Reminders!!!!

There is NO SCHOOL tomorrow January 31, 2012. This is the semester break for High School.
School resumes on Wed Feb 1, 2012. Have a great day off!

All students have received a letter about the Family Dance on Friday Feb 10, 2012. Each grade has been asked to bring items/money to make a basket. The grade 6 basket is for a "tween" girl. Please send items/money by Friday Feb 3, 2012.

Thank you very much to those of you who have already brought stuff in!!!!

Week of January 23-27, 2012

After a cold week last week, it looks like the weather should be a little bit more comfortable this week! I hope everyone enjoyed sleeping in on the snow day :)

Great work last week Grade 6! Keep working hard on your writing!

We will be continuing on with our novel The Breadwinner. We have completed the first 4 chapters along with Chapter questions and other small daily assignments. Please make sure your child has their duotang to keep all the questions in. Also, if students are not finished their questions in class they are required to sign out a book and complete them at home. Make sure to ask your child if they have any to catch up on.

This week I will also be introducing the Tic-Tac-Toe activity that will be due on February 16th, 2012. I will attach the activity chart from which students must choose 3 activities. The specific details for each activity are provided on a separate sheet which students take from the file folder in class. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/79038702/The-Breadwinner-Tic-Tac-Toe 

IMPORTANT:

Wed Jan 25 is Ski Day for Middle School. Please make sure your child has returned their forms and money. We will be leaving the school at 8:00am therefore please make sure your child is at the school on time. We will also be returning late (4:00-4:30pm) so please make necessary arrangements.

Thursday Jan 26 I will be away at a Beginning Teacher Orientation. The students will have a wonderful morning with Mrs. Shelley Schuler.

Brrrr!!!

Grade 6 students, I sure hope you remember the 5 elements of a story!!!! 

Today we watched a video about these 5 elements which included a rap describing each and providing examples. I know I have the chorus running through my head!

Remember to review these and stay focused as we identify each of the elements of The Breadwinner. We will be continuing on with chapters 3-5 this week.

Make sure you do not fall behind on the questions!

I have been reading the "Letters to the future me" written last week. Many are well-written and identify a variety of great goals. I think the students will really enjoy reading them in June!

In relation to this and other writing activities, students will be given a chance to evaluate their own writing and decide what their strengths and areas of improvement are. As a class we will be looking at samples of student writing and identifying positives and mistakes. By examining exemplars, I am hoping students will strive to improve and always do their best! I am finding many are settling for just "good enough".

Let's work hard this week Grade 6!!!

Welcome to 2012!!!

We are into the second week of school in 2012 and back into the swing of things! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and didn't get blown around too much!

We started our novel study last week by recording known information about Afghanistan in a KWL chart. The students will continue to add to the chart as we read The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. We also viewed some pictures and a short video which gave the students a quick look into the lives of people living in Afghanistan.

This week we will begin reading the novel and completing chapter questions and related activities. We will identify and discuss elements of the novel as well as character traits and development. Make sure to ask your child to share what is happening in the book. There will also be a Tic-Tac-Toe activity sheet in which students will choose 3 activities to complete. This will be handed out soon and I will try to post it here as well!

I have also asked each student to bring in a duotang to keep their novel study work in. Please make sure to send one with your child. If this is a problem please let me know, I do have a few extras!

On the days in which the Grade 6 French are not with the class, we will be working on a "Letter to the future me". Last week we brainstormed ideas and recorded them in graphic organizers. Students have begun writing their rough drafts, following this they will do some peer editing, self editing and finally a good copy. I will keep these letters and deliver them to the students at the end of the year!!!

The plan is that students will begin to have homework at least once a week. I will keep that posted on here so make sure to check as well as ask your child!

Take care!