Science timeline

The Grade 6 class is putting together an online timeline about the history of the development of electricity.  We are experimenting with a few different tools, including XTimeline and Time Toast.  We have talked about some of the important scientists and advances that led us to our understanding of modern uses of electricity.  It is the job of the students to put these points in order and present brief (2-3 sentences) summaries of each event.  They will also be adding 1-3 events of their own to our findings.  More info can be found here.  They will be meeting the following learning goals:

- evaluate the importance of events that led to the modern electrical system
- communicate their findings appropriately and clearly using on online timeline

Early Explorers Glog

We are hard at work this week preparing a Glog, which is like an online bristol board project, about one of the early European explorers that came to North America (see the background of the explorers on Google docs or here).  We will be examining a brief history of their lives, a look at the country they were representing, where they went and what we feel was their most important achievement.  We put together a checklist outlining what we felt was the most effective way to communicate this information on a Glog.  The checklist can be found here.
We will be working on the following learning goals:

- explain why Europeans came to North America and New France to establish colonies
- clearly communicate information using a presentation tool (Glog)

New France History unit

We are getting ready for a brand new Social Studies unit, where we will be studying the arrival of the French at Quebec and the establishment of the colony of New France, from 1600 until the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the fall of Quebec in 1759.  We will be exploring the people involved in this story, and some of the issues raised by the interactions between the First Nations and the Europeans.  One of the skills we will work on is the ability to look at the same issue from different points of view, and contrast the views to try to find the middle ground.  Another difference with this unit is the attempt to make this more of an on-line and paperless experience.  Much of the information will be passed on through Google docs and via internet sources and web 2.0 tools like online timelines, presentation tools and surveys.  This should be an exciting!

Posted here are our Learning Goals for the unit (what we will have achieved by the end of the unit):

Learning Goals

- to identify the main events that happened in the colony of New France
- to identify the important places in New France
- to identify the important groups and individuals, and what made them important
- to examine the interactions between groups of people like the First Nations allies and enemies, the French and the English by looking at issues from both sides
- to communicate my findings clearly using the appropriate tool

Remembrance Day poetry

In the next few days we will be working on our Remembrance Day poetry.  The Grade 6/7 class is responsible for the Remembrance Day assembly every year, and part of our contribution is a collection of Remembrance Day poems.  We have been talking over the last few weeks about different features in poems that make them special, like using the five senses, including comparative images like similes and metaphors, using descriptive, strong verbs and adjectives to create vivid pictures in the reader's mind, and various techniques like alliteration, repetition, rhyming and personification. Today we talked about big ideas, moods and symbols related to Remembrance Day, as well as watching some film clips from World War 1.  Students are to brainstorm ideas for their poem tonight, and start work on a rough draft.  On Thursday we will be sharing our rough drafts and deciding what features we could add to make the poem more descriptive and vivid, and then we will be submitting our good copies on Monday.  The ideas and word walls we looked at today, as well as a checklist and rubric and some sample poems from last year that students agreed to share are all available here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/Poetry.Get writing!

Term 1 Progress Reports

The Term 1 progress reports went home today, as well as the times for conferences this week.  As you will notice, the format of the reports have changed, providing more information and feedback on learning skills, and no specific grades.  A flyer giving more information about the new reports also went home.  One of the main changes for this term is the lack of a page 3.  Instead, each student in the class is working on a Learning Skills goal in the same format we used at the end of September.  We also decided to choose one subject-related goal to work on.  For each goal the student will choose 2-3 steps that will help them succeed with their goal, as well as identifying a few things that we learned this term, something the student could still use some help with, and some things that the student is very proud of over the last two months.  Copies of the sheets we are using can be found here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/Reports-and-Goals  We are keeping the actual goals and sheets at school, and each student will use them as a basis for the student-led conferences we run on Thursday and Friday.  One last reminder that all students are expected to take part in those conferences.  If you have any further questions, we can discuss them during the conference or you can contact me at the school.

