The Age of Exploration and Portuguese Explorers

We continued learning about the Age of Exploration during inquiry time by finishing up note-making about trade before 1450 AD. We then reviewed yesterday’s lesson about trade between Asia and Europe. This led to us understanding why Europeans began a quest to find another trade route to Asia. Students learned about more reasons for exploration as well as technological advancements that made exploration by sea so successful at this time. Finally, students learned that the Portuguese were at the forefront of exploring and were the first Europeans to find another route to Asia. Students should add the Portuguese explorers to their timeline. They should be reviewing all work in their duo-tangs in preparation for their unit test on Tuesday, January 22^nd.

During speech time, we discussed persuasive words and phrases that are effective in persuading an audience of urgency, connections, trust, a promise for little effort, and words that promise a surprise. Next, we discussed how to research evidence for each of the reasons. Students recorded their reasons in their ‘Persuasive Essay Organiser’. As they find facts or examples that support their reasons, these will be recorded in the second column of the chart in jot-note form (3 – 5). We will work on research in class over the next two days. This organiser must be completed when students come to school on Monday, January 21^st. Some students are behind in their speech schedule. Please get caught up with your work if this applies to you.

Turtle Island puzzle pieces are past due.

Grade 6s attended music, math and French class today. In math, students discussed questions from 'order of operations'.  They need to follow 'BEDMAS' while solving these questions. A few students tried to solve these problems using mental math strategies but ended up making mistakes. They are encouraged to solve the questions step-by-step (only 1 mathematical operation in 1 step). They also need to practice more questions on division of decimals.  The class started the review for the unit. They practiced a couple of questions from the review sheet. These were addition and subtraction of fractions including word problems. For homework students should complete questions 8,9,10,14,22,23 from the review sheet. The unit test is rescheduled to Monday as the students are away on Friday.

The Crawford Lake trip payments are past due.

The next Caribou test will take place tomorrow morning. Participating students should arrive at 7:15 am for a 7:30 start time. The test ends at 8:30 am. Bring your own device.

An MYP/DP information session for Grade 6 families takes place tomorrow from 6 – 7 pm in the upper school lounge area (where specialist conferences took place).

Homework & Reminders

·         Speeches:

o   Get caught up with speech work if you have fallen behind

o   Find 3-5 examples/facts/ideas that support each of your reasons and record these in jot-note form in your ‘Persuasive Essay Organiser’ – due Monday morning, January 21^st

o   Note your sources when you are doing research

o   Devices are need for speech research all week

·         Explorers UOI

o   Turtle Island puzzle pieces are past due

o   Create a timeline spanning 400 AD – 1700 AD

o   Add today’s Portuguese explorers to your timeline

o   Study - unit test on Tuesday, January 22^nd  

·         Math Homework

o   Complete questions 8, 9, 10, 14, 22, 23 from the review package

o   Unit test on Monday, January 21^st

·         Wednesday, January 16^th

o   Caribou contest – arrive 7:15 am for a 7:30 am start

o   MYP & DP Information session for Grade 6 families in lounge area, from 6 pm – 7 pm

·         Friday, January 18^th – Crawford Lake trip. Dress warmly as we will be outdoors all day. Bring a packed lunch.

·         Monday, January 21^st – Math unit test

·         Tuesday, January 22^nd – Explorers unit test

·         Wednesday, January 23^rd – Ski Trip

·         Tuesday, January 29^th – Bake Sale

·         Wednesday, January 30^th – Bake Sale

·         Thursday, January 31^st – Casual Day

·         Tuesday, February 5^th – Pancake Tuesday

·         Wednesday, February 6^th – Book Fair

·         Friday, February 8^th – Oral Competition

·         Wednesday, February 13^th

o   Caribou contest – arrive 7:15 am for a 7:30 am start

o   Oral competition at the Maples Academy

·         Thursday, February 14^th

o   Spirit Day – Wear pink, red, and white

o   Jump Rope for Heart

·         Friday, February 15^th – PD Day for teachers, no school for students