Learning this Past Week

     This last week, as a class we have been reading our novel study book, Iqbal. The discussions we are starting to have connecting the Rights of A Child with what democracy is, have been fabulous! Students are reading the book to each other, as I help support language and vocabulary use by the author. Students are doing an outstanding job articulating, reading to understand, and backing up to re-read when word order is different or when clarification is needed. Some students are starting to ask really complex questions, in relation to the dynamics and topics within the book. Students were asked to practice using visualization skills to understand a particular scene more fully, and to use actions of a character to begin inferring character traits. It has been outstanding to hear every students voice, and to discuss topics that help everyone to understand the complex world around us.

      We explored Romero Britto this week. Here are couple of examples of the work we accomplished this week partially in class, and as homework.

   

    This coming week, we will begin exploring place value and building our understanding for our work with integers and then into ratios and percents. In science we have been building further knowledge about trees and forests, and this week we are connecting trees and forests to the oxygen and water cycles. We will also be moving forward with our Graphing Our Health activities, and end up having students using Google Sheets to chart and graph their findings. Being that we are heading into Remembrance Day, we will also be furthering our art skills this week, and learning more about citizen participation in democracy.

    Thank you, once again for all that you do to support and foster learning at home. I sincerely appreciate you!

    Warmest regards,

    Mrs. Easton

Layered Learning

     Over the last couple of weeks, we have been delve more deeply into forests, and into our mathematical thinking or reading graphs and creating tables to record data. This last week, we began exploring government and society, while we have continued to explore and read Iqbal. We have also asked students to play around with musically recording their personal version of "Purple Stew", and have been increasing their technological skills of embedding audio recordings of their own thinking within their assignments. It has been fun and challenging as we all push our learning and technology skills, together.

   

 

Mathematics

    This last week we began to explore patterns and how to explain and record pattern rules using tables. Students we asked to design and create patterns using manipulatives before trying to explain what their pattern is. The Problem of the Week is a patterning problem as well, were students we asked to explore symmetry and creating combinations of patterns with increasing growth. The goal was for students to not only create and find possible solutions, but to also begin to see relationships and patterns within how odd and even numbers work.

    We have also begun and health and mathematically investigation. For the last week, students have been asked to record how much sleep they have been getting, how much fluid intake they have throughout the day, how much screen time (game playing, tv or movie watching), as well as how much physical activity they are getting each day. Our next step this week is to reflect on what we have noticed or are beginning to notice, as well as what the data is telling. After students reflect on their data and the process of recoding data, students will be asked to begin to explore which graphs they would like to use to show relationships and highlight what they have learned about their health.

    This week, students will also continue to explore patterns using formulas to explain and describe the patterns they are decoding.

Literacy

    Students are thoroughly enjoying our investigations and reading of Iqbal. So far we have been working on our summarizing skills, and visualization skills. This coming week, we will conclude our introduction into visualization and move into characterizations.

Our School Survey

    On Monday we will be using class time to review and go over what to expect for the Our School Survey. Being that not every student within our class at this time have access to the survey, we will meet in small groups to complete the actual survey. This way students are supported throughout the process, should any questions arise.

    This means that on Monday, October 26th from 11:30 - 12:30 students from Buchanan School, Cambrian Heights Schoo, and Catherine Nichols Gunn School will be meeting to go through the survey. Capitol Hill School and Beddington Heights School, are in the process of finalizing their specific school questions. As their access becomes available, I will communicate the smaller Meet times to support all students through the survey.

    Everyone will receive an email with a specific username and password prior to the survey date. Please watch your emails.

Halloween & PD Day on Friday

    On Thursday, our class will be having a small celebration with a class photo of all those who desire to dress up (in Google Meet) and a movie which we have been using to model and collect data and how to interpret the collected data. There will only be a morning class on Thursday, October 29th. Following our class, I will be available for students to connect with for any learning activity assignments questions and support.

    There is no school on Friday, as it is a Professional Development (PD) Day. No student assignments are set to be released on Friday.