Data Management Math unit

We are starting a new math unit this week, which deals with reading and creating graphs and other ways of organizing data.  There are models of how to create different types of graphs here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/Data+Management+-+Graphing+-+Probability.  Extra practice can be found here: http://www.nelsonk8math.com/math6/studentcentre/studsurf.html#ch3 or here: http://www.nelsonk8math.com/math6/studentcentre/studtryout.html#ch3.  For parents who want to help their student out with the math homework, there are some helpful tips and answers here: http://www.nelsonk8math.com/math6/parentcentre/parentcentre.html.  Don't forget to make use of the glossary at the back of your text book.  We already discovered some useful information about describing trends in a graph.  Finally, we will be making use of an online graph creator that you may find helpful.  You can create most types of graphs here: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx.  Just make sure you remember to print when you complete the graph, because it is sometimes hard to save with this program.

More info on Mountville

Just an update on the Mountville project.  This weekend, you should be working on the volcano section.  In the project guidelines, a number of options were given for how the volcano is being monitored, things to look out for, and possible effects the volcano might have on Mountville and the surrounding area.  Not all of these options necessarily apply - you need to choose some of them, and for each thing you choose you should include a sentence or point about why you think it fits in this circumstance.  For example, you might say that you need GPS plugs to monitor ground swelling that indicates that the volcano is getting ready to explode.  On the other hand, lava might not be an issue to the town because there are other mountains in the way that would block the lava flow.Finally, you might choose flooding from the dam because the force of the volcano could destroy the dam and cause the reservoir's water to go flooding into the valley.

On Monday, you will have a double period in the computer lab to work on the evacuation plan.  You should use the guiding questions provided, the layout of the land around Mountville, and your common sense to answer each of the sections.

Happy consulting!

More info on Mountville

Just an update on the Mountville project.  This weekend, you should be working on the volcano section.  In the project guidelines, a number of options were given for how the volcano is being monitored, things to look out for, and possible effects the volcano might have on Mountville and the surrounding area.  Not all of these options necessarily apply - you need to choose some of them, and for each thing you choose you should include a sentence or point about why you think it fits in this circumstance.  For example, you might say that you need GPS plugs to monitor ground swelling that indicates that the volcano is getting ready to explode.  On the other hand, lava might not be an issue to the town because there are other mountains in the way that would block the lava flow.Finally, you might choose flooding from the dam because the force of the volcano could destroy the dam and cause the reservoir's water to go flooding into the valley.

On Monday, you will have a double period in the computer lab to work on the evacuation plan.  You should use the guiding questions provided, the layout of the land around Mountville, and your common sense to answer each of the sections.

Happy consulting!

Mountville Consultant Project

As our culminating activity for the Themes of Geographic Inquiry unit, we will be creating an Emergency Plan for the town of Mountville, which is threatened by a rumbling volcano .  Students will receive a map of the area, and then they will put together a 3 part plan to help the town deal with a potential volcanic eruption. This will involve:


Part 1:   Coloured and coded map
              PRIME Analysis of Mountville
              Report on the volcano
Part 2:   Evacuation plan
Part 3:   Plan for the return of the citizens of the area


A detailed outline of the expectations, a copy of the map, and a sample student copy of a PRIME analysis of Benmiller are all available here, as well as the notes from our unit: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/Themes-of-Geographic-Inquiry.  So make sure you use the samples and questions as a guide to what you are to put in your project!  Attached to the end of the project guidelines you will find some resources to use as a starting point.


Reminders:

• You are consultants! So your report should look neat and professional, and you need to use geographic terms and formal language, not the way you would talk to your friends.
• You can use point form where it would be appropriate.
• This is the outline provided for everyone.  We will be discussing each of these sections in class as we go along and doing some brainstorming as to possible things you could write, so make sure you pay attention in class and write down ideas you think you could use, as this will make the whole process easier.  If you don’t, this will seem like a very big task!  We will also be discussing a series of recommended timelines to get things done in smaller steps (like the Gr 6 students did with the leaf project).  This will also make the project more manageable.  If you don’t meet these deadlines, you will have an awful lot of work to do at the last minute.

