazing to me! After that Mrs. Fuini-Hetten introduced to us that we were making webpages about the ocean. I got very excited about this, because I had never made a webpage before. I thought this was going to be awesome. My topic was Jacques Yves Cousteau. This is my [|ocean webpage]. Take a look. Forces of motion was just another amazing topic to be learning about in this class. We did experiments to help explain Newton's laws of motion. One of the experiments was just demonstrating the laws. Our group did a plane crashing into a building the plane stops when it hits the building, but the passenger keeps going. This is inertia, one of Newton's laws of motion. Populations and ecosystems was with the field trip to B.O.K, and the group projects about the different biomes. Bake Oven Knob.... hhhmmmmm how should I explain this.... OH! I know FRIGID, FREEZING, and COLD. We went to look for the birds, but it was hard to concentrate because of the cold. It was a lot of fun thought to see the birds that we have been learning so much about. The biomes we did in our seating groups. I would show you ours, but I don't have it. I rather explain it to you. Each pupil made two slides on a different biome then you put the slides together. Everybody got to present to the rest of the class. Science class this year was learning about things that effect the earth. The result of science class.... well now when I look up in the sky if I see a bird I might try to identify it, but I won't get it right because I wasn't very good at that. I was just good at spotting them in the air. When we learned about inersua( if thats how you spell it) I thought about it when I was in the car. I liked that topic because I could relate to it from being in the car going places. For the ocean web pages and that whole section actually changed me a little bit. I thought about all the animals that are in the ocean that people might not have even discovered. I would have never have known about Jacque Yves Cousteau if I hadn't done the project. Science I guess somehow has changed me. At least how I think about different things.**
 * __Science__**
 * Bake Oven Knob Field Trip**
 * Biomes and the rest of class**
 * How I have changed

OK, when you think of S.Studies what do you think of. I think zzzzzzzzzz. Well social studies this year was NOT that way. We had a lot of fun learning about Maya, China, Middle East(Assyrians, and Babylonians), Egyptians, and right now we are learning about the Greek. We were given the opportunity to learn about all of these topics. At first you think it isn't going to be fun, but then you; realize all the cool things that they thought up and invented. You get to learn about life in ancient times. We got to a lot of fun projects for them all. The Mayan we watched the Mimi so that we could learn even more. China everyone got a topic and did a report then it was Chinese New year week. For Egypt we got to make mummies and bury them in a tomb. I think my favorite civilization to learn about was the Egyptians because when we went on the Philadelphia trip I really knew a lot. I understood everything. I was really proud of myself for just being fascinated by it. It was cool to experience mummification also. The Egyptians were really exciting to learn about. We did so much learning while having fun. Social Studies was and is great this year.
 * __Boring Social Studies? Not this year__**



[|think.com] Think.com was and is our blog to each other for the year. We got to talk to each other in a safe environment that was cool even for parents. The teachers had their own pages too so that our parents could look, and see what we were learning about even if they couldn't squeeze it out of us. [|studyisland.com] This website helped us prepare for PSSA testing. It truly helped us. They had games to get through the lessons. Study Island was a great resource this year.
 * __Blogs and PSSA'S...__**

This year I had walked into the school year already being teased by how many times I was going to be in the library. Last year in elementary my reading skills had grown I started reading more grown up teenage books. The elementary library wasn't making the cut. I knew that I was going to have more opportunity in the middle school library. When I walked in the first day it opened I just walked and walked around. I was just surprised. I immediately started looking for books to please myself with. I didn't need to wait long for the books to find me. I have read so many good books from the shelves of the MS library that I decided to share them all. Crooked- also highly recommended Define Normal- highly recommended if okay with the weirdness All-American Girl- Very cool Gingerbread-loved it Pop Princess- highly recommended Pay the Piper- book project cool Or give me death- another good book project How I changed my life- highly recommended Love that dog- Poem book Heartbeat- recommended Avalon High- highly recommended I'll be seeing you- greatly recommended.** All these books are great. Read them all!
 * __Books glorious Books__**
 * Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie- highly recommended