Remembrance Day

    The books we asked students to design and create based on What Does Peace Feel Like?, were lovely and heart felt. Thank you for supporting their efforts. Please make sure that you ask your child to share with you their finished product. For our upcoming Remembrance Day ceremony, we will have students share their favourite page (artistically) and chose one line to read out loud, to celebrate their thoughtfulness and creativity. Our Remembrance Day ceremony will be a virtual ceremony, and as details are finalized, I will share how we will be inviting parents and families to join us in our solemn assembly. The due date I have for submitting our classes work, is November 5th. If your child has not yet completed their book creation, please encourage them to complete this learning activity.

Here is a combined preview of what students created:

What does PEACE smell like?

It smells like a blooming Marigold flowers under the sun.

Like a vanilla ice cream in the air.

Like a new washed clothes from washing machine.

Like the breeze of the ocean at the beach.

Like the leaves of the pine trees at Banff National Park.

What does peace feel like?

Like when the sunlight wakes you up.

Like when you master a new skill

Like a cold bed on a hot day.

Like when you feel refreshed after a nap.

Like when you finish a book.   

What does Peace sound like?

Like birds chirping outside my window.

Like my sister screaming because she’s happy. 

Like the sound of popcorn popping. 

Like the sound of crunching cereal in the morning. 

Like a song that I like. 

What does Peace taste like? 

Like a yummy chocolate fondue with my family.

Like the fresh homemade cinnamon buns grandma makes early in the morning.

Like the yummy ice cream shop that grandpa takes us too.

Like the homemade cookies I make with grandma.

Like the homemade pizza we all make together for our fun movie nights.

What does Peace look like?

Like looking at trees outside.

Like watching animals in nature.

Like seeing a friend after a long time.

Like tree leaves falling down from trees.

Like me coding a python program and sending it to space.

Student Feedback from Google Classroom

    Parents/Guardians and Learning Coaches, could you please check in with your student to ask if they are responding to the feedback they are receiving?  Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a increase in empty files being submitted. Therefore, learning assignments have been returned and are being moved into the missing category. I will repost video supports for uploading into Google Classroom. 

    Please have a discussion about planning on how to stay on top of assigned learning activities daily. Please do not worry about going back to missed assignments right away, complete the new activities that are currently assigned, and then go back and add in one or two older assignments. To help support students in this, please connect with me and I can help direct students to keep assignments and help to outline sequences for layered learning. Please let me know how I can help, as I truly do want everyone to feel successful and that they are accomplishing within their learning.

    This last week, we discussed as a class how some assignments have been broken down to help ease students into work expectations and to keep elements separated. While it may appear that there are several assignments, some parts are vocabulary work, background knowledge, and then quizzes and/or student submission portions. I have also been adding audio within assignments to help review expectations and processes within the assignments.

Abstract Art

This last week, during one of our classes, we worked on creating an abstract art piece based on our ability to listen to instructions. Here are few examples of student creativity:

 

Thank you!

    Thank you for all that you are doing! I appreciate your Learning Coach role and support, sincerely. Please let me know if there is anything that I can help support you in your Learning Coach role, your child within their learning, and if you stand in need of anything.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Easton

A Week in Review

    Thank you parents for taking the time last week to meet with me for Parent-Teacher Conferences. I deeply value and appreciate your input, knowledge, and wisdom of how to best support your child in their learning journey this year. Thank you! It was a true pleasure to speak with you and get to know your family better.

Science:

    In our learning last week, time was spent in reading moon charts and researching historical weather data to try and see if there is a pattern within the phases of the moon that will help predict when the cold weather will really set in for the winter. All of this hard work, is to connect to the Blackfoot moon phase knowledge and how the First Nations peoples used the moon to help them predict and understand weather changes. There is a lot of information that students began to explore and investigate within this learning activity. As a class we will continue to deepen our understanding and knowledge together. If you could please support your child in asking questions, and recording their ideas, that will be most helpful as we go deeper into Trees and Forests and Sky Science.

Mathematics:

    In mathematics we continued to analyze and interpret graphs this last week. This coming week, we will be asking students to continue to explore and interpret line graphs. We will also begin a health and math investigation. Students will be asked to create four charts to record their sleeping habits, fluid intake habits, physical activity habits, and screen time habits. The goal is to record data for a week, and then we will reflect upon the data collected before we begin to make charts and graphs to explore how to represent the data and connections students make. 

