Faulty Friday!

General:

1. Report card went home today.  Please review it along your child at your earliest convenience.  Sign the white envelope and return it as soon as possible.  As a reminder, marks are based on the concepts covered this term.  To understand what a 1, 2, 3 or 4 constitutes, please refer to the front page of the report card.
2. PD Day Monday!  See you all on Tuesday.
3. Scholastic orders due to Mrs. Tam by  Friday, February 5th.  Cheques only.

Language Arts

1. 'A Dream Deferred' good copy due Wednesday.
2. Our Slam Poetry unit has officially come to a close.  We want to thank all our students for putting their best foot forward and being brave enough to perform into front of the class.  

Science

1. Air and Aerodynamic/Flight title page due Tuesday.

Thursday

General:

1. Report cards go home tomorrow.
2. PD Day Monday, February 1st.

Language Arts

1. Spelling test Friday! Study!
2. Students will receive time to complete their illustrations/border for their "A Dream Deferred" poem.
3. We will hand out the prizes for our slam poetry competition tomorrow. The categories: Best Overall, Best Teamwork, Best Written, and Best Performance.

Science

1. Students were given their last period to work on their Science title pages for Air, Aerodynamics, and Flight unit. It is due: Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016. 

Wordy Wednesday

General:

1. Report cards go home on Friday.
2. Fun lunch tomorrow.

Language Arts

1. We saw many performances for Slam Poetry today.  Students did a fantastic job!  We have a few more performances left for tomorrow.
2. Spelling test Friday! Study!

Science

1. Students will be provided one more 30-minute class to work on their Air and Aerodynamics title page.  The rest will need to be finished for homework, due Monday.

Twister Tuesday

General

1. Fun Lunch: Thursday, January 28th, 2016 - orders were due last week.
2. Report Cards distributed this week - January 29th, 2016.
3. Monday, February 1st, 2016: PD Day
4. Lockdown drill on Thursday. A form, printed on orange paper, was sent home today. Please read and review with your child. 

Language Arts

1. Spelling Sentences are due TOMORROW. Words are: field, piece, achieve, believe, fierce, receive, perceive, receipt, deceive, and ceiling. Test: Friday, January 29th, 2016.
2. Slam Poem: Performances begin tomorrow.

Science

1. Title Pages were assigned today. A half class would be given in Science on Thursday and then it will become homework due for Friday, January 29th, 2016. 

Momentous Monday

General

1. Fun Lunch: Thursday, January 28th, 2016 - orders were due last week.
2. Report Cards distributed this week - January 29th, 2016.

Language Arts

1. Spelling Sentences are due Wednesday, January 27th, 2016. Words are: field, piece, achieve, believe, fierce, receive, perceive, receipt, deceive, and ceiling. Test: Friday, January 29th, 2016.
2. Slam Poem: Dress rehearsal tomorrow - each group will perform a mock presentation in front of two other groups. Feedback will be given in the form of "stars" and "wishes" for positives to continue with and room for improvement, respectively.

• By now: Students have received two periods to type up their poems. All but a couple of groups are done typing their poems up. Each group is expected to memorize and perform their poem beginning Wednesday, January 27th, 2016.

Thundering Thursday: Social Studies Edition

We viewed some videos on YouTube about Canadian Democracy:

1. How Canada Became a Democracy - Part 1
2. How Canada Became a Democracy - Part 2
3. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms

We then created a Venn diagram that compares Ancient Athenian democracy to Canada's.

