Last day of 2014 School Year

       Well, here we are, at the last day of school for 2014, and it seems like quite a whirlwind that has gotten us here.  Just a quick reminder to start, that the school will be closed for the break, so all items needed must be taken home tomorrow by the end of the day.  Also, we have a busy, and full, day planned tomorrow, with a big art project, reading buddies, oral presentations, our sing along, and the gift and take event.
      One last request for the year... I have been asking students for a while, but I will put this to the parents...Is anyone willing to froggy-sit our class pets?  They don't take up much room, are easy to care for, and will even offer up gentle music in the evenings if you are really quiet and listen closely.  Our firebellied toads need a home for the holidays.  It only requires a pickup tomorrow at any time until 3:00pm (when I will be taking them to my home if no one else comes forward).  Please let me know if you are up for this
     Not only have the past two weeks been a busy time, but the past four school months have been a wild ride as well.  We have tackled the history of flight, and the properties of air, we looked at four different ways to multiply, we wrote personal biographies (TBE - to be edited in the -new year), we have investigated Canada's role in the global community, we interpreted graphs of all styles, we dove deep into patterning, we examined numbers closely - in over a dozen ways that grade 6 students need to be able to explore them (expanding, factors, multiples, fractions, percentages, real world examples - just to name a few ways), we explored messages in print media, looked at how newspapers grab our attention, examined stereotypes in age, gender, religion, "race", culture, and occupation, worked on developing skills in locomotion, balance, agility, manipulation of objects (throwing and catching), coordination, teamwork, and leadership, took on the challenge of public speaking (oral presentations), explored the musical scale with recorder and ukulele, and much much more in class.  Our class organized and presented the Remembrance Day sharing, we developed and delivered a holiday play (Good Night iPad), we travelled to Dovercourt for two outdoor phys ed activities, and then again for the Terry Fox run, we skated at Dulude twice, we rode our bikes to the National Gallery during the animation festival, we walked to the Cenotaph - where most of us performed three songs during the Remembrance Day ceremony there, we had visits by Ryan's Well, and Paul Dewar.  In short, it has been a busy time so far.
       In addition, there has been a flurry of interaction between the home and school, with intake interviews for some students, the class meeting, September parent meetings for over a dozen students, to IEP's, progress reports, three way conferences, phone interviews, and over 20 different parents who have taken time to volunteer with us already this year (and yes, a select four or five that have been in over a dozen times themselves).  I feel like many of us have had a lot of opportunities to share stories and experiences this year.  I always feel so privileged to be able to spend the time I do with the students, and witness their successes on a daily basis, because I know how little of this really filters through to the home, so these opportunities we get to interact are my chance to share some of what I witness with you.  I hope that in the new year I have just as many opportunities to interact and share with all of you.
      The new year will be a busy time for us all (with my wife expecting in January, it will be extra busy for me!) and we hope to get things off and running from the very start.  Please let me know if your child will not be attending during the first days back in January, as it helps me with my planning.  We are looking forward to many more adventures next year, including some year end celebrations, and, of course, our tenth anniversary edition of School of Rock.
      I wish you and your families the best of the holiday season.  Take care and we will see you all back in 2015!
Happy Holidays,

Last week of 2014!

Ho-ho-holy snowflakes!  I can't believe that we are down to the last five days of the year!  This will be a busy, busy, busy five days, so everyone needs to hold on tight for the ride.  

This week there will not be any literacy logs going home.  They have been taken and returned for six weeks now, and many students have been very consistent with this work.  I will be sending them home first week back in January.  

Monday we will have 8 students travelling to Summit (along with myself) to take part in an alternative schools Bordenball activity day.  It will be a busy day, and each student needs indoor shoes, and a water bottle, along with lots of nourishment in their lunch.  

Tuesday and Wednesday we will wrap up our oral presentations, with all remaining students sharing their presentations.

Monday and Tuesday we will be putting the finishing touches on our prep for the play (Good Night iPad) we are sharing with the school on Wednesday.  If you wish to join us for the play, it will be presented during the sing along Wednesday morning, in the gym, between 8 and 840.  I will be recording the play for families to view at a later date, so don't worry if you can't make it.

