The end is here!

Tomorrow is the last day of school. Students are of course expected to be in attendance as there are lots of activities planned for this special day. 

Students have received their report cards today. Included in the Report Card envelope is the report card, an information sheet about the Trinity Nation Orientation for students who will be attending Holy Trinity in Grade 7 on August 29, and the certificate from the Entrepreneurial Adventure. 

It has been a very special year for me as I have taught and worked with this amazing group of students . They are an enthusiastic, talented bunch and I know that they will be successful in all of their endeavours thanks to the excellent foundation they have received here at St. Anne. It has been a pleasure to teach them and to work with all of the parents to make this school year such  a success. Have a great summer and best wishes to all as they begin grade 7. 

Year end trip

Many of my students have requested that a list of what to bring on the year end trip on Thursday June 23. The following is a list of items that students are required to bring:

sunscreen
hat
water bottle
bathing suit
towel
change of clothes
jacket/sweater (it may be cool in the morning)
snacks(nut free please)

It is recommended that students wear their bathing suits underneath their clothes for the day. They will be rotating through stations that may involve getting into the water. They will need a dry change of clothes to get into at the end of the day as this trip will go ahead rain or shine.

We ask that students not bring valuables such as, but not limited to, iPods, iPads, cell phones, cameras, etc. as there will not be a facility where their bags can be locked up at the camp.

Entrepreneurial Adventure Showcase

Today our class attended the Entrepreneurial Adventure Showcase held at the Museum of History.  We got to view the other ventures that took place across the city of Ottawa and were also privileged enough to have a visit form The Minister of Finance for the Federal Government Bill Morneau. We also took part in the awards celebration and although we did not receive an award, we were happy to be there to represent St. Anne. We also met up with our business mentor Tammy who said her final farewell and mentioned how proud she was of our students and how they will be able to look back on this and remember the impact we had on Ms. Devine to help her through her most difficult time.

Last Minute Change for EA Showcase

The Busses will be picking us up at 12:15 from the Museum of History not 1:30. This is a last minute change that I only became aware about now. Students will return to school in time for their afternoon classes. We will have lunch at St. Anne.

Family life and the gift of Life

Today we started Theme 3 of our Family Life program entitled "Created Sexual: Male and Female". We recapped what was taught in previous grades as well as discussed sources of information about our sexuality including our parents, other family members, friends, teachers as well as more informal ways of learning such as media including TV, magazines, the Internet and social media. We also discussed how we can have normal, natural attractions and desires for things including friends, food, video games and that those attractions may eventually include being attracted to another person and how we can control those desires and use them in a positive way such as making healthy eating choices and not eating too much junk food. We will continue to learn this week about how God created us unique and different and about the purpose for why he created us male and female.

Today is also the day where we can give the gift of life by donating blood to support Ms. Devine and all others who need blood transfusions. There are still spots left for those who are able to give blood in many time blocks from 3:30-7:30.  Below are some tips on donating blood. Don't forget to specify that you are signing up for the clinic in honor of Nicky Devine. If for some reason you are unable to make it today, you can always donate at your earliest convenience at 1575 Carling Ave, Ottawa, ON K1Z 7M3. 

Tips for a positive donation:

·         Review the Basic Eligibility criteria https://www.blood.ca/en/blood/abcs-eligibility    or take the quiz here https://www.blood.ca/en/node/497

·         Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

o   drink LOTS of water the days leading up to and the day of your donation,

o   have those 8, 8ounce glasses of water –You can do it!

o   Limit yourself to one cup of coffee or tea the day of your donation.

·         Eat a healthy breakfast and have a substantial snack before coming to donate!

