The Last Blog

 The Last Blog

June 18th, 2021

Written by Mrs. Will and the Gang

This week, our focus was on getting ready for our grade 6 graduation! On Monday, we used colourful cardstock paper, glitter glue, stickers, gems, string, and printed pictures to design a graduation cap. The graduation caps had a tassel and we designed them to represent our interests. We could tell who made each cap just by the design. Mrs. Will brought in her Cricket paper cutter to help us. We then went outside and took pictures of us "wearing" the grad caps for our graduation video. 

We are going to have other students in the class sign the backs of our grad caps like a yearbook as a keepsake to take home. 

On Tuesday, we went to Laycock park! We played kickball, ate picnic lunches, and played on the park. 

On Thursday we had our graduation celebration! We dressed up and watched our virtual celebration video. The video had the grade 6 classes playing instruments, our video of the graduation cap art project, Ms. Code's class made a short project with signs, there were messages from the teachers and Mr. McCracken wishing us good luck for next year and a slideshow with pictures of us growing up at the school. 

In the evening we had a parade! We hope you loved seeing all the teachers with their decorated cars driving around the neighbourhood honking and playing music. We loved seeing you all join in the fun and some of you even decorated your homes for the parade!

Social Studies: In social, we wrapped up our Iroquois unit by recreating a Council fire to make a decision using consensus. Consensus means that everyone has to agree to a decision or it doesn't pass. Even if one person disagrees, we have to start the decision making process all over again. We used our council fire to make a decision about what our class would put inside the time capsule and we decided to make a scrapbook! Next week, we will be working on that scrapbook and adding it to the time capsule on the last day of school. 

Science: We learned about finger prints and chromatography! We used tape, icing sugar, cocoa powder and paintbrushes to lift latent fingerprints off our desks, we compared our writing styles and tried to forge other peoples handwriting, and we learned about separating ink from pens to see which brand of pen wrote a note for a fake crime. 

Gym: Our unit for the rest of the year is basketball! We learned how to dribble, the different types of passes and played a shooting game to see who could make a 3-point shot. 

                            

What Are We Learning in June?

 What Are We Learning in June?

May 29th, 2021

How is it June already?!

This post will be about the topics we are going to cover between now and the end of the year. For the next few weeks that will be online and then hopefully we'll finish the year in person!

With all the COVID complications this past month and their effects being felt into June, our plans for the grade 6 celebration are still being decided. We have a plan A we just also need to now think of a plan B,C, and D just incase the last month doesn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped. We will communicate the plans to you once we know more =)

Here's what we'll be covering in June:

ELA:

• Finish writing our stories and figuring out some options to possibly publish them
• Illustrate our story's cover image / Create a book jacket
• Finish as many of our guided reading novels and our class novel as possible
• Write speeches for the grade 6 celebration

Math:

• Representing and collecting data using line graphs, bar graphs and pie graphs
• Experimental probability vs. theoretical probability
• Solving problems with decimals for all operations with a focus on speed (similar to the part A math PAT even though we are not writing PATs this year)

Science (Evidence and Investigation):

• Learn about different types of evidence gathered during investigations and how they can be sorted, examined and used to make conclusions about a case i.e. finger prints, tire prints, chromatography, handwriting samples, etc
• Identify and control variables that would provide a fair test to answer a question in an investigation
• How to we record, compile, interpret and evaluate our observations and measurements to be the most accurate?
• Use observation and inferencing skills to find and interpret patterns. Use those patterns to distinguish and separate a specific pattern from a group

Social Studies (Iroquois Confederacy)

• Examine the Iroquois wampum belts, specifically the Great Law of Peace, and design our own wampum belt
• Model how Iroquois society was organized. What were the roles of men and women? What was their lifestyle like? What is consensus?
• Make a decision using consensus. What are the pros and cons? How does this compare to Athens and Canadian democracy and decision making?
• Was the Iroquois Confederacy's method of decision making fair and equitable?

Health:

• Peer pressure, digital citizenship and life skills for junior high
• Sexual health units for grades 5 and 6 including a review of puberty 

Art:

• Responding critically to artwork in our world

Sir John A MacDonald (SJAM)

 Sir John A MacDonald (SJAM)

May 3rd, 2021

Mrs. Will

Hello Families! 

This blog is dedicated to information about SJAM. I am aware that some students will be moving out of area and a few have been accepted to G.P. Vanier's French Immersion program. If you know that you child will not be attending SJAM, please skip this blog post! 

If you have any other questions about SJAM or other junior highs for your child, please reach out to me over email or by phone. 

Most of our students will be transferring to SJAM and this is the information the students were given last Thursday during a presentation:

1. Online Open House for Parents will be this Thursday, May 6th at 5:00pm. I am still waiting to hear from the principal for a link for families and will email it to you all once I get it. 