Thursday morning we will be walking to Summit Alternative for their annual Stock Market event.  We hope to spend an hour and a half at the event, taking in the action, and also getting a feel for the school while we are there.  On the walk back we plan to do some outdoor phys ed activities in the Byron Linear Park.  We need volunteers to make this happen, so let Ray know if you can make it for this event.

Friday we will be up to our eyes in special events.  We hope to visit with our Reading Buddies in the first block of the day.  In the second block, we are getting a special visit from Sadie's mom, to talk about Hannukah, an share some stories with us, and then we will head to the gym for 11:15, and our last sing along of the week (Guitar club and the Ukes will perform, and Roy will likely be the grand finale with the 12 days of Christmas, and Churchill tradition loved by all:)  Then, in the last block, we will have, what Ben V and I like to refer to as "Reflective Study on the holiday season" (not a winter break party...not at all).  During this time we will have our "gift and take" event where students can bring in unlabelled gifts ($7 and under) and participate in a gift exchange.  Everyone who participates is guaranteed to end with a gift, but they will also likely spend a large part of the period laughing out loud.

There are some projects on the go this week as well.  

It is a busy one, so I hope students are getting their rest each night, as the days will be long if they are not rested.

Dec 15th Origin of Basketball

On Dec 15, 1891, James Naismith invented basketball as part of a school project to encourage indoor activities during the cold winter months.  Check out the whole story in this incredible interview with the Canadian sports icon (as portrayed by an actor).

Agenda for today

Fair trade label project

Here are the success criteria we created in class for our fair trade label project.  This is due on Tuesday next week.

Comparing fractions with a number line

Tiday we worked hard to visualize fractions in relation to each othe using number lines.

Oral presentations

We had three brave souls opt to share their presentations with us today, and they then did some reflective talk about where they dis well, and where they could improve.  It was a very confident trio, and they set the bar pretty high for everyone else...We will have more presentations every day until all have shared.

Fair Trade Label Project

Our oral presentations have started off with a bang today.  Three were presented, and others will follow in the coming days.  We spent a few days in class researching, and outlining our presentation, and will spend more time in class tomorrow on the writing and editing process.  Some of the early finishers will be ready to present tomorrow and Friday, but most need to be done, and ready to present by Monday.  Ask your child where they are, and get them to read out what they have to you at home.  If work is being done at home, please ensure that it travels back to school each day.
We have been looking at Canada's interactions in the Global community, and the Fair Trade process in particular.  As part of this, students have been given a 'take home' project.  We will continue to look at fair trade labels in class this week.  We are looking at success criteria for the project in class tomorrow, but I wanted them thinking about it right away, so an outline was given to each student today. Their project is outlined below....

Fair Trade Label Project 

Your task is to develop a label for a fair trade product. 

Be sure to include on the label all of the important product information, in addition to facts and explanations about fair trade, and why your company has chosen to produce fair trade products. 

What is the country of origin for your product?

Create a logo for your company or product name that reflects the product and your stance on fair trade (think about the symbols in the fair trade logo).

Include a fair trade logo on the packaging for your product.

Be sure to provide contact information for your company (website address, etc.)

Ingredients, nutritional information, UPC bar codes, etc, might be included.

                                   

Here is an example of some information included on a fair trade chocolate product:

• Guaranteeing fair prices to producers;
• Paying premiums to improve social conditions in producer communities;
• Paying producers in advance to assist in long-term planning and pre-harvest financing;
• Supporting democratic participation in farmer-owned co-operatives;
• Ensuring that there is no forced labour;
• Supporting sustainable farming practices.

Cocoa Camino is a line of premium Fair Trade Certified and certified organic chocolate, cocoa and sugar products produced by La Siembra Co-operative. La Siembra’s mission is to offer high-quality Fair Trade Certified organic products that improve the livelihoods of family farmers and the well-being of communities at home and abroad.

At La Siembra Co-operative, we are committed to the highest ethical and environmental standards in bringing you some of the finest Fair Trade Certified and organic products on the market. We are the pioneers of Fair Trade Certified cocoa and sugar products in North America and buy our organic ingredients from producers according to audited Fair Trade principles, at a fair price that supports the livelihoods of our producer partners.

We call it decadence with a difference.

