Week in Review: May 13 - 17

 Wow, it's hard to believe that we've already hit May Long Weekend!  

The May long weekend typically signals the beginning of year end activities and as such we will be kicking into a higher gear from now until the conclusion of the year to ensure all the final t's are getting crossed and i's are dotted - i.e. unit tests, reading assessments, final projects, and of the course the ongoing collecting and grading of assignment and unit data.   I have little doubt that the final few weeks will seemingly fly by, so keep up the consistent attendance and good habits at home - we're almost to the finish line, let's go!  

Curriculum wise this week...

In Math we continue to work through our unit related to transformations of data related to reflections and translations.  Next week, we continue our study of translations before testing the unit on Friday, May 24th.

In Language Arts we continued with descriptive writing practice and used our skills to create some AI renders of what we think our heroes and their partners would like.  Definitely a lot of excitement around the assignment and lots of smiling faces when the picture being created matched what they had pictured in their minds, ie. they were able to enter in the exact correct information.  Next week we do some more narrative writing using picture cues and also kick off our final novel study, The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade.  In last few remining weeks we will work through some associated comprehension activities related to character and setting.  

In Science, we 

hopped right into our next Science unit focusing on the study of Evidence and Investigation...think C.S.I. for grade six students!  Over the remaining weeks, students will developing their ability to use different scientific methods to recognize, collect, and evaluate evidence to determine what happened at a "crime scene" under investigation.  Evidence left behind sometimes gives investigators the information they need to find suspects and solve crimes. This week our grade six investigators learned about identifying features of footprints, and how investigators can identify direction of travel as well as pace.  Next week we will continue our investigation of tire tracks (postponed due to rain), and then focus on fingerprints, chromatography, and handwriting analysis.

Junior High Orientation

On Thursday, May 23rd the grade six classes from West Haven Public, Leduc Estates, Corinthia Park School, and St. Ben's School will all be meeting at West Haven for their annual junior high orientation.  During that afternoon they will have a chance to meet and greet the grade seven teachers, get a little info about next year, and then take part in some fun activities with the students from the other schools who will be attending here in the fall.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Friday, May 17 - No School: PD Day

Monday, May 20- Victoria Day: No School

Tuesday, May 21 - School Class Picture Day

Tuesday, May 21 - Library: Book Exchange

Wednesday, May 23 - Junior High Orientation

Friday, May 24 - Math Quiz: Rotations, Reflections, and Translations

Friday, May 24 - Spelling Test 

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Friday, May 31- Western Rodeo Day - celebrate the kick off of the Leduc Rodeo

Friday, June 14 - Grade Six immunizations (second round)

Strathcona Wilderness Center - Last Minute Information

So have confirmed all our final trip numbers for tomorrow's field trip to the Strathcona Wilderness Center - thank you to everyone who managed to confirm their child's attendance by getting in the required permission form and fee before today's cutoff deadline.  To those still missing items, I will have alternate work here at the school for your child to complete tomorrow while we are away on the field trip.

In confirming with the Strathcona Wilderness they shared with us the following information for everyone attending in terms of what to bring and wear:

FOOTWEAR - ABSOLUTELY NO CROCS, SLIDES, OR SANDALS.  As all of our activities are being held in a "forest environment" where the ground is uneven with a variety of terrain - supportive footwear, ie. Running shoes, is mandatory.  With this in mind anyone showing up tomorrow for the field trip without appropriate footwear will be told to change immediately, and in the event they have nothing to change into they will remain at the school.

BRING A BAG LUNCH and WATER BOTTLE - We will not have access to a microwave or snacks from the office, so pack enough ready to eat food to sustain a full day of physical activity.

CLOTHING/ATTIRE - As we will be in the forest the potential for mosquitos and bugs is high, wear darker colours and long sleeves/pants, and a hat.  This clothing will also help reduce the potential for scraps and scratches that sometimes accompany running in underbrush and trees.

NO CELL PHONES - As we will be moving through various locations tomorrow and being physically active in wooded areas with little to no cell coverage, all students were told to leave ALL personal cell phone devices at home.  Losing a cell phone in the forest essentially means it's gone...and rather than experience that situation, everyone is asked to simply leave them at home!

Week in Review: May 6 - 10 (slightly delayed)

As we move through May and the typical Alberta spring mix of wacky weather as of late, please ensure that everyone is dressing for the weather and prepared for whatever meets them on their way to school (ie. snow/sleet/rain/wind/blistering heat) as it sometimes accompanies them at recess time as well.  The expectation is that everyone heads outdoors for recesses and there's nothing worse than soggy clothes or being cold when trying to run around!

