Update for February 29th

Homework

Literacy- Go to globalissues.org and begin to think about a global issue/topic you wish to choose for your editorial writing.

Math- Grade 7- complete work that you started on fractions and shapes

History- Complete your War of 1812 video and information. Please find the assignment instructions on our Classroom site. 


VIP

Grade 6 students have started their VIP program for this year. VIP, run by the York Region Police Department, focuses on discussing topics such as ,values and rules, peer pressure, authority figures, alcohol and tobacco and other drugs, internet safety and youth and the law.

There will be 4 more sessions that will take place over the next 2 weeks. 


Math Mania

In case you did not receive the letter that went home, Thursday night is our first annual "Math Mania" night. The night is for parents and students alike. It is an information night mean't to help parents understand how they can help their children succeed in today's modern math program. The night will take parents and students through our problem solving model and hopefully allow you to better understand what is expected in math class and why we expect the type of work that we do. 

RSVP's have already been returned but if you give your form in tomorrow, I am sure that we can still accommodate. 

Homework and Update for February 23rd, 2016

Literacy- Finish Year round school debate arguments. We will be having our first round of debates tomorrow so be sure you come prepared!

Math- Complete your study package. Grade 6's and 7's.... please place a particular emphasis on studying volume and surface area. THERE WILL BE A MATH QUIZ ON THURSDAY!

History- Please go to google classroom and complete the video and activities given on the War of 1812.


A Special Thanks! 

As most of you know, our class had a unique opportunity to participate in a full week dance work shop last week. This culminated in a dance recital that junior and intermediate students had the pleasure of putting on. I wanted to say how impressed I was with many of the dance presentations. A special thanks goes out to the students who put in hard work to make their dances the best they could be. A special thanks also goes out to the wonderful instructors who delivered meaningful dance curriculum to every single class in our school (K-8). Both instructors are set to graduate this year from teachers college and put in a great deal of effort to bringing the wonderful art of dance to our school. We look forward to having them back in the future.

Arts Package Event Update

Westminster will be welcoming Fana Soro and his Yamo! Yamo! production on tomorrow @ 9:00am (K-8).  The event is part of the arts/athletics enrichment program this year.

 

Following is a brief description:

 

IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT/TEST UPDATE

Hi everyone,

After reviewing how disrupted our week has been due to the dance schedule we have had, I have determined that more time is needed to review science and math concepts taught. Therefore I am postponing our science and math tests until next week.

Our math test will be Wednesday of next week while our science test will be on Monday. This will give all students a chance to study over the weekend. I will be giving students a review session for science tomorrow. I will also be giving them a study guide. All materials students need to study for both tests should be available either on the "Google Class" site or in their notes.

I am sorry for the delay in testing but I honestly did not realize how much schedule juggling would be required this week. The delay is so that I can best prepare each student for success. Thank you for your understanding!



In regards to tonight's homework, it is:

Literacy- Make 3 connections to your novel using the connection making graphic organizer provided. Please have this prepared for your group discussions tomorrow.

Math- Converting units of measurement worksheet- All questions!


Report Reminder

A reminder that report cards should have gone home today. If possible, please return your report card slips as soon as possible. I would love to have all reports returned Monday if possible.

For grade 7 parents/guardians and students who may be seeing percentages for the first time, this is how they correlate with letter grades

0-49%- An E (an F for those who are more familiar with our traditional letter system)
50-59%-  D- to a D+
60-69%-  C- to a C+
70-79%-  B- to a B+
80-83%- A-
84-90%- A
90% and above- A+

If you fall into the B range, you are considered to be progressing as expected. Any mark in the high C range means you are getting there, but certain important curriculum expectations are not quite being met.

Family Day Weekend Update

First of all, I wanted to take the time to wish those celebrating in our class a belated Happy Chinese New Year! I hope your New Year is one filled with happiness and successes!

I also wanted to wish you all a wonderful Family Day long weekend! It is hard to believe how quickly time is flying by! I guess time truly fly when you are having fun (and learning a lot)!

This weekend, the is still some work to get done:

Literacy- In literacy, students should complete their week 3 reading packages.

Science- Grade 6 students have not all completed their flight analysis worksheet. Please have them complete for Tuesday

Math- There is Triangular Prism review work to complete. Questions 1,2,10,11


Music- Bars 9-17 of Royal Crown March


Have a great long weekend and I will see all of you on Tuesday.