As of October 26th, the recommended schedule of due dates is:
PRIME Analysis and map - Oct 29
Volcano section - Nov 1
Evacuation section - Nov 3
Return section and hand in of project - Nov 4

We will be discussing possible ways to present your findings in class.  The easiest way would be to write it out, then print it and put it into a duotang or something similar (duotangs can be provided).  If you have another way to present it that would be appropriate, we can discuss that option.

Good luck, this should look great when we're done!

Technical Difficulties Part 2

After talking to one of the helpful tech people who help keep all wikis, blogs, etc. on track, the first recommendation is not to use Internet Explorer to view our pages.  Sometimes there is a glitch that happens that doesn't seem to happen with Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.  So try one of those two browsers to see if that helps.  If not, keep me updated and I will continue to follow up on the situation.

To sum up:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader by checking at http://get.adobe.com/reader/.  See if this works.
2. If not, then try downloading Mozilla Firefox as your browser at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html, and then using that to look at the .pdf files.
3. If it still doesn't work, the last option is to download Google Chrome as your browser at http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en, and then use that to look at the .pdf files.

Technical difficulties

Some people have been having trouble seeing some of the content we keep posted here and on the wiki.  Some possible things to try to get around it might be downloading the latest version of Adobe Reader at http://get.adobe.com/reader/.  You could also try using different browsers.  Most people use either Internet Explorer (http://www.microsoft.com/canada/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx), Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html), Google Chrome (http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en) or Apple's Safari (http://www.apple.com/safari/download/).  If you can't see the work on one browser, try using another one as an experiment.  Finally, check to see if there are messages about blocking the website, etc.  You might need to adjust your security settings for our wiki. Good luck!

Taking descriptive writing to the next level!

We have finished for the moment with our descriptive paragraphs, and will be exploring our creative side with poetry for the next few weeks.  We have read over some poems to remind us what they look like, and then we will be identifying some features that good poetry should have.  We will also look at various forms of poetry, like freeverse and concrete poems.  We are just staring out, but if you want a peek ahead at some of the things we will be talking about, you can check this out: https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/Poetry.  More will be added as we move through the unit.  As we learn new elements and forms, students could practice writing at home.  Any topic will do - I bet you could write a great poem about toast!

Classroom updates

Here are some quick classroom updates:

*   Our QSP magazine sales wrap up next Wednesday, so get the orders in.  This fundraising helps pay for a lot of great equipment around the school, from SmartBoards to soccer nets, as well as contributing to class trips, so make sure you ask friends and family this long weekend to see if they are interesting in something new to read!

*   Tomorrow is Laps for Lungs.  It is expected that students will bring in a loonie or twonie as a contribution to this worthy cause.

*   Next week, we have District Cross Country on Tuesday for those students that qualified.  Tuesday after school, the Sr Boys will be playing an exhibition soccer match against Clinton PS.  Finally, on Thursday we have  the Regional Soccer tournament in Goderich.  The Juniors will be playing at GPS, and the Seniors will play on the 2 fields at GDCI.

*   For Gr 6, the Classifying Tree Leaves project is due on Wednesday Oct 13.  Also, we need some students to bring in pond water next Tuesday, as we will be using microscopes to look for protists in class next week.

*   Students can now access the class calendar, which will be updated on a regular basis.  They should click on the link to the right of this post, then log in to Google apps, using their full email address (i.e. holstudent20@ed.amdsb.ca) and then their password.  When they get to the Calendar page, they can add a coworker's calendar (about halfway down on the left) by typing in my email, the same way they do when they are sharing.

