Merry Christmas To All!

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year! I am looking forward to seeing you all in January!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Concert Information

The Junior Christmas Concert will take place this Friday at 10:50AM in the gym. Our morning class (homeroom) will be doing a song using Boomwackers. You'll have to come to the concert to see what those are!

I have asked students to try to wear Red, White or Green shirts that day and to wear a Santa or Elf hat as well if you have one. If not, please do no rush out to buy one, as I have asked students to bring an extra if they have them, and I have one or two here as well.

We look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Concert!

Gingerbread House Math & A Request for Materials

On Thursday, our morning class will be designing gingerbread houses, and then making them on Friday. Part of the design process will be measuring the proposed angles, finding the area of each face, the perimeter, the surface and possibly the volume of the gingerbread house. Once we have finished all of these measurements and showed all of our learning and thinking, we will make the houses.

I will provide the graham crackers and  royal icing for the houses, but I am asking if families could donate some NUT-FREE candies that students can use to decorate their gingerbread houses. I will bring some, but probably not enough for every house. Students will be working in partners, and perhaps groups of three to complete this project.

On Wednesday, our afternoon class will be building gingerbread houses in the same manner with our reading buddy class. Nothing is required for this, as our reading buddies will be supplying candy.

I would like to thank all of our parents for their continued support in our learning. If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please feel free to contact me at the school.

Math Test Postponed Until Wednesday

Due to our Third Week of Advent Mass on Monday during our math block, we will move our test from Tuesday to Wednesday, to give us a little more time to review. Again, if you are looking for ways to study for this test, please feel free to use any of the blendspace lessons at the link below. Students can also access this through the Hapara Workspace we have used in class.

Data Management Test next Tuesday

To wrap up our Data Management Unit before the holidays, we will be having a test on Tuesday next week. Students have found this unit to be fairly easy, with the exception of finding the mean, median and mode. In particular, at this grade level students are given problems in which they are given the mean and a few values, and have to find one or more missing values.

I often encourage students to "work backwards" when solving these problems. For example, to find the mean, we usually use 2 steps:

1. add up all the values
2. divide by the number of values

To work backwards then, I ask them to:

1. multiply the mean by the number of values
2. subtract the values given to find the missing one. If there is more than one, then any combination that adds to the amount is fine.

Here is an example of a problem:

Herny's scores on a series of tests were: 12, 14, 15, 16 and 10. His mean score is 13. He is missing one test. What did he get on the missing test?

1. multiply: 13 x 6 = 78
2. subtract: 78-12-14-15-16-10 = 11. The missing score is 11.

Another area that students sometimes have difficulty with is constructing good survey questions. I encourage students to:

1. make sure the question is very clear
2. give a few possible answers rather than leaving the options completely open
3. ensure that only one question is being asked. You cannot ask multiple questions in one survey question. You must write another question.

Here is the Blendpace unit for Data Management. If students can do all of this well, they will have no difficulty with the test. Please look over the presentations from the previous post as well. 

Data Management Blendspace

Data Management Unit Has Begun

We have begun our next unit in math, which is Data Management. In this unit, we will mostly be looking at organizing data into graphs and charts, and using mean, median an mode to help us analyze the data.

Here is a Blendspace lesson that I have started putting together to assist students in learning and studying this material. I will be adding to it throughout the unit, so please check back often!

Data Management Blendspace Lesson

Our first lesson was on interpreting graphs, which is fairly easy for most students to understand. Here is a short presentation that can be used to remind students of our learning:

Interpreting Graphs Grade 6

We also have learned about finding the Mean, the Median and the Mode, which are all forms of averages. The hardest part of this for students is not calculating these, but instead we are sometimes given the mean, and then asked to find a missing value. Students must work backwards to find the mean in this case. Please see the presentation below for how to do this. 

Mean, Median, Mode

St. Anne Angel Tree

Please check out the St. Anne website for a letter about our annual Angel Tree. Along with the letter is a permission form to be filled out if you would like your child to take an angel. If the form cannot be downloaded, please write a note in your child's agenda giving them permission to do so.

Report Writing

Over the past little while, we have been learning how to write non-fiction reports in our language class. We started by reading a number of non-fiction pieces and finding the main ideas and details. We also learned to differentiate between fact and opinion. Finally, we read an article and broke it down into an outline the author might have used to plan his or her thinking.