Curriculum wise this week...

In Math, we worked through further activities involving coordinate grids and being able to identify and accurately plot rotated and reflected data using a four quadrant Cartesian grid.  The concepts of rotation and reflection will carry forward into next week and the week will wrap up with us examining the concept of translations.  Our concept unit exam for this unit is tentatively scheduled for Monday, May 27th.

In Language Arts this week, as was mentioned, was all about wrapping up our Hana's Suitcase novel study and ensuring that everyone is ready to go and comfortable in composing both narrative and factual styles of writing.

As a class, we worked through a few more narrative and factual writing assignments.  We discussed again the use of paragraphs within our writing as a way of improving the organization and sequencing of our ideas and the events within our stories.  Paragraphs allow use to go from big, lengthy chunks of writing to instead writing that is easier to read, follow, and ultimately understand and enjoy.  

With our factual writing assignments, we have been spending a lot of time working on developing our descriptive writing skills so as to accurately communicate information to our readers.

In Science this week we continued our introduction of our final Science unit of the year, Evidence and Investigation.  This unit is always a fun one as everyone gets to try their hand at learning different observation and investigation techniques.  This week we began by looking at foot print analysis, and understanding how footprints can give investigators information about possible suspect direction, weight, and footwear being worn.  

Come next week we will be looking at classifying different animal tracks and also doing some work in the staff parking lot as we investigate different tire tread and track evidence.

In CTF, we continued our Journey to Jupiter and commence construction on challenge two of projects, the successful construction of a functional "Orbiter" capable of landing Perry safely on the surface of Ganymede.

Each team has been tasked with building a functional capsule capable of holding a load (Perry) that when tossed into the air will land safely on some form of "legs".  All the teams seem to figured out to incorporate some form of parachute/air resistance device into their designs to slow their descents and now working hard to figure a capsule design that will absorb landing shock and ensure a safe landing on its feet.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Tuesday, May 14 - Hana's Suitcase: Novel Study Test

Wednesday, May 15 - Strathcona Wilderness Center Field Trip

Friday, May 17  - Library: Book Exchange

Friday, May 17 - Spelling Test

Monday, May 20 - Victoria Day: No School

Tuesday, May 21 - PD Day: No School

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Monday, May 27th - Math Unit Exam: Transformations

Week in Review: April 28 - May 3

 

Over the last couple weeks the class has continued to focus on the topic of mental wellness as one of the multiple dimensions of positive personal well-being.  Through discussion we have highlighted how the stigma once associated with the topic has gradually begun to disappear, as more and more people recognize the importance of life balance and positive mental health within day-to-day life.  The topic of resiliency and the idea of learning from challenges/mistakes ties in beautifully with mental health.  As students, the class is tasked with various challenges daily - some easier than others.  It is when faced with these challenges that we talk about resiliency and being mentally tough by linking this with the idea of growth mindsets.  We have had a bulletin board set up all year highlighting the ability to take risks and learn from mistakes.  We have talked about how dwelling on failures, or worse yet - repeating them, can have a very negative impact on every aspect of a person's health - mental, emotional, physical, social, cognitive, and spiritual.

A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and 'smartness' can be learned and that the brain grows from experience and effort.  The opposite, a fixed mindset, is the idea you are either smart or you are not.  With that said, the goal for us this year has been to thrive on challenges and see them, not as insurmountable or unachievable, but as a learning opportunity.  Brain research tells us that making mistakes actually generates more neural connections in the brain - which is great thing!  When a person has a growth mindset, they accept challenges, see their efforts as worthwhile, and are open to making mistakes.  

Our goal this year has always been to foster students with a growth mindset that promotes positive mental wellness and achievement at higher levels by developing a sense of personal responsibility and accountability for the quality of work being completed.  This week responsibility and accountability were definitely hot topics as everyone was reminded by both myself, Mr. Porter, and Mr. Johnson that the end of the year is definitely not the time to "take the foot off the gas" and goof around or hand in substandard work - but is instead the time to shine brighter and demonstrate that you've developed the work habits and skills that will allow you to be successful in junior high.  

We're almost nine months through the school year and the expectations for behaviour and work won't be changing just because we're almost finished sixth grade.  Please give your child a pat on the back, a high five, and a friendly reminder to continue doing their best work right through until the end of June...if only because THEY will appreciate the results of their efforts!

