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