·         For lunch time appointments eat your lunch before donating

·         For dinner time appointments eat a meal before donating

·         Remember to bring identification- Photo and address or address and signature

·         Children under 12 must be supervised by a parent or other adult
·         All children must remain in our Café Rouge refreshment area –

Review of learning

This next week in Math we will do an in depth review of the 5 main strands in Mathematics. Today we reviewed Number Sense, which has an impact on all the other strands. Tuesday, we will review Patterning which includes describing patterns using pattern rules, Wednesday we will review geometry which includes transformations to an object on the coordinate plane, Thursday we will review Data management and probability and Friday we will review measurement. Students are invited to take the work we do in class home with them to help them remember what was taught this year.

In Language we will also review the different types of text that we read and how to best analyze them; narrative, poems, news reports, graphic texts, etc. We will also review how to write narratives, poems, reports, opinion pieces, and persuasive letters.

In Religion we will begin our family life unit on how we are created sexual. There will be a letter going out with the students on Tuesday outlining the topics of discussion. We will be finishing our Confirmation preparation by learning about the 7 themes of Catholic Social teaching which is how we can live out our faith and life in the Holy Spirit.

Have a safe and relaxing Victoria Day long weekend!

Blood Drive

The Staff at St. Anne are organizing a blood drive to help support Ms. Devine. Each student will have received a cookie with information about the blood drive. Please keep Ms Devine in your prayers as she is undergoing her scheduled surgery today.

Below is a note from Ms. Devine regarding the blood drive.

January 2014 I received my first call to supply teach for the Ottawa Catholic School Board. I taught kindergarten that day. The staff and students were wonderful and this quickly became my main school to work at. I loved it at St. Anne. Every time I was there I learned something new, whether it was from a teacher sharing their knowledge, the set up of a classroom, or the students themselves. I enjoyed every minute in that school.

The day after hearing that I had a tumour I received a phone call to supply at St. Anne and sadly had to turn it down. My mom saw the devastation in my eyes as we waited in the doctors office.  When the doctor asked "do you have any other questions" my mom asked "can she go to work during this time". The doctor was shocked that I had been working at all the last 4 months, so no... no working for me.

Yet, St. Anne didn't give up on me...  they stood behind me every single day of this fight. Whether it was fundraising for me, emailing me, visiting me... they have never let me feel alone.

And still, after everything they have done... they still want to do more. They changed my life, and now they are going to save other peoples lives.

During my journey I have received 4 bags of blood, this blood allowed me to continue my fight. I have met so many patients who have also been given blood that literally saved their lives. St. Anne is holding a blood drive on Wednesday May 25th from3:30-7:30 at 1575 Carling. Together we can make a difference.

For those giving blood...

Step 1 register at blood.ca.

Step 2 Do the eligibility quiz under the Blood tab.

Step 3 Under find a clinic, put 1575 Carling Avenue then put the dates as May 25 and find a clinic

Step 4 Click the tabs for time of day and then choose a time

Step 5 Update this doc so we know when you’re going

Eqao practice

This week we will be doing a dry run of the EQAO assesments as a practice for the Assessments which will begin on May 31. Students are asked to ensure that they have pencil and eraser for the Language practice assessment tomorrow and the a pencil, calculator and eraser for the Math practice assessment Wednesday. 

Confirmation information letters will be handed out this week, reminding students of our Confirmation date as well as other info. 

Permission letters will also be handed out for students attending the Entrepreneurial Adventure Showcase on May 30. We are in need of 2-3 parent volunteers to come with us on the trip. Students will take part in the showcase as well as a brief tour of the Museum of History where the showcase takes place. There is a cost of $6.50 yo take a tour of the museum. Students are also advised to bring a lunch. This will be an exciting opportunity to showcase what our class has accomplished through the Devine Snack Shack. 

Baby Chicks

We have received our Confirmation date from the parish. Our confirmation date for Mr. Spindler' class and Mrs Bontes' class is June 1 at 7:00 at St Patrick's Fallowfield. 

Yesterday we had an opportunity to visit the Baby chicks that the grade 1 students have been taking care of. Our students were able to learn about how to properly hold a chick so that they are not distressed.