In terms of curriculum this week...

In Math, we continued our study of Transformations and worked with the concept of rotations this week.  A Rotation is the act of rotating an object about a fixed point without changing its size or shape.  This week we used our grid plotting skills to create polygons and then learned how to move the shapes around in purposeful ways to reflect changes in position/degrees.  Come next week we will shift and begin working with Reflections while still using cartesian planes and plotted grid points.

In Language Arts, we continued our study our Hana's Suitcase and wrapped up a couple more comprehension activities with the intention of  completing the novel study test late next week.  Everyone was reminded to get in any missing assignments for this novel over the weekend, as come next week the novel study activities will be wrapped up and any missing work will be graded as missing/incomplete.

This week we also worked through a couple more descriptive writing assignments, and really focused on the importance of having the needed details to accurately reflect what we want to the reader to "see".  We again discussed the types and use of figurative language in our writing.  Come next week we while be completing a couple more writing practice activities, in the interest of building confidence and increasing the effectiveness and interest level of our writing.  

In Science with the conclusion of our study of the principles of aerodynamics and flight we transitioned into our final Science unit on Evidence and Investigation...think C.S.I. and detective work!  This week we began looking at the various types of physical evidence and how they can be collected.  Over the remaining weeks we will be working through a series of physical experiments whereby everyone will get an opportunity to "investigate and collect" lots of evidence including finger prints, shoe impressions, handwriting analysis, tire tread patterns, colour chromatography, and animal print identification.  This unit will also feature a couple of field trip experiences where everyone will get a chance to put their observation and prediction skills to work...information of these activities will come out closer to the event dates.  

In CTF this week, we kicked off our new CTF challenge, "A Journey to Jupiter" by integrating our recent study of the principles of aerodynamics and flight with our CTF work on challenge one and set about creating our own balloon-powered "rockets".   The challenge this week highlighted the correlation between weight and lift, and the use of controlled thrust in creating forward and upward movement, ie. rocket thrusters.  Again we had some great hands-on experimentation and a bunch of laughter as we seemingly had balloons (and a couple rockets) flying everywhere.  

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Monday, May 6 - 10: Mental Health Awareness Week (Activities Everyday)

Wednesday, May 8 - Hats on for Mental Health - Spirit Theme Day

Friday, May - Library: Book Exchange

Friday, May 10 - LA: Hana's Suitcase Novel Study Test  (last day to hand in overdue/missing novel study assignments)

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Sunday, May 12 - Mother's Day

Monday, May 22 - Victoria Day: No School

Week in Review: April 22 - 26

As we near the end of April, I can say it has been a productive, if not a quick, month and that it is clear we're ready for the final push through to June.  In May, we introduce our final units of study in Math, Science, CTF, and Social Studies...and get our first experience with cumulative exams in Language Arts as we test narrative and factual writing skills - then it's the final push through until June.  

An early heads up, that as May wraps up there will be plenty of year end grade assessments (in addition to the "regular" subject testing), as well as junior high transition planning for the end of June.  Lots to do and only a few weeks to get it all wrapped up with a bow - so thank you and keep up the good work in getting everyone to class!

Curriculum wise this week...

In Math we have now wrapped up our study of composite and triangular area and began our work with coordinate pairs, cartesian grids, and graphing points.  Come next week we will be working on rotating, translating, and reflecting our placed grid points.  

Please double check that your child has the needed graph paper and ruler as there has been lots of folks without the needed supplies!

In Language Arts we worked through a couple more chapters of Hana's Suitcase.  Come next week we will work through the last few remaining chapters of the story before having the full novel study test where we assess material from the entire story.

With writing, we have been super busy this week.  We have been working on effective story beginnings and idea sequencing, as well as the importance of  word choice as a means of being more descriptive in our writing.  With the school division's push to make learning as visible as possible for students, we took advantage of some new AI writing apps to work and assess our descriptive writing abilities.  Using picture prompts within the program, everyone was tasked with accurately writing descriptions that would recreate the image on an adjacent slide - the program would then provide an image and an accuracy score in terms of similarity to the original image.  Was a fun way to reinforce the importance of including ALL the needed details in our writing.

Additionally, we worked through the first of our cereal box presentations - and they have all been phenomenal thus far.  Come next week we will finish the remaining presentations and then work our way into the "commercial" presentations and award speeches.   Definitely some opportunities for everyone's "dramatic sides" to shine next week!

