Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Christmas Concert


Grade 6s attended a whole school concert rehearsal and then Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, we took up yesterday’s homework on math strategies.

When students returned from lunch, they worked on their unit test for the Decimal math unit and then the preassessment for the next math unit, Measurement.

We then used the remaining class time to work on our one-point perspective drawings. Everyone was challenged to complete this artwork today and then choose the topic for their next piece. In between this time we were called to perform for this afternoon’s Christmas concert.

Thank you so much for all the bake sale items that came in for the bake sale.

Look out for registration packages coming home today.

Remember that camps are available for PD Days in December and January.

Students may bring a board game to enjoy with friends tomorrow.

Homework & Reminders

·         Tonight: Arrive at  6:30 for the Christmas concert, bake sale

·         Tomorrow: Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

'For' or 'Against'

Sorry for the confusion yesterday. I accidentally posted my Grade 11 Biology post onto the Grade 6 page.   Yesterday's blog was posted, but did not show up as the latest post. You will not to scroll through older posts to see it.

Grade 6s attended a whole school concert rehearsal and then Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.
After gym, students began working on their Ontario Writing Assessment piece for term 2. They worked on completing the brainstorm before heading out to lunch and recess.

When students returned from lunch, they worked on their writing piece. They did this armed with the rubric, the checklist we created, and the list of strengths and weaknesses we created while conferencing.

Once they were done with writing, students worked on the math strategies lesson independently. We took this work and yesterday’s homework up after second lunch.

We used the remaining class time to work on our one-point perspective drawings that we began yesterday.

Please send in bake sale items for this tomorrow’s and Thursday’s bake sales.

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS – study, Unit test on Wednesday

·         Tomorrow:  Decimals unit test, Bake Sale, January lunch orders are due no exceptions, Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00 pm & 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Casual Day
Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school

Monday, December 14, 2015

Respiratory System


In today’s class we covered the structure and function of the respiratory system.

Homework & Reminders

       Read p. 438 - 451

       Work on your respiratory system mind map – due Wednesday, December 16

       Wednesday, December 16 – Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00, and 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Bake Sale, Casual Day

       Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day, bake sale, wear green and red, last day of school

One-Point Perspective


Grade 6s attended a whole school concert rehearsal and then Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, we took up Friday’s math homework on dividing decimals.

After lunch and recess, we worked on the next math lesson which was also about dividing decimals but with many decimal places or with a repeating decimal. Students have completed all review questions. Review packages are coming home today in order to help students prepare for the unit test which will be written on Wednesday. The remaining class time was used to complete practice questions 1 a), c), e), 2 a), c), e), and 4 - 10 on p. 156 - 157 of the MMS textbook. Students who did not get done in class are asked to complete this work as homework.

I began writing conferences on Friday. We managed to finish these up today. Students will be writing their final persuasive letter assessment tomorrow.

Students who did not finish their second pointillism project used recess time to finish up this work. We began learning about one-point perspective in today’s UOI time. We worked through an on-line tutorial as a class.

Please send in bake sale items for this Wednesday’s and Thursday’s bake sales.

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 156 & 157 Q  1 a), c), e), 2 a), c), e), and 4 - 10, Unit test on Wednesday

·         Tuesday: OWA – final persuasive letter writing assessment

·         Wednesday:  Decimals unit test, Bake Sale, January lunch orders are due no exceptions, Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00 pm & 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Casual Day

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Year Ahead Day


While the Grade 6s were enjoying a day as Grade 7s in MYP, Ms. Kominek’s Grade 5 students were treated to a taste of Grade 6 today.

They began their day by attending French class with Mme. Villeneuve and Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, we discussed what expectations are like in grade 6. Students reflected on their strengths that will help them to be successful as well as the weaknesses they need to work on. We discussed the big even for next year – the Exhibition.

After lunch and recess, we worked on a geometry math lesson. Students worked on constructing a 3-D solid from a net, creating a skeleton for a decagonal prism, and drawing a net for a 3-D object. We focused on giving detailed, good-quality answers to questions relating to solids and nets.