We were able to visit the chicks for about 10 minutes at the end of our language block.

Book Fair Sale

A reminder to students that tomorrow is our day to buy items from the book fair. Please make sure that you have your money for the books you wish to buy.

A big thank you to all the parents who showed up to the open house today. It was great to have you in our classroom.

Upcoming events

We are looking at a very busy next two weeks in Mr. Spindler's class.

Yesterday permission forms went home regarding the Catholic Education Week Mass at St Patrick's parish on Monday May 2. Permission is required to bus students to and from the church. Please have your child return the form by Friday April 29.

We will also be hosting an Open House at the school on Tuesday May 3 from 9:00 to 10:30. Parents are invited into the classroom to take part in the lesson for the first block and see the amazing things we do in the classroom. Please let me know if you are able to attend so that I can make sure there are enough materials for everyone.

Next week is the St. Anne Scholastic Book Fair. Students will be able to preview books to buy this Friday and be able to purchase books next week on May 4. Please make sure that your child brings their money on that day as the book fair is quite popular and there will be little time outside of our scheduled class visit to buy any books.

In Math this week we will explore creating triangles, rectangles, and parallelograms with the same area using geoboards and elastics. We also discovered the need for a standard order of operations when dealing with questions with more than one operation such as 14x17-12/6+3. We will continue to consolidate our Math learning this week and next week.

In Language we will complete our poetry unit. The students have a goal to create at least 3 poems and pick their best one to revise and display. We also completed an EQAO reading called "The Discombobulator" which helped us read and analyze poetry.

We will be holding our Jump rope for Heart fundraiser this Thursday afternoon. Thank you to all who have donated to this worthy cause. The school is very close to reaching our goal of $11000. It is not too late to sign up.

Our class also brought in over 700 batteries during Earth Week and won the prize for bringing in the most batteries. The school will still accept used batteries to be recycled until the end of the month.

Lastly, the Devine Snack Shack raised over $1400 to help Ms. Devine as she receives treatment for cancer. What an excellent way to show Ms. Devine our support and build community!

Poetic forms

This week we have received a lot of forms to fill out and return. I would like to thank parents for their patience and understanding. The confirmation form is due by April 29. The grade 6 year end information form is due as soon as possible. If you have not yet done so please submit the earth week parade permission for and cleaning up the capital. for these form it would be great if we could have some parent volunteers help for these events. 

Next week is earth week. There are many activities that will be taking place at school and in the classroom. Students can participate in daily trivia questions to win a prize. We will also be participating in a garbage can challenge where the garbage cans will be replaced with a small paper bag. Students are encouraged to not bring in packaged foods. If they do bring in packaged foods they are encouraged to bring any non recyclable waste home to minimize our use of the garbage can. This activity is to increase awareness about the amount of waste that we generate. 

We will be participating in a crayolacylce challenge where students are encouraged to bring in any used markers from home to be recycled and reused by Crayola. The used markers can be from any brand. 

We are also participating in a battery recycling drive. Batteries contain toxic materials that should be properly disposed of. Any batteries can also be brought to school to be properly recycled. 

There will be a prize for the class that brings in the most used batteries and markers. I think that Mr. Spindler' class will rise to the challenge. 

Also a reminder that students will be attending the transition day on April 22. 

Next week we will be looking at measurement relationships in math and poetry in language. Students will begin to compose their own poetry by the end of the week. 

Have a great weekend. 

Grade 6 news and events

This week we will be holding our final Devine Snack Shack event. We will be holding our bake sale Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

We are writing a fable in Language to help further our learning in our synthesizing unit. Students learn to synthesize by first explaining the main message of a story like the moral in a fable.

In Math we are identifying geometric patterns through using a graphical organizer called input output machine which can help organize the different steps in a mathematical pattern.

