Progress Reports Home Today

Progress reports were sent home with students today. Progress reports are not a report card, but rather a way to communicate to parents a general idea of how your child is doing so far. This gives us some time to work together in areas where students may be struggling, and to celebrate the areas they are demonstrating success.

 In our class, I had students take a look at their reports before they put them away in their bags. This allows them some time to look them over and ask me any questions if they want. Also, it prevents them from opening, and potentially losing them on the bus! I find that allowing students to take a look and ask questions help alleviate any anxiety about the reports for them. I will do the same process for the February report cards as well.

Inside the progress report is an interview form. It indicates the time for your family's interview. Please indicate if you are able to attend the interview on the form. If not, then we can schedule a phone interview. I would like to meet with all families for our interviews if possible. Please feel free to bring your child if you wish. Interviews will be held Thursday, November 6th, from 4 -9 PM.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next Thursday!

Assignment: Where Does Electricity Come From?

Today we are going to read a text about Electricity and find the main idea and the details (or supporting facts) for each main source of electricity. We have already talked about main idea and details quite a lot, but here is a video to help you remember, and to watch at home too!

After you have watched the video, read the article "Where Does Electricity Come From?" in the textbook. We are going to use the Chromebooks today to show our understanding of main idea and details in this text. First, we will read the text, then we will do the first one, Water, together as a class. Finally, you will be working on the rest of the items using the chromebooks to complete the presentation by finding the main idea and details for the other types of energy sources.

Remember, when you open the presentation, the first thing you must do is go to "File -> Make a Copy" and then save the new copy with your names. That way, no one else is working on your presentation at the same time!

Here is the link to the presentation:

Where Does Electricity Come From?

Good Luck!

Important Dates

Some important dates for June:

Leaving Ceremony: June 23rd. Time to be announced, but likely around 1PM.
Grade 6 end of year trip: Y- Camp is booked for June 15th. Pricing not determined yet.
EQAO - May 25th - June 5th.

We are also currently booking a trip to the Museum of Nature, hopefully in January. This will go along with our science unit on Classification.

I will be providing more information about end of the year events as we get closer to the dates. I just wanted to let everyone know well in advance. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Math Testing Next week and Blendspace for studying!

Next week, we will be doing some assessment for our math unit of number sense. We will have a quiz on Tuesday, some EQAO questions on Wednesday and a test on Thursday. We will be reviewing in class on Monday to practice for the assessments.

To help your child study an review the concepts, I have created a number of links to study tools in an app called Blendspace. Before students use the app, they should register as part of our class. In the future, this will help because we will do some short quizzes using the app, and I will be able to track the amount of time students have spent working on each unit. Additionally, I will be using this app to introduce new concepts at home, before coming to school, as a pre-teaching tool.

Here is how students can register:

1. go to blendspace.com
2. click "sign up" in the top left corner
3. click "I'm a student"
4. You will see a screen titled "Register as a student" - click the button underneath the title. The button says "Sign up with google account"
5. use your child's google account sign in information to sign up, press the accept button for the message that follows.
6. you will then be into Blendspace. Press "Join Class" and enter the code "ezdi"
7. now you should see the lesson "place value" which is our study tool for this unit. 
8. You can also access this through our blog under the "Homework Links" on the right side of this page. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Good luck!

Dividing Large Numbers

Over the past few days we have been learning how to divide large numbers. Specifically, we have been learning how to perform long division, which is often very challenging for students because of the many steps involved in the process.

There are two things that affect a students ability to do long division:

1. Knowledge of basic multiplication facts - I cannot emphasize enough how important basic facts are for children to understand a variety of math concepts, and this is another one. In order to perform long division, students need to be able to use multiplication facts to figure out at least two of the four steps. I highly encourage students to work on Xtramath as much as possible!
2. Having a systematic process - having a checklist-type system to follow helps students see and perform each step. 

Here is the system that I use to teach students how to do long division. This example is what would be expected at a grade 5 level. 

In this system, we use the acronym "Da Monkey Sells Bananas" to remember the steps of Divide, Multiply, Subtract and Bring down.

For grade 6, students are expected to be able to divide a 4-digit number by a 2-digit number. To help students understand how to do this, we watched a video from Khan Academy. I highly recommend this website for review of concepts and extra practice. Here is the video we watched in class:

Here is another video from Khan Academy that might also be helpful:

To practice we used the practice problem in Khan Academy, and we did some problems step by step together on the smartboard. This continues to be a challenging concept for many students, so we will be doing questions over the next few weeks to review.