 

Next, we worked on persuasive writing. Grade 6s are currently working on persuasive writing. The Grade 5s were challenged to write a persuasive letter of their own. Most took this task seriously and produced good quality work.
We ended the day with UOI time, where we explored one-point perspective drawings. Students who would like to extend their drawing s are referred to the tutorial we began in class at the following link:
One-Point Perspective Tutorial

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

More Pointillism


Grade 6s attended art class with Ms. Ymbang and Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, we took up yesterday’s math homework on dividing decimals.

After lunch and recess, we worked on the next math lesson on multiplying decimals by whole numbers. The strategy we used is to multiply without the decimal and then used an estimate to ensure we placed the decimal in the correct place. Students completed review questions 14 a) – c), 15, 16. Many students completed all practice work in class. Well done! Those who did not finish are asked to complete practice questions 1 a), c), e), 2 a), c), e), 3 – 9, 11 – 12  on p. 150 - 151 of the MMS textbook.

Next, we worked on persuasive writing. Our class wall is now decorated with the checklist of ideas that students generated to guide them on how to write a spectacular persuasive letter. Students began the brainstorm of their second persuasive letter on a topic and to an audience of their choosing.
During today’s inquiry time, students were challenged to finish up their second pointillism project.



 
The first one beautifully decorates our school hallway.
 

We had a short, quick practice for the Christmas concert at the end of the day.

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 150 & 151 Q  1 a), c), e), 2 a), c), e), 3 – 9, 11 – 12 , Unit test next week, probably on Wednesday, December 16

·         Tomorrow - Year Ahead Day, Oakwood Academy Bake Sale

·         Monday, Dec 14  - After care payments are due

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, January lunch orders are due no exceptions, Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00 pm & 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Dividing Decimals by 10, 100, 1000, and 10 000


Grade 6s attended French class with Mme. Villeneuve and Gym class with Ms. Kominek this morning.
After gym, we took up yesterday’s math homework on multiplying decimals.

After lunch and recess, we worked on the next two math lessons on dividing decimals by 10, 100, 1000, and 10 000 and multiplying decimals by 0.1, 0.01, 0.001. This was easy once students realised that “x 0.1” is the same as” ÷10”.  We discussed how to convert cm to m and mm. Students were required to complete and correct review questions 11 – 13 in class. Students had class time to work on today’s practice work. For homework, students are asked to complete practice questions 1 a), c), e), 2 - 9 p. 141 & 142 and questions 1 a), c), 2 a), c), 3 a) c), 5 - 8 on p. 144 - 145 of the MMS textbook.
Next, we worked on persuasive writing. Students read more samples of student work and added to their list of strengths and weaknesses for the sample they read. They shared their ideas with their partners and with the class. We have continued adding to the class checklist on how to write a spectacular persuasive letter.

During today’s inquiry time, we finished up our first pointillism project. Some students began work on another pointillism project.
We had a short, quick practice for the Christmas concert at the end of the day.

Look out for a letter about the MYP fundraiser coming home today.
Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 141 & 142 1 a), c), e), 2 - 9 and p. 144 – 145 1 a), c), 2 a), c), 3 a) c), 5 - 8

·         Tomorrow - Casual Day Fundraiser for Bryan in Kenya. Organised by the MYP students. Please bring $2 if you want to support this cause, Oakwood Academy Bake Sale

·         Thursday, December 10 – Year Ahead Day, Oakwood Academy Bake Sale

·         Monday, Dec 14  - After care payments are due

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, January lunch orders are due no exceptions, Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00 pm & 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school

Monday, December 7, 2015

Multiplying Decimals


Grade 6s attended Art class with Ms. Kerr and Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, we took up Friday’s math homework on estimating sums and differences.