There has also been some letters regarding various grade 6 events. The first letter is from St Patrick's Fallowfield regarding Confirmation. The confirmation dates have been set for June 1st and 2nd. Parents are asked to complete the confirmation form and return it to the school by April 29. Parents will need to locate a copy of their child's baptismal certificate if their child will be confirmed at St Patrick's Fallowfield this year and attach it to the confirmation form. We will be discussing choosing a sponsor for this week's Religion class.

An information letter also went out regarding the transition day at Holy Trinity on April 22. Please contact me if you have any questions about that day. There is also a parent information night at Holy Trinity this Thursday April 7 at 7:00 at Holy Trinity. More information can be found at the Holy Trinity website. 

Easter break

It seems like we just had a break and now we will have another short break for Easter. Next week we will be preparing for our second Devine Snack Shack sale, called Batter Up which will take place the week of April 4-8. The date will be confirmed next week. We are hoping to once again have many students participating in baking our various treats.

In language we will begin our unit on synthesizing by putting together what we have learned and creating something new. We will be looking at how to create our own legend or myth as part of this unit.

In Math we will have a measurement quiz on April 1(no it's not an April fool's joke) and will review our measurement concepts such as area of a parallelogram and triangle, volume of triangular prisms and surface area of rectangular and triangular prism. We will also explore some concepts in probability that have not been previously covered.

Have a blessed and happy Easter and take some time to pray and spend time as a family.

FSL sheets

If parents have not already done so, could they please return their child's FSL sheets that were handed out with the report cards back in February by tomorrow. The school that they will be entering next year needs to know this information as soon as possible. Students have a choice of either choosing French immersion or extended French. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Batter up recipes have been shared.

For those who were thinking of baking or asking for donations during the march break, the recipes will give us some idea of what kinds of items to get. The Battr up recipes have been shared in the student's language folder.

Once again have a safe and restful March Break.

Happy March Break

This week we explored volume as well as surface area of rectangular and triangular prisms. We discussed how when we cut a 3 dimensional object in half the volume is halved but the surface area is actually increased. This means that we can't use a formula similar to that for the area of a triangle  A=bxh/2 or the volume of a triangle V=bxhxd/2 to find the surface area of a triangular prism.

We are also progressing with our next step of the Devine Snack Shack called Batter up where we will have a larger variety of baked goods for sale. We are still finalizing a date for that sale but it will be either the last week of March or the first week of April. Later in April we will hold our Smoothie Blast sale.

We are hoping that some of the students in the class can bake some of the baked goods to be ready for the Batter Up sale. Students are to purchase their supplies at Bulk Barn on Fernbank Drive(the same complex as the Walmart) since they will be able to measure out exactly the amount of ingredients that they need. Students are to submit receipts to the student led financial accounting Department of the Devine Snack Shack and will be reimbursed.

We are also hoping that some students will be able to do some baking over the break to be able to meet the demand for our amazing product. Cookies that are baked can be frozen and the brought to school on our baking day.

After the break we will begin to focus a little more or preparing students for EQAO. We will be doing quizzes from multiple strands which will cover both current and previous learning. We will also begin practicing more written responses to reading selections, as well as review different types of writing. We will also look at concepts that did not fit into previous units in Math to further student understanding of all strands of the curriculum. Students will continue to deepen their understanding in the strands of Mathematics.

Have a safe and restful March Break.

Spirit Week and Devine Snack Shack recap

The Devine Snack Shack has completed our first sale. We sold cookies on 2 separate Days. Our total profit was $694.25. This would not have been possible without the help of our students and their parents who went to various stores such as Laura's Independent and Bulk Barn to collect donations. A big thank you to Bulk Barn on Fernbank Road that donated $120 worth of ingredients and bags to put the cookies in. Ms. Devine is very grateful for the effort that all the students put in to this project and is inspired by their support. She hopes to beat cancer to be able to return to teaching and inspire others.

The next goal for the snack shack is to prepare for the Batter up sale of baked goods including cookies, cupcakes, and truffles. We will be planning out the sale next week and will be baking soon.

