Procedural Writing Assignment

This week we are going to be working on an assignment focused on procedural writing and brochures. Students will be designing and writing a brochure that explains how to do something, for example, How to log into Edmodo. We have created an anchor chart to talk about what characteristics good procedural writing has, and we also created a Bump it Up wall, which students can use to see exactly where their writing might fall in a spectrum from level 1 to level 4. Here is a picture of our Procedural writing anchor chart:

And here is a picture of our Bump it Up Wall:

Using these tools, students should have a good idea of what makes quality writing when giving instructions. One thing I have tried to emphasize with students is that they need to write each step in detail, and add adverbial phrases to create more detail. For example, instead of writing:

1) get a pencil

They could write:

1) get a pencil from your pencil case  (underlined is the adverbial phrase - it describes where, how or when).

To look more closely at the examples on our Bump It Up Wall:

Additionally, we looked at brochures and came up with an anchor chart to tell us some features of a good brochure. Here is what we noticed a good brochure has:

Tomorrow I will be handing out the rubric detailing how students will be assessed and we will continue working on our assignment.

Homework Helper Place Value Houses

Today we began learning about place value in math. We watched the above video that explains how our place value system works up to the hundred millions. In grade 6, although not part of the formal curriculum, I tend to teach students up to the billions. We learn about each section being called a "house" or a "period", and with each period is a ones, tens and hundreds column. This helps us when we are trying to say larger numbers.



We also learn how to express numbers in 3 ways: standard form, expanded form and word form. Here is an example of each, for the number 234,675,873



Standard form: 234,675,873



Expanded Form:  200,000,000 + 30,000,000+4,000,000+600,000+70,000+5,000+800+70+3



Word form: 234 million, 675 thousand, 873



Finally, we learn to replace values with each column to come up with new numbers, For example, in the above number, what new number might I get if I added 3 more in the hundred thousands column?



First, look at the hundred thousands column, there is a 6, so it is worth 600,000.

Next, add 3 to the 6 = 9 --> but this is in the hundred thousands column, so it is worth 900,000!

Finally, change the number to reflect the new amount: 234,975,873.



We will be continuing to practice this tomorrow as well. Please let me know if your child is having difficulty with this, as it forms a foundation for other concepts.



Later in this unit we will be learning about multiplying and dividing larger numbers, identifying prime and composite numbers, comparing and ordering whole numbers, using the order of operations (BEDMAS), and adding and subtracting larger numbers.

Writing Procedures and Classifying Plants

Today in Language we read a number of examples of procedural writing and gave them a "mark" based on whether we thought we could follow the directions well or not. From our conversation we built an anchor chart of some characteristics of good procedural writing. We will be building on this chart as we learn more about this skill.

In science we learned about how plants are classified by scientists. We tried to find out this information using the chromebooks, but it turned out to be difficult information to find. Finally, we were able to find a site that was useful in showing us how plants are further broken down into groups. Here is a link to a page with a chart that shows clearly how plants are organized:

Plant classification Chart

More Patterning Practice!

Today we spent some more time reviewing patterning concepts for our test on Monday. I posted some questions on the Smartboard and students answered them in their notebooks. We took them up together and (hopefully) corrected any misconceptions. Here are the questions we used. Please feel free to use these to review concepts with your child.

Patterning review part 2

Next week we will also be completing a few problems from EQAO and a unit problem to wrap up our assessment of our patterning unit. The next unit we will be working on will be number sense - specifically whole numbers. 

In language next week we will begin learning about procedural writing and identifying what characteristics good procedural writing has. We will look at a number of examples, and give them a level, which we will use to create our Bump It Up wall. Afterwards we will be looking at an example of procedural writing and beginning to explain some procedures on our own. 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Patterning test Monday, plus assessment folders explained

Today we began to review everything we have learned in our patterning unit. We will continue to review on Friday. On Monday we will be testing our understanding of what we have learned about patterning so far. This test will cover:

1. input/output machines
2. number patterns
3. solving equations, and 
4. integers

It will be helpful for students to review the past blog posts that explain these concepts. You can click the above topics for the links to each blog post. 