Literacy:

    We have begun to explore reading strategies to help with comprehension. Students began to explore this using sketchnote taking methodology. This is a practice where students use key words and connect the words to an icon (small image), to help increase their memory. To help students study these strategies, please support your child to go back and colour their visual journal page, add more details (banners, dividers, connectors), as this will also help increase their visual spatial memory and help them rehearse the information.

    This week, we will begin our first novel study of the year, Iqbal. Students are going to be asked to read to the class, as I will share my screen with the novel for all students to read along. As we work through the novel study, we will also be practicing the reading comprehension strategies, re-introducing other literacy skills, and encouraging students to get back into the habit of reading regularly. We will also be engaging in online collaborate work with partners.

    On Friday, students will be given a literacy task to help them get into the fun make-believe world of Halloween, where they will be creating a ballad, poem, or song. This will be templated for students to follow along, but they are being asked to be highly creative and selective with word choices and meaning making.

Social Studies:

    We will continue to explore and examine the Rights of a Child as we read Iqbal, but also within our Class Meetings. This is going to help us transition into our work with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mrs. Matikainen and myself are hoping to help engage in this transition around the same time as the American election. We will begin with the levels of government first, but the tie into what is happening in the world around us.

Music and Physical Education:

    The literacy activity students will be engaging in on Friday is connected to exploring a familiar folk song, and our hope is that charting how active students are will also heighten our awareness of the need to give ourselves physical breaks during the day. I will be going over some strategies this week, to help us with out Online Learning and developing healthy habits in our work areas and within our work spaces. We will be begin using movement breaks as a strategy to transition from one learning activity to another, and to move when one starts to become frustrated to give the body and brain a break. Sorry this is taking us time to develop, we are still trying to find resources and build our own capacities in these areas. Thank you for your patience, we are very mindful of these two areas and are trying to find ways we can all incorporate learning.

    Once again, I cannot thank you enough for all of your time, efforts, and Learning Coach support. Please know that if you need any suggestions or support that you can also connect with me, I am happy to help in any way that I can!

Sincerely,

Dianna

dleaston@cbe.ab.ca

dleaston@educbe.ca 

Our Learning Journey

    Thank you for all that you are doing parents and Learning Coaches! I appreciate all that you are doing to help your child be successful in their online learning journey. Thank you!!

    Our Google Class Meetings are beginning to take more shape and form, which is exciting! Our conversations and discussions are evolving, which is super exciting. I would, however, like to encourage your to have a conversation with your child about how they are interacting in our Google Class Meetings. Some students are very hesitant to use their camera or their microphones. While I totally understand and respect that children are shy and that it might be uncomfortable always being visible, it would be greatly appreciated if students begin to turn on their cameras when they are speaking, have a question, or would like to share their ideas and thoughts. This will help us all get to know each other better, and begin to have a face to go with a voice and name.

     My goal is to build confidence for each student, over time. The more they share their face and voice, the easier it becomes. Moreover, it is really important that students share their voices, questions and thinking, as this is the only way to gain confidence in one's voice and thinking. Research shows that the more a child asks questions or shares their thinking, the deeper their thinking becomes. As a teacher it is my job to help make connections to student responses, ideas and thinking. Thus, everything and anything a student shares, has value. 

    Another reason for seeking your support in encouraging your grade six child to share their voice and picture, is also to help everyone feel their importance in the our learning environment. Just as in a classroom, there are students who are really confident and comfortable sharing their thinking and answering questions. As I care for all students and their own voices and ideas, there is awkward silence in our Class Meetings. Silence makes some people incredibly uncomfortable and nervous. While I am not asking students to always be ready to respond, as I do use a method that gives students time to think and respond, the expectation is to be responsive. 

    The awkward silences, due to the uncomfortableness of it, is causing some students to begin using the chat feature within our Google Class Meetings to break the silence. However, like all human nature, the topic of these conversations is not on point with the topic of the lesson. While you are chatting with your child, if you could also remind them of the purpose of our Class Meetings, that would be deeply appreciated. I will be going over this with the class this week, but having a background conversation prior will also strengthen all of our attempts to advance our online learning experiences. Thank you!!

Binders and Visual Journals

    This last week, we engaged in a variety of assignments, in all subject areas. It has been a treat to help students challenge their thinking, but to also demonstrate their learning and thinking in a variety of ways. As we continue to do various learning modalities, this week, we would like to focus on the background organization of our learning evidence.

