We are coming down to the wire (metaphorically of course) with the upcoming Fall Break and then the report cards 2 1/2 weeks after that. By this time, we are all used to some of the routines, are adapting to the new requirements of grade 6 and getting to know each other very well.
LA the past week has been an amazing experience. I have been focusing on two things - descriptive paragraph writing and a scary story response unit. The neat thing has been to see how well the kids are adapting to the requirements we have been setting out (adapted from the things they will need to do on their test in June). The descriptive writing has been excellent, with everyone at least attempting to use the sentence starters and making good choices in excellent vocabulary. As well, the enthusiasm with which the kids are throwing themselves into the story unit has been exciting to watch. They have been put into groups to read stories like "The Monkey's Paw", "Sleepy Hollow" and a couple of others, then respond to them by either creating a comic strip, a movie poster, a business card (for the main character) or a song. They have all given a great deal of effort to chose the best project for their group and are working hard to make the best final product that they can. And we have been tying grammar and vocabulary into these larger works too.
In Science, we are wrapping up our Trees and Forest unit, with the unit test coming up next Wednesday and the Tree Trading Card assignment due on Thursday (and I won't be accepting any cards after Thursday either). We have spent this week reviewing as well as learning about how we can learn a tree's history by looking at the rings in a tree cookie and ways that humans use and protect forests. It has been a fun unit, but we are looking forward to examining fingerprints, footprints and blood evidence in our Crime and Investigation unit (coming up after the break)!
In Social Studies we have started a unit on Local (municipal) and Provincial government. This will take us up to December and will cover all the responsibilities and structures of government in our province. Currently we are doing an in-class project comparing and contrasting services provided by each type of government in Alberta.
In CE this week, we worked on exploring the book of Matthew, particularly the call of the first disciples and the ministry of John the Baptist. We are creating a re-telling of one of the stories from Matt 2-4 as part of this. And we had a great individual chapel with our grade 9 leaders, looking at the disruption sin brought to creation.
Just a small request; if you have any old magazines that you haven't recycled yet, can you send those to school? We use them for creating collages on paper and there is always a great range of pictures available in old magazines. Thanks so much for your continued contribution to our class and have a great weekend!
