Grade 6 Room 12

December arrived this year with a Snow Day for students and while the expectations for Snow Days this year is different, the feedback I received from students was that they enjoyed a break from the protocols and procedures we have at school! In the event of another Snow Day this year, you can expect a post in our Google Classroom around 9:10 that outlines work that students can be working on at home. If there are issues related to accessibility to technology, please let me know and we can work through them together.

Your children were very engaged, responsive, and respectful during our Google Meet with Sara Westbrook this week. She talked about our emotions, how to deal with big feelings, building confidence, and standing up for yourself. We will continue to build on these important ideas throughout the year.

On Thursday, we are hoping to participate in a Virtual Minecraft Education Workshop. The sessions will be live streamed and students will be able to develop their coding skills which is a part of the new Mathematics curriculum. I'm anticipating great engagement and learning for all of us during the two sessions we will be participating in.

Our school is focusing on gratitude for the month of December. As a class, we've chosen to write cards of gratitude to our local fire department for all that they do for our community. Feel free to have conversations with your child about this initiative and brainstorm some ideas about what they could include in their card. Please refer the School Day message that was shared with regards to connecting with local agencies and supporting them during this season of giving and sharing.

I would like to take a moment to remind you that we will usually be spending between 40 and 70 minutes outside a day. We have developed a routine for our outdoor winter clothing. Please ensure that your child has the appropriate clothing to stay warm and dry while we are outside.

Thanks again for all you do and your continued support!

As we prepare to begin another month at school, we reflect on our progress and accomplishments. I believe we all entered this school year with some hesitation and a few questions about how things would go. I have to say, that from my perspective, your children have adjusted well to the parameters with which we are currently work. You should be proud of your child and how they adapting and finding unique and creative ways to accept their situation.

In a couple of weeks you will be receiving your child's progress report. We will not be having the tradition parent/teacher interview times but I am happy to make arrangements to connect about how your child is doing in Grade 6. This can be done through email, a phone call or a Google Meet. Please feel free to reach out at anytime to connect about your child.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of Mathify. This is a tool that is connected to TVO and students were provided with an account and a tutorial about how to use it. There is also a link at the bottom of the page. Mathify provides an opportunity for your child to receive free tutoring support from a qualified Ontario Teacher anonymously. The new Math curriculum may be challenging for your child and this would be an avenue to explore for some additional help. You can also check in with your child about what we are doing in Math as most of our work is completed digitally so they can readily share it with you at home.

Thanks to Mr. Soehner and a few of his students, we were able to be physically distanced in the gym to do some partner work. There are 2 metre squares where students can work independently or safely distanced from their peers.

Below, you will find our key curricular learning for November. Please talk with your child about what we are learning about and feel free to explore some of these topics at home.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership.


A Couple of Updates and Reminders

We are using our chrome books to complete much of our work this year. This certainly comes with its own set of positives and negatives. I have done my best to arrange our classroom so that I can see most of the chrome books at one time. This helps me to ensure that students are making appropriate choices. There are times, of course, when I am unable to be fully aware of students' activity on technology. Would you mind reviewing appropriate use of technology with your child at home? This includes focusing on the assigned task, no social media interactions, engaging in positive feedback with peers, and only altering their own work.

Each morning I am trying to provide a brief overview of the days work on our Google Classroom Stream. If you child is home for the day and well enough to complete some work, they can check the stream to see what we will be working on. This should help students stay on track. If they have any questions, they are welcome to email me for clarification and I will try to respond as promptly as possible.

Learning math facts is important and supports students in their ability to efficiently complete their math work. The traditional worksheet/memorization approaches don't work for everyone. This link may offer an approach that would support your child and their math fact learning.

If you have any questions about how your child is doing or what we are learning about in class, please feel free to reach out. We can arrange for a phone call or google meet to chat.

Thanks for all you are doing to support your child and their learning!

Our Learning

Each month I will post our key learning topics for each subject area here. You are welcome to explore these topics with your child and are encouraged to ask them questions about what they are learning. At the end of each week, you will receive a student-written newsletter highlighting important learning and activities we participated in throughout the week.

November's Learning -

Language -

  • write longer and more complex texts
  • summarize and explain important ideas and cite relevant supporting details - research
  • revising and editing skills - reviewing conventions (spelling, punctuation, grammar)
  • creating various media works including an infographic, video, and visual representation of poems
  • reading and writing a variety of poetry

Math -

  • Social-Emotional Learning Skills and Mathematical Processes
  • Geometric Reasoning
  • Data - Collection, Organization and Visualization

Science - After we complete our summative assignment, we will be taking a break to focus on Social Studies.

Social Studies - Heritage and Identity

  • Assess contributions to Canadian identities made by various groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, and by various features of Canadian communities and regions
  • Use the social studies inquiry process to investigate different perspectives on the historical and/or contemporary experiences of a few distinct communities, including First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit communities, in Canada
  • Demonstrate an understanding of significant experiences of, and major changes and aspects of life in, various historical and contemporary communities, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, in Canada

Digital Focus -

  • using a variety of applications to support our learning
  • digital responsibility

We will focus on developing an understanding of the Learning Skills (Responsibility, Organization, Collaboration, Independent Work, Initiative, Self-Regulation ) as identified on the Provincial Report Cards, goal setting and our safety routines as well.

Homework

There will not be regularly assigned homework this year. Rather, students are expected and encouraged to:

  • Read

    • at least 20 minutes a day,

    • preferable not on a device as students are spending much time on their devices at school

  • Solidify Math Facts

    • The new Math Curriculum states the following expectation: "understand the divisibility rules and use them to determine whether numbers are divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10". Learning, practicing, and reviewing multiplication facts will support this expectation.