Here are some practice questions for students to work on that may also prove helpful. Students are not required to complete these. They would definitely be helpful in assisting your child while studying. Here is the link to the practice pages:

Patterning practice

Further assessment of our patterning unit will involve a few EQAO problems from prior years' tests, and a unit problem completed in class. I will send assessments home after they have been marked. 

In order to ensure that tests, quizzes and other types of assessment are not misplaced, I have students keep everything that will be reflected on their report cards in a folder called their Assessment Folder. I will send this folder home about once a month to keep parents up to date. Please sign and return all items in the assessment folder as soon as possible. 

I use this system instead of sending home each test individually for a few reasons. First, it helps keep test from being misplaced since they are in a folder. Secondly, it gives parents a good overall view of their child's achievement, and third it gives you information about your child's progress on a regular basis. Of course, if you have any concerns about your child's progress, please feel free to contact me and we can meet any time. 

Good luck studying! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at the school or by writing a note in your child's agenda. 

Integers, More Literature circles and Music!

We were introduced to Integers today! We started with a quick definition of what an integer is and related integers (and negative number especially) to a thermometer because it is very common. Then we did an inquiry problem in which students had to use a pattern to find the temperature at the top of a mountain, knowing the starting point and the fact that for every 150m rise in altitude, the temperature would get 1 degree lower. This was a challenge for many students because the increments that started the pattern went up by 300m, not 150m. Afterward, we looked at a presentation that explained a little more about integers. Here is the presentation I showed the class. It explains everything they need to know about integers this year and has some practice problems at the end. It can be an excellent study guide if working with your child to study for a test.

Integers

We will be having a test on Monday for our patterning unit. This week we will be reviewing the material we have studied this unit to ensure we are ready!

In the morning class we also tried to plan out our literature circle work again. I demonstrated to students how to organize themselves to make it easy to assign jobs. All students should have a copy of their jobs for the next 4 weeks in their agendas. It might be a good idea to  post this somewhere visible in the house to remind them! Literature circle books are to be read at home independently, and then students must complete their jobs using Edmodo. See our class website (literature circles link) for more information about how to complete the various jobs. Feel free to download any of the sheets for use at home. They can be used as a template and then copied and pasted into Edmodo if you wish. The first job for Literature circles is due next Monday. If you find that the book your child has chosen is too difficult, please let me know and we can make alternative arrangements. 

In Music, we are learning about the families of instruments in an orchestra. Students are using Chromebooks to learn about the four families and then making a presentation about it to show the class. They are using a website called SFS Kids. Here is the link: sfskids.org.

Literature circles, the 6 Kingdoms and Good Communication

Literature Circles

In our morning class, we are ready to try and start literature circles properly. Today we tried to organize ourselves into groups based on the book we chose, and figure out which pages we need to read this week and for each of the next four weeks. Literature circles can get confusing, so here is a brief explanation of how it works:

1. At the beginning of a cycle, I will either put students into specific books, or I will allow them to choose their own. Often if they choose their own they are more interested, but they sometimes choose books that are too hard. This time, I let students choose their own books, since I am still getting to know them as readers and writers.
2. Next, we spend a bit of time getting organized. The groups get together and have a "meeting" in which they break the book up into roughly 4 equal parts. They are responsible for reading each part over the next four weeks. For example, if the book has 20 chapters, they would read chapters 1-5 in week 1, 6-10 in week 2, and so on. I encourage children not to read on in case they give something away to their group.
3. They also divide up the jobs in their meeting. The rule is that they can only do a job once in the cycle. Also, the Discussion Director job and Summarizer jobs must be done. They cannot be left out. Here is a link to our planning Literature circle planning sheet
4. Throughout the four weeks, I expect students to:
1. read the section they are supposed to each week
2. do their job for the week and post it in Edmodo
3. make 3 comments (answer questions, comment about the book, discuss with another student, etc.) in Edmodo.

That is it for Literature circles! I am hoping that it will be like on online book club, and that students will actively discuss their books in Edmodo. The combination of choosing their own books and using technology to interact and display their thinking may encourage them to have rich discussions.