Google accounts

Last but not least for today, we got signed up for our student Google accounts this week.  Everyone finally got logged in, and we have begun the learning process of sharing files and using the word processor.  The immediate advantage of this tool is that students will be able to work on their files here at school and also at home (in fact, anywhere they have an internet connection!) and not have to worry about saving files on USB thumb drives, etc. Of course, this means no can claim they forgot their work at home!  Students will share their work with me, and that will hopefully cut down on the amount of paper we use, as I can read their work online.  They will also be able to work on common documents with partners and groups.  As we move forward, we will be using the Presentation tool, creating blogs, and getting into the mysterious realm of Glogs, Prezis, Animotos and Voice Threads.  It's a whole new world out there, and I look forward to discovering it with the class!

Here's an updated link to log in to the Google accounts.  It will also appear in the links box to your left.
https://www.google.com/a/ed.amdsb.ca/

Patterning

We have finished our first unit in Number Sense and Numeration, and are now moving on to our Patterning unit. We will be looking at number patterns, and how to develop strategies that allow us to find the value of different term numbers in our patterns through the use of pattern rules and graphs.  If you go here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Patterning you will find examples and a glossary that explains the meaning of some of the stranger math words like "recursive" and "explicit" pattern rules.  If you are looking for some extra practice, you can try the Nelson website's unit on patterning, which we will be following for most of the unit: http://www.nelsonk8math.com/math6/studentcentre/studentcentre.html.  The Surf for More Math section provides online math games related to the subject, and the Try It Out section has multiple choice practice question related to various lessons from the unit.  You are looking for the Chapter 1: Patterns in Mathematics part of the Nelson site.

Open Reading Responses

Another English focus will be in our reading responses this term.  We are trying to get past the literal level (the information you find directly stated in the text) in our responses, and work on developing deeper answers to the questions by breaking down the question, stating our general (or gist) answers, and then supporting our idea with some info from the text and also from our background knowledge.  Background knowledge might come from our experiences, or things we have read in books or in magazines, or things we have seen on TV, or things we have learned from parents or in class, or things we have found on the internet.  One component of this unit will involve critical media literacy, which means we evaluate the information we find on the internet or TV and decide whether or not it is a credible source of information, and what biases the author might have.We will look at how to best organize our paragraphs, and how to decide which of our ideas best answers the question and is most appropriate to our audience.  For more ideas and examples of what this means, look here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Reading-Response.

Descriptive Writing

One of the styles of writing we will be focusing on in the next month will be descriptive writing, in both paragraph form and poetry.  Descriptive writing uses the five senses, vivid action words and imagery (similes, metaphors, and personification, for example) to create clear pictures in the reader's head.  We will be developing these skills in stages, but a quick overview that explains what this might look like in paragraph form can be found here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Descriptive-paragraphs.  Examples of the different styles of poetry can be found here: http://husky67.pbworks.com/Poetry.  It will be a good idea to keep checking in, as we will be adding to these pages as we work together in the next month.  At home, students can look for examples of descriptive writing in the material they read for pleasure, and point them out to parents.  They can also practice their writing skills by describing the world around them.  As an example, we are starting our work by describing a favourite room in the house.

Communitrees

Once again this year,  Holmesville PS is taking thought of those in our community and around the world that are less fortunate than we are.  What will we do for our Christmas project?  What will we do as our international project?  With this in mind, Holmesville is creating a Wish Tree for the Huron County community art project Communitrees (some photos from around the county can be found here).  Our students will be thinking of issues that kids and families face in difficult situations all around the world, like hunger, dirty drinking water, slavery or malaria.  They will be wishing for a solution to these problems, and possibly suggesting some solutions of their own. These wishes will then be put up in a tree in front of our school for the people of the community to read from Thursday September 23rd (in time for our school BBQ and Open House) until Monday September 27th.

Update:
Our school's Communitree was very well received, and Holmesville PS made the national news, as we were featured on the national cbc.ca photo stream, and also the national Culture Days website in their photo stream.  Take a bow, everyone, you're famous!

