Thursday, January 10, 2019

Back to School and Year Ahead Day


Welcome back to school everyone. I was at school yesterday but not in class. Ms. Parchment taught the Grade 6s in my place. As I am sure you heard, it was a busy day back.

Students reviewed the speech packages that went home yesterday. The letter at the front of the package explains the process. Students read a sample of persuasive writing and listened to Oprah’s Winfrey’s famous Golden Globes speech. They discussed the literary devices that were used to make the speech so effective as well as the fact that she said “just the right thing, in just the right way, at just the right time,” (Matt McGarrity, January 2018). The challenge for Grade 6s is to choose a topic that will allow them to do the same. Yesterday they began brainstorming their speech topic ideas. Their homework is to discuss their ideas with families and to decide on a speech topic for tomorrow. These must be recorded in the speech duo-tangs. Devices are needed for speech research tomorrow. Students and parents need to sign the speech letter at the front of the duo-tang.

During inquiry time, students revisited the question “Who discovered America?” They discussed and recorded notes about timelines. They will be creating a timeline about explorers who traveled to America during the next week. They then learned about evidence that shows that Polynesian explorers may have discovered America long before Columbus.

Students have been assigned to complete a piece of Turtle Island with words and images that represents their Canadian identity. These pieces will be assembled to form Turtle Island. The puzzle pieces should be completed with care and colour. These are due tomorrow.

Grade 6s attended math, French, and music class yesterday.

The Crawford Lake trip payments are past due.

Today was Year Ahead Day. My Grade 6s spent the day in Grade 7. I had the pleasure of teaching a new group of 6s.

For Year Ahead Day we discussed the differences between Grade 5 and 6. Exhibition was a big difference that was suggested.

Students experimented with building series and parallel circuits and quickly discovered that troubleshooting is required when working with circuits.






 

They then did a monster match language and art activity. They drew a monster in secret. The monster was described using descriptive writing. The descriptive writing was given to another student who, using only the clues in the paragraph, drew the monster. We had fun matching monsters, and voting for the best monster matches.

 

Finally we had a geometry challenge where students had to construct the skeleton of a decagonal prism. They had a few clues to get them going. It took a few tries before everyone understood how to accomplish the challenge.















 

Students then had French with Mme. Stella and gym with Mr. Orr.

Homework & Reminders

·         Crawford Lake trip payments are past due

·         Speeches:

o   Review the speech package

o   Students and parents to sign the speech letter and the front of the duo-tang

o   Discuss and decide on a speech topic by tomorrow, January 11th

o   Devices are need for speech research tomorrow

·         Explorers UOI

o   Complete Turtle Island puzzle pieces for tomorrow, January 11th

·         Wednesday, January 16th

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 18th – Crawford Lake trip

·         Wednesday, January 23rd – Ski Trip

·         Tuesday, January 29th – Bake Sale

·         Wednesday, January 30th – Bake Sale

·         Thursday, January 31st – Casual Day

·         Tuesday, February 5th – Pancake Tuesday

·         Wednesday, February 6th – Book Fair

·         Friday, February 8th – Oral Competition

·         Wednesday, February 13th

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

o   Oral competition at the Maples Academy

·         Thursday, February 14th

o   Spirit Day – Wear pink, red, and white

o   Jump Rope for Heart

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

 

No comments:

Post a Comment