Reminders for February 10th, 2016

Math-

Volume of a rectangular prism worksheet. Due tomorrow. A reminder the length x width x height will give you the response in cubic units.

Literacy

Complete a well written body paragraph to the persuasive essay on cell phones in schools.

Music

 Practice Royal Crown March bars 9-17. A reminder that Friday is the day to come in at lunch recess for your assessment on bars 1-8 if you haven't come in already.

Science

Please see yesterday's post

Example of a well written introduction to an editorial/persuasive essay

Here is an example of a well written introduction. Every introduction must include:

1) An engaging opening sentence or paragraph that allows readers to become engaged in your editorial. Rhetorical questions (questions that are leading with an obvious answer) can be used to really allow people to understand what your argument is and begin to believe it.

2) A thesis statement/a statement that states your opinion or stance on an issue. 

3) The 3 arguments you intend to use in your body paragraphs to support your opinion

You are sitting in class when your teacher asks you find a calculator in order to complete the answer to an equation. Unfortunately the classroom does not have enough calculators and you do not have your own. Does this situation sound familiar to you? Often, students do not have the tools they need to do the work that must be completed.  Yet, if students were allowed to have cellphones in class then they would have the tools to complete many tasks that are made difficult by a lack of resources in schools. I believe cellphones should unequivocally be allowed in schools because they are an excellent educational tool, can be used in emergency situations and can be used in a safe environment where adults are there to supervise and guide students in ensuring they are using their phones in a positive way

Update for Tuesday February 9th, 2016

Science

Both grade 6 and 7 students will be having a quiz/test on Friday February 19th.

Grade 6's will be quizzed specifically on:

1) The properties of fluids
2) Bernoulli's Principle (Low/High air pressure)
3) Lift, Drag, Thrust and Pull (gravity)
4) Lighter-than air aircraft (what allows a hot air balloon to fly/stay in the air)
5) States of matter (liquid, solid and gas) and how they relate to flight.


Grade 7's will be quizzed on:

1) Pure substances
2) Mixtures (Both mechanical mixtures and solutions)
3) Dissolving
4) Separating Mechanical Mixtures
5) Particle Theory of Matter (What is Particle Theory and how does it help explain what happens to particles in different solutions and mixtures?)

In addition to the quiz both grade 6 and 7 students are working on two other evaluated tasks this week. Grade 6 students are building their own paper airplanes and are expected to explain why flew well or ineffectively.  They are to use scientific terms such as air pressure, drag, pull, thrust and gravity and aerodynamic to explain their results. They should also be using Bernoulli's principle to build their wings so that air pressure is lower on top of the wing than it is on the bottom on the wing.

Grade 7 students will be completing a flow chart in which they are given a mechanical mixture consisting of 6 different substances. The idea is to use methods of separating mixtures we have reviewed in class such as magnetism, sifting and evaporation, in order to totally separate each substance from each other.

Just a note for parents: A few grade 7 students did not complete their homework on separating mechanical mixtures for today despite a previous blog post and the assignment being accessible on the class site. If your child did not come prepared today they missed a potentially valuable discussion that would have greatly assisted them in completing their upcoming task more successfully.  

Other homework

Music- Practice Royal Crown March at 100 beats per minute. Please use your online metronome to play/practice at this tempo.

Literacy- Complete the missing elements of the editorial you were given today in class. If there is an element missing you are expected to complete that part of the editorial. For example, if there is no introduction, try to create a proper introduction using the success criteria to do so.

History- Work on Loyalist Poster- Push and Pull factors. Due Friday!

Work Reminder for Friday February 5th, 2016

Music
 A reminder that on Tuesday of next week, there will be an assessment on the first 8 bars of Royal crown march. Students are expected to practice ahead of time

Science- Grade 6- Complete Wing test analysis

Grade 7- Complete mechanical mixture worksheet based on the slideshow posted (Please find the worksheet on Google Classroom.

Math

Grade 6- Complete your net and surface area review pages
Grade 7- Complete the surface area of a trapezoid worksheet

History/Social Studies

Grade 6- Please have your "Identity Art" presentations prepared for Mr Tamblyn by the next day 4
Grade 7- Please have your Loyalist posters completed for the next day 4

Literacy

Start your week 3 reading

Hugo- Chapters 8-12
We All Fall Down- 7-8
The Giver- 8-11
Enders Game- 8,9
Dear George Clooney- 8-12

Today's Homework, February 3rd, 2016

Math
Surface area of a Rectangular Prism worksheet- All questions

Language
 Complete your summary of 1 chapter of your "Book Club" novel.

