The Chalkboard: October 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Friday, October 18, 2013

Fun Friday

A little time on the iPads to prep us for an Art project!

Fun Friday

And another welcome box to deliver! This time, to a pair of sisters who came to MacKenzie from Montreal, but they are originally from Belgium! We were happy to officially welcome them to Jack Mack today!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Update for Parents

Hi, everyone! I hope you enjoyed an excellent Thanksgiving weekend! Here’s a bit of an update on life in Grade 6 this week:

Math- Students are coming home with their Unit 1 Math test tonight. Please take a look, sign and return the test. Students were given time to work on corrections in class today, but some need to spend more time on this at home. I have asked students to complete their corrections on a separate piece of looseleaf paper. You will notice that there are 4 parts to the test. Each one is an outcome we have studied and so they have received a mark for each section. From this point on, I will be focusing on teaching and assessing one outcome at a time, so quizzes or tests will be smaller but more frequent. We will be focusing on Multiplying and Dividing with Decimals next.

Language Arts- We are working on finishing our novel, The Breadwinner. We are focusing on writing our responses in complete sentences with accurate punctuation and capitalization. Last week, I also sent home a “Book Talk” assignment. Students should aim to have their books done by the middle of next week so that they begin preparing their book talk. Students will need to spend some time working on this assignment at home.

Science- Students are busy researching invertebrates. They are demonstrating this learning on a “glog” (interactive multii-media poster). These glogs are due Friday! Ask your son or daughter to show you what they have done so far! This would be a good opportunity to help out with proofreading.

Swimming- I sent a note home about our swimming times. Our first is TOMORROW from 2-3pm. Please send $16.75 in cash. If you have already sent a cheque, don’t worry, but cheques make for a lot of work for Mrs. Stewart. I have change, so don’t worry too much if you don’t have the exact amount (though that would be wonderful!).

Curling- Curling is a part of the Grade 6 PE curriculum. We go to the Tartan four times. We leave the school at about 10am and return by lunchtime. Our dates are Oct. 29, Oct. 31, Nov. 5, and Nov. 7. You are more than welcome to join us for any of those dates! Helpers are especially appreciated on Nov. 7, as it is “game day”. I apologize for another note and request for money coming home tomorrow. I would much prefer that we could gather all the money at one time.

Madame Cross would like to remind students to bring their French/English dictionaries to school.

Thank you for your support. Please do let me know if you have any questions. I am working at trying to get things more updated on the Parent Portal. It is a work in progress! Hopefully many of you have had success logging on. If you are having any difficulties with the Portal, please let me know if I can be of help.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Value of the Week: GRATITUDE

This week we are making a special effort to practice gratitude. Our quote of the week is:

"Don't let what you don't have make you forget what you do have. Gratitude turns what we have into enough".

This could make for some good discussion at home over the dinner table! We are also practicing gratitude by writing daily "thank you" notes, inspired by author and blogger, Leah Dietrich. We are filling up your window with thankfulness. Here are some samples from yesterday that you might enjoy: