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.