Science
Grade 6- Complete your "Why Airplanes Fly" questions
Grade 7- Complete questions on dissolving.

Music
Practice bars 1-8 of "Royal Crown March". Assessment will take place on day 5.

February Update

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

I am very excited to see so many people have been visiting the class log. I am hoping that his form of communication is allowing for both parents/guardians and students to feel connected to the classroom. While I do my absolute best to post as frequently as possible, I do want to give a reminder to students and parents/guardians that our homework board is still the first tool for recording what needs to be completed for homework. There may be days when I am unable to post, but I would be extremely happy to have a student (who is available at to write at the end of the day) post work reminders on the blog when I am unable to.

I wanted to give you a general update on what you can expect to see in terms of work from subject to subject. I will do my best to send you a similar update every month from here on in.

Language

 In Language, students will be completing a persuasive paper in the form of an editorial. We are in the process of reading various editorials and developing an understanding of not just what to include in an editorial, but how we can also use reading strategies to build an understanding of what we are reading. For example, students recently learned how to ask questions before, during and after reading in order to develop a more thorough understanding what they read.

Students are also participating in "Book Clubs". Students are currently in their second week of their first Book Club rotation and have already completed one reading comprehension package. They will be receiving their second package tomorrow (Feb 4th) and are expected to have finished their week 2 readings. Blended into their reading is a second component. This week, students were taken through a lesson/strategy that should help them to be able to summarize their readings (Very different than a recount!!). They are expected to complete a summary of 1 chapter they have read and bring it with them to school on Friday. They will then share this summary with their book club groups and provide each other with peer feedback. A similar "Discussion group" activity will take place every week for the next 5 weeks. Students will focus on various reading skills such as making connections, inferring and understanding difficult vocabulary. I will model a strategy or tactic each week that will  provide a frame work for students to be able to improve in these areas of reading. The "Discussion Group" activity is simply a way for students to practice using these tactics to improve their reading ability. These activities also give students the chance to get together with other students who are reading the same book and discuss their readings together.

Mathematics

Grade 6s and 7s are both focusing on learning about area and surface area of various polygons. There will be a quiz next Tuesday on both area and surface area. There will be a unit test on perimeter, area and surface area the following week. grade 6 students should be able to find the area of a Parallelogram, and Triangle. Grade 7's need to know how to find these as well, but are also expected to know how to find the area of a Trapezoid.

For surface area, both grades need to understand how to find the surface area of Rectangular Prisms and Triangular Prisms. Grade 7 students must also know how to calculate the surface area of Trapezoidal Prisms.

Science

Students in grade 6 are continuing their unit on flight. On Friday, students will be building their own wings. The wings will be built with sustained flight in mind. They will apply their knowledge of the forces of flight and Bernoulli's principle to the building of their wings (which eventually will be attached to their own flying device) and will have to explain why they designed the wings the way they did.

Students in grade 7 will be learning about how to separate mechanical mixtures and solutions.

Both grade 6 and 7 students will be having a mid unit quiz in two weeks time. The quiz will be on the following things:

Grade 6- Characteristics of Fluids, Principles of Flight, Bernoulli's Principle, Light-than-air flying devices (such as hot air balloons and blimps).

Grade 7: Pure Substances, Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Mixtures, Mass, Volume, Matter Dissolving, Particle Theory of Matter, Separating Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Mixtures


History

We will be learning about the War of 1812. Following this learning and the completion of a War of 1812 commemorative coin, we will be moving out of history and into Geography (Should be by the 18th of February).


Health

We will continue our unit on healthy eating. Students have been working on a project in which they must complete a "healthy" grocery shopping run, but must do so on a budget of only 100 dollars for the week. The idea is to show students that there are barriers to healthy eating, but that if we are smart about the way we shop, they can be overcome. Grade 7 students will be extending their learning during this unit as we will begin to talk about body image and how peer pressure and negative body image can lead to people making unhealthy eating decisions.


Music

Students have been hard at work learning a piece of music entitled "Royal Crown March". The goal is to have our class play this at a concert we will be holding this spring (at the end of April). As we learn this piece, we are also going to be beginning a unit that asks students to compare the elements of music to the elements of design in art. They will explain how the music they listen to and the artwork they analyze express similar emotions (for example, jagged lines in a painting may represent the feeling of chaos, just as a crescendo may make you feel more on edge or unsettled).