Update March 17, 2020

Additional suggestions for Learning from Home K-9

Children are naturally curious learners and there are opportunities at home to engage their learning. We have created awebpage that offers a variety of educational ideas to support literacy, numeracy and wellness at home for this week. The resources are meant as suggestions only. You may choose to use the links and activities as needed over the next few days as more long-term educational programming is considered.

https://cbe.ab.ca/programs/curriculum/learning-at-home/Pages/6-9.aspx

Update for Monday March 16, 2020

Important updates to support school closures on March 16, 2020

Students/Parents,

In light of recent situations, we wish to make you aware of some of the following items that may be of help with students who wish to keep up with their schoolwork at this time. The first is a note from the school:

The purpose of teacher blogs is to inform students and their families of day-to-day learning and activities throughout the school year.  We will continue to communicate learning opportunities and will provide links to online learning resources through these blogs.  

Important information related to all school decisions will continue to be emailed to parents/guardians and can also be found on the CBE website (www.cbe.ab.ca).

Below is a list of resources that can be supportive to you during the upcoming weeks.

 d2l.cbe.ab.ca (This will take students to the math/science page that I have up that includes a number of links to review sites and information related to topics that we have covered or will be covering in class)

math-aids.com (multiple topics from which to view worksheets on numerous concepts that have been covered in class this year)

calgarylibrary.ca (if you do not already have one, you can sign up for a card online and access digital resources available through the library)

app.solaro.com/library/cpl (if you have a public library card this is an extremely comprehensive website that will provide students review materials on every core topic covered in grade 6. Simply add the grade 6 courses from Alberta after you have first logged in.)

readtheory.com (passages that students can use to practice reading comprehension. Students should be familiar with their log-in information from work done in class)

We wish for everyone to be safe and healthy during these upcoming weeks and look forward to being back to normal as soon as possible.

Mr. Thompson

Miss Brakke

Week ending March 13, 2020

Math - students are wrapping up their work with LCM (least common multiple) and GCF (Greatest common factor). This included work that involved finding both with given numbers and word problems where students needed to be able to identify key vocabulary in order to solve a given problem. Next week we will be working with improper fractions and mixed numbers.
Support/practice can be found through D2L

Science - Students have begun their work on the Sky Science unit. Students watched a video that explored our solar system and looked at what lies beyond it. They have begun work on completing a moon journal to track the phases of the moon over a period of 28 days. Work on this will continue through the break and students are encouraged to take a couple of minutes to try and observe the moon each night and record their information on the journal page.
In class, students have been working on gathering research to learn some of the basic features of the planets of our solar system. This work can be followed up at home by using links found on D2L
Next week we will be looking at sun safety and understanding how orbit and rotation affect the seasons on earth.

Week ending March 6, 2020

Math - Students spent this week learning about factors and multiples. They have been applying their understanding to additional related topics such as prime factorization and problem solving using these concepts.
Students are encouraged to continue regularly practicing their operational skills, particularly with numbers involving decimals.
We will be moving on to the topic of improper fractions and mixed numbers.

Science - Students wrapped up their Air and Aerodynamic and Flight topics with a unit test. We are now moving on to Sky Science and have begun by watching a documentary that outlines key features of our universe.
While the scope of our topic is very small compared to what is potentially out there, students are encouraged to investigate areas of interest on their own outside of the classroom.
Overdue air property/air pressure projects may still be handed in before the break.

Week ending February 28, 2020

Math - Students have continued to work on multiplication and division of decimals. We will be doing regular operational assessments in order to help students to prepare for the PAT -  Part A math. Students are expected to be able to complete 15 operational questions in 15 minutes with an additional 15 minutes given if needed. Regular operational practice is recommended for all students. As always, extra support is available if students would like help.
Students did some work on order of operations this week, focusing on using BeDMAS to ensure that questions using multiple operations are completed in the proper order. There are a number of good practice sites that can be found in the content section of my D2L page.
D2L
Students are currently doing work that will focus on GCF (Greatest Common Factor) and LCM (Least Common Multiple). This will lead into work that will explore improper fractions and mixed numbers.
Fractions will also be the focus of our next numeracy RTI block.