Now we are working on developing our own outlines for a report. We began by using some facts about Great white sharks and identifying facts that could be grouped together into subtopics about great white sharks. Then we used those groupings to organise the facts into an outline. Finally, we began writing a short report about great white sharks, which some students are still working on. Here is an example of a report and an outline that was used to assist in planning.

It isn’t widely known that each year more people are killed by chairs and toasters than sharks. The great white shark is a very interesting animal. They have amazing adaptations and hunting skills, as well as a unique breeding cycle.

Sharks have an incredible breeding cycle. Sharks give birth to live young, after the gestation period of over 12 months. They have small litters of 2-10 baby sharks, which are called pups. The pups are 1.2-1.7m long at birth, but have no parental care. Once the pups are born, the mother leaves them to fend for themselves. Their breeding cycle is different than most of the other creatures from the sea.

Because great white sharks live deep in the water, they have to adapt to their habitat to survive. Lucky for them, they already adapted perfectly to their environment. They have six senses; sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing and electroreception. Electroreception can detect the electric field given off by any living thing. The rest of their senses are strong too, they can see in colour during the day and night, and can smell blood from really far away. They also have taste buds in their mouth and throat, so they can really taste that good fish flavour. They even don’t have any eyelids and can live more than 6 years long! You would have to be really committed to get a great white as a pet! Great whites are incredible creatures, with even cooler adaptations.

Now let’s get to the cool part, hunting. Sharks are some of the most successful predators in the world. They live on a diverse diet of many types of fish and other sea creatures and they can catch food in many different ways. One of those ways is called spyhopping, where the shark sticks it’s head out of the water to search for prey. Sharks are perfectly adapted to hunting in their habitat.

So that’s why great white sharks are perfect hunters, are amazingly adapted to their habitat and how they have a unique breeding cycle. Remember, sharks kill about 5 people per year, so the next time you watch the movie Jaws, don’t be scared because that’s not a real shark.

Here is the outline that the student used:

1. Introduction

2. Breeding

• Live young
• Gestation over 12 months
• Small litters - 2-10 baby sharks called pups
• Pups are 1.2 - 1.7 m long at birth
• No parental care

3. Adaptations

• Sharks have six senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing and electroreception.
• Electrosense can detect the electric field given off by all living animals
• See in the day, night and see colour
• Strongest smell of all sharks can smell blood far away
• Taste buds in mouth and throat
• No eyelids
• More than 60 years

4. Hunting

• One of the most successful predators in the world
• Live on diverse diet
• Many different ways to catch food
• Stick head out of water called spyhopping

5. Conclusion

  

     

 

Special Science Presentation Wednesday

On Wednesday of this week, our class will be fortunate enough to have a presentation about our local biodiversity by representatives from the Pinhey Sand Dunes Restoration Project and Biodiversity Conservancy International. The presentation will take place during 4th block. For more information, please see their website here.

Math Test Thursday, November 17th

Next Thursday we will have a math test that will cover everything we have learned in our Place Value unit. To study, please use the review sheets that I sent home with students today. If you cannot find them, click here.

Another great way to study is to have students log into the Hapara workspace and review the videos and activities there. Some are quite challenging, but beneficial.

Please review the materials with your child. We will be reviewing throughout the week before our test on Thursday. The review sheet is due on Wednesday, and we will take up the sheet together. Students can bring it home Wednesday evening if they wish to study some more.

Test for Biodiversity

On Thursday, November 17th, we will be having our first science test for Biodiversity. Throughout this unit, students have done a number of inquiries to learn about what makes a living thing, the importance of Biodiversity and how to classify plants and animals. We have read over some study notes and played some Kahoot games to practice our learning and review. Here is the link to the study notes that you can review with your child to study for the test this week. The links to the Kahoot games we played are at the bottom. Try playing these games with your child to review the concepts as well!

Biodiversity Study notes

Long Division

Over the next few days we will be learning how to divide large numbers. Specifically, we will be 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.

