Monday, September 26, 2011

Week of September 26-30, 2011

Friday HW
1.  Book Report due October 6.  Be sure to pick a new book over the weekend.
2.  Test pack signed, corrected and in the white bin on Monday.
3.  Our class raised $205 for the Terry Fox run.  Way to go boys and girls!
4.  We introduced a descriptive writing assignment today called "Behind the Door".  The emphasis is on using rich language and creating vital sentences in a short space.  I spent some time stressing that the story does not have to be scary or gory for it to be a good piece of writing.

We have had a month together at this point.  I know I am really enjoying each day with the group and I hope they are finding value in the program.  I will send out a new calendar and newsletter early next week for October.  Have a great weekend.

Thursday HW
1.  Math Quiz 3 on Friday September 30 on Order of Operations.
2.  Math Text book work on pages 66-67 # 2,3,5,6,9,11.
3.  Spelling Cycle activities for list 2 (Alpha Order, Syllabication, Derivatives)
4.  Book Report is due on October 6.  You should be working on it now.  You should also select a book for the next report over the weekend.
5.  Have your parents sign the top page of your test pack.
6.  Correct all the errors in your test pack.
7.  Return the test pack to the white bin by Monday Octber 3. 
(In future I will combine these steps in one listing:  "Sign and correct test pack by October 3.").

Wednesday
1.  Math Quiz 3 on Friday September 30.  Unit 2, Lesson 8.
2.  Math HW book page 28 only.
3.  News Journal Summary and Reflection.
4.  Journal -- movie review.
Here is a Khan Academy video that outlines multiplication by two digit factors.  Salman Khan is an MIT graduate who has posted a remarkable number of educational YouTube videos to take advantage of the learning possibilities provided by the Internet.  I find his approach to be straightforward and helpful. Try watching it.  (Notice that he uses commas for large numbers in the 10 thousands or more, which we don't use in metric notation.)


Tuesday
1.  Math Quiz 3 on Friday September 30.  Unit 2, Lesson 8 (Order of Operations).
2.  Math HW book pages 26-27.
3.  Running Shoe done in full and mounted on paper.
4.  Toonie for Terry.  Dress for the run tomorrow.
5.  Spelling Word Up dictation # 1 tomorrow.
6.  Photo day is on October 4.

Monday HW
1.  Math Quiz 2 tomorrow.  Unit 2, lessons 5 and 7.  The last Math quiz was done very well. The average was about 18 out of 20. Well done!
2.  Math HW Book pages 24-25.  At least half the class started this work in class today.
3.  Canada map fully done and handed in to white bin tomorrow.  We've had three periods to complete the map.  A model was on display in class showing the requirements.
4.  Toonies for Terry.   Run date is Wednesday AM.
5.  Science pages 3,4,and 5.  As well, students should complete their own creature cards for tomorrow in colour.  We worked on this in class and most students were well into the personal creature card.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Week of September 19-23, 2011

Friday HW
1. Math Quiz 2 on Prime & Composite numbers and Mental Math (Unit 2, Lessons 5 and 7) on Tuesday September 27.
2.  Finish News Journal started in class:  Summary and reflection.
3. Terry Fox Toonie
4. Stratford Form and fee
5. Student Data verification form
6. Book Report is due on October 6, 2011.  Reading of the book sghould be done.
Yesterday's spelling was completed by a much higher percentage of the group.  Thank you.
Thursday HW
1.  Math Quiz 2 on Prime & Composite numbers and Mental Math (Unit 2, Lessons 5 and 7) on Tuesday September 27.
2.  Math HW Book pages 22-23
3.  Terry Fox Toonie
4.  Stratford Form and fee
5.  Student Data verification form
6. Spelling textbook page 9 # 1,2; page 10 # 4,6 and 7; page 11 # 1
Today's math quiz went well.  The Spelling above was worked on today for a period.  Yesterday's spelling was forgotten at school or not done or left at home by 15 of 28 students.  I have started tracking homework/practice incompletes.  Most work is simply finishing up in-class work.  It is work I consider valuable and spend class time doing it as well as assigning it as homework.  I am out of the room for 2 of the 5 days in the cycle during the last period but students are reminded to pack their backpacks when we write the agenda out daily right after lunch.