This year in Mrs. Fuini-Hetten's class we did a lot of technology based ideas. Microsoft Publisher, blogs, photostory, and learning with technology. For some of us this year was the first year that we used the program Microsoft Publisher. We made covers for reports and projects. We used think.com which is a blog between the 2 classrooms. We get to talk to each other and be safe. Photostory is a program that you use pictures in a slideshow format. We used it recently for vocab. Learning with technology was cool too. Mrs.Fuini-Hetten made slideshows for vocab, and then we each got a clicker and we could vote on what word we thought was the correct answer. Students actually were able to use them for projects too. We got to experience a lot of technology throughout the year. Actually this space is part of our technology filled year.
 * __Technology Time__**

This year in 6th grade we did something that I never have done before. When we were learning about Ancient China we did major reports on a subject that we found interesting. I did porcelian for mine. Before we left for Christmas break we did a whole week of Chinese New year. Everyday for most of the day we shared our reports. Then we got to write outcomes on a folder about each report. One day was food day where we ate like they would in China. We even used chopsticks. It was really fun. Right now we are doing Greek Week and I did Greek Theater Masks. We are doing Olympics and Mini Olympics. They are a lot of fun. Now we are learning about The Rotten Romans. I wonder what we will do for them. HHMmmmmmmm...
 * __Greek Week and Chinese New Year__**

Soon we will start the outdoor program. It starts Tuesday May 22. We go outside each day and learn about something. Sometimes we actually go somewhere. It seems kind of boring, but I'm still excited to do it. I wonder what we will learn about during the outdoor program. I'm excited that we get to go outside to learn. Well the outdoor program is done now so I get to tell you all about it. The first day the class learned about trout and got to go to the fish hatery. In the afternoon we learned about leaf vein structures, and different trees. The next day we got our own teachers and went to the Salisbury church. The afternoon the two groups were combined and we went on the hike. The next day we learned about math in nature. In the afternoon we went on a hike and got to go in the river Little Lehigh. Megan and I didn't find anything. We had Mrs.DeOlivera and Mr.Schweyer the next day. We learned about the different parts of a compass, and how to use one. Then we did different science experiments that involved bears, slime, and balloons. On Weds. we went on the day long hike with Mrs. Klinger and Mrs.B. It was a lot of fun, but we stopped a lot to learn about plants and trees. The last day of the Outdoor Program we had Mr.Beyer. We did science experiments that involved exercising. One was: Is it easier to jump with weights or without weights. The end results for our class was that it was easier to jump without weights. The Outdoor Program was a lot of fun, but I think it would be even more fun if there wasn't as much work that had to ba done and handed in. We went on a field trip to Philadelphia. We also went to Camden, New Jersey. In Philadelphia we went to the Franklin Institute. We got to see the King Tut exhibit. King Tut was really cool. I was amazed at how much I knew. In Camden we went to the Aquarium, which was very fun. We saw my coral reef animal. I had the sea horse. We saw all these really cool fish. We got to walk down the shark tunnel. We saw the divers with them. The aquarium was a lot of fun, and it went with the coral reef project that we did early this year. Going to the Franklin Institute, and the Aquarium was a lot of fun. I thought I learned a lot, and knew a lot before I even got there.
 * __The Outdoor Program__**
 * __King Tut Field Trip__**

The year is close to its end. I have changed a lot this year. I gained more friends, and my brain has lost and gained more knowledge. I have gained the knowledge of dealing with an overload of work, and how to handle it. Sixth grade has taught me not to listen to what other people think. Not everything is true. People gossip, but you shouldn't care even if it is about you. Don't bother spreading the rumors they will just come back to bite you in the butt. I have been gossiped about before, but it didnt matter. I have gained friends, and gained enemies. Sixth grade is a learning year not only knowledge of facts, but knowledge of dealing with life. Not everybody is nice in the world. Sixth grade is an important year to me, and it should be an important year to every one.
 * __Groovy Sixth grade year__**