Christmas Concert Friday

The junior Christmas Concert will take place on Friday at 10:50 AM. According to the schedule right now, it looks as though our class may be going first, although that may change.

For our concert, we will be doing a few songs using Boomwhackers. The students have been practising quite a lot and are quite good at the songs!

For the concert, I have asked children to simply wear Christmas colours (green red or white). If they wish to wear a santa hat, that is fine, but not necessary. Thank you!

I would like to wish everyone in our community a wonderful Christmas, with all the joys that the season brings. I hope you all have a great holiday.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me any time.

Data Management Test Next Week!

Next week on Thursday we will have our Data Management test. We have flown through this unit, as it is generally pretty easy. The one area that students struggle with is finding a missing value in a set of data when given the mean. I teach the students to "work backwards" in order to find the solution. We did this today, and students did very well! We will practice some more on Monday.

Here is a Hapara Workspace that I have put together to assist students in learning and studying this material. If students are comfortable with all of the material here, they will be fine. Be sure to check out the link to the Blendspace, which has videos, games and more to help practice.

Data Management Workspace

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

Christmas Activities

Next week, we will be doing a number of activities for Christmas in our class.

First of all, on Wednesday, we will be watching the "Polar Express" and having a morning of hot chocolate.

On Thursday, we will be making gingerbread houses in the morning class, and determining the area, and surface area of the houses before building. For these, if possible, please send in a few peanut free candies that we can use for decorations. I will be supplying icing and graham crackers, and a few candies, but I am sure we will need more. Thank you!

On Friday, we will have our Christmas concert in the gym. It will begin at 10:50. Our class will be near the end because they generally go in order by grade.

Also on Friday, the afternoon class will be making gingerbread houses with our Kinder buddies. Nothing is required, as we have asked the kinder parents to donate some candy as we will let the little ones take home the gingerbread houses.

Thank you, and I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas Season!

Holy Trinity Parent Information Night

Link to PDF file

Summarizing & The Story of Exodus

As part of our unit on Self-Monitoring in Language, we have been learning how to show that we have a good understanding of the text we read by writing summaries. In class, we read the story of Exodus in our religion books, and then wrote a summary of the story in partners. We wrote our summaries in Padlet, and I gave students the option of simply telling a summary using We Video. I was surprised that all the students decided to write their summary rather than use We Video! Not everyone had a chance to finish, but here is a link to the Padlet:

Exodus Padlet

Next, we reviewed how to write a good summary, because many of the summaries in the Padlet were very long. I try to explain to students that a retell is when you tell a story with a fair amount of detail, and a summary is when you tell the story with only the most important parts. 

A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, "If I leave this part out, will the story still make sense?"

If the answer is yes, then it is probably not overly important. If the answer is no, then it is very important to the story. 

Our next step is to write summaries of the Exodus story individually, and check that students are able to limit the summary to only the most important ideas. This can be very challenging for students, because they want to write the story in a great amount of detail to show what they know. We will be working on this for this week and next, before moving on to our next unit. 

Grade 6 Advent Liturgy

Next week marks the first week of Advent, and so we will be having an Advent Liturgy on Monday. This year, our class is responsible for organizing this liturgy. All students who were interested in doing some sort of reading were given one, and we are going to be hosting the liturgy on Monday at 1:30 in the gym. All are invited. Hope to see you there!

Math Test Friday!

On Friday, December 1st, we will be having a math test for our Geometry Unit. This has been a fairly easy unit for students. The only area many students struggle with is usually the section about "Constructing Shapes". In the "Homework" section to the right, I have placed a link to the workspace we used throughout this unit. It covers everything they need to know for the test. Please review this material with your child to ensure they are ready for the test on Friday. Good Luck!

Holy Trinity Parent Information Evening

Holy Trinity will be hosting a parent information evening on January 25th, 2018, at 7PM. Please save the date. More information will follow, but they wanted us to let all the parents of our grade 6 students know about the date.

