Welcome to Grade 6 2014/2015

Dear Grade 6 SJA Students and Families,

             I am happy to inform you that I will be teaching the Grade 6 class for the 2014/2015 academic year at St. Jude's. I know most of you and most of you already know me well too. For those families that are new to our school, I wish you a warm welcome.

            Grade 6 is the culminating year of the IB (International Baccalaureate)  PYP (Primary Years Programme). This year provides students the opportunity to showcase their learning, skills, and actions from JK to this year through a big group project called "The Exhibition". The Exhibition takes place on May 8, 2015. Be sure to mark your calendars for this exciting event. Many of the tasks students do in our inquiry units will be geared towards equipping them with the skills needed to do well in The Exhibition.

            I will be responsible for teaching your child their core subjects of English Language, Math, and inquiry units. The bulk of your child's school day will be around these three areas. The inquiry units are usually structured around social studies and science topics. In this year's inquiry units we will be learning about the human body, government, electricity, explorers, and world religions.

            As an IB school, we value character development, an attitude of being a life-long learner, and showing action as a result of learning. The IB Learner Profile Attributes represent some of the traits we value at SJA. We strive to provoke our students to ask Big Questions - the kind you cannot Google the answer to. We encourage students and families to celebrate stories of action with us. Action may be tiny or huge.

            On Wednesday, August 20, families are invited to attend the SJA Orientation Night at 7 pm in the gymnasium. This would be a good opportunity to ask questions that you may have. I also invite you to visit my class blog at http://haagsja.blogspot.ca/ and sign up as a follower. As a follower you will receive the daily class blog as an email. The blog will tell you the units we are working on, what we do in class daily, homework and other assignments, test dates, school events, school supplies list, and other important information. Also, please respond to this email with a "Got it" to let me know the email contact I have for you is correct. You are welcome to use this email address to correspond with me.

I look forward to seeing you at the Orientation Night and at the first day of school, Wednesday, September 3. Enjoy the last few days of summer until then.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Haag