Next week at St. Anne is Spirit Week. Students are encouraged to wear their spirit wear according to the schedule below. There is a suggested donation of one or two dollars a day to raise funds for First Nations education and to provide clean water to places in Africa.

Monday School Spirit (Blue and White)
Tuesday Jersey Day (wear your favorite sports jersey)
Wednesday Wacky Wednesday
Thursday Clone/Twin Day
Friday PJ Day

In math next week we will continue our 2D measurement which will include area of polygons and potentially explore 3D measurement which will include volume and surface area of polyhedrons such as triangular and rectangular prisms.

In Language we will take a look at some EQAO reading and writing tasks to review our language curriculum covered so far such as analyzing for meaning, sequencing, and writing a series of paragraphs with main ideas and supporting detail.

Grad photos proofs were also sent home today. If parents wish to order they are due March 10. Unfortunately there is no opportunity for retakes.

Also a reminder that grade 6 t-shirt payments are due March 9.


Have a great weekend!

Devine Snack Shack Sale postponed.

Due to the inclement weather and the busses being cancelled for today February 29, the K-3 snack shack sale will be postponed to Thursday March 3. The grade 4-6 sale will still take place Wednesday March 2.

If there are any students who baked cookies over the weekend and are attending school they can bring them in to the school today. We will attempt to bag them if the student with the decorative bags attends. If not we will bag what we have on Tuesday.

If there are any questions email me at benjamin.spindler@ocsb.ca

First Devine Snack Shack Sale on Monday

The Devine Snack Shack will be hosting their first sale on Monday February 29. Students in Mr. Spindler's class are asked to wear green if possible, even if it as an accessory. The service managers are asked to wear their white collared shirt.

For those who are baking the inks to the recipe are found below.

Sugar cookie(don't forget to decorate it)
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sugar-cookies-0

Shortbread cookie(leave out the rosemary)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/84205/rosemary-shortbread-cookies/?internalSource=rotd&referringId=362&referringContentType=recipe%20h

Chocolate chip cookie
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/10813/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/

If there are any questions please use my email address benjamin.spindler@gmail.com. Happy baking!

Another resource

Here is a resource for those interested in extra math practise. It mostly aligns with the Ontario curriculum with only a few lessons outside the curriculum.  https://ca.ixl.com/standards/ontario/math/grade-6

Also a reminder for Mr. Spindler's students to please wear a white collared shirt for tomorrow's grad photos. If tomorrow is a snow day then those who come to school will have their photo taken.

Grad Photos, The Area of a Parallelogram and other events.

This week the Grade 6 classes will be having their grad photos taken. Mr. Spindler's class will have their photo taken on Thursday February 25. It is very important that all students be in attendance on that day. There are no retakes so if you wish to get your child's photo done at a later date the parents will have to make arrangements directly with the company taking the photos.

For the photos, the company will provide a cap and gown for students to wear. Students are asked to bring a white collared shirt or golf shirt for boys and a white blouse for girls.  Please remember to send your child to school with a white collared shirt or blouse on our picture day.

Proofs will be sent to parents for photos soon after the pictures are done, along with order packages. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Spindler. A note with these details will also be sent home in your child's agenda. 

The junior classes will also be welcoming a presentation by Sr. Cathy Malloy on the OK Clean Water Project which our school took part in last year. She will be presenting an award of appreciation to our school. 

In Math this week we will be reviewing the area of a parallelogram and move to the area of a triangle and explore how both are related to the area of a rectangle. 

In language we will continue to apply our learning to the entrepreneurial adventure project. 

Our entrepreneurial adventure project continues to move ahead. We have set a date of February 29 for our opening date for Devine Snack Shack. We will be selling bags of cookies for the students of the school. We will be selling a bag of 5 cookies for $5 or a bag of 3 cookies for $3. The bags of cookies will be an assortment of chocolate chip, shortbread, and sugar cookies. 