Khan Academy Division today

Go to the link to practice long division!

Khan Academy

Kidblog, and Multiplying larger numbers

We have finished our first book in Literature Circles! Today, many students handed in their book report forms, and I am hoping that more will come in tomorrow. We will begin a new book next week for Literature Circles.

This week, I would like to focus on some writing, and specifically some free writing for students. To this end, I introduced a site called Kidblog, which allows students to have their own blogs, which only students in our classroom can read and comment on. I will be moderating all posts and comments for students to ensure that they are appropriate before going live on the site. Parents may also access their child's blog by using a code in their child's Profile. You may need to press "regenerate" to get your child's code. Here is a link to find out how to access your child's account:

http://support.kidblog.org/entries/23242610-Parent-Accounts

This week, students are asked to write 2 blog entries about anything they wish, as long as it is appropriate. Each entry should be about 200 words each, if possible. Please let me know if your child is having difficulty logging in and I will assist him/her at school. Thank you!

Today we also began learning about multiplying larger numbers. In grade 5 students learned how to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit numbers. In grade 6, they learn how to multiply 3 digit by 2 digit numbers, which is not a large jump. Although there are many ways to multiply, I taught students the "place value" method, outlined here:

Multiplying Larger Numbers

Here is a video that shows the process:

If you are looking for some extra practice of this concept, try the problems at these sites to help:

Multiplying without carrying

Multiplying with carrying

Kidblog!

Today we are going to write by beginning to blog! A blog is like an online journal that you can use to write down about your day, your interests, things you like, etc.

Before we begin, please read the `Rules for Blogging`` page, and then watch the video to learn about blogging.

Rules for Blogging

Blogs in Plain English - Movie

When you are ready, click on Kidblog in the `homework`section to the right side of the screen. Then choose your name from the drop down list and enter your password. We all follow the same password pattern. the password is: Welcome2FL - where the FL is your first initial and your last initial. So...the password for Mr. Pouliot would be:

Welcome2CP

Be very careful to use capitals for the W and the initials, otherwise it won`t work. Ask for help if you need it! Good luck and enjoy blogging!

Today you can write about anything you wish. Try to write about 500 words or more if you can. That`s about three or four paragraphs. The more you write, the better you will get, so write often. Remember, your friends in this class only will be able to see what you write, and your posts will be read by Mr. Pouliot before being visible, so make sure what you write is appropriate. Good luck!

Template for The Truth About Canada`s Air Pollution

Today you are going to read the article `The Truth about Canada`s Air Pollution`and find facts with your partner.

1. First, read the article together. 
2. Then use the powerpoint template and write down the facts from the article in the spaces provided. You may need to change the font to fit them all in. 
3. If you finish, try going on the internet and learning some new facts about the different types of renewable energy. 
4. Share your document with me to submit it. Make sure to put your name on it!

Here is the powerpoint template for you to use to complete your fact-finding today! Be sure to go File--Make a copy before beginning so that it doesn`t get overwritten by someone else. Good luck!

Truth about Canada`s Air Pollution

Mental Math, BEDMAS and Timelines!

We have been busy lately in our class! First we studied some mental math strategies to assist us in performing operations quickly in our heads. Click the link below to see the strategies that we learned.

Mental Math Strategies

Next we learned about the order of operations that we can use to come to a consensus about a "correct" answer when doing multiple operations. Perhaps you remember BEDMAS from school? This is what we learned today! 

First, we looked at a number sentence (9 + 3 x 6 - 4) and tried to come up with as many different answers as possible. We saw that there are lots of different answers we could potentially come up with using this number sentence. However, I told the class that the correct answer is actually 23. Was anyone able to find a way to perform the operation that would give us that answer? Of course! Then I introduced BEDMAS:

Brackets

Exponents (which we do not study in grade 6)

Division

Multiplication   ---> division and multiplication are done in the order they appear in the problem

Addition

Subtraction    ---> addition and subtraction are done in the order they appear in the problem.

Here are some videos that may help to explain this concept in more detail:

TVO Kids Order of Operations

Finally, in Language we have been learning about a new reading skill, analyzing, which means finding facts in the story. I will post another entry about Analyzing, because it is an important skill in itself. 

In order to practice finding facts, however, we read a comic strip that explained a little about the history of electricity, and thenmade a timeline to show our learning. This helped students to demonstrate their understanding of the text and to find the facts within it. The timelines were completed using ReadWriteThink. Here is the link:

Timeline organizer

Timelines!