    The goal with the visual journals, is for students to openly explore without structure, journalling strategies, visual representations of our learning/thinking, and to be a tool for our creative exploration into how we as individuals think. Student binders is ideally for students to house their notes on specific topics, so that they can see their knowledge building and have a place to quickly refer to when their thinking is being challenged or deepened. The notes do not need to be perfect, but legible and full of facts and content information (something we are building into each subject area). This last week, students were to take notes on trees with diagrams and details, as well as begin to record mathematical definitions. Your support in helping your grade six child learn how to organize and utilize this tool, would be deeply appreciative.

    This week students are being asked to take some time to create subject dividers. This can be a simple diagram or title page in a sheet protective sleeve, or a piece of paper with a labelled tab on it. In a classroom, I would encourage students to individualize their own dividers, so these can be as simple or complex (creative) as each student would like. While the binder is a student tool, your guidance in the use of and reference to will be key. Thank you for helping in this practical and real way!

   Also note, that students are being asked to provide pictures of their notes within the note taking assignments as evidence of their time, how, and what they are finding interesting and significant. The visual journals are for observations, reflections, and art work. Notes, planning/mapping activities and writing assignments are all for loose leaf (either blank, lined, or graph paper). The use of graph paper is for our mathematical investigations in graphing, table utilizations, geometrical thinking, and for area and perimeter work. But, some students like the structure of the graph paper to also make their notes on, over lined paper. If legibility is of concern with note taking, at this point in the year, please consider using graph paper for notes.

This Last Week in Assignments

    We explored graphs and where and how they are used in our everyday living. As a class we will be going into depth with that this week. Students have been asked to make inferences and complete mathematical calculations to problem solve using data in charts. We will be continuing this this coming week, but we will also be getting deeper into why graphs are helpful in displaying relationships within data.

    Students were asked to explore and work within the Writer's Cycle, using their time to revise, rewrite, and edit their What Does Peace Feel Like? book. Our goal is to have all final drafts in on Thursday, October 8th. We will then begin going into the next phases of the Writer's Cycle process, publication.

    In connection to Orange Shirt Day, we began exploring the Rights of a Child. We will continue to explore the various articles, as we delve into the concepts and connections with each right. Please continue to have discussions and being open to questions from your grade six student. My goal is to then begin connecting the Rights of a Child to our Canadian Charter of Rights and Responsibilities. While we will not be making a direct line of connection in our learning, this is where we are headed, to help you with your discussions and conversations.

    Many students are doing an outstanding job in adding details and evidence of their thinking/work. Thank you!! Please keep up the efforts and quality! The support that many students are offering each other is also amazing! This last week students were posting additional resource ideas, 'how to' suggestions, and responding to questions and inquires about specific assignments. It is wonderful to see the level of student support for each other, and the care that is being extended. Thank you!

Upcoming Assignments

    This week will begin a moon inquiry, and we will be continuing with our tree investigation as well. One of our math activities will be our Problem of the Week, wherein students will be asked to use trees and birds to logically explore possible variations of how many birds can be in a tree with given parameters. This may be highly challenging for some students, but please encourage your child to use what they know - draw a picture and work through the problem using mathematical operations that make sense. This is a multi-step problem with visual elements that will help direct a student within the logical reasoning.

Student Conferences

    Thursday, October 8th and Friday, October 9th are student conferences. We will be using Microsoft Teams to video conference, or you can request a phone call for these conferences. Please make sure that you emailed in your time request, by the end of the day Monday, October 5th.

Home Reading

    Hopefully this week, we will have a few online options for reading programs for students to begin engaging in. I hope to have Raz-Kids, Epic! and Reading Theory all set-up this week. I will be sending you further information about Epic! this week as well. In the meantime, please access the Calgary Public Library or utilize your at home libraries and encourage your child to be reading for at least twenty minutes a day. By reading for at least twenty minutes a day, your child will be exposed to over ten million different words by the time they are in grade ten. This will also be the foundation to ensure that they will be able to read and comprehend texts at the grade ten level. 

    Thank you, for all that you are doing and for all of your efforts! I sincerely appreciate your willingness and time to help your child within their learning this year. Thank you for being in partnership with me. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments. I appreciate your help in building your child's learning capacity!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Easton