The students had a terrific time on our trip to Mono Cliffs. I was especially pleased with the behaviour of the boys in my dormitory. They were good as gold. I really enjoyed the experience!
Friday HW
1. Math Quiz on Unit 4 Lessons 6 and 7 on Tuesday December 6.
2. Please bring your trading partner country research materials to class starting on Monday so we can begin using organizers to take notes and build the presentation. Project due January 20. Details of the project requirements are at the back of the "Canada and its Links to The World" in-class booklet.
3. Book report Reading. Report due January 18.
Thursday HW
1. Math Quiz Unit 4 Lessons 1-5 on Friday
2. Math Quiz 2 on Unit 4 Lessons 6 and 7 on Tuesday, December 6.
3. Math HW Book pages 58-59.
4. Book Report reading.
5. Have research for Trading Partner project in class for Monday when we begin note taking.
Wednesday HW
1. Diversity Booklet and Text due in class tomorrow.
2. Math Quiz Unit 4 Lessons 1-5 on Friday.
3. Math Quiz 2 on Unit 4, Lessons 6 and 7 on Tuesday December 6.
3. Math HW book page 57.
4. Begin gathering research material for your country for the Trading Partners project. We will start in-class work with our organizers on Monday. The project is due on January 20.
We continued our Inferencing activities in class today with a Media Literacy focus. We are looking at overt and implied meanings and audience. The medium is movie posters and TV ads.
Tuesday HW
1 Diversity booklet and text due in class on Thursday.
2. Math Quiz unit 4 Lessons 1-5 on Friday December 2.
3. Book report reading 20 minutes.
4. Math HW Book page 56.
5. Begin gathering research for Trading Partners powerpoint project. It is due on January 20.
We will spend a fair amount of class time on this Trading Partners assignment before the Christmas break to avoid having students do the work on the holidays. Students should remember though that they must be prepared for class time work (rather than rely on class time for all research efforts) and use it well to avoid "crunch-time" pressures. There is a book report due at the same time (January 18) so students need to plan accordingly.
Monday HW
1. Math HW book pages 54-55.
2. Math quiz on Friday December 2 on Unit 4 Lessons 1 to 5.
3. Diversity presentations are ongoing. Please be prepared to deliver yours when it is your turn.
4. Diveristy booklets are due in class for marking on Thursday this week. Be ready to hand them in as well as the text books.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Week of November 14-18, 2011
Thursday HW
1. Math Text pages 127-128 # 1 to 8. Students should use the number line sheets I gave them to complete some or all of these questions.
2. Math HW Book pages 50-51.
3. Novel Study reading up to the assigned page for each group. Keep in mind that the questions from the booklet for each chapter will eventually need to be finished. Students can take home the folder with the novel but should ensure that it is back at school on Monday.
The Curses of Third Uncle: up to the end of page 73
The Westing Game: up tp the end of page 103
Dust: up to the end of page 78
The Egypt Game: up to the end of page 113
Wednesday HW
No Homework tonight -- interview week. Tomorrow night the students will have a few things to take home to work on for the PA Day that we ahve started in class already.
On Wednesday morning we had a class meeting about bringing sports balls from home. Our vice principal announced today that students should be using only the school sports balls that are provided in class as a means of preventing injury. We discussed the way that might play out over the coming months and the need to avoid roofing or losing the sports equipment in some way. In Math we looked at comparing and ordering decimal numbers using place value charts and number lines for two periods. I found the students reluctant to explain their reasoning in sentences when they ordered numbers in a certain way. This type of "explain your thinking" response is a key feature of the grade 6 program -- short cut explanations are not rewarded on assessments like the EQAO test or my quizzes.
We also continued our work on inference-making using our novel study books. The focus today was on making connections that are deeper and meaningful rather than superficial. The goal is to enrich a student's understanding of the literature through text to self, world or other text connections.
In the afternoon we read chapter 2 of The Giver as our read aloud book. We also had some presenters deliver their Diversity projects.
Tuesday HW
No Homework tonight -- interview week. I will have some homework on Thursday night but not much on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Today we caught up on some novel study reading prior to the trip to Roy Thomson Hall to see Lang Lang's performance with the TSO. I thought the students responded well to this engaging charismatic young man. Peter Oundjian's enthusiastic talks in between pieces were also a revelation. After lunch we listened to some presentations for the Diversity projects. These are going well so far. The students are making honest efforts to engage the audience with questions and generally they avoid reading the slides to us. As a first exposure to the PowerPoint format, it bodes well for later efforts in the year.
