If you are working on your Past to Present paragraph over the weekend and happen to have left your notes behind -here they are to help you!
We will continue with “A Novel Idea” project. There will be mini lessons on conflict and theme.
All students should have finished reading their novel by now and are expected to have had an individual conference with Ms O’R on page 3 of their C level tasks by Wed 8th Feb. Make sure you sign up for the day you would like to conference!
We will continue with the City Relocation Guide in SS. This week we will review population and resources and how they have affected your city. (This may bring back memories and/ or connections of the Immigration topic many of you studied back in Grade 4 if you were at ISM then!) Again, we will practice this in class together using Manila as a case study, and then you will be off to research your own city.
The draft for the section on Population and Resources for your Relocation Guide is due at the end of class on Tues 7th Feb.
We will continue with “A Novel Idea” project. There will be mini lessons on character and plot.
Reading must be finished by Fri 27 Jan.
Level C tasks are expected to be fully completed by 8th of February (at the latest)! If you have finished- you can move up to the next level of course!
There will be review in tutorials for the post test on Parts of Speech that will take place in a couple of weeks. If you did not score well in the Pretest, or need time to practice your grammar skills, make sure you attend these tutorials that will be given by various G6 teachers.
We will continue with the City Relocation Guide in SS. This week we will review cause and effect and relate it to how the past affects the present. Essentially, this is the history component of your city study. We will practice this in class together using Manila as a case study, and then students will be off to research how the past affected or influenced the present of their own city.
The draft for the section on Past and Present for your Relocation Guide is due at the end of class on Monday 30th.
There will be quiz on absolute and relative location worth 20 points on Wednesday.
Nouns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5IhPXEKNGE
Verbs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MfeH0ZXEVs
Adjectives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuuZEey_bs
Adverbs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdhBMjVj1W8
Conjunctions
http://www.schooltube.com/video/6b265f3478554fef993c/Conjunction-Junction
Interjections
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUqrljf1Nis
Prepositions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITXrRHBA5OM
Pronouns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPJs096bVE
We will continue to work on our independent Novel Study assignment. Time is given in class each day for this and the rest is expected to be done for homework. Students are working their way through reading their novels, summarizing, and reflecting on chunks of their book, and making vocabulary cards. It is expected that all students have finished reading their book by Friday 27th January.
We will also review cause and effect this week and have a mini lesson on setting.
In addition we will review the parts of speech gathering grid and have a grammar pretest in Word Work time.
Every student has selected a city to study for their Relocation Guide. We will spend a number of sessions in the library researching basic factual information about their city in order to get a general overview of it. “The Basics” include details about location, population, climate, language, religion, traditions, holidays, landmarks and topography. Students have the choice of recording this information in paragraph form or lay out as factual info in a magazine style- as modeled and shown in class. Drafts for “The Basics” are due no later than Tuesday 24 January.
Students will also review their mapping skills and find the relative and absolute locations of their chosen city.
Check out (or should I say peruse)the Relocation Guides from last year on the Grade 6 blog to get an idea of what you should be aiming for.
Therefore, homework in English and Social Studies is independent this week. You will continue to read and work on the novel activities from class, and continue to work on the “Basics” for your Relocation Guide.
Remember, being organized is a big part of your work this term and it will really help you keep up to date with things.
Good luck!
Current Events presentations will occur again this semester. Each student is expected to give an oral presentation about something that has happened in the world. The news is to have happened during the week a student is scheduled to present. Presentations will take place on Friday mornings.
Below is the outline and revised rubric that you should follow for your presentation.
Current Events Semester 2 , 2012
The schedule also also attached (although you should already have your personal presentation date in your planner).
Finally the sites below are really helpful ones to use when researching your topic.
http://www.weeklyreader.com/subcategory/74#
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/school_report/9345726.stm
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scholasticnews/index.html
Little Earth on line site on the Media Center server
You have done this before, so the semester 2 presentations should be even more awesome!
Good luck!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2060/2365479160_910a895ace.jpg
Welcome to 2012 and welcome back to school! We have started the second semester and have hit the ground running! It was wonderful to hear and read all the holiday stories from around the world today. I trust that the Year of the Dragon will be a fantastic one for all of us .
The third quarter theme is CAUSE & EFFECT. The overarching questions for this topic are:
These questions will be studied in all four core subjects over the term.
In English this week, we will review the Genre Wheel that we started last quarter. Students have been encouraged to challenge themselves and read a variety of genre to expand and develop their reading skills and comprehension. They are encouraged to aim for 5, 8, or 12 genre types, depending on their reading ability. They need to have an individual conference with the teacher after reading each book to be signed off for that genre. The final date for this task will be February 16th.
We have also embarked on an exciting independent reading project called “A Novel Idea!” All students will take home and share a yellow handout with parents. They are expected to have set goals, share the task with parents and have the handout signed by a parent (due Thurs). Students will select an appropriate novel that is interesting and the right reading level for them, they will chunk it into sections, and begin on the first level (C) tasks. Level C tasks need to be completed before a student can move on to B, and ultimately level A tasks. This is a project where students can work at their own pace and have some choice in the tasks they do in order to be successful and achieve their goals. Time management is a crucial component of this project.
Reading for this novel should be completed by 27th January. Level C tasks should be completed by 8th of February. Students have been giving a schedule to help organize themselves and the important due dates are expected to be in their planners.
Click the link here if you would like to review the handout: A Novel Idea 2012
Writing Workshop will continue this term with small moments and other fun writing activities to practice skills, but the main writing task is a piece of persuasive writing that is integrated with our Social Studies unit. We will continue to practice grammar skills and conventions, sentence fluency and paragraph writing as we build up to this assignment.
We have introduced the new Cause & Effect unit by looking at just what cause and effect means.
The Social Studies essential questions for this unit are:
The performance task for SS is a progressive one that students work at in stages throughout the term to complete the final product. They are to choose a city in the Asia/ Pacific region and as a member of an advertising agency are expected to write a Relocation Guide to entice people to want to set up a business in that city. The completed task will be on a program called Pages on the Mac computer. Students have been introduced to book resources for this task in the library and will confirm the city for their research next Monday.
Weekly Current Event presentations will continue this semester. Each student will be expected to present once. The outline and schedule for this will be posted in a separate blog.
I look forward to having a wonderful second half year in 6th grade with all students and parents. Here’s to an fantastic 2012!
We will have some to time to reflect on our work, organize or portfolios and have some writing fun. We will continue to work on small moment writing, but also do some shared writing in Writing Workshop.
Make sure you have a book to read in class as we will have reading time every day this week. You can start reading for your Genre Challenge! We will also have read alouds of some of Ms O’Regan’s favorite books.
We will have the Relationships test on the Materials Economy on Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will view the completed projects. Half of the Green Team will present and view in the FAT with Mr Benford and Mr Hamaguchi. The other half will be in the LT with Ms Vergel and Ms O’Regan.
Monday- Social Studies Test
Wednesday- Return any library book or Text Book Centre books
Thursday- Shortened schedule, G6 party 11am, school finishes at 12pm.
Friday- HOLIDAYS!
Ms. Rena O'Regan
Mr. Sturgeon