Here are the similarities:

- Voting
- Government meet in assemblies (e.g. city hall, Legislative Assembly, House of Commons)
- Need to be a citizen to vote
- Has a court system

Differences:

Ancient Athens:

- direct democracy - citizens vote and debate directly on issues
- To vote, a person must be: male, 20+, own land, have served in the military, and be a citizen
- People were organized into categories: slaves, metics, and citizens
- Foreigners cannot vote, even if they had lived in Athens for decades
- Parents have to be Athenian to vote
- Genders are not treated equally

Canada
- indirect democracy - citizens vote for people to represent them at different levels of government
- To vote, a person must be: 18+, citizen - males and females can vote
- We have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms
- Don't have to be Canadian-born to vote
- We have a monarch

Thundering Thursday

General:

1. Friday is an early dismissal.  Students leave at 11:00 am.

Language Arts

1. Students must be prepared to perform their slam poems by Wednesday, January 27th.

Math

1. Fractions Illustration ("Getting to Know You") due Friday.  Here are the assignment requirements.

Getting To Know You Activity

You have in front of you a circle divided into 8 pieces. Follow the steps below to create a personalized circle. It will help me get to know you better, and allow you to show your classmates who you really are. Feel free to color or design any way you choose as long as we can still see the information!
1) In 1/8 of the circle: Your name2) In 1/4 of the circle: Your family3) In 1/8 of the circle: Your best vacation memory4) In 1/8 of the circle: Your favorite pizza topping(s)5) In 1/8 of the circle: Your favorite sport to watch or play 
6) In 1/4 of the circle: Your favorite hobby 

Social Studies

1. Ancient Athens quiz on Monday.  Students should be studying at least 15 minutes each night.  Please refer to a previous post for study topics.

• There is also a separate post covering the similarities and differences between Ancient Athenian democracy and Canadian democracy.

Wacky Wednesday

General:

1. Fun lunch orders due tomorrow.  The Fun lunch will take place next Thursday.
2. Friday is an early dismissal.  Students leave at 11:00 am.

Language Arts

1. Rough draft for "A Dream Deferred" is now officially overdue.  Students will have the opportunity to type up the good copy of their poem next week.

Math

1. Fractions Illustration ("Getting to Know You") due Friday.  Here are the assignment requirements.

Getting To Know You Activity
You have in front of you a circle divided into 8 pieces. Follow the steps below to create a personalized circle. It will help me get to know you better, and allow you to show your classmates who you really are. Feel free to color or design any way you choose as long as we can still see the information!
1) In 1/8 of the circle: Your name
2) In 1/4 of the circle: Your family
3) In 1/8 of the circle: Your best vacation memory
4) In 1/8 of the circle: Your favorite pizza topping(s)
5) In 1/8 of the circle: Your favorite sport to watch or play 
6) In 1/4 of the circle: Your favorite hobby 

Social Studies

1. Ancient Athens quiz on Monday.  Students should be studying at least 15 minutes each night.  Please refer to the yesterday's post for study topics.

Topic Tuesday: Social Studies Test Topics

nRoles & Responsibilities of:

nSlaves

nMetics

nCitizens

nThe Assembly

nThe Courts

nThe Council of 500

nSimilarities and differences b/w Canadian & Ancient Athenian democracy

nClaim, evidence, and “So, what?”

Topic Tuesday

General: 

1. Fun Lunch form/$ are due this Thursday, January 21st.  Fun Lunch on January 28th.
2. Early dismissal day: Friday, January 22nd at 11 a.m.
3. GP Vanier delivered a presentation today about the Late French Immersion Programme. Their open house (for parents and students) is Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016 at 6 pm. On March 2nd, during the day, an open house is available to students (only) to cycle through the options that are available to them should they head to GP Vanier. Please contact the school if you would like further information. Students who were interested received a brochure outlining the Immersion programme.  

Language Arts

1. A Dream Deferred Poems: Students will apply line breaks and word emphasis (identical to the slam poem work) tomorrow in class on the computer. Rough draft MUST BE done by tomorrow.
2. Slam Poems - basic requirements as discussed in class: 

• 3 stanzas
• 4-5 lines each
• students can do more than the basic requirement, but keep an eye out for quality. A longer poem does not necessarily mean a better poem or better mark.
• A rubric will be handed out tomorrow regarding the slam poem's performance and writing.
• We discussed line breaks and word emphasis

Social:

1. Social Studies TEST: Monday, January 25th. Please see separate post for topic breakdown.
2. Ancient Athens projects are now overdue.

• students completed a peer and self-evaluation

Science:

1. Quiz on dendrodisks TOMORROW.  Students need to know layers (and the functions of each layer) and the different growth conditions.