Constructing Shapes & Geometry Workspace

Lately in class we have been learning geometry. One part of this that students often have difficulty with is constructing shapes using specific angles and side measurements. For example, in the video below, the question posed is to construct a parallelogram called BACD so that

• AC = BD = 5cm
• BA = DC = 2cm 
• angle ABD = 120 degrees and angle BDC = 60 degrees

When I teach students how to construct these shapes, I first ask them to make a sketch of the shape they are supposed to be drawing if possible. In this case, they should make a sketch of a parallelogram. They also need to stop and think at this moment about what they know about a parallelogram:

• opposite sides have to be equal and parallel
• opposite angles have to be equal 

At this point, students can sketch the parallelogram and  place the labels in the appropriate places. At this time, they can ensure they have the correct lengths and angles in all the right places as well, before they start actually drawing their shape using a ruler and protractor. To see how to draw the shape accurately, please watch the video below.

Here is a link to the geometry workspace that I created for this unit. It covers all of the main concepts we will learn in the unit, and has explanations of each. Feel free to use it as much as you wish to assist your child. 

http://j.mp/2zldX2K

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!

In our afternoon class, we are wrapping up our units in Grade 5 (Human Body Systems) and Grade 6 (Biodiversity). Today I sent home review sheets for both grades that students can use to study for the test. If they know the material in the review sheets, they will do fine on the test on Monday. 

If your child has misplaced their review sheet, you can download it from here:

Grade 5 Study notes:Study Notes 1  Study Notes 2

Grade 6 Study notes: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jYSDUiQkPCVfXKQHhvhLFxM0U0_Tp2YLvnN5bQXAqVc

Students have recently finished preparing a presentation about a single Human Body System or a "Mindomo Map" which outlines how the Animal Kingdom is broken down between vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as the major groups with some characteristics of each. On Thursday, we will be finishing the presentations and playing some Kahoots! to review the material from these units.

Next Math Unit - Geometry

In math, we have begun learning about 2D geometry. Our first lesson was a review of how to use a protractor to measure angles. Tomorrow we will be learning about a new type of angle - the reflex angle. In this unit we will be learning about classifying shapes according to attributes and learning about concave and convex shapes. Next week, we will begin constructing shapes according to specific parameters. Students usually have a difficult time with this concept. It is helpful if students have their protractors and compasses for this lesson, so please remind your child to bring his/her geometry set next week. Finally, we will be identifying nets of 3D figures and determining if a particular diagram is actually a net of a figure or not, as well as learning about how to draw 3D shapes using isometric dot paper.

I have created an entire unit in Hapara which we will be using to learn from, and for students to review.  If you have any questions about what we are learning, please feel free to take a look at the workspace to see the content being covered. I have included the link below. If it does not work (I am not certain if parents have access to Hapara), then please have your child log in from their school account:

http://j.mp/2zldX2K

Literature Circles Begin this Week

Literature Circles

In our morning class, we have begun literature circles as part of our language homework. We will be doing the book they have for the next four weeks, after which we will do a few weeks of Raz-kids again, before doing another book. 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. For this first time, I chose the groups.
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 bring it on Friday

That is it for Literature circles! It is meant to work like a highly structured book club, and hopefully gives students a starting point to have rich conversations about the books they are reading.

A few tips:

1. try not to have your child complete the entire week of literature circle work in one evening. It is far too much. Instead, break up the reading into 2 or 3 nights, and the sheet can be completed another night. It should not take very long to complete the worksheets. 
2. Encourage your child to provide evidence from the text for each assignment, and to complete his/her work using complete sentences. 
3. If the reading is overwhelming, have your child read to you, and if you are noticing it will take a long time, then take turns reading chapters, or even pages. 

BEDMAS and Report Writing

Today in Math we learned about the order of operations, which 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 this week! 

First, we looked at a number sentence (eg. 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. I explained that we need to have a way to solve number sentences with multiple operations so that everyone could get to the same answer. Hence - 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

In Language, we are wrapping up our Analyzing Unit by doing some research about an animal we are interested in and writing a report. We are going to try to stick to the following schedule so that it is finished by Friday:

Monday - research & note-taking

Tuesday - Outlining

Wednesday - Rough Draft

Thursday - Editing

Friday - Final Drafts and submit. 

Here is the success criteria that we will be using for our own self-assessment, peer-editing and my own final marking. 

Report Writing Success Criteria

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):

Report Writing

We are winding up our unit on Analyzing in language, and will be writing a few reports to finish and show that we understand how to write longer, multiple paragraph pieces that have clear main ideas and details.

In class, we have been reading a book about Cheetahs together, and reading an article about Canada's Air Pollution in pairs. Students have been identifying main ideas and supporting facts, and putting them into a Google Slidedeck or a RAN chart to show their understanding.