Wednesday HW
1.  Math Quiz on Unit 2, Lessons 1 to 4 on Thursday September 22. See study review suggestions from Monday's entry.
2.  Finish Spelling Cycle (Syllabication and Derivatives -- a guide with explanation is glued on the inside cover of the notebook).
3.  Finish your summary and reflection based on Mika's or Jasmine's presentation
4. Terry Fox School Run on Wednesday September 28. Please bring a toonie for Terry on that day and dress for the morning run.
5. Book report due on October 6.

Tuesday HW
1.  Math HW Book pages 20-21.  A number of students have been forgetting their books at home or not doing the assigned practice.
2.  Timestables independent practice from 1 to 6 and up to 12 (ie:  6 X 12).  I find the number of students that have shaky control of their number facts to be significant.  We do practice working with number facts in class as well, but some basic review on scrap paper at home is a good idea.  I do permit calculator use for the most part, but  tables from 1 to 12 are best memorized.
3.  Math Quiz on Unit 2, Lessons 1 to 4 on Thursday September 22.  See study review suggestions from Monday's entry. 
4.  Terry Fox School Run on Wednesday September 28.  Please bring a toonie for Terry on that day and dress for the morning run.
5.  Book report due on October 6.

Monday HW
1.  Math HW book pages 18-19.
2.  Math quiz on Unit 2, Lessons 1 to 4.  Students should study the corresponding lessons in their texts, notebooks and Homework Books.  The "Connect" (textbook) and "Quick Review" (homework book) sections are useful for strategies and vocabulary.  I usually have questions I do not assign in the text for each lesson. These are helpful for review.  As well, there are questions in the text at the end of each Unit in the "Show What You Know" section (pages 76-77 for Unit 2) that are keyed to each lesson. 
3.  Student data verification sheets returned with or without corrections.
4.  Stratford form and fee.
5.  Toonie for Somalia famine relief tomorrow.
6.  Book report one is due October 6.  Reading should finish up by this weekend.
Today we spent time in Math reviewing the idea of Prime and Composite numbers and the special vocabulary that goes along with that cluster (ie:  factor).  Understanding and retaining the vocabulary is very important in helping a student understand a problem on a quiz.  I also stressed that students should never erase rough work in a word problem and modelled an exemplary problem solution to a multi-step problem in class. We also finished up with a CASI practice and reviewed one more News Journal example.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Week of September 12-16, 2011

Friday HW
We've had a great week.  I'm really pleased with the cooperative spirit the kids show.  Well done!
Today we began a CASI practice round on our Future theme.  We'll finish and correct on Monday.  We also continued with our News Journal introduction.  Every student received a presentation date which he/she wrote into their agendas, as well as the good copy sheet to actually present the work.  This ia oral and written evaluation.  We spoke and modelled at length to distinguish between "retell" and "summarize".  We are working toward the summary form.  In Math we completed work on comparing large numbers and looked at finding multiple and common multiples.  In the afternoon we viewed some web sites that have age-appropriate news articles for the News Journal (such as http://teachkidsnews.com/ ), began Science activities and introduced a mapping task for Social Studies.  We have limited homework on Fridays:
1.  Read 20 minutes for Book Report.
2.  Begin looking for an article for your news journal presentation if your date is coming up next week.
3.  Toonie for Somalia famine relief.
4.  Stratford form and fee are due October 5.
5.  Pizza day forms.

Thursday HW
Thank you to all the parents who came out to last night's presentation in our class.  The students appreciated your notes and I welcomed the feedback I received as well as the introductions. 
Today we continued with our Unit 2 math, focussing on ordering large numbers from greatest to smallest.  We continued with our future paragraph work:  self and peer edits using tools in the class such as dictionaries, thesauruses and my COPS sheets.  The students have put a good amount of effort into planning their work and it's my expectation that they begin thinking consistently of organizing their extended writing into paragraphs with indentations.  We ended our classes together with a News Journal introduction and an art activity.
1.  Math HW book p. 16.
2.  Good copy of future paragraph in pen, coloured and trimmed.
3.  Somalia famine relief toonie.
4.  Stratford field trip form and fee.
5.  Read for Book Report 20 minutes.

Wednesday HW
1.  Math HW book page 15.
2.  Pizza Day forms
3.  Toonie for Somalia famine relief
4.  Read 20 minutes
5.  Stratford form and fee by October 5, 2011.

