Some updates

Hi everyone,

What crazy April weather we're having! I hope you've been enjoying a relaxing day off today.

Announcements you need to know about:

• The SMAC team is doing a one-week food drive, collecting non-perishable food for the Thornton Food Bank. Please bring in any items you would like to donate.

• Jump Rope for Heart forms will go home tomorrow. You can register at www.jumpropeforheart.ca . Our event is May 3, so all money and forms are due back that day.

Other important updates:

• The math test will be postponed until Wednesday. We will review together tomorrow.

• Social Studies inquiry projects will be due on Tuesday, April 24. If you want to be doing any work at home today, here is the assignment page. You could choose your 3-5 subtopics (smaller areas of focus within your larger inquiry), think of research questions and begin doing research online, create "interview" questions that you might want to ask family members, look for old family photos, etc.

See you tomorrow!

Mrs. Matheson

Math Review questions

Good morning grade 6s,
Here are some word problems that we're going to work through tomorrow together as we review for the Fractions/Decimals/Percent test on Tuesday. If you try them on your own first and then tomorrow show me the work you've done, I will give you signatures!

HINT:

For the first question, think about what operation to use when we're talking about "percent OF the total."

For the second question, think about what operation to use when we're talking about "an amount OUT OF the total."

Hi everyone,

Thanks for a fantastic week. There was so much going on! We had many students away throughout the week, so I thought I'd catch everyone up to speed about what's been going on.

First, we were so excited to hear that Mrs. Breau had her baby yesterday. We even got to see a photo and he is cute! Congratulations to Mrs. Breau and her family!

This past week in math, we...

• worked more with fractions, decimals, and percent
• reviewed for our math test coming up on Tuesday

In language, we...

• continued reading and responding to Fatty Legs (up to chapter 5)
• wrote about experiences in our lives when we have persuaded others to do certain things. Some of your stories have been quite entertaining!

During integration time, we...

• participated in an outdoor simulation activity to consider the experiences and interactions of First Peoples with explorers, fur traders, and early settlers (and had some great follow-up debrief/debate/discussion time)
• researched and talked about the experiences of other communities in Canadian history (Irish famine orphans, Chinese Railroad workers, Africville, Japanese Internment camps)
• began thinking about our personal Social Studies inquiry projects
• had our final "Mandalas" art work period
• began our Inuit Games competition

Next week...

• Art - Mandalas due Monday
• Math - Test on Tuesday (fractions, decimals, and percent...we'll review more together on Monday)
• Language - We're going to start writing persuasive speeches. Begin thinking of a topic that might be of interest to you.
• Social Studies - We'll be working on our personal inquiry projects. This weekend, you may want to talk to family members about your family's immigration stories, if you've chosen that as your project focus.

Stay tuned for some math challenges which I'll be posting soon to help you review!

Mrs. Matheson

Hi Grade 6s,

It was great to see you all again today after the long weekend. I loved hearing about some of your Easter stories. Thank you for working so hard to complete the math Practice Work, and for being focused and on-task while completing your language jobs today.

This week, there are a few things coming up for you to keep in mind:

• Math - This week we'll be creating some simple games to use to practice comparing fractions, decimals, and percents. On Friday, there will be time to move around to different stations and play the games. If you aren't finished today's practice work, it's important that you complete it to be sure you feel confident working with Fractions, Decimals, and Percent before we start creating these games.

• Fatty Legs reading responses - We'll be reading on in our class novel, and there will be more response questions to answer. If you haven't completed the response questions for chapters 1 and 2, please be sure to hand them in and then cross your name off the list on the board.

• First Peoples of Canada presentations - You'll have one more work period and will then be sharing your Google Slide presentations tomorrow. If you want to work at home, the website we used today was www.firstpeoplesofcanada.com. Your presentation will include
• Meaning of the name of your chosen group
• Living conditions (environment and types of homes)
• Food
• Clothing/Art
• Other interesting facts

• Inuit Games - We might have time this week for a bit of a competition, similar to the Inuit Games mentioned in our class novel! Be prepared to work your leg muscles!!

That's all for now! Have a great night.

Mrs. Matheson

Things going on this week...

Hi everyone,

Here is a quick reminder of what's going on and what's coming up this week:

• Math - We will have the Fractions "Quest" on Thursday. To be successful, remember to represent fractions using models or strategies that make sense to you (area model/"chocolate bar", linear model/"number line", equivalent or simplified fractions with common numerators or common denominators) and be ready to communicate your thinking using "Find, Know, Strategy/Show, Answer/Sensible/Why?"

• Language - If you did not finish your language tasks this morning, please work on them tonight and put them in the IN bin tomorrow for me to mark (e.g. Current Events W5 report, silent reading SPECK response, Learning Skills mini-essay)

• Social Studies - Tomorrow you will finish designing your group's Canadian "Robot". If you want to view the video again to think of some more ideas for your design, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZEZwje_FUE 

Have a great evening!

Mrs. Matheson

The story of your family

Hi everyone,

Today during Social Studies time, I mentioned an opportunity for you to receive a few extra signatures. You can share with your family what we've been discussing in Social Studies this week about Canada's diversity and ask if anyone knows any information about your family's story:

• Who was it that left their home country to come to Canada? A great-great-grandparent? Your mom or dad? Etc?
• When did they come to Canada?
• Why did they come to Canada?
• Are there any interesting stories about their immigration/emigration experience?

Write down what you learn and submit it in the IN bin tomorrow. I'd love to hear what you find out!

Time to head back to school!

Hi everyone!

I hope you've all had a relaxing and refreshing March Break. I can't wait to see you tomorrow and hear some stories about your week.

For the week to come, here are some things to know:

• On Monday, our integrated classmates will be away on a field trip to Queen's Park.
• On Tuesday, we'll be back in the gym (yay!) and new squads will be formed
• Wednesday is World Down Syndrome day and everyone is encouraged to wear brightly coloured socks
• Thursday is Heritage Fair day in the gym

It looks like it will be a fantastic week!

I'm also looking forward to starting some new units and doing some new activities in the weeks to come.

• Now that we've finished our Space unit, we're beginning a social studies unit about Communities in Canada (past and present).
• In math, we'll be continuing our work with fractions.
• And in language, we'll be starting another class novel as well as some new language activities that you'll be taking turns doing - sometimes on your own, and sometimes with groups.

I'll tell you about everything tomorrow. See you in the morning!

Mrs. Matheson