Momento Monday: LA Edition

In class, we worked on another Langston Hughes poem titled, "A Dream Deferred".

The poem is as follows:

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

The bolded parts are the line starters that all students poems will have. 

By now they should have brainstormed some positive and negatives about what happens when dreams are pursued and not pursued, respectively and created a rough draft from there.

• The rough draft is due tomorrow. 
• Students received roughly 45 minutes to brainstorm and write out a rough copy in class. 
• The rough copy will be typed up on Wednesday.

Momento Monday

General: 

1. Fun Lunch form/$ are due this Thursday, January 21st.  Fun Lunch on January 28th.
2. It's been brought to our attention that the email alerts synched to our blog is not being sent out when we post. We always try to post our blog entry right after school. If by homework time, you have not received an email version of our blog posts, we encourage you to check our blog site directly: chengtam.blogspot.ca or access it directly by following the links on the Beddington Heights School website.
3. Early dismissal day: Friday, January 22nd at 11 a.m.

Language Arts

1. Green sheets (regarding story results) are overdue. Please return ASAP.
2. Poems - basic requirements as discussed in class 

• 3 stanzas
• 4-5 lines each
• students can do more than the basic requirement, but keep an eye out for quality. A longer poem does not necessarily mean a better poem or better mark.
• students helped to co-create a rubric today. I will have that for them for Monday or Tuesday.

Math:

1. We still have a list of students who have yet to bring in a green sheet related to a math quiz from before winter break - the topics include: Order of Operations (BEDMAS), factors, multiples, etc.

Social:

1. Ancient Athens projects are now  overdue.

• Science:

1. Green sheets for Trees and Forest quiz overdue.
2. Students will have a quiz THIS Wednesday, January 20th. 

Science:

1. Quiz on dendrodisks on Wednesday.  Students need to know layers (and the functions of each layer) and the different growth conditions.

Friday

General: 

1. Fun Lunch form/$ due Thursday, January 21st.  Fun Lunch on January 28th.
2. It's been brought to our attention that the email alerts synched to our blog is not being sent out when we post. We always try to post our blog entry right after school. If by homework time, you have not received an email version of our blog posts, we encourage you to check our blog site directly: chengtam.blogspot.ca or access it directly by following the links on the Beddington Heights School website.

Language Arts

1. Green sheets (regarding story results) are overdue. Please return ASAP.
2. Poems - basic requirements as discussed in class 

• 3 stanzas
• 4-5 lines each
• students can do more than the basic requirement, but keep an eye out for quality. A longer poem does not necessarily mean a better poem or better mark.
• students helped to co-create a rubric today. I will have that for them for Monday or Tuesday.

Math:

1. We still have a list of students who have yet to bring in a green sheet related to a math quiz from before winter break - the topics include: Order of Operations (BEDMAS), factors, multiples, etc.

Social:

1. Ancient Athens project due Monday, January 18th.  

• Students should be on the good copy of their project.  
• Students will receive approximately the WHOLE Social Studies period tomorrow (nearly an hour) to continue their project.

Science:

1. Green sheets for quiz overdue.
2. Students will have a quiz next Wednesday, January 20th. Please keep an eye out for a separate post that will outline topics.

Thursday.

General: 

1. Fun Lunch form/$ due Thursday, January 21st.  Fun Lunch on January 28th.

Language Arts

1. Green sheets (regarding story results) are overdue. Please return ASAP.
2. Poems - basic requirements as discussed in class 

• 3 stanzas
• 4-5 lines each
• students can do more than the basic requirement, but keep an eye out for quality. A longer poem does not necessarily mean a better poem or better mark.
• students helped to co-create a rubric today. I will have that for them for Monday or Tuesday.

Math:

1. We still have a list of students who have yet to bring in a green sheet related to a math quiz from before winter break - the topics include: Order of Operations (BEDMAS), factors, multiples, etc.

Social:

1. Ancient Athens project due Monday, January 18th.  

• Students should be on the good copy of their project.  
• Students will receive approximately the WHOLE Social Studies period tomorrow (nearly an hour) to continue their project.