Now with the recent announcement that grade six classes would not be required to write the provincial achievement tests (PATs) in Language Arts this year, our assessment focus has simply shifted from the cumulative provincial exam to instead a school-based cumulative assessment for writing.  This writing test will take place near the end of May with everyone's narrative and factual writing skills being assessed in relation to the following five criteria:

• Content
• Organization
• Sentence Structure
• Vocabulary
• Conventions

There will be lots of writing (narrative and factual) happening between now and the test date, so everyone should be good to go come test time.

In Science this week we wrapped up the last few review activities for our unit on Flight and then worked our through the final unit exam.  Come next week we transition into our final unit of study, Evidence and Investigation (think grade 6 level CSI).  This unit is again a lot of hands-on learning as everyone gets a chance to examine first hand multiple forms of evidence including shoe prints, finger prints, fabric analysis, tire tracks, and some .  The unit is lot of fun as everyone gets a chance to hone their observation skills while making predictions and inferences about gathered information.  Lots of "Sherlock Holmes" moments for sure!

In Health and Wellness we have continued our studied of  personal Wellness and this week focused on the the topic of self-esteem.  Through class presentations and discussion, we identified how everyone has the ability to positively or negatively affect the self-esteem of others - sometimes without even knowing it!  We talked about the influence that our friend groups and the people we interact with - including family - can have on our own self-esteem and body image.  We talked at length about the importance of surrounding ourselves with "good friends" and positive role models, as they can be effective tools in supporting our self-esteem and personal mental health.

As part of our focus on self-esteem and confidence, next week in advance of Mental Health Awareness Week activities we will continue doing some more work on self-esteem and body image including a mixed media art to help us visualize "who we are" and some of the things that are important and unique about ourselves. 

Further building on the theme of mental health support, West Haven will again be celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month during the week of May 6 - 10th.  During our celebrations, students will get to participate in a variety of activities designed to promote positive mental health and wellbeing including our annual Hats on for Mental Health day  scheduled for Wednesday, May 8th!  Stayed tuned for more information on further events!

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Friday, May 3 - Library: Book Exchange

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Monday, May 6 - 10: Mental Health Awareness Week

Wednesday, May 8 - Hats on for Mental Health - Spirit Theme Day

Friday, May 10 - LA: Hana's Suitcase Novel Study Test  (last day to hand in overdue/missing novel study assignments)

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Sunday, May 12 - Mother's Day

Week in Review: April 15 - 18

 

A quick update on the latest and greatest classroom events.  The pace of learning continues to roll along and I have put the kids on notice that over the remaining few weeks the need for greater self responsibility in terms of completing school work is essential to everyone getting the information and skills needed to be successful.  There has been a noticeable decline in relation to work being completed during allotted class time and consequentially an increase in the amount of overdue and/or missing assignments, ie. homework.  Now this lack of time management and task initiation skills may be a bigger challenge for some than others, but as parents you can definitely assist your child in developing these essential junior high skills. 

In working with kids and homework there are undoubtedly challenges, however having a plan of attack can help alleviate a lot of "hair pulling" and create routines that can allow children to thrive.  There are many ways of creating structures at home that support children's learning.  Specific decisions about structuring depend on your child's learning needs and on your (parent's) ideas about specific involvement that will "fit" both your child and your family context, for example, what the home is like and what other demands require your time.

As parents establishing homework routines (e.g., students decide the order in which the work will be done, while parents track time and remind students of remaining tasks) and offering suggestions for organizing homework space (e.g., clear off the table or desk before starting homework) are important to ensuring learning success and the completion of tasks. It is important to create a comfortable, quiet environment and maintain consistent rules for homework completion (e.g., who can work together; when it's okay to ask for help).

Some strategies that students can use to avoid becoming distracted during homework include telling themselves not to get up until a specific part is finished (ie. get the first four questions done then take a 5 minute break, then do the next 4 questions etc.), or doing easier parts of the assignment first.  It is also a good idea to remove or limit external distractions (TV, CD player, phone) be turned off until homework is done.  Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, offer positive reinforcement (e.g., free time, small rewards) to motivate efficient completion of homework.  In all, it is very important that parents let students know that they value and expect effort and learning in the homework process.

Curriculum wise here is what we have been doing in class...

In Math we tackled that last little bit of test review and prep this week in preparation for the perimeter and area skills unit exam which we had on Wednesday.  In going over the test scores, it's clear some folks paid better attention in class than others as there was quite a range within the test scores.  We ended the week doing some more work on congruency and symmetry which will lead us into our initial work on transformations and the manipulation of shapes starting next week.