We will be working on making our cookies this week and distributing the ingredients to our team of dedicated bakers. This project is continuing to be an adventure and its all for a great cause to help support Ms. Devine. 

Post Valentine and Family Day

It is shaping up to be a busy week in Mr. Spindler's Grade 6 class.

In Math we finished our unit on rates and fraction, decimal and percent. This week we move on to measurement which is one of the longer units as there are many different things that grade 6 students will take on including measuring and determining the area of triangles and parallelograms. Students will also work towards determining the volume of triangular prisms as well as exploring surface area as simple prisms. We will also explore the relationship between square centimeters and square centimeters.

In Language we continue to apply what we have learned in Language instruction to the Entrepreneurial Adventure program. We will look t how to advertise effectively and explore how word choice can make a big impact to a company's messaging.

In Religion we continue to explore the themes of Lent through our preparation for interpreting the Stations of the Cross. Students have chosen roles and will be preparing this week for our interpretation on March 24(Holy Thursday).

For our EA program we have asked several businesses to help donate some ingredients for our Devine Snack Shack. Several small groups of student went to various grcery stores to get some donations for our recipes.
We have already had a response from Laura's Independent Grocer at the Hazeldean Mall who donated $60 for our class to spend that day. The small group of students who presented their business letter to Laura's Independent were very excited to get such a great response and purchased many of our non perishable items. We will continue to plan out our inventory and operations to ensure the success of Devine Snack Shack. Our opening day of sales is Monday February 29. We are hoping for a great first day and will extend the sale for more of the week if necessary.

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's day and was able to spend time with their Families on Family Day.

National Sweater Day

This Thursday is National Sweater Day.

National Sweater Day

Thursday, February 4th, 2016

2 small degrees makes a BIG difference!

If all Canadians lowered their thermostats by just two degrees Celcius, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 4 megatons - that’s like taking 700,000 cars off the road!

Sweater Day Contest at St. Anne!

TURN DOWN THE HEAT AND TURN UP YOUR SWEATER!

Let’s have fun and help the environment!

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

Most Colourful Sportiest

Warmest Wackiest

Most Environmental

Please make sure to wear a warm comfy sweater as the thermostat will be 2 degrees lower on that day and have a chance to win a prize.

Presentation to School Council

A small group of students volunteered to present to the School Council to ask for a loan to start our business Devine Snack Shack. These students worked hard to prepare the presentation and did a great job. I am so proud of them and all the students who did the background work to make this possible. A big thank you also to the parents who took time out of their busy lives to support their children. The Council seemed to be very responsive to the students. The Council voted very quickly to approve the loan of $211 to help us buy the materials and ingredients needed to start our business. Congratulations to Mr. Spindler' class!

Below are some pictures of the presentation. 

Proportional reasoning

This week in Math we will be incorporating our business proposals to explore unit rate, estimating percent, and exploring the relationship among fraction, decimal, and percent. We will also have a small group presenting the business to School Council this Tuesday at 7:00 to ask for a start up loan.

Last week concussion forms were sent home. This is related to new school board guidelines regarding how we manage concussions especially given the potential effects of multiple concussions. Please make sure to return the form as soon as you can so that we can ensure the safety of all students.

This week in Language we will consolidate our learning about Making Connections by reviewing how our thinking has been confirmed or changed as we have read the story about Ryan and Jimmy.

Devine Snack Shack

After our meeting today with Tammy Auchterlonie we have finalized our business plan. Our business name is Devine Snack Shack which was chosen to incorporate the name of the person we are supporting with our charity Ms. Nicky Devine who is a teacher with our school. The three business proposals that will continue to be developed are Smoothie Blast, Cookie Kraz and Batter Up. The reason for these choices was that they would all fit nicely under a food service business. 