Of course, there are other methods, such as the "flexible" method of long division, which I will also teach in class. Here is an example of the flexible method (Taken from Effective Guide to Instruction- Ontario Ministry of Education Document for Division):

Interviews for Progress Reports Tomorrow

Just a reminder that progress report interviews are tomorrow, Thursday, November 9. If you are interested in meeting with me to discuss your child's progress, please book an interview. I would love to have an opportunity to talk with you! I you would like an interview, you can book online using this link:

You Can Book Me

I look forward to meeting with you tomorrow. If you are unable to attend, please know that I am able to discuss your child's progress at any time by phone, or on another day for a scheduled interview.

Multiplying Whole numbers and Decimals

Today in math we began learning about multiplication. We started with a problem involving rates in which students had to figure out the cheapest store at which to buy dog food. They needed to use their understanding of addition and multiplication to solve these problems. Tomorrow we will extend this problem to 72 cans to see if there is a difference in the cheapest store. Then we will learn a few ways to multiply, both with and without decimals. Here are three common ways to multiply:

1) Break apart method (partial products); 198 x 23

• 8 x 3 = 24
• 90 x 3 = 270
• 100 x 3 = 300
• 8 x 20 = 160
• 90 x 20 = 1800
• 100 x 20 = 2000
• added together 2000 + 1800 + 160 + 300 + 270 + 24 = 4554

2) Lattice multiplication: Click here for video explaining

3) Standard method: Here

I encourage students to use whichever method works for them, but to be aware that there is more than one way to multiply. When they do EQAO, the focus is not so much on being able to multiply, but rather being able to solve problems involving multiplication, including multi-step problems that combine concepts from a variety of strands (eg. number sense and measurement). This is something we will be practicing a lot this year. 

After multiplying, we will be learning how to divide larger numbers, again with or without decimals. I will post later about our process for division. 

Learning about Decimals!

This week, we are beginning to learn about decimals. We have already learned about where decimals fit in our place value charts, and what a decimal is (another way to represent a fraction). We also have learned about comparing and ordering decimals. Below is a beginning Blendspace unit that covers the basics of decimals. It only shows decimals to the hundredths. In grade 6, we learn decimals up to the thousandths. This is a great place to start however, and reviewing this unit with your child can greatly assist them in developing their understanding of decimals.

In our unit on Decimals, we will be covering:

• relationship between fractions and decimals
• comparing and ordering decimals
• rounding decimal numbers
• adding and subtracting decimals
• multiplying and dividing decimals
• multiplying and dividing decimals by 10, 100, 100 and 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 (mental math)

Here is the link to the Blendspace unit on decimals. I will be adding to it as we go along:

Decimals Blendspace Unit

United Way Spirit Week October 31 - November 4

Prime & Composite Numbers

Today 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 can help students 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

We Scare Hunger

Dear Parents and Teachers,

The Kingdom Club will be having its annual food drive for the Kanata Food Cupboard from October 24-28. We encourage you to bring in canned foods and non perishable food items [things that don't need to be refrigerated]. Other non-perishable items such as diapers, wipes and toiletries are also much appreciated! Our goal this year is 1,500 items, which is about 3 items per person in our school. This Halloween, help us to scare hunger!

We scare because we care

Here is a link to the Kanata Food Cupboard

Kanata Food Cupboard

Common Multiples

Today in our morning class we learned about common multiples. First we practiced identifying multiples and played a game called Buzz, and then we attempted to solve our challenge problem:

A radio show is having a phone in contest. Every 3rd caller gets a t-shirt. Every 7th caller gets a baseball cap. In 50 callers, how many people would get both a t-shirt and a baseball cap?

We solved this problem in our vertical wall random groupings. Many students were able to find solutions to the problem by using a variety of strategies: number lines, use of multiples, listing numbers and circling multiples, and using division. We saw that while all the strategies worked, some were more accurate or more efficient than others.

We then discussed the concept of common multiples, and looked at a way to find common multiples easily. We will practice this a little more tomorrow for Bell Work.

Here is a link to our Blendspace unit that we will be using regularly to help reinforce concepts around whole numbers and place value. Boxes 10, 11 & 12 are all related to common multiples.

Multiples Blendspace

Comparing & Ordering Numbers

Yesterday we learned 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. In class, we 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

Million Dots

Last week our class read a book in math about One Million Dots. Each page had some dots on it and a fact about a specific number. The total number of dots in the book was one million, which helped us to see just how large a number one million really is.

