Tom Marcsisak

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5th & 6th Grade

952-466-3379

[email protected]

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About Mr. Marcsisak: In my spare time I like to play golf, spend time with my grandchildren, watch sports on TV and read.

Favorite Thing About Zion: I love the family atmosphere of Zion. People are interested in each others lives--both the good times and the not so good.

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5th & 6th Grade Curriculum

Religion

• Alphabetically Religion would come further down this list, but at Zion Lutheran School and in 5th and Sixth grade-God ALWAYS comes first. The fifth and sixth graders will continue to be taught what they have known as long as they have been at Zion, and that is that God loves them and that Jesus died for them. That basic truth permeates all other subject areas. In fifth and sixth grade they will specifically learn about the attributes of God and what he does for us, Jesus's life and His role in our salvation (He did it all!), and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, They will study the Six Chief Parts of Christian Doctrine and the importance of worshipping and witnessing to others in our daily lives. Students will also learn and review Bible stories from the Old and New Testaments and will learn basic early church history.  They will also memorize selected Bible passages that reinforce these Christian truths and that can give them comfort and guidance throughout their lives.

Art

• In 5th and 6th  grade the students will use and create with a wide variety of media, such as painting with water colors and acrylics, drawing with line and adding shading and value, forms and shapes, pattern and repetition to create original designs, creating op art, introducing graphics and technology in the creation of art.  The focus in  5th and 6th  grade  is to allow the students to continue to create using imagination while also building upon the skills learned in 3rd and 4th grade. We will still emphasize  the basic elements of art such as color, repetition, shape, line, texture and value  in creating compositions, as well as use new techniques.

Drama

• Along with classroom dramatic activities (readers' theaters, short plays, etc.) Students have the opportunity to participate in two dramatic activities yearly. The first is our fall play presented by the 5th through 8th grades, and the second is our Christmas Eve program which is presented by students in kindergarten through 8th grade. In both productions students are required to memorize lines, deliver them in an audible manner with feeling and emotion, and work well with directors and other performers.

Health/Physical Education

• Fifth and sixth graders will learn about the basic human anatomy of the circulatory system and the digestive system as well as review the structures of the nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. They will learn about digestion and the importance of a balanced diet for good health. The importance of an active lifestyle is stressed as well as healthy relationships with family, friends, and most importantly- God!
• In fifth and sixth grade, students master basic locomotor skills, and learn basic skills of volleyball, football, basketball,  & badminton. They master  various jump roping skills, along with gymnastic and tumbling skills. They  learn to move rhythmically. Physical fitness is stressed along with flexibility. Track and field activities are reinforced. Active games are also played where students learn teamwork and sportsmanship.

History/Social Studies

• The fifth and sixth grade Social Studies curriculum is divided into six distinct areas of study pertaining to our United States. These areas are: the land and early people, European exploration and settlement, the American Revolution, our developing nation, the Civil War, and the United States' relationship with the rest of the world both in the past and today. Throughout these six areas of study will be interspersed the history of Minnesota, and how these events affected our state and how our state affected these events.

Language Arts/Literature

• Being that we live in a print-rich environment (you're reading this), it is imperative that students be able to read and comprehend the written word.  In fifth and sixth grade we stress reading comprehension in the content areas of Science and Social Studies, as well as in pleasure reading. Students are exposed to poetry, myths and fables, as well as fiction and non-fiction.  Writing is also stressed as is the structure of and different types of sentences. In grammar the various parts of speech are reinforced  or introduced and students learn to write compound, complex, and even compound-complex sentences. Students put these writing skills into practice as they produce numerous personal narratives, short stories, and pieces of expository, explanatory, and persuasive writing.

Math

• In fifth and sixth grade the basic math skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are mastered.   Students are introduced to algebraic expressions, work with geometric shapes, fractions, decimals, graphing and estimation. Math is taught in a "real-world" context as something that we use to function in our ever-changing world.

Music

• Students go through a variety of units in music.  They include: instruments of the Orchestra, The Great Composers, History of Rock and Roll, Great Artists of Jazz and Blues, and World Music.  Students are also given the opportunity to learn to play two instruments, the ukulele and the recorder.

Science

• The fifth and sixth grade Science curriculum is a combination of hands-on discovery and teacher-led discussion. Areas of study include: Life Science (organisms and their interaction with their environments,  and the organization of living things); Earth Science (astronomy and geology); and Physical Science (interactions of matter and energy, and motion, work and simple machines). 

Spelling

• In 5th and 6th grade the student will experience a traditional approach to spelling. Each week students will receive a list of words to study which will be followed by a spelling test. This list will have a theme such as homophones and homographs, words with silent letters, words from foreign languages, words with the schwa sound, etc. Vocabulary is also a component of the spelling curriculum in that some of the words may be unfamiliar to some students.

Spanish

• Our students will be using Duolingo, that has organically become the most popular language learning platform and the most downloaded education app in the world with more than 170 million users. Duolingo is designed to feel like a game and scientifically proven to be effective. Everyone learns in different ways. For the first time in history, Duolingo can analyze how millions of people learn at once to create the most effective educational system possible and tailor it to each student. The ultimate goal is to give everyone access to a private tutor experience through technology.