Good afternoon everyone!
I hope that everyone is having a great week so far. We have been super busy in Grade 6.
A few quick reminders:
· Tomorrow is a Day 1.
· For anyone who ordered Hot Lunch, payments are due on the 13thof September (next Friday).
· BBQ forms and payments should be returned by this Friday, September 13th.
· Terry Fox letters and pledge forms were sent home last week. We are hoping to raise $5000 as a school by next Friday, September 13th, which is the day of our Terry Fox run!
· Science Fair money ($15) due next Monday (letter must be signed, and shoeboxes brought in).
Inquiry into Math – Today, we started with reviewing yesterday’s math homework by comparing different methods of mental math and having students check over their work. We had quite a few silly mistakes which occurred due to small and simple errors in multiplication or addition. Students were reminded to check over their work.
After this, we moved on to completing our multiplication drills. I am proud to say that we are getting faster and faster every day!
Inquiry into Language – Today, we focussed again on simile writing. We discussed what makes our study of similes successful. To say that we successfully learned about similes, we can: define what a simile is, know when and why authors use similes, and write similes of our own!
A simile is a comparison between two things using the words likeor as. They are used for comparisons and to make writing more vivid and exciting. Then, we read out our own similes for the class. We definitely had some great ones!
French – Then, we had French with Mme. Stella, which you can read about on her blog (https://stjudesfrench-stella.blogspot.com).
Inquiry into Energy – Today, we started off by reviewing Galvani and Volta and their contributions to our modern understanding of electricity. Galvani discovered that by touching two different metals to a frog’s legs, he could cause a jolt in the leg. He understood this as humans and animals having their own electricity. Volta built on this by determining it was not the frog’s legs, but rather the two different metals. He determined that touching these two different metals to the legs, he created a pathway for electricity to flow.
Then, we started an activity called Light up the Class. Students were given a battery, two small light bulbs, a switch, and 4 connecting wires. Using these, they had to conduct a series of tests to make one light go on, both lights go on, one light go on with a switch, and a way to make one light stay on while the other goes on and off on command. They had such an amazing time.
After this, we watched a couple of videos to learn about the flow of electricity. Electricity is caused by the flow of electrons . Electrons are negatively charged particles that travel from the negative end of a battery to the positive end to create energy. The flow of these electrons is called a current. This is called current electricity. There is also static electricity, which is what we get when we rub a balloon on fabrics. This creates an imbalance of positively charged particles (protons) and negatively charged particles (electrons). This is why we experience a shock. What we experience as electricity is the flow of electrons from one place to another.
There are two different ways to create circuits. You can create them to be either parallel or series. A series circuit has only one path the electrons can flow in, while a parallel circuit offers more than one path. We will be going more in depth into this.
Here are the videos we watched:
Tonight, students will have to research Thomas Edison and add him to their timeline.
They will also take notes on a reading (link below) and cite using MLA format.
To cite using MLA format:
Last name, First name.“Title.” Publisher.Date of publication. Website. Date Accessed.
To have good notes…
· Don’t write everything – You cannot possibly write everything you hear, so focus on the important points.
· Use colours/symbols – Use colours (highlighters) or symbols (star) to help you in guiding your note taking. (i.e. I place a star next to something I don’t understand).
· Be prepared – If you can read a chapter to get ahead, do it!
· Review your notes often – Make a habit of reviewing the previous day’s notes before going to the next day’s lesson.
For the timeline…
· Scientist’s name
· When the scientist lived (year born – year died)
· Contributions to science (succinctly described)
· Illustration (optional)
Students were reminded that we have a UOI test on Wednesday, October 2nd.
Inquiry into Math – Today, we focussed on our divisibility rules. These help us determine which numbers a number can be divided by. Here they are:
A number is divisible by…
· 2 if the number is even
· 3 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 3
· 4 if the number represented by the last two digits is divisible by 4
· 5 if the number ends in 5 or 0
· 6 if the number is divisible by 2 & 3
· 8 if the number represented by the last three digits is divisible by 8
· 9 if the sum of the digits is divisible by 9
· 10 if the last digit is a 0
Tomorrow, we kick off our first math unit Patterns in Whole Numbers.
Homework:
We do our best to complete UOI and Language work in class. In the event this is not possible, it will go home for homework.
As always, please feel free to email me with any questions.
Mr. Conte