After lunch and recess, we worked on the next two math lessons on finding sums and differences with decimals and checking work using the inverse operation. We also practiced multiplying decimals by 10, 100, 1000, and 10 000. Students were required to complete and correct review questions 10, and 11 a) & c) in class. Students had class time to work on today’s practice work. For homework, students are asked to complete practice questions 2 a), c), e), 5 – 7, 10 – 12 on p. 135 & 136  and questions 1 a), c), e), 2 a), c), e) ,  3 – 7 on p. 139 of the MMS textbook.

Next, we worked on persuasive writing. Students read more samples of student work and added to their list of strengths and weaknesses for the sample they read. They shared their ideas with their partners and with the class. We have continued adding to the class checklist on how to write a spectacular persuasive letter.

During today’s inquiry time, we began our first pointillism project. We also attended a Christmas concert rehearsal.

Look out for a letter about the Christmas concert coming home today.
Click for Options

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 135 & 136 2 a), c), e), 5 – 7, 10 – 12  and p. 139 a), c), e), 2 a), c), e) ,  3 – 7

·         Wednesday, December 9 – Casual Day Fundraiser for Bryan in Kenya. Organised by the MYP students. Please bring $2 if you want to support this cause, Oakwood Academy Bake Sale

·         Thursday, December 10 – Year Ahead Day, Oakwood Academy Bake Sale

·         Monday, Dec 14  - After care payments are due

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, January lunch orders are due no exceptions, Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00 pm & 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school




A message from the MYP students:

Hello Parents,

We are very excited to let you know that the MYP students will be taking an action to raise funds to send a boy named Brian to school. Our goal is $750 which includes Brian's board, books, food, and tuition. There are three ways you can help support Brian:

1) Donate $2 and participate in our casual day this Wednesday, December 9th. Forms have been sent home.

2) Participate in our gingerbread decorating activity. Forms and fees have been sent home.

3) Bring in loonies and toonies to fill up your child's house jar! The house that fills their jar first will receive a 20 000 house points!

Thank you for your donations in advance!

MYP Students
 
 

Friday, December 4, 2015

Art Through Shapes

Grade 6s attended Art class with Ms. Kerr and Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, we took up yesterday’s math homework on rounding decimals.

After lunch and recess, we worked on the next math lesson on estimating sums and differences. Students were required to complete and correct review question 9 in class. Students had class time to work on today’s practice work. For homework, students are asked to complete practice questions on p. 130 & 131 of the MMS textbook.

Next, we worked on persuasive writing. Students read more samples of student work and added to their list of strengths and weaknesses for the sample they read. They shared their ideas with their partners and with the class. We have continued adding to the class checklist on how to write a spectacular persuasive letter.

We began working on our third inquiry unit at the end of the day.

Central Idea: People have expressed themselves artistically and creatively, using different shapes and forms throughout time

Key Concepts: Connection, Form

Lines of Inquiry:

           Different artists and their forms of expression throughout history

           Analyze the artists meaning through their art works

           Connection of art work during periods of history and over different cultures

For our first lesson, students reflected on what they already know about art and what they would like to learn further. We read about and described pointillism and then discussed two famous pieces, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat and Morning, Interior by Maximilien Luce.

 SJA is excited to announce that Year Ahead Day is happening again this year!  All SJA PYP students will be participating in this exciting event on Thursday, December 10th. Year Ahead Day is a fun and interactive day for the students at SJA to spend a day in the class of the grade level ahead of them (example: SK students spend their day as Grade 1 students, Grade 6 students spend their day as Grade 7 students, etc.).  This is a great way for the students at SJA to get a glimpse into their future life at SJA!  Students can get to know the teachers, see their future classroom, and take part in activities they will be participating in next year. 

Look out for letters coming home today about Year Ahead Day and cookie dough orders.

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 130 & 131

·         Electric car parts are past due

·         Wednesday, December 9 – Casual Day Fundraiser for Bryan in Kenya. Organised by the MYP students. Please bring $2 if you want to support this caue

·         Thursday, December 10 – Year Ahead Day

·         Monday, Dec 14  - After care payments are due

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, January lunch orders are due no exceptions, Christmas Concert, 1:30 – 3:00 pm & 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school
 
 

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Estimating


Grade 6s attended French class with Mme. Villeneuve and Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning. After gym, we took up yesterday’s math homework on comparing and ordering fractions.