Today we are going ot be making timelines using this link: Timelines

Click the link and follow the instructions to make a timeline of the history of electricity using the facts we learned from our Power Up magazine! Good luck!

Prime and Composite Numbers

Yesterday and today, in the midst of banging hammers and nails while working on our lanterns, we learned about prime and composite numbers. Before learning about this concept, we needed to review what factors and products are. Here is a link to a presentation that we looked at that helped us to better understand these concepts. This may be helpful to review later for a quiz. Please feel free to download, save, copy and distribute these presentations any time. They are being made to be used. The more people they can help, the better!

Prime and Composite Numbers

On another note, we are almost finished our "How to" brochures. Tomorrow, we will begin building an anchor chart for our next skill, Analyzing, which basically means finding facts in a text. I will post a presentation and anchor chart for this when we build it in class. We will be reading a book about Cheetahs, and a magazine called "Power Up", which is about electricity use. We will be writing a information report at the end of this unit. 

Assessment folders

Assessment folders were sent home today. I will be sending them home about once per month. I use a folder system instead of sending each test, quiz or assignment home so that I can keep better track of the folders, parents can get an overall view of their child's progress and because it provides some feedback to students and parents without being overwhelming. 

To let me know that you have seen your child's folder, please sign or initial each page. The folders are red, and contain a math quizand a test, some EQAO practice questions, and a reading quiz about a story we read in class. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress, please feel free to contact me.

Lanterns!

On Monday, October 6, I would like to start making lanterns with students in the class as part of our religion program. In order to make the lanterns, we will need a tin can for each child. Soup cans are perfect, as well as spaghetti tins, canned vegetable tins, etc. Once we are done making our lanterns, we will have a short ceremony to celebrate our theme of being a light to others this year.

If you could possibly send in your child with an empty can, that would be great! Thank you!

Multiples

Yesterday the grade 6's did a problem using multiples, although they didn't really know that at first. Here was the question:

On Thursday morning, the local radio station held a call-in contest. 

• every third caller won a t-shirt
• every seventh caller won a baseball cap

In 50 calls, which callers won a T-shirt? A baseball cap? Both prizes?

Students worked in pairs to try and solve the problem. It was interesting that students used a variety of strategies to come to the same conclusion. Here, a pair of students used multiples to help them find their answer:

Here, you can see that the students found the multiples of 7 and the multiples of 3, and then circled the COMMON multiples. This term, common multiple, is a new one for us, so we discussed that for a little bit. After looking at  a few samples of student work, we discussed the idea of multiples as well. Students should understand that multiples are the same as counting by 3's or 7's, etc. 

Here is another way a pair of students figured out the problem: 

 This is a similar strategy, but the students used a table, which is a little more organized and may help find common multiples a little easier. Both ways work! 

What is important, and that we try to stress, is that there are almost always more than one way to solve a problem. The important thing that we want to see students trying to do is to show all of their thinking, as they have done here. I also encourage them to show their thinking in Numbers, Pictures and Words, if possible. 

Here is another interesting way of finding the solution to this problem. This student wrote all the numbers from 1 -50 in a list, and then placed letters (t- for tshirt, b- for baseball cap) next to the appropriate multiple. I thought this was an excellent, different way to find the solution for the problem. 

We will be continuing to examine multiples today, and then moving on to Prime and Composite numbers, which students generally find fairly easy. 

Comparing and Ordering Numbers

Today we began learning about how to compare and order larger numbers. Before students can really be successful at this skill, they need to have a fairly solid understanding of place value. That is why we teach place value first, before this concept.

The biggest idea that students have to remember about comparing and ordering numbers, and about place value in general, is that as we go further left in a number, the value becomes larger. For example, I would rather have 1 thousand dollars than 9 tens (or 90) dollars. Even though the digit is larger, the value of the 1 is more because it is in the thousands column (it is worth one thousand).

When comparing and ordering numbers, I encourage students to "stack" the numbers on top of each other, paying close attention to keeping the columns lined up. This helps them to clearly see which digit in each column is larger. See the attached presentation for an example. We looked at this presentation in class, and we also did an activity in which students worked in pairs to order the areas of a number of countries from greatest to least. We used place value charts to assist us with the activity. If your child needs to use a place value chart (or the "houses" idea like we did in this post) then that is fine. Students are encouraged to use whatever tools they can to help them understand concepts.

Comparing and Ordering Numbers Grade 6