June is Here!

Hello Families,

Has the countdown begun in your house?

At school, things are gearing up for the end of the year. Today we finish our Language Arts exam, the Math exam is finished by Thursday and the Inuit and Micmac projects are due (test next Monday). As well, the preparations for graduation are getting under way. It promises to be a very busy time in the grade six class!

In case you had not noticed, I have added a page for the calendar to the blog. Important dates are listed above and you can access the page by clicking the link under the blog title.

Have a wonderful week!
Kathy Napier

Field Games Day: Permission Slip

Hello Families,
Just a quick note to ask that you remind your child to bring back the permission form for the Field Games Day trip this coming Thursday.

We will be leaving right away, will need to bring a lunch, water bottle, snacks, good shoes, sunscreen and a coat if it is cool.

Students, please remind each other to bring back the form!

Have a lovely and safe Victoria Day long weekend,
Kathy Napier

The end of another week (also known as one week closer to grad) and Special Visitors

Hello families,

Well, it was another big week here, and I hope you're giving your kids the Flintstones vitamins because from here on out there are only big weeks with many projects, exams and trips. It promises to be hectic and fun, but very hard work, and in my experience keeping 12-year-olds busy (very, very busy) is half the battle.

What battle, do you ask?

Oh, the ongoing battle against hormones and backtalk, arguments and obstinacy (which is a word, but I had to check), sloppy work, bad manners and lack of motivation. But I know I don't have to tell you this. From what I hear, this battle is being fought on all fronts.

Keeping myself ready for this is also what sometimes keeps me from acknowledging, daily, how your children are really great people. Really great people who care deeply about others and their world, who are critical thinkers and who have come a long, long way in the year and eight months we have been together.

I'm tearing up and losing my focus here. Ahem.

We had two special visitors this week. The first was the lovely Kat Usher, Naturalist from the EarthValues Institute in Montreal who came to give her annual presentation to the students. This year's theme was "Colour My World." She is a wonderful speaker and I was sorry to have been out sick that day and miss her talk.

I was also sorry since every time I am sick h-e-double-hockey-sticks seems to break out with the kids' behaviour and I come back to problems. If you heard from me Thursday you know what I mean (if you didn't, your child wasn't involved :).


Our second visitor arrived Thursday morning and was a surprise for the kids. Just in case your own loving 12yr old was less than communicative and forthcoming this week, you should know that I asked an agent of the Surete du Quebec to come and speak to them about drugs. If they didn't give it to you, you should go riffling through their bookbags for the information document for parents about kids and drugs (after hearing what he had to say, perhaps you should riffle through their things regularly). The students had excellent questions and Agent Jutras was a very experienced speaker who handled the information with just enough detail to (hopefully) scare them away from drugs and pushers. It is a good time to reopen a dialogue with your child about the whole subject.

Thank you for your help and support this week, and as we move into the Math and English Exams next week please continue to keep your child as well-rested as possible.

Enjoy the weekend, and Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Kathy
PS - to let me know you have been here, please click on on the the boxes and/or leave me a comment. it lets me know I am talking to more than just my one-and-only blog-follower

EDITED TO ADD-Hey! I have readers! Thank you for clicking below (and I fixed the typos)! It is great to know I am not writing to myself here, people!

Websites for Studying

Hello all,

These are a few sites which can provide guided practice of some of the math skills we are reviewing in class. Students should use them to study as they are self-correcting and can give rapid feedback on skills and understanding.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/BillyBug/bugcoord.html
Coordinate geometry

http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/geometry/6-8/activities/quad_quest/quad_quest.html
Quadrilaterals

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year6/angles/game.asp
angles

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=triangles
triangles

http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/mathfrog/english/kidz/div5.shtml
long division

http://www.mathplayground.com/fractions_mixed.html
mixed numbers

http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/mathfrog/english/kidz/order.shtml
order of operations

http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/mathfrog/english/kidz/decMulti6.shtml
decimal multiplication

Tomorrow IS another day...

Hello again,

Thank you to all the families who spoke with their child last night. The attitudes were in check this morning and we have had a very agreeable and productive day.

During homeroom these days I am playing the game highlights from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We have had some very interesting discussions about the interviews players give after the game and the ways in which they do or do not support their team-mates while demonstrating sportsmanlike values. It has been very interesting.

This morning I also had this quote from the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson:


We all need a chance to start again and do better. The kids did that today.

Enjoy the weekend, and for anyone motivated to start studying math this site is helpful: http://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/index.html

Warmly,
Kathy Napier

Following Instructions, Applying Strategies

Hello Families,

As our unit on geometry draws to a close, I am not pleased with much of the work being produced in class and for homework. As the students can tell you, and I am very convinced of the necessity for instilling habits that will help them succeed in high school and later studies (as well as in the workplace). Geometry uses a number of formulas and strategies that are immutable and need to be memorized, and work needs to be clear and labeled. This morning, not one of the students had applied the labeling strategy taught for transformations. Not one. Why? Because they were convinced they didn't need to. More than half the class had significant mistakes that could have been avoided.

Now, I am all about creative thinking and discussion. But this is not a situation in which people can deviate from strategies they have barely learned to apply. They can expect to have to apply multiple concepts to complete situational problems, and to do that, they have to be organized and methodological. All the students are able, many do this spontaneously. No one did it with yesterday's work.

Some students seem to think that instructions are suggestions, not requirements. Just now I took them to the bake sale and told them NOT to eat before physical education class. All students heard me. Three chose to ignore the instruction. It may seem unimportant, scarfing down a little brownie before doing gymnastics. However, the greater point is that they aren't interested in doing what they are told, they do what they want.

I am in the midst of finalizing the end of year trip, and overnight trip. If I can't rely on people following instructions, how can I take them?

Please speak with your child. There are a scant nine weeks of school left. We can finish the year strongly, or we can struggle.

I know which I prefer.

New Units!

Hello Families,

Since the Easter break we have been working on learning new concepts and revising ideas we have already studied. As you will have noticed, the students are again working on texts responses, and at the top of this page you will now find a tab that leads you to a page describing what a response should include at cycle three. As well, we are working to improve creative texts in a number of ways - ask you child what techniques we have been reading and experimenting with!

As well, we are working on transformational geometry (a short evaluation will be following soon). We will soon be investigating solid geometry, capacity, and volume. For those of you would would like to continue to improve your child's calculation skills, the self-correcting games listed in the sidebar of this blog can be a great help.

In social sciences we will be investigating the similarities and differences between modern Micmac and Inuit communities and the territories on which they live. it should be a very interesting module.

As the weather improves, please consider sending a water bottle for your child. They play very hard at recess and are often thirsty during class.

As ever, if you have any comments on questions, I am available by phone or email.

Warm regards,
Kathy Napier