After lunch and recess, we worked on a new math lesson on estimating decimals. We used rounding to the nearest whole, tenth, and hundredth place as a way of estimating. We practiced these ways and compared them to the actual answer when adding or subtracting. Students discovered that rounding to the nearest hundredth place gave an answer that was closest to the actual answer, while rounding to the nearest whole number was easiest to do but gave an answer that was not as close to the actual answer. All students were required to complete and correct review question 8 in class. Students had class time to work on today’s practice work. For homework, students are asked to complete practice questions on p. 127 - 128 of the MMS textbook.

Next, we worked on persuasive writing. Students read samples of student work and wrote a list of strengths and weaknesses for each sample they read. They shared their ideas with their partners and with the class. We have begun creating a class checklist on how to write a spectacular persuasive letter.

Some students used recess time to finish up their reading assessments and portfolios.

At the end of the day we rehearsed our song for the Christmas concert.

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 127 - 128

·         Please return comments page from the report card. I will make a copy of the comments and return this page to you.

·         Tomorrow: Last day to return electric car parts

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, Christmas Concert, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school
Enjoy some pictures from our Grand Prix:















 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Comparing & Ordering Fractions


Grade 6s attended Art class with Ms. Kerr and Gym class with Ms. Lovan this morning.

After gym, Grade 6s continued working on this term’s Developmental Reading Assessment or on this term’s portfolio.

During math time we took up yesterday’s thousandths homework. We spent some time discussing equivalent fractions by modeling examples with Base Ten Blocks and representing them as fractions and decimals. We then began a new lesson on comparing and ordering fractions. We used place-value charts to achieve this. All students were required to complete review questions 5, 6, and 7 in class. For homework, students are asked to complete practice questions on p. 123 - 124 of the MMS textbook.

At the end of the day we rehearsed our song for the Christmas concert.
Practice your clapping part as we discussed in class today using the two links below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnWE2VO93Fc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di9arwudttg

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 123 – 124 (parts a) and c) only for questions 1, 2, 3, and 10)

·         Please return comments page from the report card. I will make a copy of the comments and return this page to you.

·         Tomorrow– Parent-Teacher Conferences, Hatch programing forms are due

·         Friday – Last day to return electric car parts

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, Christmas Concert, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school

Enjoy some pictures from last week's science fair:






 

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Thousandths


Grade 6s attended Art class with Ms. Kerr and Gym class with Ms. Kominek this morning.

After gym, Grade 6s began work on this term’s Developmental Reading Assessment by completing a reading survey about their reading habits, strengths, and weaknesses. During the day, students were pulled from their seat work to do the rest of the reading assessment for this term. We did not get to everyone today and will continue this work tomorrow and Thursday.

During math time we took up yesterday’s decimals homework. We then began a new lesson on thousandths. We used Base Ten Blocks to help us understand how a flat represents 1/10 of a whole, a rod represents 1/100 of a whole, and a unit represents 1/1000 of a whole. We practiced writing these as fractions and decimals as well as representing them on hundredths grids and on place-value charts. All students were required to complete review questions 2, 3, and 4 in class. For homework, students are asked to complete practice questions1, 3, 4, 6, and 8 on p. 119 - 120 of the MMS textbook.

Students who were not working on their reading assessments worked on their portfolios for term 1.

Some students are bringing home a revised parent-teacher conference form today.

Homework & Reminders

·         MMS p. 119 – 120 Q. 1, 3, 4, 6, and 8

·         Please return comments page from the report card. I will make a copy of the comments and return this page to you.

·         Thursday – Parent-Teacher Conferences, Hatch programing forms are due

·         Friday – Last day to return electric car parts

·         Wednesday, December 16 – Bake Sale, Christmas Concert, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

·         Thursday, December 17 – Spirit Day (wear red, green, and white), last day of school