In Language Arts we continue to work on reading fluency and comprehension. By reinforcing comprehension strategies that help with understanding exactly what the literature is communicating, we are better able to retell story events, generate predictions, infer character emotions, and ultimately locate specific story information to support inferences more efficiently.  The end goal is to have everyone be able to effectively integrate their learning and make personal connections to the story when recalling information.

This week in writing, we worked on the two longer components of the cereal box story novel study - the commercial and the award pages, and then began working on the production of our commercials using the "cereal boxes" that were brought in.  Lots of good creativity and thought going into the writing.  With writing we also began doing some "quick writes" focused on generating good and engaging introductory paragraphs.  We worked on beginning paragraphs that hooked the readers and provided initial information on characters, setting, and story problems.  Come next week we will continue to work on writing what we want the audience to see.

In Science we were all hands-on this week testing and designing a multitude of flying "airplanes".  It was great seeing all the variations and everyone working to tweak and refine their designs to maximize their flight duration, flight path, or overall success.  

Come next week we will be working through the final Flight activities including the testing and design of functioning parachutes - and beginning our unit review in preparation for the unit test on Monday, April 29th.

In CTF this week we wrapped up construction of our observation decks...and they were great!  Lots of creativity in meeting the project construction criteria.  Here are a few pictures of the finished work.  

Next week we wrap up construction of a cross-curricular CTF/Science project related to the construction of functioning parachutes!  

Congratulations!

Lastly, a huge congratulations to those boys from our class that represented West Haven at the division grade 5 and 6 floor hockey tournament.  Your gold medal/banner winning game was exciting to say the least!

Important Upcoming dates/events

Monday, April 22 - Earth Day - Community Walk

Friday, April 26 - Spelling Test

Friday, April 26 - Family Dance - Doors open at 6:00PM

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Monday, April 29 - Science Unit Exam: Flight

Week in Review: April 8 - 12

  

It is hard to believe that April is nearly half way done already!  With that said, the last few months of school are traditionally the busiest, and that was definitely the case as we moved through several more of the larger chunks of the curriculum.  As we now move into the final home stretch of the year, the pace of work and assignments will continue to be quick as we begin prepping students for the many “work load” changes that happen with the division transition from elementary to junior high.  Effective time management and setting aside some of the evening for schoolwork and test prep will gradually become more important throughout May and into June as provincial testing in Science and Social Studies and cumulative unit exams in all subject areas looms ever closer.

With that said, in the coming weeks the grade sixes will be going through their first junior high orientation session and spending the afternoon meeting the grade seven teachers and getting much needed information about the move into grade seven!  Information and the date will be forwarded once known.

There are a mere 46 days left in the school year - and they will be busy ones!  

Now onto the curricular info…

In Math, we continued our study of triangular area and did some further work with composite area including finding missing side lengths, shape sectioning, and of course calculating.  We wrapped the week up doing by doing some initial unit review in preparation for our upcoming unit test.  On Wednesday, April 17th we will be testing this unit and then carrying forward and beginning our work with manipulating shapes using translations, rotations, and reflections.

In Language Arts, we continued our study of Hana's Suitcase and worked through the first few chapter comprehension activities.  We continue to work on summarizing  and being able to identify the "important information" needed to fully answer questions.  

Reminder to everyone that the CEREAL BOX BOOK REPORTS ARE DUE NEXT WEEK (*Thursday, April 18th - changed from 19th as it's a PD Day)

This week we also spent time working on our writing skills and did some poetry writing, specifically cinquain poetry.  We used one of our Art projects as our poetry inspiration, here are a few examples of our completed poems and artwork...

In Science we continued our study of the principles of flight and this week tackled the chore of identifying all the parts of an airplane, as well as identifying the differences between air flight and space flight in terms of aircraft needs.  We learned that space flight requires a different application of the 4 principles of flight, in that there is an even greater use of thrust to overcome the principle of gravity, and that in space there is no lift or drag!  With these changes in flight principles the construction and design of the spacecraft has to be different than a regular aircraft.

Important Upcoming dates/events

Wednesday, April 17 - Math Unit Exam: Calculating Perimeter and Area

THURSDAY, APRIL 18 - CEREAL BOX WRITING PROJECTS DUE TODAY

Thursday, April 18 - Spelling Test

Friday, April 19 - PD DAY: NO SCHOOL

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Monday, April 22 - Earth Day - Community Clean Up event