Supplies

Please ensure that students bring in scissors for tomorrow's building words activity.

Finishing patterning and sequencing

This week we are finishing our patterning unit. We will be exploring equal expressions and how to use variables in equations. We will end the week with our chapter review to get ready for our first Math Assessment Monday.

In Language we continue to improve our sequencing and create a media piece by creating a bitstrip  comic that retells the events of ""The Great Crepe Battle". We will also be examining sequencing in a non-fiction text, "The Art of Juggling".

In Religion we will finish exploring our theme of how God is a light to us and how we can be God's light to others

We had our opening liturgy today, which helped us reflect on the start of the year and helped us to look forward to the year ahead as we continue to "Restore one another in a spirit of gentleness" as per our school board theme.

Library circulation has also started. Students are asked to check out one French book and one English book of their choice and have the option to check out a third book. Since our library day is Friday, books that have been brought home are to be returned Friday so that others can enjoy our excellent collection.

Have a great week.

The great crepe battle and Junglesport

This week we continued our sequencing in Language by performs a dramatic reading of the play "The Great Crepe Battle"  and placing the events of "The Great Crepe Battle" in the order that they happened. We also identified the main plot points and discussed the theme that "A person is better than a machine". Feel free to continue to discuss this topic at home with your child. We will be recreating the main events in a comic strip next week. 

In math we continued our use of pattern rules in a variety of situations and learned how to make use pattern rules involving variables. We also reviewed basic graphing skills and used pattern rules to represent dats in a graph. We are at the mid chapter review for our patterning unit and will be finishing our patterning unit with a test by the end of next week. 

We also participated in Junglesport during second block on Friday. Students climbed a variety of rope course as well as climbed up the wall on various apparati.Even Mr S gave it a go! Below are a few pictures from our time with the excellent instructors from Junglesport.

Thank you to all those who brought in cans to be used for our lantern project for religion. We are still in need of a few more soup or coffee type cans. Pop or other soft drink cans are too thin to be used for this particular project. We have continued to explore the theme of how God can be a light to us and how we can be a light to others. 

Pizza order forms were sent home Thursday. Please ensure that the forms come back with cash or cheque by Tuesday September 29. If there are siblings who are ordering you can write one cheque but please ensure that each individual sibling has a separate order form filled out. 

Have a great first weekend of fall. 

Sequencing and Patterning with variables

This week we are beginning our Literacy unit on sequencing. We are using the Moving Up With Literacy Place program from Scholastic. Today we started our shared reading of the short play The Great Crepe Battle. Students read the parts of the characters and began constructing a plot outline of the main events. We will continue to sequence out the play as we reach its exciting conclusion and answer the question: Is a machine better than a man at making crepes?

In Math we introduced creating pattern rules with variables and simple expressions like n x 6. We will be continuing to use variables to represent patterns as the week goes on. This is one of the more challenging topics in Grade 6 Math but will set them up for future success as they move on to more complex topics in higher grades.

This week we will also be participating in Junglesport an indoor ropes and climbing course. For more information you can click on the link: http://www.junglesport.ca

Thank you to everyone who has brought in a can so far for our lantern project. We would like to have each student bring their empty and clean cans by the end of the week so that we can start our lantern project next week.

Have a great week.

Mr. S.

Permission form and Student Information Verification/email consent form.

Student have received the blue Student Information Verification/email consent form today. This form must be returned by September 18 and will allow the school to send updates to parents via email. They will also receive a permission form to allow students to participate in Junglesport next week in the gym. This form will also need to be returned by this Friday September 18 to allow students to participate in this exciting climbing apparatus. Please let me know through your child's agenda if there are any questions.

Fabulous First Week

Mr. Spindler's Grade 6 class had a fabulous first week of school. We did a few getting to know you activities as well as starting our Math curriculum and began writing a letter to ourselves.

In Math we began working on recognizing and writing a pattern rule based on information in a table of values. We also had some fun doing some math review with our own information such as writing our phone number in expanded form and reviewing terms such as difference, sum and product.

In Language class we interviewed each other and presented a top ten list of facts to know about the interviewee to the class. We also began writing a letter to our future selves which we will receive at the end of the year. We also started our Bump It Up wall which will help us improve our writing.

Mr. Spindler would like to thank all parents for their patience in sorting out the various logins for the websites such as Kidblog, Xtramath and Class Dojo that will help improve student learning. In order to help improve accessibility we will be having a BYOD or bring your own device to school day on Tuesday to make sure that all students have access to these resources. There is no need for parents to be concerned if their child does not have a device that they can bring to school as there will be some school devices available in the classroom on Tuesday to get everyone logged in.

Mr. Spindler is also looking forward to meeting many of the parents at the Welcome Back BBQ on Wednesday.  All students who have paid have received a small slip of paper on Friday indicating the order for the BBQ. This slip of paper is important as families will hand it in to receive their order.

This week we will be working on learning how to edit and create final copies of our letters as well as continue to explore pattern rules using variables.

We have also started our Religion and Family Life program. The theme of this year's Religion program is "You Shall Be By Witnesses" and the symbol for the year is the lantern. Later this month we will be creating our own lanterns in class so we ask students to please bring to school one clean empty can such as a coffee can soup or can with the label removed to create these lanterns.

Mr. Spindler is also looking forward to meeting many of the parents at the Welcome Back BBQ on Wednesday.  All students who have paid have received a small slip of paper on Friday indicating the order for the BBQ. This slip of paper is important as families will hand it in to receive their order.

This week we will be working on learning how to edit and create final copies of our letters as well as continue to explore pattern rules using variables.
Have a great week!

Welcome to Grade 6!

Welcome to Mr. Spindler’s grade 6 Math and Language classroom! Mr. Spindler (also known as Mr. S) will be teaching your child Math,Language and Religion which also includes Family Life.  I am looking forward to working closely with you and getting to know your child. You are your child’s first teacher and together we can help your child meet the Provincial expectations this year. The emphasis is for students is that effort is more important that natural ability in achieving success and that it is a student’s “job” to work hard and try their best. I encourage all students to discuss with their parents what has gone on at school each day. Students are expected to set aside 40-50 minutes for homework every night. Most days students will have kidblog and Raz-Kids work, Prodigy and math fact practice. Homework will be written in their agenda on Mondays. This homework routine is very important as it deepens learning that has happened through the day and promotes good habits for future years. Homework will be posted on the class blog at http://spindlermathandlanguage.blogspot.ca/ under weekly homework so you may check here if your child has misplaced his/her agenda. Homework will be due every Monday.

We will be starting the year with a number of "Getting to know you" activities. In language we will be writing letters to ourselves, learning about using self-monitoring strategies to assist us in understanding what we read, and beginning our spelling program. In math, we will begin the year by investigating number patterns, some basic algebra and integers.

This year, the grade 6's will be using a few websites to help facilitate learning. We will be using Google Apps, Kidblog, Xtramath, Prodigy and a number of other applications to demonstrate our learning. More information and permission forms will be sent home as we begin to use these programs. For now please follow the class blog at http://spindlermathandlanguage.blogspot.ca/

Finally, I would like to invite any parent who is interested in getting involved in our class to contact me at the school. The more the merrier, and extra hands are always welcome. Please check out the class blog for links and resources to help students and parents. Don’t forget to sign up for email alerts so that you can be informed of new content on the blog. I look forward to a great year together.

Sincerely,

Mr. Spindler