Geometry Assessments next week!

We are wrapping up our unit in geometry. Next week, we will be having a variety of assessments to give students an opportunity to demonstrate their learning. This unit covered the following concepts:

1) Estimating and measuring angles, focusing on reflex angles

2) Classifying shapes (eg. by number of sides, types of angles, etc.) Here there was a specific focus on convex shapes (those without a reflex angle) and concave shapes (which have a reflex angle).

3) Nets and isometric drawings

4) Constructing shapes 

 Here is a video I made about constructing shapes:

We will be solving a problem on Monday, a quiz on Tuesday, some EQAO questions Wednesday and the Unit test on Thursday. Good luck!

Constructing Triangles

Today we are learning how to draw triangles. This can be done in a variety of ways. See the video below for a review about how we can draw triangles.

Report Writing

One important expectation in language in Grade 6 is the ability to write reports that contain multiple paragraphs and include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. We move away from writing paragraphs to writing longer pieces, organized in a traditional 5 paragraph format.

We have been reading many types of non-fiction text and finding the main idea and supporting details. Also, we have been learning to differentiate between facts and opinions. It is important to read many examples of non-fiction before writing, because student learn by seeing and studying sample of good non-fiction works.

The next step in writing reports is to write one together, which we called shared writing. In our shared writing, we used the book about cheetahs which we were reading aloud and I demonstrated how I would take notes from a text by organizing facts into the 3 main ideas we want to write about. Then we organized those facts into an outline to begin writing our non-fiction report. Finally, we wrote the report together using ideas students provided.

After writing a report together, I provided students with an opportunity to write a report if given an outline. First, we read a non-fiction text, which we analyzed and broke down into the main ideas and supporting details. Then, we used the outlines we had just created and re-wrote the reports in our own words using the outline we made. This helped students in writing because they were not able to look at the original text, but were able to remember what it looked like as a final product.

Finally, students will be writing reports of their own from beginning to end independently. They will be choosing a topic, performing research, organizing their notes into an outline, and then writing their reports.

Here is the success criteria, rubric and organizers students have been given to create their reports. We started this last week, but had to stop for a bit to work on our Digital Citizenship projects for Anti-Bullying Week. We will be returning to this either on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Information Report Success Criteria

Empowerment Week!

Monday November 24- Friday November 28

Empowerment week.

Kingdom club is raising money to buy goats to help families in Kenya.

Monday-Moustache day.

Wear a moustache.

Tuesday-Twin day.

Have a twin or triplet.

Wacky Wednesday.

Wear your clothes inside-out. Crazy hair day.

Thursday-pj day.

Wear your pajamas to school.

Friday-sport day.

Wear your sport jersey.

One dollar to participate every day .

$50 to get one goat.

Our goal is to get $600!!!

For more information you can visit this website!!

http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/adopt-a-village/

Nets & Isometric Drawings

Over the next couple of days, we will be looking at identifying nets of 3D objects, and making isometric drawings of 3D objects. Here are some videos and practice links that may help students prepare for these lesssons:

Nets:

Here is a page where students can practice identifying nets:

IXL math - Nets


Here is a site that has a wide variety of videos and lessons on nets. Very informative!

Online Math Learning - Nets

Isometric Drawings:

Isometric drawings use a solid and try to draw the 3D shape using triangular dot paper. This can be challenging for students, because it is the first time many will have attempted this. Here is an excellent demonstration of how to draw an isometric drawing:

Isometric Drawings


Here is a video taht also explains the process well:

Here are some websites that may help in isometric drawing:

1) Find a 3D shape somewhere (a picture or an actual object) - then use this link to try to draw it:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=4182

2) http://www.learner.org/courses/teachingmath/grades6_8/session_06/section_02_b.html

Anti-Bullying Week and Digital Citizenship

This week is Anti-Bullying week and so we are going to be teaching a number of lessons on Digital Citizenship, and good citizenship in general. I will be away for a workshop Wednesday and the Boy's Volleyball tournament on Thursday, so we will be spending a lot of time focusing on this for Monday and Tuesday, and then focusing on Math for Wednesday and Thursday in the mornings. The lessons on digital citizenship will include a culminating task that we will begin next week.

These lessons have been prepared by the board an are excellent. Please encourage your child to talk about what they have learned about being a good citizen throughout the day and how they can apply what they have learned in their day to day lives.

Have a wonderful Anti-Bullying week!

Thank you Lieutenant Colonel Hogan!

Thank you so much for such a personal, heartfelt presentation. Lest We Forget.

Electricity!

We have begun to learn about Electricity in science. Over the past couple of days, we have been investing what electricity is, the two main types of electricity, and where electricity comes from. Students made presentations to demonstrate their understanding. Most students are complete and we will be finishing this part of our investigation on Monday.

In this unit, we will be exploring the following concepts:

• static and current electricity, and the types of common circuits (series and parallel)
• insulators and conductors
• how electricity is generated and the societal and environmental implications
• proper safety around electricity
• circuit design
• how electricity is changed from and to other forms of energy

Below is a link to a Blendspace unit I created to help reinforce the concepts that we are learning in class. I will be adding to this throughout the unit, so please check back!

Electricity Unit

Reflex Angles

We have been learning about measuring angles lately, specifically reflex angles. A reflex angle is any angle greater than 180 degrees. Before teaching about measuring these angles, however, we reviewed the three main types of angles: acute, obtuse and right angles.

We then learned about benchmark angles. I explain that a right angle is a good helper when we are estimating angles, and then if we cut a right angle in half, then we know it is a 45 degree angle. On the other side, if we split the difference between a 90 degree and a 180 degree angle, a good benchmark is a 135 degree angle. These can help us to estimate any angle that we see within a reasonable amount.

The reason I often insist on students estimating angles before measuring them is because many students make the error of reading the wrong side of the protractor when they measure. For example, they may measure a 60 degree angle, but call it a 120 degree angle because they looked at the wrong number for their reading. If they estimate first, it can help students to recognize that they have done this. Here is a game to practice estimating angles:

Banana Hunt

To measure a reflex angle, we looked at an acute angle first, and then examined the angle on the other side, which is the reflex angle (see diagram).

Next, I ask students if they see the shape that the acute and reflex angles make. If you join the two, you will see that it makes a circle, or a 360 degree angle. All angles have this, so to find the reflex angle, all we do is measure the inside angle, then subtract from 360! Here is a video that helps explain this. It shows another way to measure reflex angles as well:

Finally, here is a webpage that reviews reflex angles and has a few questions for practice:

Reflex Angles

Science test Monday!

Hello superstars! As I told you in class, we will be having a science test on Monday. Here are some pictures of the anchor charts we have created in class to help you study. I will be posting some notes as well very soon. Additionally, click the links for additional games and websites that will help.

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/climate/adaptations/index.cfm

Millionaire Biodiversity