Tuesday HW
1.  Math HW book page 14.
2.  Rough draft of Running Shoe of the future
3.  Scholastic orders due Wednesday.
4.  Pizza day forms.
5.  Toonie Tuesday for Somalia famine relief next Tuesday.  Thank you!

Monday HW
1.  Math HW Book pages 12-13.  This book was given to each student who takes part in my Math program today.  Please return it to school each day for corrections.
2.  Good copy of "Recipe For Me" is due in class tomorrow in pen.  We brainstormed imperative, recipe-style language for it and spent 2 periods working on a rough draft.
3.  Decorated and trimmed photo of yourself in class tomorrow.  This is from a photo I gave to each student today.
4.  Scholastic orders due Wednesday.  Cheques payable to Scholastic Canada Ltd.
5.  Pizza day forms.
6.  Curriculum Night in my room on Wednesday September 14 from 7-7:30 PM.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Welcome to the New Grade 6 Year!

Week of September 6-9, 2011

Greetings to the new students in my class for 2011-12.  I'm looking forward to meeting and getting to know all of you during this first week.  We will jump right in to the school year with some ice breaker activities and some Math and Language reviews.  As the first week goes by we will be preparing for the first Math unit in Number Sense and the first Language activities with News Journals and a novel study.  Also upcoming are our preparations for our Stratford visit to see Twelfth Night on October 18, including actor workshops right in our classroom.  It should be fun!  See you soon!


This blog will function as a weekly homework listing and be archived as the week ends.  Be sure to check out my class web page at http://areynolds.org/ all year long.  Plenty of useful stuff is posted, including downloads of class handouts which you should use to replace lost work.



Friday September 9, 2011
We've had a terrific first week of school in room 365.  A fair number of routines have been introduced and we've had an assembly with Mr. Hochberg and a Library introduction with Ms. Edgar, our new librarian.  Ms. Edgar is pleased to offer Library access for study, research or homework practice every day starting at 8:00 AM and for half an hour each day after school until 3:45 PM.  She has also provided a number of useful web links for research that complement the offerings on my web page.  Check out your child's agenda for more information.  Please take advantage of this welcoming environment!

1.  Typically I give little or no homework on weekends aside from project research/reading and twenty minutes of daily book report reading.  Our first book report is due on October 6.  Students should select a book they haven't already read that is at least 90 pages long and have it in class for Monday. 
2.Curriculum Night on September 14, 2011.  My session runs from 7 to 7:30 PM.  The evening lasts from 6:30- 8 PM.
3.  Scholastic forms will be mailed on Wednesday.  I would prefer that you send cheques made out to Scholastic Canada Ltd. rather than sending cash.
4.  Pizza day forms have been given out.
5.  School forms and letters signed and returned as needed.

Thursday September 8, 2011
1.  School letters, including Pizza Day requests, signed and returned as needed.
2.  Agenda fee,as needed.
3.  Please consider donating a roll of paper towel and a box is tissue for class use.  Thank you.
4.  We corrected math review 2 and 3 in class and spent 25 minutes on Math Review four.  Study all four sheets for tomorrow's quiz.
5.  Curriculum Night on Wednesday September 14, 6:30 - 8 PM

Wednesday September 7, 2011
1. School letters signed and returned.
2. I request one box of tissue and one roll of paper towel from each student for class use -- thank you.
3. $6.50 for agenda. Please send cash, as requested in our school policy, with exact change if possible. Thank you again and sorry for the inconvenience.
4. Math review #2 and 3; quiz on Friday.
5. Bring a photo of yourself that you can cut if you need to.
6.  Sign Book Report package.
The class is settling in very nicely.  They are a wonderful group!  We have been doing some introductory activities in math and language as we establish class routines.  Thank you very much for your cooperation in providing payment for the agenda and helping to stock our paper towel and tissue supplies.  Much appreciated!

Tuesday September 6, 2011
1.  School letters signed and returned.  
2.  I request one box of tissue and one roll of paper towel from each student for class use -- thank you.  
3.  $6.50 for agenda.  Please send cash, as requested in our school policy, with exact change if possible.  Thank you again and sorry for the inconvenience. 
4.  Math review #1; quiz on Friday.
5.  Bring a photo of yourself that you can cut if you need to.