Classifying Tree Leaves project

Today the Grade 6 students received the instructions for their first Science project.  They will be collecting tree leaves and then classifying them using a tree diagram on a piece of bristol board.  While this project will take some time, the students have been given a month to complete it, and it will be handed in on October 13th.  If the students do a bit at a time, they should be able to complete it easily with proper time management, and with little assistance from parents.  They were given a bunch of information, copies of which can be found here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/Diversity-of-Living-Things. The first deadline is to collect the leaves they will be using by next Tuesday (or at least to identify which leaves they will be using, and collect them soon after). They then need to press them using a book, and to preserve them for use on the bristol board.  A number of options were discussed with the class to achieve this.  Finally, they need to create the tree diagram on the bristol board, and then attach the leaves.  Decoration will be appreciated, but it is the organization of the diagram and leaves that is most important.  It should be clear and easy to understand, and neatly and carefully done.  Samples of past projects are also available here: https://husky67.pbworks.com/Sample-Tree-Leaf-projects.

Spelling Units

We are returning to our spelling texts this year as a way to improve the overall spelling skills of the students.  We have all grown used to spell checkers; however, as the students spend more of their life online, both school-related and otherwise, more of their writing is "live".  In other words, they are typing and sending out their thoughts without the benefit of editing.  This means that it is even more important to try to spell things correctly the first time, as your writing online is part of the image you project to the world.

Spelling units will generally be assigned each Monday, with a period or so of class time to get started.  The lists words should be copied 3 times each in the spelling notebooks, and then there will be a series of questions from the text for the students to complete over the course of the week.  Neatness will be important.  Finally, the dictation will take place on Friday afternoon.  The week's assigned work should be written in to the Notes section of the agenda each week.

This is primarily an independent task for the students to complete over the course of the week.  They will be expected to manage their time appropriately, and not leave everything until the last minute.  Their ability to get their work done without constant reminders from staff and parents will be part of their Learning Skills mark each term.

Grade 6 Math

Make sure you check out the Math 6 part of the Husky 67 wiki at http://husky67.pbworks.com/Math-6. You will find all sorts of information from past math classes, as well as things we are working on this year. Also, at the bottom of the page there is an excellent resource from Nelson Canada, the company that makes our textbooks and workbooks. They have a website at http://www.nelsonk8math.com/math6/studentcentre/studentcentre.html  that is linked to each lesson in the text. The "Surf For Math" section is mostly on-line interactive games related to the topic. The "Try it Out" section usually features multiple choice questions about the topic that get marked on-line. Both of these are excellent for extra practice or extra studying materials before a test. Grade 6 students should give them a try! For example, today's lesson was Chapter 2, Lesson 6 "Reading and Writing Decimal Thousandths" (you can tell what lesson it is at the top of the workbook page that has been assigned for homework).

The Evolution of the Husky 67 Blog

Well, we are a couple of days into the first week of school, and we continue to experiment with our technology.  One of the focuses at Holmesville this year is to be respectful of the environment and to find ways to conserve energy and natural resources.  This blog is one of those efforts: the more information I can put onto the computer, the fewer pages I have to photocopy for people to take home.  I will continue to keep everything as up-to-date as possible, but I may not always put in full posts.  Therefore, the newest feature on this page is a twitter feed (right-hand side) that will put updates including links for small daily homework assignments and reminders from the class and the school.  This should be checked regularly.

I spoke to the students today about the importance of the blog and the wiki when it comes to staying up-to-date with information from the class, and using it to find information.  Unlike last year, you don't need a password to see it, just to comment on it, so as long as you have the web addresses, you are connected.  Sometimes, however, computer access is not an option for homework pages.  I told everyone that if they need a paper printout of things we have had on the computer at school, I can provide that without a problem, as long as they give me enough warning.

That's all for now!

Map of Canada

We will be starting our Geography unit with a short section on working on maps.  We will start with a map of Canada.