For homework this week students are asked to make their own page for a "Million Dots" book we will make in class. They can choose any number they wish between on hundred thousand and one million. Then they should try to write the fact and illustrate it like in the picture below, which is taken from the book we read as an example for them to use. We will compile all the facts and illustrations into our own "Million Dots" book in the classroom that we can read whenever we wish!

Here is a sample picture:

Place Value and the "House" system

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.

Patterning Test on Thursday!

On Thursday we will be having our first math test. It will cover everything we have learned about patterning so far. Please review the lessons from previous posts about what we have learned, and check out this link for a review of some of the concepts as well. Additionally, students have been working on a review sheet in class. If they know everything on the sheet, they should do fine on the test, as it is very similar. Good luck! Here is the link:

Patterning Review

Art Lesson - Drawing simple objects

Today we are learning about drawing real life items using basic shapes using a variety of lines and shading techniques. For this activity, we need a pencil and a piece of paper. In order to complete this lesson, you will need to have finished the lesson from last week. If you didn't get a chance to do last week's lesson, please go back and look at it now. Here is the link. Are you ready?

With a partner, watch the video below and try to copy what he is doing. Hand in your work to the teacher when you are finished. If you finish early, try to choose an object in the classroom and draw it using the same techniques. Good luck!

If you are still working on your name design art, please finish that first, before you begin this assignment. Thank you!

Notes About Field Trip on Thursday

First of all, thank you to all parents who are able to volunteer their time to come with us on our field trip on Thursday to Gatineau Park. We are able to take everyone who volunteered, so thank you so much!

Students in the class asked me to post all of the items they should bring, so here is the list:

• Running or hiking shoes
• Long pants
• Long sleeved shirt
• Extra socks
• Hat
• Reusable water bottle
• Sunscreen
• Insect repellent
• Raincoat
• Rubber boots (if raining or in case of rain)

Also, please remind your child to leave anything of value or that is electronic at home on Thursday. If lost, these items will be extremely difficult to find. Electronics in the woods with children may not be a great mix either! Please encourage your child to leave these things at home.

We are looking forward to our outing, and learning more about biodiversity in our local area. Thank you once again to everyone!

Explicit Pattern Rules

In math class lately we have been learning about developing and using explicit pattern rules to help us find the value of any term in a pattern. For example, if I have a pattern like 1,3,5,7....then how could I find the value of the 87th term?

In order to show this, I first showed the video below. which does an excellent job of explaining the method of developing an explicit pattern rule and the reasoning behind the formula.

While this video is excellent for explaining everything, students sometimes have difficulty remembering all the steps, so I created a shorter version that may help students to create an explicit pattern rule. The key is to remember that they need to multiply by one less than the term number we are looking for. Here is the educreation:

Beginning to Learn about drawing shapes in Art

Today we are learning about drawing basic shapes using a variety of lines and shading techniques. For this activity, we need a pencil and a piece of paper. Are you ready?

With a partner, watch the video below and try to copy what he is doing. Hand in your work to the teacher when you are finished. If you finish early, try to choose a basic shape in the classroom and draw it using the same techniques. Good luck!

If you are still working on your name design art, please finish that first, before you begin this assignment. Thank you!

Drawing Shapes Video

Solving Equations

In class the grade 6's have been learning how to solve simple algebraic equations. We have learned about the difference between a constant and a variable, and how to use the inverse operation to solve for an unknown variable. Here is an Educreation slide I made to help explain to students how to go about solving for unknown variables. We watched this in class, but it would be very helpful to review at home!

Patterns review and solving equations

In our math class last week, we began learning about how to identify and create number patterns. In grade 6 the patterns become much more complicated because they involve two operations to solve the pattern. Students often find these types of patterns to be the most difficult. The trick to solving these is to have students identify a pattern in the differences between the terms. For instance, if the differences in the terms seem to be doubling, then that is a good clue that the first part of the pattern is to multiply by 2. Then they test it in the pattern to figure out the second part of the pattern. Here is a link to a lesson that can help to explain how to find number patterns. Please review this with your child at home so that they can better understand these types of patterns.