• Lockers - students will have 2 lockers. One will be for their books and belongings and a second smaller one will be for their gym clothes. They are combination locks that the school will provide so please do not buy your own. 
• Gym - Students are required to change for gym. You can purchase a "gym strip" from SJAM like a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, or bring your own clothing from home that would be appropriate for gym class. Students do not have to wear shorts. Proper gym shoes will be needed and can be kept in their gym lockers. 
• Timetables - SJAM uses a 7-period system to break up their day. 5 periods in the morning, 2 after lunch. 
• 2 periods are for humanities (social studies and literacy together) - Teacher A
• 2 periods are for "Smath" (science and math together) - Teacher B
• 1 period for gym - Teacher C
• 2 periods for complementary or options courses  - Teachers D and E
• Students will also have a homeroom teacher for attendance. This could be one of their teachers they have for their other subjects
• Students get to pick 4 complementary courses (we called them option classes when I was in school). Two will be in the first half of the year and the other two in the second half of the year.
• Complementary courses offered include outdoor education, construction, foods, computers, art, drama, band, film studies, etc. These options can change based on Covid and how many students are interested. For example, there is no French class being offered next year but that doesn't mean one could not be added back in grade 8. 
• SJAM is planning to have clubs and sports teams running for next year. This can change due to Covid.
• Students will be able to pick their complementary courses in the next few weeks.
• There are lots of clubs that students can join. They are also able to start their own clubs if they find a teacher to supervise it. 
• There is no cafeteria but there is a snack stand and students can get lunch and snacks there if they need something to eat. 
• Grade 7 students are not allowed to leave the school grounds at lunch time until after Spring Break unless they walk home for lunch. After Spring Break, students would be able to walk to the McDonalds or 7-11, etc. 

WE'RE BACK, HOMIES!

 WE'RE BACK, HOMIES!

April 27th, 2021

Written by Mrs. Will and the Gang

Important Dates and Reminders:

1. SJAM (Sir John A. MacDonald) is doing a virtual presentation for our students on Thursday morning. They will share (hopefully) about option classes, clubs and team sports for next year. Kids can ask questions during the presentation. 
2. CNGREADS happens every Wednesday at 7pm for all students using Google Meet. 
3. Wednesday April 28th is dress like a character from a book day/Love of reading day.
4. Thank you for coming to conferences last week and for all your help with online learning!!

The Blog Post Before Spring Break

March 23rd, 2021

Blog by: M.L. & B.T.

Hello families!

This will be our last blog before Spring break. A few notes/reminders:

• I did not assign a homework task for this week because we'll be going on break for a week. I will assign the next one on the Tuesday we come back to school.
• As always, email me anytime at akwill@cbe.ab.ca if you have questions, concerns, or are looking for ways to support your child's learning. I'm happy to help whenever I can!
• If your child has been required to isolate, please contact the school so that we are aware and so that I can send them their classwork on Google Classroom until they are allowed to return. The school has Chromebooks available to rent if needed.
• Google Classroom (and this blog) are both tools that help me to stay connected with students and families during these strange Covid times. With the exception of student who have been told to isolate, Google Classroom will have a literacy and a math task posted each week for extra help and for any students who are home sick for a day or two. It is to keep families aware of what we are working on each week incase someone is away or needs extra help. They are not mandatory assignments for the students, just resources to keep them caught up with the rest of the class.

I wish you all a sunny, relaxing Spring break with your families!

- Mrs. Will

Spring is in the Air!

Spring is in the Air!

 March 5th, 2021

Blog by: M.K. & I.M.

Hello Families!

We hope you were able to enjoy some of that early Spring sunshine peeking through the clouds!

Two messages from Mrs. Will:

1. A reminder that your child will be bringing home a short homework task each Monday that is due the following Monday. These are not meant to be difficult or time consuming, just an opportunity for your child to practice time management skills and to prepare for regular homework in grade 7. Students can hand their homework in early or ask any questions they have before it's due.

2. The Spring poem that we wrote as a class for our Spring Concert is I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E! Our class worked so well together to co-write a poem with 21 authors (no small feat!) that shows off our strong understanding of figurative language and kept a tone/mood consistent for our audience.

February 26th, 2021 - "I Have Gifts & Abilities & a Desire to Succeed!"

"I Have Gifts & Abilities & a Desire to Succeed!"

February 26th, 2021

Written by: A.J. & H.M. with edits from Mrs. Will 

Our authors of this week's post have decided to spice up our blog with some colour coding!

Mrs. Will's Messages:

1. The kids absolutely CRUSHED their volleyball unit. I am continually impressed by this class's habits of cheering each other on, offering helpful tips, noticing and celebrating students as they make improvements in their phys. ed. skills, and their overall commitment to showing sportsmanship. I'm also grateful that they don't think it's "uncool" (yet) to have this old lady teacher join in and play on their teams...
2. If, as a parent/guardian, you are trying to come up with ways to bond with your child over what they are learning in school, I highly suggest you ask your child to teach you some math games they know. All of the games can be played using dice, cards, and/or dominos. One of the best skills your child can work on is practicing and memorizing their multiplication facts up to 9x9 - this will help them get better at division and they will be able to apply multiplication to bigger concepts like order of operations questions, algebra, and area & volume!
3. Fridays... While Friday's are a half day this year, I feel it's important to remind everyone that they are still important learning days. We still work on all core subjects each Friday (Literacy, Math, Science, and Social) and most students are in a small group for extra help in either literacy or math that is scheduled for every Friday. If they miss Fridays on a regular basis, they then miss that support they need to be successful in grade 6.