There is much work to do in the meantime. We need to finalize our logo and slogan. We need to make a list of ingredients and costs. We also need to incorporate the members of the two businesses that are closing up Triple C and Juicy Art into our new business structure. 

Our most pressing need however is start up money. There is an opportunity to present to the parent council meeting on Tuesday February 2 to potentially receive a loan. I would ask that parents check their availability to be able to accompany their child should they be part of the small group who can present to the school council. 

Next week we will work on Unit rates and estimating percents in Math and finish our making connections unit in Language. 

Have a great weekend. 

Our business mentor working with our students

Potential logo designs

Ratio and connecting

This week in Math we begin exploring proportional relationships. We will be exploring ratios by learning how a ratio is a comparison of two different numbers such as the number of boys to girls in the class. We will learn how to consistently use ratio notation Ex: the ratio 10:14 means there are 10 boys to 14 girls in the class.We will also explore how to find a missing value in a ratio: Ex if there are 24 students in the class and 10 students are male, how many students are female?  We will determine equivalent ratios and use them to solve problems. We will also be discovering how percents are a special ratio which has a whole of 100. There will be a quiz on Thursday from our fraction work last week as well as our work on ratios this week.

In Language we continue to make connections as we read our story about Ryan and Jimmy and finish present our books we studied with our Literature Study. This Wednesday is also Family Literacy Day. If there any parents who would like to come read to the class for second block (around 10:45) please let me know as soon as possible at benjamin.spindler@ocsb.ca. Students are invited to wear their PJ's and bring their favourite book as we will be reading for a portion of our time together.

The grade 2 students are also selling bookmarks at $1 each to purchase books for families in need. They will be coming around to the various classes on Wednesday. 

Wow

Today was our big day for our business proposal presentations. The presentations exceeded expectations. Our judges, Mr. Spindler, Mrs. Dilabio, Mrs Leafloor, Mrs. Tammy Auchterlonie (our business mentor) and Mrs. Betty Weil(from The Learning Partnership) were very impressed with the level of detail in each presentation and the high caliber of proposals. Mrs. Betty Weil said that she saw a disciplined, motivated, respectful, and creative class.

We were also treated to some samples from the different groups. Students were able to use their oral communication skills to present their business ideas in a compelling way. It will be very tough to pick a business for the class to put into action. I am very proud of their hard work and effort in putting their proposal together. Once again Wow!

Triple C talks up their crazy cool cases for smartphones. 

Smoothie Blast gives us the details of their proposal

Batter Up are all smiles after their comprehensive presentation.

Cookie Kraz concludes their presentation about their amazing cookies. 

Juicy Art explains the financials of their Juice business 

Practice makes perfect and Joy of reading

A note to parents that students are being encouraged to practice their part of the presentations for their business proposal to a family member to get ready for tomorrow.

Below please find an announcement form the grade 2 students at our school.

Does reading bring you joy? Does it take you on a new adventure to places you’ve never been before?  Wednesday, January 27th is Family Literacy Day, a day which encourages families to take 15 minutes to read together. ALL Saint Anne students will be able to wear pyjamas and bring a stuffie to school to celebrate this special day.

The Grade 2 classes will be selling bookmarks to help raise money to buy books for families in need.  For one loonie, you can purchase one beautiful origami bookmark or two lovely ribbon paperclip bookmarks made by a grade 2 student. Please bring one dollar to school on Wednesday, January 27th and you can help spread the joy of reading

Fractions and visitors

This week we will be working with fractions. We will start with ordering fractions with the same denominator using a number line, progressing to comparing fractions with an unlike denominator and exploring ratios.

We will also have several guest in the class this week. Tuesday Susan Davidson, math consultant with the school board will be here. She will be observing students work on their math and problem solving skills.

This Thursday our business mentor will be here to judge the business proposals we have been working on. We are also pleased to have Betty Weil program manager for the Entrepreneurial Adventure in attendance. Rounding out our panel will be Mrs Dilabio our Vice Principal and Mrs Leafloor our resource teacher. Some of the students have commented that working on their proposal is the favorite part of their day. 