Number Patterns

Today we began learning about how to solve simple equations, for example x + 9 = 12. For some students this is the first time they have learned about variables. We learn that a variable is simply an unknown number in an equation. We also learn more about what an equation actually is. We teach students that equations are number sentences that have an equal sign and are equal on both sides of the equal sign. For example, 4+2=6 is an equation. 4+2=9 is not an equation. Here is a link to a presentation that I showed the class about solving equations. 

Solving Equations

If you have any questions about the subject material, or your child is having difficulty with it in Prodigy, please let me know by writing a note in the agenda. I can work with them independently to better their understanding of this material. 

Missing Headphones - Need Help!

A student in our class lost a pair of  headphones on Monday, and we have been unable to find them. They are quite valuable and very important to the student. I suspect that they may have been picked up by someone in the course of packing up at the end of the day, and not noticed. If anyone happens to come across them at home, please send them back to the school as we would love to return them to the student.

The headphones are Beats headphones, and they are in a black soft shell case with a red "B" on it. Again, if anyone happens to come across them, we would greatly appreciate them being returned to the school. Thank you!

Another Recursive Pattern!

Here is a recursive pattern that we solved in class. I made a little video to help explain. Please feel free to review this with your child and go through the steps together. It is important that students remember the steps for solving recursive patterns. Here is the example problem and solution:

More Two-Step Patterns

Clarification about Time for Back to School BBQ

The time for the Back to School BBQ is from 5PM - 7PM on Thursday, September 15th. Teachers will be in the classes from 5:30 until 7PM. It is a drop-in style of evening, so feel free to come whenever. I am looking forward to meeting everyone!

Recursive Patterns - Two Step

Today in math we learned about how to determine patterns which have two steps for each term. Please see the link below to view a video that shows how I explained it to the class. Please review this with your child to see if they understand.

Two Step Patterns

Welcome to Grade 6!

It is my pleasure to be teaching your child this year! I look forward to working closely with you and getting to know your child. You are your child's first teacher, and together we can help your child meet the provincial expectations for this year. We will be starting the year by getting to know each other, our individual strengths, interests and needs. The emphasis with students is that effort is more important than ability in achieving success and that a student's "job" is to work hard and try their best.

Please encourage your child to discuss what has gone on at school each day. Set aside 40-50 minutes for homework every night. Most students will have some reading and writing, Prodigy math and some math fact practice. Homework will be written in their agenda books on Fridays. Homework will generally be due on Fridays, so that students have a weekend to complete it if necessary. This homework routine is very important. Homework will be posted on this blog under the "Homework" sidebar on the right, so you may check here if your child has misplaced his/her agenda.

We will be starting the year with a number of "Getting to Know You" activities. In language we will be writing letters to ourselves, learning about how to find facts, main ideas and details in texts, and beginning our center activities. In math, we will begin the year by investigating number patterns, some basic algebra and integers, doing "number talks", and memorizing our basic facts!

In the afternoon class, we will be learning about biodiversity in science and practising following directions and basic movement, strength and flexibility skills in Phys-Ed. In the arts we will begin the year studying visual art.

This year, the Grade 6's will be using a few websites to help facilitate learning. We will be using Google Apps, Kidblog, Xtramath, Prodigy and a number of other applications to demonstrate our learning. We will keep usernames and passwords for these accounts in your child's agenda. A form for the Acceptable Use of Technology is being sent home the first day of school, so please sign and return it as soon as possible. If your child has a chromebook, laptop or tablet, and you are comfortable with him/her bringing it to school, then I would highly encourage students to bring them. Students may use technology to complete many of their assignments in class. For now, please follow our class Twitter account at @MrPouliot. We will be tweeting regularly to update everyone on our learning journey.

Finally, I would like to invite any parent who is interested in getting involved in our class to contact me at the school The more the merrier, and extra hands are ALWAYS welcome!

Looking Forward to Meeting You!

It is getting close to the beginning of the school year! I am looking forward to meeting all our classmates next week. I hope you are as excited as I am!

If you are feeling keen, start memorizing your addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. We will be playing many games and having daily drills for these starting day one!

Also, please come to school prepared to share one special summer memory and the title of one book that you absolutely loved. It can be something you read in school or at home. We will be playing a game with this information, so please don't share it with your friends!