Monday HW
1. TSO trip tomorrow. Bring a lunch to school to eat in class during period 4 when we return.
2. Social Studies booklet pages 4 and 5.
3. Prepare for Diversity presentations.
Today we spent a double period on Novel Study and Guided Reading in the morning. After recess we read The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg and completed an inferencing reading response activity. In the afternoon we scheduled some Diversity presentations. We also worked on our Social Studies booklets.
1. Math Text pages 127-128 # 1 to 8. Students should use the number line sheets I gave them to complete some or all of these questions.
2. Math HW Book pages 50-51.
3. Novel Study reading up to the assigned page for each group. Keep in mind that the questions from the booklet for each chapter will eventually need to be finished. Students can take home the folder with the novel but should ensure that it is back at school on Monday.
The Curses of Third Uncle: up to the end of page 73
The Westing Game: up tp the end of page 103
Dust: up to the end of page 78
The Egypt Game: up to the end of page 113
Wednesday HW
No Homework tonight -- interview week. Tomorrow night the students will have a few things to take home to work on for the PA Day that we ahve started in class already.
On Wednesday morning we had a class meeting about bringing sports balls from home. Our vice principal announced today that students should be using only the school sports balls that are provided in class as a means of preventing injury. We discussed the way that might play out over the coming months and the need to avoid roofing or losing the sports equipment in some way. In Math we looked at comparing and ordering decimal numbers using place value charts and number lines for two periods. I found the students reluctant to explain their reasoning in sentences when they ordered numbers in a certain way. This type of "explain your thinking" response is a key feature of the grade 6 program -- short cut explanations are not rewarded on assessments like the EQAO test or my quizzes.
We also continued our work on inference-making using our novel study books. The focus today was on making connections that are deeper and meaningful rather than superficial. The goal is to enrich a student's understanding of the literature through text to self, world or other text connections.
In the afternoon we read chapter 2 of The Giver as our read aloud book. We also had some presenters deliver their Diversity projects.
Tuesday HW
No Homework tonight -- interview week. I will have some homework on Thursday night but not much on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Today we caught up on some novel study reading prior to the trip to Roy Thomson Hall to see Lang Lang's performance with the TSO. I thought the students responded well to this engaging charismatic young man. Peter Oundjian's enthusiastic talks in between pieces were also a revelation. After lunch we listened to some presentations for the Diversity projects. These are going well so far. The students are making honest efforts to engage the audience with questions and generally they avoid reading the slides to us. As a first exposure to the PowerPoint format, it bodes well for later efforts in the year.
Monday HW
1. TSO trip tomorrow. Bring a lunch to school to eat in class during period 4 when we return.
2. Social Studies booklet pages 4 and 5.
3. Prepare for Diversity presentations.
Today we spent a double period on Novel Study and Guided Reading in the morning. After recess we read The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg and completed an inferencing reading response activity. In the afternoon we scheduled some Diversity presentations. We also worked on our Social Studies booklets.
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7 - 11, 2011
Thursday HW
I thought this was a particularly interesting web page which gives an indication of the local impact of World War II. It's called the Poppy File and displays a marker in the neighbourhoods all over the city that suffered human losses during that conflict.
http://toronto.openfile.ca/remembrance_day
1. Novel Study reading for Monday morning. Each group has a defined number of pages to read and respond to each week for the next 4 weeks. We've spent a fair amount of class time reading and I would judge that more than half of the students are finished the weekly reading as of today. There are questions in the booklet that will help each student prepare for quizzes.
2. Diversity Powerpoint presentation practice. With only a couple of exceptions, each student was ready with his/her assignment today. We modelled presentation 'best practices':
3. Science booklet work up to page 9 and also page 11.
This morning we collected book reports and Mono Cliffs forms before working on Guided Reading and Novel Study activities. After recess our math class focussed on the decimal and fraction representation of numbers up to thousandths. After lunch we worked on Diversity presentation techniques and other tasks connected to handing in the project. Music/Drama and French ended the day. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. Schools across Canada respectfully ask students for poppy fund donations to help support Veterans' programs. Thank you for your generosity.
Wednesday HW
1. Diversity project due tomorrow.
2. Book report due tomorrow.
3. Interview request form sent home today.
4. Book Mark for Novel study assigned in class and to be completed as homework.
Today we completed Math text work on Decimals lesson 1. We also introduced a new lesson on thousandths using grids and base 10 blocks. We generated some success criteria for our book marks during the novel study period. In the afternoon we visited the Library and received some instruction on information gathering resources before foing a book exchange. After French, we worked on our Scoial Studies booklet page 4.