We will be using the facts we have learned about Cheetahs to build an outline together, and then write a report about cheetahs based on what we have learned. I will demonstrate to students how to make an outline, and then how to use the outline to write the first few paragraphs, Students will then be asked to complete the final few paragraphs independently. They may use technology for this if they wish.

Once that is complete, then I will be providing a complete outline for a short report and asking students to write an entire report independently from the outline provided. Again, technology may be used and is encouraged.

Finally, students will be conducting some research, organizing facts into an outline and writing a short report (Introduction, 3 paragraphs, Conclusion) about an animal of their own choosing.

This is a lot of work! We will be working on this for the next few weeks for sure. Additionally, we will be doing a few more Reading EQAO practice tests to get used to the format and build our ability to answer these types of questions.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you!

Rounding, Estimating & Addition/Subtraction

This week we have been learning about how to round numbers, use this understanding to estimate sums and differences, and we have been practicing addition & subtraction of larger numbers. Here is the lesson we learned about rounding, which students seemed to have a good grasp of.

Rounding - Strong Arms and Weaklings

We also learned to use this information to estimate when performing operations. I tell students to estimate to the largest place value in a number to tell if their answer is reasonable or note. For example:

23,456--->20,000

+ 12,398--->10,000   

                 30,000

So, I would expect my answer to be around 30,000 in this example. If I got an answer of 300, I would know that I have done something wrong somewhere and need to go back and check. 

Finally, we have been practicing adding and subtracting larger numbers. This is something that students should be familiar with from previous grades, but serves as a good reminder. We are practicing adding numbers up to the millions, and then checking our work both by using estimation, and by using subtraction. Students generally are good at addition and subtraction, but often forget to borrow (or regroup) when subtracting. We will be continuing to practice this tomorrow as well. 

Picture Day is Thursday

On Thursday, October 19, the Grade 6's will have picture day. This is just a regular picture day, and not the "Grad" pictures. The photo day for "Grad" pictures usually happens around March or April. I will let you know well in advance! Parents have the opportunity to purchase pictures from either picture day - or both!

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know by writing a note in the agenda and I will be sure to contact you. Thank you!

Prime & Composite Numbers

On Friday 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

One area that students have difficulty with in this lesson is identifying the prime numbers that can be multiplied to create a composite number. The example in the presentation is helpful. I teach students to use a "factor tree" to identify the prime numbers. Here is a video to better explain:

Comparing and Ordering Whole 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

Raz-Kids for Homework this week

This is the first week we are going to try to use some online tools to assist us with completing homework. On the right hand side of the page you can see the homework. This week we are beginning to use Raz-Kids to help students practice their reading.

When using Raz-Kids, it is important that students put in their best effort the first time. It can be very easy for a child to simply click through the pages. I have already spoken to the class about having to complete all the parts thoroughly.

The first thing students will do is go into the "Level-Up" section in Raz-Kids. Then they can select whichever book they prefer. They do three things for each book:

1. Listen to the text
2. Read the text
3. Complete a quiz

As I said above, it can be easy for students to simply click through the pages and then take the quiz. Of course, when they do this they generally fail the quiz. The program will ask them to do it again until they get a passing mark. 

When I see students have taken a quiz 8 times in order to score 9 out of 10, I can tell they haven't really read the story at all. Usually, it will take them 1 or 2 tries to successfully pass the quiz if they have truly read the material. If this isn't happening consistently, then please let me know and I will adjust the student's reading level to something more appropriate. 

As parents, you can help your child by encouraging them to read the text out loud as you are doing something else so that you know they have read. If they need assistance reading or understanding the questions, please feel free to assist them, but please try not to give them the correct answers. Let them learn from their mistake! They can do the quiz again if they do not get enough questions correct. 

To access Raz-Kids, students can use the Student Portal and then click the icon for Raz-Kids. Most do not have passwords, but I will assign some in the next few days. 

If you have any difficulty using the program or have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to assist. Thank you!

Place Value & the "House" System

Yesterday 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 throughout the unit.  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.

Math Test Moved to Monday

We are going to move our math test on patterning to Monday, October 2 so that we can have a little more time to review the concepts we have learned. This will also give students the weekend to study if they would like to do so.

If you are working with your child to help them study, please review the videos and posts from this month, and try the review sheet posted in the previous post.

Thank you!

Math Test Friday!