See you next Tuesday!

Mr. Pouliot

Information Letter Went Home Today

Here is the letter that went home today. It outlines some of the events happening over the next couple of weeks of school.

Reminder Letter for Leaving Ceremony

Year End Trip Permission Forms went home Today!

Here is a copy of the TWO forms in case they get lost or misplaced.

End of Year Trip Form

Parent Guardian Medical Information Form

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the trip. Thank you!

Important Dates to Remember

June is going to be a busy month in Grade 6! Here are some important dates to keep track of for this month:

May 31 - June 7th - EQAO testing. We will be doing one test each morning. Please encourage your children to get lots of rest, relax, and have some fun in the evenings while we are testing to take the stress off!

June 2 - Confirmation for Mr. Pouliot's class at St. Patrick's at 7PM. Please have students and sponsors there for 6:30 and gather in the Parish Hall.

June 10 - St. Anne Fun Fair - begins at 5PM.

June 17 - grade 6 retreat day. BBQ hosted by Knights of Columbus in Peace Garden.

June 23 - Year end trip to Y-Camp in Dunrobin. Permission notes will be coming on Monday, June 6th.

June 27th - Leaving Ceremony at 1PM. Coffee, cake and juice in the Parish Hall afterwards.

If you have any questions about the many upcoming events this month, please do not hesitate to contact me at school.

Transformations and Self Assessment

Today in math we created anchor charts for the three types of transformations we have learned about - translations (slides), reflections (flips) and rotations (turns). We learned how to reflect a shape over a diagonal line, and how to rotate a shape around any point on a coordinate grid.

Both of these tasks are challenging for many students. To rotate around a point, I ask students to use a piece of tissue paper, trace the original shape, then put their pencil tip on the point to be rotated around. Then they rotate in the correct direction and degrees to place the image. When they are sure they have the image in the correct place, I ask them to record each vertice.

When performing a reflection over a line, I ask students to count the units away from the line for each vertice, and then simply do the same in the opposite direction from the mirror line.

Here is a blendspace unit with resources for learning and reviewing the different transformations.





In Language, we reviewed what a level 1 through 4 would look like for a writing assignment we did last week, and then we self assessed our written work. Then I had students re-write their letter to make it a level 4. I am always impressed by students ability to improve their work when they see a good model. As EQAO testing is beginning in the next 2 weeks, we will be doing a great deal of practice tests and then assessing our work and finding out how to improve it. The goal is for students to be able to achieve their best work without the use of a model, as there will not be one available when writing the assessment.

Information for Confirmation

A letter from the parish giving information about Confirmation was sent home today with students. It should be in their agendas or bags.

Confirmation for our class will be on June 2. In the letter, they request that students arrive with sponsors at 6:30 PM and gather in the Parish hall. Parents and guests are asked to find a seat in the church. Seating will be first come first served basis, and the parish has requested that seats not be saved.

As far as dress is concerned, there is no need to buy a fancy dress or suit. A nice sundress  is appropriate for girls, and a shirt, tie and slacks is good for boys. If you have already bought something, that is great, but there should be no need.

If you have any questions about the ceremony, please feel free to contact me at school and I wil try to answer questions for you, or you can try the Parish.

Looking forward to seeing everyone June 2!

Confirmation for Our Class - June 2nd

The students in our homeroom (Mr. Pouliot's) will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on June 2nd at St. Patrick's Church in Fallowfield.  A letter will be coming soon giving more detail about the evening. Looking forward to seeing students and families there!

Babysitting Course & Invitation to Party!

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Family Life and Ultimate Frisbee!

Today during our Open House we began a math lesson on probability using the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. We played the game a number of times to determine if we could think of a strategy that would help us to win every time. Then we calculated the experimental probability of the actual outcomes and saw that there was no real strategy that works. We spent a little bit of time talking about the difference between experimental probability and theoretical probability.

We also began our first lesson in our Family LIfe unit, Created Sexual. We talked about human sexuality being more than just about our bodies, and more about our whole being. We talked about some of the things that we identify with as being male or female, and how as Christians we believe our sexuality should be cherished. As we go through this unit, I have asked students that if they are uncomfortable asking questions in class, to write down their questions on a piece of paper (with or without their name) and place it into a question basket. For questions that are age appropriate, we will discuss in class. For those questions that fall outside the scope of our unit, I will ask students to speak with their parents.