                                                                         

Presentation Jitters

As we prepare to give our oral presentations, starting Wednesday, we took a look at this video for some tips on presentation...

And we spent some time watching this video from the WatchWellCast site on stress management strategies.  Everyone should take a look at this we think...

The lead up to Winter Break

A lot is going to be packed into the two weeks leading up to the break, so I will do my best to keep you informed of what is coming up.  

As you likely heard, I was out of class this past Mon, Tues, and Wednesday with two sick children at home.  The boys both had fevers up to 102 (I teach the metric system in class, and yet use imperial measures when taking the temperature of my children...is that strange?) so that kept me around the house for the week, but the class was in good hands, with Saman leading them through the work I had planned for the group, and she left really nice feedback about the students as a whole.  It was great to be back in class on Thursday, and we got things back on track, taking stock of a few projects we have on the go, and setting timelines for their completion.  

Art on the go....We took a look at the Painters Eleven, a group of famous Canadian Abstract Expressionist painters, with a focus on Jack Bush in particular.  We are borrowing inspiration from Bush's works, such as Down Down, and Across, or Big A, and similar works, to help us create part of the work we are producing in class that focuses on the use of colour and line.  To this we are adding images that each student has personally chosen, using projections to highlight the important lines, and then to transfer the images onto our canvases in a really unique way.  Keep posted to the blog this week to watch this project evolve...

Oral presentations...We started this project almost two weeks ago, with students choosing famous Canadians to research and write about.  With me being away, we took a break from the work on this, but Monday and Tuesday we will dedicate chunks of our language block to writing and revising our work, so that some students will start making their 2-4 minute presentations on Wednesday.  This means that Tuesday night students will either be working on the rewrite of their speeches, or they will be asking you to listen to their rehearsal of the speech/presentation.  Students all have outlines of the project, and the rubric for presentation, but I have tried to paste them below so that you can see where we are going with this.  There is a graphic organizer being used in class to develop the introduction and support sections of the speech, and we are working on that in class this week.  Ask your child who they are researching to present about...

Famous Canadian Oral Presentation

You will be given time in class to research a famous Canadian and then organize your information into an oral presentation.  Basically you need to share your research with the class in a speech that lasts between 2 and 4 minutes. 

Like all good writing, your speech will need to have a clear beginning, middle, and an end.  Your opening needs to grab your audience’s attention and introduce, and your main talking points need to be interesting enough to keep them focused.  Finally, your closing statements need to summarize the main talking points (subtopics) and restate your overall opinion statement or thesis.

Part 1: Researching your topic

Use a variety of sources to collect information about the following;

Ø     When and where they were born

Ø     Personal background and family information, Childhood/upbringing, Education

Ø     Personality traits and words that describe the person

Ø     Significance – What is this person known for mainly?  (profession, awards, accomplishments)

Ø     Obstacles, challenges, opportunities they benefited from, mentors

Ø     Important quote

Lists of famous Canadians can be found at the following sites:

http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/Canadians/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadians

http://www.probability.ca/jeff/canadians.html

Part 2: Writing your speech

Use the provided organizers to collect and arrange your information, and then write it out in full on lined paper.

When and where they were born

Personal background and family information, Childhood/upbringing, Education

Personality traits and words that describe the person

Significance – What is this person known for mainly?  (profession, awards, accomplishments)

Obstacles, challenges, opportunities they benefited from, mentors

Important quote

Part 3:  Presenting your speech

-rehearse for an audience (family or friends)

-try to remember what is coming next, and have the speech written on small pieces of paper or cue cards