We are coming to the end of our unit on Patterning, so we will be having a test on Friday to assess our understanding. Students should not have to study, as we have been reviewing everything in class, but if you wish to go over the material from this unit with your child, here are some review sheets that may help. They are completely optional! If you have any questions, please let me know and I will do my best to assist.

Patterning Review for Test

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.

This is the presentation that we watched in class to help us better understand what an equation is and how to solve one.

Solving Equations Slidedeck

Here is an Educreation slide I made to help explain to students how to go about solving for unknown variables. We haven't watched this yet, so it would be helpful to review at home if your child is having difficulty with this week's homework.

Learning about Integers and a Problem Solving Strategy

Today in class we learned about what an integer is and then practiced using integers in a variety of questions. Below is the lesson we did in class.

Students were very good at thinking of situations in which integers would be used and identifying the appropriate integer given a statement (eg. I spent $15 might be -$15). They had much more difficulty solving word problems which involve the use of integers. When solving word problems, often the hardest part is identifying what the question is asking them to do. Often students get bogged down by the volume of information and then have difficulty identifying what the actually need to do.

To assist with this, I encouraged students to write down all the information that the problem gives them, and then write down what the question is asking them to do. I told them this is usually at the end of the problem. Often, once students have all of the information written down, they already have a strategy to solve it, so I ask them to write this down as well, and then try it out. Later we will learn how to look back to prove their thinking. How can you tell me it is the right answer? How can you prove it to me?

Here is an example:

"A ski lift at a ski hill starts at 800m about sea level and ends at 1400m about sea level. For each 100m rise in sea level, the temperature goes down by 2ºC. If the temperature at the bottom of the hill is 3ºC, what is the temperature at the top?"

Here is how I would solve this:

Know:
- ski hill starts at 800 m
- top is 1400m
- for each 100m up the temperature goes down 2 degrees
- temperature at the bottom is 3 degrees
- I HAVE TO FIND - the temperature at the top

Plan - draw a picture? Make a table? Use a number sentence? I think I will use a t-table to help me.

In my table I decided to go up by 100's because in the problem it said the temperature drops for every 100m. In the table, I can see that the temperature is going to be -9 degrees at the top of the hill.

Please take a look at the integers slideshow to see exactly what we did in class today. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at school any time.

Integers

Assessment Folders Went Home Today

Today I sent the Assessment folders home with a reading quiz and a small math quiz that we did last week. I will be sending the assessment folder home every few weeks. Please look over your child's items and sign each page so I know you have seen them.

I send these home every week so that parents can see their child's progress every few weeks. If you have any questions about a test, quiz or other assignment, please write a note in your child's agenda or give me a call and I can explain.

For the first few weeks, please do not be surprised if you see marks that are lower than what you are used to seeing your child achieve. These reading and math assessments are directly from EQAO, which is the test we do at the end of the year. This is the first time students have done EQAO in three years, and so they may not be prepared for the depth of information they need to put into their responses to get a level 4. In my experience, most kids have the right answers in the reading assessments, but very often they have difficulty understanding how to explain their thinking using proof and their own ideas. This is a skill we work on all year long, and I know they will get better. I am certain you will see progress in your child's marks just in the next few weeks as they better understand what to include in a quality answer.

Here are the exemplars of what a level 1,2,3 and 4 look like for the reading quiz we did last week and that is in the assessment folder. We looked over these in class and I had the kids self assess their own work before I marked it. For the most part, students are quite accurate in their self assessment when we use this approach.

Rubber Duck Exemplars

Graphing Patterns

Over the past two days in our math class we began learning about how to extend geometric patterns of shapes, create a t-table of the values, and then graph the values using a coordinate grid. We learned that using graphs can help us identify patterns and sometimes extend them to find values that are beyond our t-table. It can be another way to find the value of a term.

Most students had little difficulty creating the patterns using the rule, and they could easily make a t-table. Many students had some difficulty creating a graph that was accurate. We will continue to practice this skill tomorrow using a variety of other questions.

Here is a video I made to review what we did. This is the exact example we used in class so it should be familiar to students as they watch. Please review this with your child if you have time so that they can better understand the steps involved in this process. Thank you!

Kingdom Club Food Drive

Thanksgiving Food Drive

The Kingdom Club is doing a Thanksgiving food drive to support the Kanata Food Cupboard!

Please make your donations starting on Monday, September the 25th to October the 5th.