Canada Map
Label the provinces and territories and their capitals
Label the capital of Canada
Label the town where you live
Label your three favourite places in Canada
Label the three oceans
Colour most carefully!

The map will be marked using the following checklist:

Map Rubric
Content
did everything assigned
was it correct?

Neatness
colouring
printing
ruler

Accuracy/Spelling
correct locations
correct spelling

Math number sense

With this first math posting, there are some general reminders of expectations with your math work:

Important to remember:
- Write neatly, using pencil for all work done in your notebook
- Organize the work on your page, and space things out neatly
- Show your work, including all of your steps (don't just write down your answer!)
- Check your work
- Communicate your ideas clearly, using appropriate math language and explaining your process
- Homework completion - there will be a small amount of homework assigned in class most days

- Ask questions!

If you go to the Husky 67 wiki, you will see a space for Math in the sidebar.  It is then split up into various strands and topics.  We will be starting the year working on Number Theory.

For the first day:

Try to imagine a million of something.  It has to be a million things that are solid, that you could hold.
ex. a loonie, pencil, textbook, soccer ball, cell phone, iPod, etc.


Now, how much space do you think that would take up?  Would it fill a shoe box?  A refrigerator? A room? A gym? A house? A school?  A town?


Finally, write out in your math book how you came up with your answer.  There are many different ways of finding out how much space a million things takes up, so whichever way you used is fine.  I'm interested in the process you went through to get your answer, so explain your steps, and we'll discuss this tomorrow in class. 

First day back!

The students are returning for their first day of the new school year.  We went through a lot of items today, so here is a reminder of the highlights.  Some of the pieces of paper that went home in binders today include the updated information we have at Holmesville for each of the students in the school (this needs to be checked over, signed and returned right away), a classroom newsletter and a permission form to get everyone signed up for Google accounts for use in the classroom.  These accounts will be arriving soon, and we need to get the permission forms back before the students can log in, so they should be returned in the next couple of days.  We also reviewed the use of the agenda, and expectations for the Grade 6/7 students as members of the class and the larger school community.  Most of this was included in the newsletter.  If it has somehow (already?) disappeared, there is a copy on our class wiki (the link is to your right on this blog).  A reminder also that students need to have running shoes, as we will be starting cross country and soccer right away, a pair of indoor shoes, and something to read for when class work is completed and Mr. Lobb is working with other students.

Reminders of work to be completed in various subjects will be found in the Labels section of the blog to your left.  This will also include some expectations, and often a reminder of where to look on the wiki for checklists, examples and marking schemes such as rubrics.  The two sites (the blog and the wiki) are designed to work together, with periodic updates on the blog, and more permanent information on the wiki.  The wiki also contains copies of class and school newsletters, as well as milk and pizza forms on the sidebar (right side of the wiki).

Hopefully these tools will help with communication to everyone at home, and give parents a better understanding of what is happening in class and at the school.  It should also allow the students to be more independent with their learning, and avoid the "I lost the papers" problem with work completion.

Whew!  That is a lot of talking.  Hope everyone had a great first day!

Experiment 1

I`m trying to make this obviously about English.

Welcome back!

Welcome to all of the students of Grade 6/7.  I am looking forward to another great year at Holmesville, and I am excited at the prospect of all the amazing things we will learn and create over the coming months.  As of last year, we saw some big changes to how things operate in class, and new ways of sharing our learning with each other, with the school and with parents.  We made a lot of use of Google docs and mail, created a class wiki, and used some exciting new software like Prezi and Glogster to communicate what we had learned.  If none of this means anything to you, don`t worry!  It will all be second nature to you soon.


This year, we will be making use of this blog as our main page when we need to know what is going on in the class.  There will be notices that explain upcoming projects, and links to a lot of the tools we will be using in class.  This blog is new to me as well, and I look forward to getting feedback from you as to how to make it work better.  One thing I discovered last year was that I learned as much about the web tools we used from the students as they did from me!

I hope you all had a great summer, and are ready for what awaits us.

Let`s go!