Science:

1. Green sheets for quiz overdue.
2. Students will have a quiz next Wednesday, January 20th. Please keep an eye out for a separate post that will outline topics.

Wonderville Tree Cookies (Dendrodiscs)

Do you have your page set up?


NO?!  Stop and do that first!


YES?! Then you can  Click Me!

Workout Wednesday

General: 

1. Fun Lunch form/$ due Thursday, January 21st.  Fun Lunch on January 28th.

Language Arts

1. Green sheets (regarding story results) are overdue. Please return ASAP.

Math:

1. We still have a list of students who have yet to bring in a green sheet related to a math quiz from before winter break - the topics include: Order of Operations (BEDMAS), factors, multiples, etc.

Social:

1. Ancient Athens project due Monday, January 18th.  

• Students should be on the good copy of their project.  
• Students received nearly an hour today in class to work on their project. Those who are using the computer or PowerPoint are encouraged to have their slides planned out and written out in their notebooks before coming to school so that at school, all they need to do is type their information onto the computer.

Science:

1. Green sheets for quiz overdue.

Tedious Tuesday

General: 

1. Fun Lunch form/$ due Thursday, January 21st.  Fun Lunch on January 28th.
2. Workshop Wednesday tomorrow.  Students are still encouraged to return their forms signed.

Math:

1. We have gone through all 5 long division strategies.  Room 14/15 will have a "pop" quiz on long division tomorrow.  Students have been encouraged to create a "cheat sheet" tonight to help with the quiz tomorrow.  The size of the cheat sheet must be what was provided by Mrs. Tam.
2. Many students still owe us green sheets for the number sense quiz before the break.

Social:

1. Ancient Athens project due Monday, January 18th.  Students should be on the good copy of their project.  If they are still planning or researching, YOU ARE BEHIND!

Science:

1. Green sheets for quiz overdue.

Monday "Mourning"

General

1. Fun Lunch: $/orders are due Thursday, January 21st. Fun lunch will take place Thursday, January 28th.

Social Studies

1. By now, students should have had their planning pages done and initialed by Ms. Cheng or Mrs. Tam. Parents/guardians, please look for this initial on your child's planning page. If there isn't an initial, the students are behind in work. By now, many have finished at least half of their claim, evidence/proof, and explanation ("So, what?"). If you do not see this in at least a rough draft in your child's work, they are also behind.

Science

1. Canada's National Tree project: due tomorrow. 
2. Green sheet for the Trees and Forest quiz is now overdue. There are still 12-15 students from both classes who have yet to return them.

Language Arts

1. Students received 20 minutes of brainstorming time today as they work towards planning out their slam poems. We came up with a class brainstorm for both the positive and negative effects that words can have on people. From these effects/topics, we then generated a few class examples of figurative language that could be used to represent them.
2. Students can anticipate that they will need to write between 3-4 stanzas for their slam poem, with each stanza being around 3-4 lines.

Frenzied Friday: Language Arts edition

Students received their narrative stories back today. We did extensive work around reflecting on the results by analyzing a class example. The class example was written by Ms. Cheng and was shown to the class. The example demonstrated the good skills demonstrated by students, the skills that were a struggle, and then errors made that should not have been made (e.g. not paragraphing work, not capitalizing proper nouns).

On the whole, stories contained strong beginnings that used one of the four methods discussed in class (i.e. action/sound, thought, description, or dialogue). Many students struggled to maintain the momentum established by their story beginning. Most students were able to create stories that clearly had a beginning, middle, and end section, but struggled to develop the middle sections in an engaging way.  Those who struggled with the middle or rising action section either left plot holes or used very few descriptive words or examples of figurative language.

This will not be the only story that we write this year, so there will be more opportunities to improve and lessons planned to continue with the work around descriptive writing.

Students were asked to think about their effort level throughout the stages of this major project/assignment, as some were disappointed with their  marks. Those who worked hard should be commended for their work, regardless of their final result. However, those who did not make effective use of class time are asked to improve for next time.