Science

In science, we are learning about classification. Today we finished reading a little and taking some notes about the 6 Kingdoms. Here are some pictures of the charts that show the notes we took:

We are going to continue by looking at how scientists further classify plants an animals, and then we are going to try to classify a "mystery living thing" with a partner.

Health - Communication Skills

As part of the Health curriculum, we are learning about the importance of good communication skills, and how we can communicate effectively. Today we watched part of a short video which showed us that part of good communication is being a good listener. Here is an anchor chart we made during the video to help us remember:

Solving Equations

Today we learned about what an equation is, and how we solve them. Solving equations can be a challenge for students because this is the first time that unknowns (or variables) are introduced. Sometimes we see them as letters, and sometimes as empty boxes. I try to emphasize to students that it doesn't matter what the variable looks like. It is important to just realize that we don't yet know what that number is, so we use the numbers that we do have. Our job is to figure out the variable so that we can make the equation balance.

Here is a link to a presentation that we looked at today to assist us in figuring out how to solve equations:

Solving Equations

Thick and Thin questions, more patterning practice and The Six Kingdoms

Today I began reading a book as a read-aloud called "The Tree of Life" which is from our Literacy Place program and goes along with the skill of self-monitoring, or making sure we understand. The tree of life talks about biodiversity and the classification system, so it ties in well with our science unit. However, the book discusses only five kingdoms, while our science program talks about six kingdoms! Next time we have science, we are going to investigate why this might be.

As we are reading "The Tree of Life" we will be using our skills of self-monitoring. Today we learned to ask ourselves questions as we read, some which we could call "thick" questions (those that are deeper and require some thinking and explaining) and "thin" questions (those that can be taken directly from the text or might be one-word answers). As we continue to read I will be encouraging students to ask themselves thick questions to help better understand the story.

The shared reading portion of our lesson today began with a magazine article called Ad Busters, which talk about two girls from New Zealand who decided to fight against false advertising after they learned some facts about the amount of vitamin C in a popular drink. As we read this text in pairs, students will be encouraged to demonstrate understanding by writing down some thick questions and sharing them with the class for discussion.

In math we have finished up our lesson on number patterns and tomorrow will be beginning to learn about solving equations, such as _ + 4 = 3 +8. Students sometimes can have difficulty soling these types of equations. They need to remember to solve for all the constants first. In this case, find 3+8 = 11, and then ask themselves, WHAT +4 = 11? Hopefully, they will discover that subtracting 11-4 will give them this answer. We will likely be working on this for Thursday and Friday. Here is a video that we will be watching in class.

Our science lesson today dealt with identifying the 6 kingdoms and the major characteristics of each. We are learning that they are often distinguished by how they get food and if they can move or not. We will be finishing this later in the week.

On Wednesdays, we will be doing health as well during our short french time. In health, we have been learning about healthy communication skills. We learned that good communication involves looking at the speaker, using appropriate body language and practicing active listening skills. We will be practicing some of these over the next lesson or so.

New reading strategy, Number Patterns and Identifying Living Things

In language we are beginning to learn about a new reading strategy called "Self-Monitoring" This simply means asking ourselves if we are understanding as we read, and if not, using strategies to correct ourselves so that we can understand. Here is a chart we developed in class to assist us in understanding what self-monitoring means:

Self Monitoring

In Math, we are continuing to learn about how to find number patterns. Here is a link to the lesson we did today:

Number Patterns

Finding number patterns can be quite challenging for students in grade 6 because they now involve patterns in which there are two operations. For example, the pattern might work by multiplying by 3 then adding 4 more to each term. This can be difficult to discover. The trick to finding the pattern starts by looking at the differences between the terms, and seeing if there is a pattern to them. See the link for a more in-depth explanation.

In science, we are learning about how scientists can tell if something is living. Today we used the chromebooks to research how scientists can tell if something is alive or not, and we discovered that in order to be considered alive, the organism must pass five tests. The answer must be yes to all the tests, or the organism is not considered a living thing. The five questions are;

1. Can it reproduce?
2. Can it grow and develop?
3. Can it react to its environment?
4. Can it use food?
5. Can it make or find food?