In our afternoon class for gym we began playing Ultimate Frisbee outside. The students first practiced throwing the frisbees, and then we played a game with the whole class. In our next sessions, we will play with proper seven person teams. In health we learned a little about reading nutrition labels. We will be comparing two nutrition labels in our next health lesson on Thursday. FInally, in music we learned about dotted half notes, and that they are held for three beats.

Thank you to all parents who attended our open house this morning. It was great to have you in our class, and I hope you had a chance to see how we approach learning math in grade 6. If you ever have any questions about our methods, please feel free to ask.

On Friday, the afternoon class will be participating in our Clean the Capital event. Our class will be going down one of our local streets to help pick up any trash that we can find. A few parents have volunteered to assist us. If there are any parents who would like to join us on our walk, please feel free to join us on Friday at 1:15 PM. Thank you!

Open House at Holy Trinity

For anyone who would like to have another look at Holy Trinity, they will be having an open house on Thursday, May 5. See the flyer below for more information.

Holy Trinity Open House

Probability, Education Week Mass and My Weight on Mercury

Today in our morning class we started learning a little about probability. We watched a short video from Khan Academy about what probability is, and briefly discussed the difference between experimental probability and theoretical probability. We talked about flipping a coin as a simple example. If I flip a coin once, my chance of getting heads is 1 out of 2, or 1/2. If we flip the coin ten times, we would expect to get heads 5 times. That is the theoretical probability, or what we would expect. I we actually flip the coin, however, we might get 7 tails and only 3 heads instead. The outcome gives us the experimental probability. We will be exploring this more in our lesson tomorrow - the Rock, Paper, Scissors Challenge.

Our block was very short this morning so that we could get ready to go to Mass at St. Patrick's. During Mass we sat with Madame Lepage's kindergarten students. The grade 6's were excellent helpers and did an excellent job of setting a good example during mass.

For Science, we took up the worksheets from Friday, and then used some of the information on them to figure out our weight on the different planets. The information on the sheet gave us our weight as a fraction of that on earth. We had to multiply the fraction by our own weight to determine our weight on other planets. Since we have not learned how to multiply fractions, I reminded students to convert the fraction into a decimal and then multiply that. For example, we learned that to find 2/5, we can figure out 2 divided by 5, then multiply our weight. Next in science we will be learning about the characteristics of systems, before going more in depth about the solar system itself.

Here is a blendspace unit for probability to assist students in practicing concepts we will be learning in this unit.

A Very Large Map of the Solar System

We looked at this map of the solar system today to get an idea of just how big it really is. We didn't even get to finish, it was so long. Take a look, and prepared to be amazed....and maybe a little bored....

Reminder - Confirmation Forms are Due Friday, April 29th!

If you are planning to have your child confirmed at St. Patrick's on June 1st or 2nd, please make sure to fill out the form and send it into the school by this Friday, the 29th of April. If the form has been misplaced, it can be printed here.

Today in math we took up the review pages we have been working on for the past few days and then played a game of Plickers to help review the concepts. Our test for fractions and decimals is tomorrow.

In language, we continued reading Where the Red Fern Grows, which students seem to be really enjoying. I usually read to students while they are eating their snack. It gives students a chance to enjoy a story and we have great discussions about the characters, plot, and setting as we progress through books. Afterward, students completed a reading comprehension practice sheet, which we will take up tomorrow. I always encourage students to check their written work against our Bump It Up wall to see if they have achieved a level 4, and if they don't think so, try to change it so that they can. On the Bump it Up wall are examples of a reading response at each level, and descriptions of what is needed to get to the next level. You will be able to see our Bump it Up wall during our Open House if you are attending. Once everyone was finished the reading comprehension, we finished the last couple of presentations about Signs in Scripture for Confirmation, and then read about the 7 Sacraments. Students will be doing some guided research about each of the sacraments over the next few days.

During Science today we finished the last presentations about the elements of space (stars, planets, galaxies, etc.). We will begin learning about our Solar System over the next little while. Students will be doing some research about each of the planets, and then building a solar system model.