-focus on oral communication skills like eye contact, volume, and clarity

Category	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Fluency and Clarity	-Voice is not audible and not clear. -Student mumbles and cannot be understood OR mispronounces many words.	-Voice is somewhat audible and clear. -Speaks clearly and distinctly some of the time, but mispronounces some words.	-Voice is audible and clear. -Speaks clearly and distinctly most of the time, mispronounces a few words.	-Voice is very clear and words are clearly enunciated. -Always speaks clearly and distinctly  and does not mispronounces any of the words.
Pace and Flow	-There are a significant amount of pauses/stoppages in the speech or the pace is too fast or too slow.	-Pauses and/or too rapid a pace interrupt the flow of the speech making it difficult to understand.	-Pace and flow of the speech is effective. There are no long pauses and the pace makes it easy to understand the speech.	-Pace and flow of the speech is effective. The pace and flow is adjusted purposefully to improve the impact of the speech.
Eye Contact	-Eye contact is not maintained throughout the speech.	-Eye contact is maintained throughout some of the speech.	-Eye contact is maintained throughout most of the speech.	-Eye contact is consistently maintained throughout the speech.
Posture	-Poor posture.	-Good posture maintained some of the time.	-Good posture maintained most of the time.	-Excellent posture consistently maintained throughout.
Enthusiasm	-The speaker is unsure during delivery and demonstrates a lack of enthusiasm.	-The speaker tends to hesitate during delivery and shows some enthusiasm.	-The speaker is comfortable with the audience and shows enthusiasm.	-The speaker is confident, dynamic and shows excellent enthusiasm.
Length of speech	-Speech is extremely too long or too short.	-Speech is too long or too short.	-Speech is just under or over 3-5 minutes.	-Speech is within the suggested time limit of 3-5 minutes.
Memorization	-Speech is not memorized at all.	-Some parts of the speech are memorized.	-Most of the speech is memorized.	-The entire speech is memorized.

IXL Math...I spoke with most of you during our 3 way conferences about the IXL math program.  The school has purchased an account for each student, so that they can access curriculum linked online activities through a website that does not feature countless advertisements, and where we can monitor progress, and participation.  This is not for assessment purposes, just an opportunity we are providing for students to work on their math skills.  Week after week we get updates on who is accessing the program.  If you think your child should be doing some work at home, this is a great task for them to work on.  They should put in at least 20min a week.  Some put in over a half hour a day on the program.  If you need your child's access code and login, please let Ray know.  All students know theirs, or have copied it down in a few places at school, but we can always make sure that you get theirs so there are no excuses if you want them to work on this.  This past week Katey, Miranda, Jacob, and Gabby all put in some good time on the program, but Cayley put in more time than the whole class put together.  Great job Cayley!
Skating...This week is a skating week.  We can use all the volunteers we can get for lacing up skates.  Our time is the 10 to 11 slot, but we need at least two volunteers to ride the bus over to the school with us.  Can anyone make the trip?  Let Ray know or we can't go.
Reading program....Thanks to Robin and Kayren, we are able to say that every students has read aloud at least twice, and we might make it three times for everyone by the break.  This is a great step, as nothing builds fluency and language development like reading out loud.  If you have time, at any slot of the day, and you can drop in to take a student out for 10 minutes to read, it would be greatly appreciated.  
Book Sale, and Food Drive....This Tuesday is our annual book sale at Churchill, run through the library.  Scholastics will have books at the school, and a portion of each sale goes to help fun our wonderful library program.  If you are looking for books for the holidays, drop by, and please send in some money with your child if they are interested in picking up some reading material for the long cold Ottawa winter...And on a similar note...it is a tough season for those Ottawa residents, and students, who struggle to put food on their table.  In class we have all shared our great plans and excitement for the holiday.  We also spoke about students who will not be excited for the holidays as it means time spent at home without access to their friends, technology, books, or proper nutrition (all of which they receive at school).  Our school is one third of the way to reaching our goal in the food drive.  Please send in non perishable items with your child so that we can make the holidays more enjoyable for families in need.  
Gift and Take...In response to students wanting to run Secret Santa activities I have traditionally organized a 'gift and take' activity on the last day before the break.  This is where you bring in a wrapped gift (value under $7) if you want to participate.  The gift goes into the pile, and then students draw numbers to choose gifts to unwrap.  Each student can choose to take a wrapped gift, or to 'steal' a gift that has already been unwrapped.  Those who enter into the activity do so in the spirit of the activity, and we all agree to some general rules about kindness, but also to the idea that this is meant to be fun and a bit of a bonding event.  Typically everyone takes part in some way, and we all have fun.  Please let me know if you have any questions.
Stay tuned, there will be more to come in the next few days as we get busy before the holidays....

Licensed To Learn and Seed Story

I was about to take down this artwork, and I thought some sharing was in order...

I was surfing some sites that had been recommended to me, when I came across this little video about seed saving on USC.  Check it out and listen for familiar voices and look for names you recognize...