We will be continuing to learn more about biodiversity in science, focusing on  classification systems. 

Input/Output Machines

Today we learned about how Input/Output Machines work. In grade 6, we learn about patterns with 2 steps. Click the video below to see what we did in class today briefly.

We also learned that we can work backwards to figure out what the operations are in the machine by looking at the pattern of the output. In the video above, if we look at the output numbers, we can see that they go up by 3 each time. This gives us a hint that the first operation is to multiply by 3. So we try it out! 1 x 3 = 3 .....not 4! So this tells us that we have to add one more. Let's try that throughout the table:

1 x 3 = 3, 3 +1 = 4 check
2 x 3 = 6, 6 + 1 = 7 check
3 x 3 = 9, 9 + 1 = 10 check.

So we can say that the first operation is to multiply by three, then add 1. Here is a link to an interactive website that will let you practice:

Function Machine

How to log into Xtramath

Learning basic facts is an important skill for children in order to be successful in mathematics. It helps them to estimate, perform operations using larger numbers and quickly see patterns in a variety of math situations.

This year, to assist students in memorizing their basic facts, we will be using an excellent program called Xtramath. This website has students answer basic fact questions and "remembers" which facts they seem to know and which they continue to have difficulty with. In order to achieve full mastery in Xtramath, students must answer all the facts with 3 seconds correctly. It starts with addition facts, then subtraction, multiplication and finally division. Students cannot move from addition until they have mastered all the facts. Some students move very quickly through this program, while others can have a difficult time. It is important to work on it daily to improve. The program only lets you work for 5 - 10 minutes and then it asks the student to stop. Practice makes perfect!

To get into Xtramath, students need my email address and a PIN number. They have written down both of these in their agendas. Once in, they just need to follow the program to proceed.

Some students in the past have had difficulty hitting the correct keys on time in order to progress. They know the facts, but can't press the buttons fast enough! If your child has this difficulty, please feel free to have them tell you the answers and you or an older sibling can type the answers in. Encouraging your child to try and enter the numbers on their own is a good idea however, because it will improve their typing skills as well as their recall of basic facts.

If you have any questions about how Xtramath works, please feel free to contact me at school and I will do my best to assist your child in accessing the program. Thank you!

How to Set up an Edmodo Account

Part of our homework this year is going to be using a service called Edmodo. It is a lot like Facebook, but geared for schools. It will only allow students to interact with other students in our classroom. It is very secure, and there is a code for parents to access their child's account and oversee what they are doing. I will be moderating every post on Edmodo as well. Posts cannot be seen on the main page until I have read them, so it will be very safe.

To set up an account for a student, first go to www.edmodo.com, and click on "students".

There is some information that students need to fill in to sign up for the service. First, they need to enter a "Group code", which they have written down in their agendas. Next, they enter their first and last name, and then a username. I have asked students to make a username that includes their first name so that it is easy for me to identify them when they are posting. Finally, they need to enter a password. Please make sure that your child has written their username and password in their agenda so that they can remember it if they forget. Thank you!

That is it for signing up for Edmodo! Easy! If you have any difficulty, please let me know and I will assist your child at school in setting up their account. Thank you!

If you would like to set up a parent account, you can do so by going through the same process, except you sign up as a parent. You will need your child's personal code in order to access their information. In order to get it, have them sign in and you will see their code on the bottom left hand corner of the home page. Good luck!

We will be using Edmodo mostly to complete Literature circles, and to have an online "book club" throughout the year. Every four weeks students will read a new book and interact with their group in talking about their reading. They will have a specific job each week, and then I will also ask them to answer a few of the discussion questions as well. Literature circles will be explained in more detail as we progress through the year. We will begin by doing the tasks as part of a read aloud book we are reading together in class, "Fantastic Mr. Fox".

Thank you for assisting your child with getting set up with Edmodo. If you have any questions, please contact me at school and I will assist you in getting set up.