Tuesday HW
1. Novel Study Book Cover for Wednesday.
2. Mono Cliffs form and fee due Wednesday.
3. Diversity project due on November 10.
4. Book report due on November 10.
5. Math HW book pages 44-45
Today we wrote our Geometry test in the morning. During Novel Study we worked on the Book Cover and discussed success criteria for that assignment. We also completed Mono Cliffs roommate request slips which Mr. Reynolds collected and used to start sorting students into room pairs. Gym and french periods took place in the afternoon. We also worked on page nine of our Diveristy booklets in class.
Monday HW
1. Geometry Test tomorrow on Unit 3. Study the Show What You Know review questions we did in class last week, and make a vocabulary list for yourself.
2. Diversity project is due on November 10. Today was our last day using computers for this project.
3. Book Report 2 is due on November 10 as well.
4. Mono Cliffs forms are due on Wednesday November 9.
Today we introduced our reading groups. We are pursuing two general directions: a mystery novel study in a group and a non-fiction Guided Reading arc with the same group. There are four different texts for each activity (eight in all) and each has a link to some curricular topic we've touched on already or are about to study in class. The novel study will be read in chunks over four weeks. Students were placed in groups and read the novel today and met in small groups for Guided reading introductions. We also introduced our new Math Unit #4 on Decimals with a small group activity using newspapers. In the afternoon we worked for our final day on the Diversity project in class using paper and computer resources. The Homework Club today at lunch was well attended -- over a dozen students availed themselves of this extra time, mainly to use the laptops. Way to go! A November Newsletter was distributed today as well.
I thought this was a particularly interesting web page which gives an indication of the local impact of World War II. It's called the Poppy File and displays a marker in the neighbourhoods all over the city that suffered human losses during that conflict.
http://toronto.openfile.ca/remembrance_day
1. Novel Study reading for Monday morning. Each group has a defined number of pages to read and respond to each week for the next 4 weeks. We've spent a fair amount of class time reading and I would judge that more than half of the students are finished the weekly reading as of today. There are questions in the booklet that will help each student prepare for quizzes.
2. Diversity Powerpoint presentation practice. With only a couple of exceptions, each student was ready with his/her assignment today. We modelled presentation 'best practices':
- don't read slides to us;
- make eye contact;
- use movement around the room;
- get audience involvement by asking questions;
- use humour where appropriate.
3. Science booklet work up to page 9 and also page 11.
This morning we collected book reports and Mono Cliffs forms before working on Guided Reading and Novel Study activities. After recess our math class focussed on the decimal and fraction representation of numbers up to thousandths. After lunch we worked on Diversity presentation techniques and other tasks connected to handing in the project. Music/Drama and French ended the day. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. Schools across Canada respectfully ask students for poppy fund donations to help support Veterans' programs. Thank you for your generosity.
Wednesday HW
1. Diversity project due tomorrow.
2. Book report due tomorrow.
3. Interview request form sent home today.
4. Book Mark for Novel study assigned in class and to be completed as homework.
Today we completed Math text work on Decimals lesson 1. We also introduced a new lesson on thousandths using grids and base 10 blocks. We generated some success criteria for our book marks during the novel study period. In the afternoon we visited the Library and received some instruction on information gathering resources before foing a book exchange. After French, we worked on our Scoial Studies booklet page 4.
Tuesday HW
1. Novel Study Book Cover for Wednesday.
2. Mono Cliffs form and fee due Wednesday.
3. Diversity project due on November 10.
4. Book report due on November 10.
5. Math HW book pages 44-45
Today we wrote our Geometry test in the morning. During Novel Study we worked on the Book Cover and discussed success criteria for that assignment. We also completed Mono Cliffs roommate request slips which Mr. Reynolds collected and used to start sorting students into room pairs. Gym and french periods took place in the afternoon. We also worked on page nine of our Diveristy booklets in class.
Monday HW
1. Geometry Test tomorrow on Unit 3. Study the Show What You Know review questions we did in class last week, and make a vocabulary list for yourself.
2. Diversity project is due on November 10. Today was our last day using computers for this project.
3. Book Report 2 is due on November 10 as well.
4. Mono Cliffs forms are due on Wednesday November 9.
Today we introduced our reading groups. We are pursuing two general directions: a mystery novel study in a group and a non-fiction Guided Reading arc with the same group. There are four different texts for each activity (eight in all) and each has a link to some curricular topic we've touched on already or are about to study in class. The novel study will be read in chunks over four weeks. Students were placed in groups and read the novel today and met in small groups for Guided reading introductions. We also introduced our new Math Unit #4 on Decimals with a small group activity using newspapers. In the afternoon we worked for our final day on the Diversity project in class using paper and computer resources. The Homework Club today at lunch was well attended -- over a dozen students availed themselves of this extra time, mainly to use the laptops. Way to go! A November Newsletter was distributed today as well.