Static Electricity

 

Students participated in literature circle discussions of Chapter 3 using their assigned roles. Today I sat with Group 3 and evaluated students based on their contributions to the group discussions. Grade 6s have been assigned Chapter 4 of The City of Ember for while they work on their reading responses. Students had some time to work on their reading in class. Any remaining work needs to be completed for homework. Novels and Duo-tangs need to be brought to school daily as we will be having novel study time daily.
 

In today’s inquiry time we explored electrostatics. Students had fun conducting their own investigations using balloons.

 They watched a couple of videos that explained charge imbalances that take place after rubbing a material. They listened to an explanation of atomic structure and how the movement of electrons can cause charge imbalances in materials, resulting in repulsion or attraction depending on the charges. Finally, they worked on completing worksheets related to static electricity. Grade 6s will be writing a unit test on all they have learned during the electricity unit. This test will take place next Tuesday, October 2^nd.

 

We have begun brainstorming ideas on how to build our electric cars for our science fair projects. Students were given time to watch two sample videos of how this can be done. We will watch videos each day this week in order to help the Grade 6s to think of different ways that this task can be accomplished.  Students will be drawing thumbnail sketches of their ideas and sharing their ideas with their parents. They will be asked to choose one of their ideas by the end of the week. Students need to begin collecting items for their cars such as small boxes (tissue boxes, toothpaste boxes, etc.), empty water bottles, bottle caps (or other suitable items for the wheels), etc. This should be brought to school and stored in each students’ shoe box.

Students had 20 minutes of class time to work on their Iceland research today. Everyone is asked to research and prepare a traditional Icelandic dish that is peanut and nut free to serve to guests at this event. Students are asked to bring their devices to class daily as we research about Iceland.

Grade 6s attended gym, math, and French class today. In math students reviewed the difference between bar graph and line graphs. They also used mean, median and mode as measures of central tendency. Ms. Joseph has assigned homework questions 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 on pages 200 – 201 of the MMS 7 textbook.

Our class is responsible for hosting the monthly bake sale that takes place at St. Jude’s tomorrow and Wednesday. Each student in our class is asked to contribute baked or bought items to sell. All items must be nut and peanut free.

Remember to hand in funds raised for the Terry Fox Foundation on a daily basis.

Homework & Reminders

·         UOI – watch the third video we did not get to watch in class today

·         Science Fair

o   collect materials for your car building

o   discuss your ideas with your family

·         Math: MMS 7 p. 200 – 201, Q. 1, 2, 4, 5, & 6

·         Novel study – due tomorrow

o   Read Chapter 4

o   Complete Chapter 4 response

·         Bring in Bake sale items for Tuesday and Wednesday

·         IB Portfolio cover pages are past due

·         Terry Fox fundraising is currently underway

·         Return your permission form for the Caribou Cup if you would like to participate

·         Tuesday, September 25^th – Bake Sale hosted by our class

·         Wednesday, Sept. 26^th

o   Casual Day,

o   Bake Sale hosted by our class

·         Thursday, Sept. 27^th – Terry Fox Run, come to school wearing your gym uniform

·         Friday, Sept. 28^th   – Orange Shirt Day  - wear and orange shirt to school (no uniform pieces required)

·         Monday, Oct. 1^st  - Grade 6 trip to Old Pro Golf Range, 12:30 – 3:00 pm

·         Thursday, October 4^th  - International Day (PYP only), Families and friends are welcome

·         Friday, October 5^th  – PD Day for Teachers (7 am – 12 noon), no school for students

·         Monday, October 8^th – Thanksgiving Day. No school