Reminders and new PD day

A reminder that Pizza order forms are due Thursday January 21 for delivery beginning February 24. Also a reminder that the literature study sheets are due Monday January 18. Our library distribution day continues to be Friday although we will switch to second block from first block.

There is a new PD day on Friday April 15. This is a province wide PD day that has been added in as a part of the labour negotiations that had taken place earlier in the school year. Please mark that day on your calendars as students will not be in school that day.

Our Entrepreneurial Adventure is proceeding well. We have 5 potential companies who will be making their presentations on January 21. The business proposals are mostly complete with a few final details to be completed. Students may start preparing their presentation on the weekend. There will be class time for them to put the information from their proposals into their presentations whether it is on google slides, prezi, mindomo, powtoon or another method of presentation. The presentations will be on Thursday January 21. The company names are Cookie Kraz, Batter Up, Triple C, Juicy Art, and Smoothie Blast. We are all very excited about the presentations.

Have a great weekend. 

Mean, median and business proposals

Today we learned about mean and median and how to determine each. We discovered that the mean is like a balance for a set of data and the median is the middle number in a set of data. When determining the mean we list the numbers from least to greatest and find the number in the middle. If there is an even number of data points we take the two middle numbers, add them together and divided by 2 to get the median.

We also formed groups to present a business proposal for our Entrepreneurial Adventure project. These 5 highly motivated groups will present their business proposal to Tammy Auchterlonie our business mentor on Thursday January 21.

This week the focus is on completing all steps of the business proposal similar to the one found here. https://www.pandadoc.com/investor-propposal-template
A google doc of the assignment has been shared in each student's language folder. Students decided on a product and a company name. The task now is to come up with a plan to make and sell the product and determine the cost and potential profit. Students will also brainstorm ideas for start up money.

Next week the businesses will work on how to present their proposal using persuasive techniques.

Today the last of the Literature study jobs were handed out. This week students are to complete the Summarizer and Literary Luminary jobs. 

Entrepreneurial adventure and math cooperation

Today we welcomed our business mentor Mrs. Tammy Auchterlonie, branch Manager at the Bank of Montreal to talk about the Entreprenuerial Adventure. The project will include creating a business as a class to make a product or services with proceeds going to charity. Mrs. Auchterlonie talked to the class about what is a business and what is needed for a business to work well. 

We discussed how businesses make revenue and what is left after expenses is called profit. We also discussed the need for start up money, as well as a brief overview of the roles in a business such as management, operations, accounting, inventory, and marketing. We also brainstormed the potential products or services we could provide as a class. 

Starting Monday, students will be put into groups to pick a product or service and present a business plan to create and sell that product or service. 

In Math we worked with the other 2 Grade 6 classes in the learning commons to solve a rich word problem involving mean. Students were placed in groups of three and used various problem solving strategies such as working backwards to arrive at a solution. 

Next week we will also continue our literature study by completing the summarized and literary luminary jobs. The job sheets will be handed out Monday. 

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2016. I hope that everyone has had a restful and happy holidays.

This week in Math we begin our unit on Data Management. We started the week with constructing and conducting a survey. We looked at what makes a good survey question and how to record the results. We will continue the week with representing data from a survey and other sources onto line graphs and scatterplot graphs.

In Language we will continue our Making Connections unit,by examining what we already know about a topic and using what we read to confirm our knowledge or gain new information. We are currently reading a set of formal letters titled Nets to Africa.

This week we will also embark on the Entrepreneurial Adventure. The entrepreneurial adventure is a program that pairs a classroom with a mentor from the business community to create a business that will create a product or service with the proceeds going to charity. The process is student driven and Mr. S' grade 6 class is very excited to begin this journey. The link to the program can be found  by going to the following url:
http://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/what-we-do/student-programs/entrepreneurial-adventure