Mr. Conte's Grade 6 Class: Monday, September 9th

Good afternoon everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend – I certainly did some relaxing! We had a quite a busy day today in Grade 6.

A few quick reminders:

· Tomorrow is a Day 5.

· For anyone who ordered Hot Lunch, payments are due on the 13^thof September (next Friday).

· BBQ forms and payments should be returned by this Friday, September 13^th.

· Terry Fox letters and pledge forms were sent home today. We are hoping to raise $5000 as a school by next Friday, September 13^th, which is the day of our Terry Fox run!

· Science Fair money ($15) due next Monday (letter must be signed and shoeboxes brought in).

We started our day by having a workshop with Ms. Hayward. She came in and spoke to up about plagiarism and collusion and the importance of citing our sources. Plagiarism is when you take another person’s work or idea and claim it as your own. Collusion is when you take credit for work you did not do (i.e. putting your name on a group project that you did not contribute to).

After this, we read an interesting article about energy, and we learned how to cite a website using MLA format. This is so important because we will be using MLA citations during exhibition. Here is how you cite a website using MLA format:

Last name, First name.“Title.” Publisher. Date of publication. Website. Date Accessed.

For example using the site we accessed today:

Rogers, Chris Dennison. “What is the effects of overusing energy?” SF Gate, Hearst Newspaper,

LLC. 27 Dec 2018. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/effects-overusing-energy-78753.html

9 Sept 2019.

Inquiry into Language – After this, we had our language period where we learned about similes. Similes are a literary device (a device used by authors to make writing more interesting/exciting). A simile is a literary device used to compare two things using the words likeor as. We use similes to help us explain something more vividly.

For example, a writer may write, “The boy was very, very tall.” However, the reader would have a better understanding of this if the writer were to say, “He was as tall as a tree.” By comparing the height to something the reader can engage with, it helps us understand just what they are trying to say.

After this, we wrote some similes of our own.

French – Then, we had French with Mme. Stella, which you can read about on her blog (https://stjudesfrench-stella.blogspot.com).

Gym – After recess and lunch, the students had gym with Mr. Orr, which you can read about on his blog (http://tysonorr.blogspot.com).

Inquiry into Energy – After this, we discussed the expectations for the Science Fair. We read through our letter for the project and the expectations. Please take some time to read the letter with your son/daughter. Students will need to bring in a shoebox and store their supplies in there. The money for supplies is due by net Monday, September 16^th, and that is when the letter should be signed and returned by.

After discussing the science fair, we started discussing advancements in energy. When it comes to energy, we have seen many advancements over the years. We began by individually brainstorming examples of devices we didn’t have 200 years ago and devices that haven’t changed over the last 200 years. Tonight, students will be researching Alessandro Volta and Luigi Galvani on their own using the links below and they will be citing their sources using MLA format.

https://www.famousscientists.org/alessandro-volta/

https://www.thoughtco.com/luigi-galvani-theory-animal-electricity-1991692

Students also posted their questions for our current unit of inquiry.

At the end of the day, we started with a math drill for our multiplication tables from 1 – 12.

After this, we went into our math lesson for the day, which is a review of rounding and multiplying by 10, 100, and 1000.

When we are rounding, we can round to the tens, hundreds, or thousands (we can go further, but this is how far we are going for now). When we round, we always look to the number directly on the right. If that number is between 1 & 4, you round down. If the number is between 5 & 9, you round up. For example, let’s look at the number 1487:

· The nearest 10: We are rounding the number 8, so we look at the number directly on the right (7). Since 7 is between 5 & 9, we round up, so we round to 1490.

· The nearest 100: We are rounding the number 4, so we look at the number directly on the right (8). Since 8 is between 5 & 9, we round up, so we round to 1500.

· The nearest 1000: We are rounding the number 1, so we look at the number directly on the right (4). Since 4 is between 1 & 4, we round down, so we round to 1000.