Persuasive Writing

We have been getting opinionated over the last few weeks, taking stands and making strong points.  It is time again for persuasive writing!

We have reviewed the proper format and a number of persuasive techniques that are used to make people agree with our point of view.  We also reviewed the difference between a letter (Grade 6 task) and an essay (Grade 7 task).  The students came up with 20 different prompts that we could write about, and we worked our way through some graphic organizers that helped us get everything in the right order and not leave any parts out.  We have done modeled and guided writing (together and with feedback), and we are about to embark on our independent writing task.  With that in mind, here is a link to the wiki with copies of the main tools we used in class, including the organizers, checklists and the Grade 7 counter-argument anchor.

https://husky67.pbworks.com/w/page/25896205/Persuasive-Writing

Patterns of Physical Geography

Our Geography unit will look at the patterns of physical geography.  This covers the three main types of landforms - plains, plateaus and mountains.  We will also explore climate patterns around the world, and work with climate graphs.  We will complete some maps that locate the major river systems of the world.  Finally, we will be identifying different types of agricultural systems and describing some of the factors that affect them.

Air and Flight

As we move into our next Science unit, we will be looking at the properties of air and flight.  We will be doing a number of experiments that explore the properties of air and aerodynamics, and then applying our findings to the way that airplanes work in relation to the four forces of flight.  The first part of the unit will also concentrate on the way that we write up lab reports, using the scientific method.  A copy of the checklist we use to guide our lab report format can be found here:
https://files.pbworks.com/download/vYTWqsJGkP/husky67/25751252/Lab%20Report%20Checklist-feedback.pdf

The second half of the unit will deal with how airplanes operate, and with the construction of different types of paper airplanes to accomplish various tasks, based on what we have learned about air and the four forces of flight.  We will focus on trials and improvements, using an experimental model.

Additional information and practice can be found here:
http://www.gsc.amdsb.ca/grade6/grade6_science.htm

Multiplying and Dividing

We will be working on our division unit in the next few weeks, but first need to brush up on our multiplying skills.  We have been reviewing the strategies for working out the times tables, and students are expected to practice their times tables to avoid making simple calculation errors.  One way to do it is to use the following website http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm, which makes practicing a little more interesting.

We will work through a few different techniques to work on our dividing before we get to long division.  This is intended to provide a better understanding of the concepts involved in dividing, as well as a way to double check work when we do it the old-fashioned way.

Some examples you can check out as we progress can be found here:
https://files.pbworks.com/download/nLlPZL3XE5/husky67/26285656/Dividing%20models.pdf