Any student who disagrees with their mark are encouraged to make an appointment with their teacher to discuss their story. Students are asked to be prepared to explain or prove why they believed they should have achieved a higher grade.

Frenzied Friday

Math

• Continue practising multi-digit division strategies. To date, we have covered the: traditional method, lattice method, and the hangman method. Students have a graphic organizer that outlines each of these methods.

Science

• Monday's recess and lunch periods have been set aside as a "soft deadline" for science groups to meet about their progress regarding national Canada's National Tree project.
• The final deadline is the following day: Tuesday, January 12th. This deadline has been extended.
• Students are to choose ONE tree, even though research was done for two. Please see a previous post for examples of what a Level 1, 2, and 3 exemplar looks like.

Social Studies

• The project is due: Monday, January 18th, 2016.
• The planning page was due today and was checked by Ms. Cheng. The project outline contains a planning page with a place for "teacher initials". If parents/guardians do not see a teacher's initials, it means that the student was not ready today. The expectation is that on Monday, these planning pages are done for those students.

Why Wednesday?

General:

1. Students received a Workshop Wednesday form last night.  Please sign and return them ASAP.  This is good for students who are thinking of coming in on Wednesdays for extra work time or extra help from now until June.
2. Adventures Childcare form went home today.

Social:

1. Ancient Athens project due Monday, January 18th.

Language Arts

1. Narrative stories will be return on Friday.

Science:

1. Science quizzes were returned today.  Please sign and return green sheets by Friday.
2. Trees of Canada project due Monday.  Students were given a booklet they can complete for their project if they choose.  The most important part of the project is to justify one tree that should be the national tree of Canada.  As a class we went through the three examples below and graded them based on the rubric provided in the assignment overview package.

Mrs. Tam’s Justification Examples

Example 1 (Level 1)

I believe the Banyan tree should be the national tree of Canada because it is big and really cool looking!  It’s just so awesome!  I really like Banyan Trees.  Even the name is cool!  Everything about it is just so…COOL!  Cool eh?

Example 2 (Level 2)

I believe the Banyan tree should be the national tree of Canada because the tree produces figs, which is popular amongst birds and monkeys.  They also produce flowers that attract wasps for pollination purposes.  Older trees can reach more than 200 metres (656 feet) in diameter, with a height of 30 meters (98 feet).

Example 3 (Level 3 or 4)

Banyan trees should be the national trees of Canada for a couple of reasons. 

First off, these trees were originally found in South Asia.  They were frequently planted near villages, homes, temples, and roadsides as it provides shade to relax, an area to discuss issues and make decisions.  Canada is known for its beautiful landscape, friendly people and democracy.  Having Banyan trees in this country can represent and symbolize these important values of Canada.

Banyan trees are also known for their widespread root system that can sprawl across a considerable area.  Having trees that have a strong root system helps with the prevention of erosion.  This is especially true for the shorelines across Atlantic Canada as they often experience erosion, a wearing away of the land by water, waves, ice, and wind.  The Banyan tree roots can help improve these problems. 

A Note from Mr. Sadowsky...and a word about deodorant.

YMCA

During PE today, Mr. Sadowsky let students know that the YMCA offers free memberships (valid until June 30th) to any 6th grader. This is a great way to access equipment and gym space to work on being healthy and active to all those who qualify. Find your nearest YMCA and bring proof of grade/age (e.g. a class photo, old report card, etc.) and you should be given a free membership.

Deodorant

It is important that students shower daily and apply deodorant each morning before school to practice proper hygiene. We encourage all students who have not begun these practices to do so. Thank you.  

Today is Tuesday...

General:

1. Welcome back Room 14 and 15!  Sounds like many of you had a great break! :)

Social:

1. Ancient Athen's Project due Monday, January 18th.  Students will be given approximately four more 30 minute periods in class.  The research part should have been completed before the break.  If you're not done, you are behind and need to catch up at home.  Textbooks are available for students to sign out.  Students should be on the planning stage.

Language Arts:

1. Narrative stories will be return on Friday.