If each student brings in 2 cans each we will have an estimated 1400 cans so please bring in any boxes, cans, and toiletries because that would be well appreciated!

More Recursive Patterns

We are continuing to learn about how to identify pattern rules for patterns in which there is more than one operation. Here is another example that can be used to help students better understand the steps involved in identifying pattern rules.

More Two-Step Patterns

Digital Citizenship and Recursive Patterns

In religion today we finished the first of five lessons about digital citizenship. We learned today about what a responsible citizen is and students write or drew an image to depict their understanding. This unit is an excellent companion to our media literacy curriculum as well. Afterwards we continued to work on our Letters to our Future Self, which hopefully will be completed by Friday.

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

In Science, we are beginning our first investigation. For the grade 6's, I have them doing some research to find out what Biodiversity means, and why it is important. The grade 5's are trying to determine the major systems of the human body. We will continue this tomorrow and hopefully present our findings next week. In Health we have begun to learn about healthy eating habits. We will be continuing to learn about how to eat in a healthy manner using the Canada Food Guide to assist us. 

Pizza Days Starting Soon

For those of you who wish to purchase pizza for your child on Wednesdays, you can order from the school website using School Cash Online. The deadline for ordering pizza for the first term is September 18th. The first pizza day will be September 27th. Enjoy!

Analyzing - Finding the Facts

Today we learned about using the strategy of Analyzing when reading text. We discussed what Analyzing means and how we do it. Here is a slidedeck that you can use at home to review this strategy with your child.

Analyzing Slidedeck

Input and Output Machines

Today we started learning about input and output machines in patterning. An input/output machine is simply a number of operations that can help to generate a table of values. For example, if I input a "1", I might get a "3" as the output.

We looked at creating tables using the operations and we also looked at how to figure out the operations by examining the table. Here is a video I created to assist students in better understanding how to use input/output machines and to figure out the operations. We will continue working on this tomorrow.

Patterning, Goals and Me-Shirts

Today in language we began setting goals for the year and writing them down on an iGoal worksheet. We will be checking in with these goals on a regular basis to see if we are progressing towards them.

In math, we did a patterning problem on the walls and then talked about how our math time will run throughout the year. Here is the problem we tried:

In the afternoon we started working on "Me" Shirts - T-shirts that reflect our own names and things we enjoy. We also had gym today so I am hoping to finish these tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the Meet the Teacher evening at our school from 5PM - 7PM. I am looking forward to meeting you there!

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. Each week homework will consist of a reading comprehension page, a math word "story" with problems to practice a variety of skills, and a short writing assignment. For this first week we will only have a reading comprehension assignment. For the first few weeks we will be completing homework on paper. As the year progresses, homework will be posted online and students will be able to submit it either electronically or on paper. Homework will be written in their agenda books on Mondays and posted on this blog under "Homework" on the right hand side of the page. Homework will generally be due on Fridays, so that students have the week to complete it. This homework routine is very important. Again, 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 & religion we will start with writing letters to ourselves and identifying our goals for the year. Then we will begin an investigation into using technology appropriately and the importance of digital citizenship. 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, Blogger, 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!

Yours,

Mr. Pouliot

Looking Forward to Meeting All of 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

Leaving Ceremony June 27th at 1PM

Just a reminder that the Grade 6 Leaving Ceremony will take place on June 27th at 1PM St. Patrick’s Church in Fallowfield. After the ceremony there will be cake, coffee and juice. Parents are invited to take their child home afterwards to celebrate as well.

In order for the ceremony to run smoothly, please ensure that your child is at the church by 12:30PM  if he/she is not coming to school that morning (many students like to stay home to get “prepped”). Please remember that there is no transportation for students from the school to the church, so if your child is at school in the morning, he/she will need to be picked up in order to get to the church. Also, we would like to remind everyone that they should wear their “Sunday best” for this ceremony. For boys, slacks and a golf shirt or dress shirt is fine. For girls, a sundress or slacks and a blouse are perfect.

On a final note, we know that many students and families are excited to attend the leaving ceremony for the grade 6’s. St. Patrick’s has a capacity of about 550 people, so we would recommend each family try to limit their guests to about 4 per student. There may be standing room only, and we would appreciate not saving seats.

If you have any questions about the leaving ceremony or other events, please contact your child’s teacher any time. Thank you very much for your continued support and consideration.