Science - Students are wrapping up their units on Air and Aerodynamics and Flight. Students learned about the parts of an airplane and how those parts can control a planes movement while in flight.
A helpful review tool is the following link:
Airplane parts
Students also learned the specific names for the movements which include pitch, yaw, and bank or roll.
Using this understanding, students completed an activity where they folded and tested a base model of paper airplane and then made a single modification which they were able to predict what it would do the paper airplane and then test it to see if their plane would do what they guessed in their hypothesis.
There will be an upcoming unit test on the topics covered in these two units next week.
Students who have not yet completed their work on their Air properties/Air Pressure posters, as well as their Google Slide on streamlining should make efforts to complete that work and hand it in or speak to me if they need assistance.
Our next science unit will be Sky Science.
Any questions, please contact me at sthompson@cbe.ab.ca

Week ending February 21, 2020

Math - students have learned how to convert decimal numbers to fractions, percentages, and ratios. Through this they have incorporated previous lessons on how to represent numbers in a variety of ways such as those learned when making large and small numbers during our place value work.

Students have been working on furthering their operational skills to incorporate decimal numbers. As always, it is recommended that students having some difficulties with these skills take the time to practice at home or come in during lunch hour or after school for some additional support.

Upcoming topics will include order of operations, mixed numbers and improper fractions, and factors and multiples.

Science - students need to complete and turn in their posters on air pressure and air properties (air takes up space, air can be compressed, air is affected by temperature, air has weight).

Students also need to complete their Google slide presentation on streamlining and how it can reduce drag in an object of their choosing. Students were given significant class time to complete these projects/assignments and need to speak with me if they need support to complete them.

Students have learned about the parts of an airplane and the movements that some of these parts can produce when it is in flight (pitch, roll or bank, yaw). We will be working towards wrapping up our flight unit by examining variables on paper airplanes and how they can affect their flight.

A unit test similar to the PAT test will conclude the unit. Review material can be found at:

D2L

This is intended to help students become more comfortable with the testing process that takes place in May and June.

Any questions, please feel free to contact me at sthompson@cbe.ab.ca

Week ending January 31, 2020

Math - Students continued work on identifying the relationship between decimals, percentages, and fractions. A large part of this work focused on equivalent fractions and how to multiply or divide to put fractions in their lowest terms or to make the denominator 100 in order to make easy conversions to the other forms.
Moving forward students will be doing work on operations involving decimal numbers and learning about the order of operations (PEDMAS).

Science - Students finished the week by completing their flight adaptation posters focusing on birds and insects and the forces of flight associated with different adaptations. Students are completing posters that demonstrate their understanding of the properties of air - air exerts pressure (including the difference in pressure at different altitudes), air takes up space, air is affected by temperature, air can be compressed, and air has weight. Students should work to have these completed by the end of next week.
We will be moving on to looking at propulsion of animals and aircraft, the parts of an airplane, and the movements related to these parts.

Practice supports and review materials can be found at:

D2L

If you need any help or are looking for supports not found here, please let me know at:
sthompson@cbe.ab.ca

Week ending January 24, 2020

Math - students completed work around number concepts that involved writing/reading numbers in different forms:
STANDARD FORM - 2 387 364
NUMBER WORDS - two million three hundred eighty-seven thousand three hundred sixty-four
EXPANDED NOTATION - 2 000 000 + 300 000 + 80 000 + 7 000 + 300 + 60 + 4

They also explored these concepts using decimal numbers. Students should be able to read/write numbers up to the billions place value and down to the thousandths.

Students should also be able to use their understanding of place value to order numbers from greatest to least or least to greatest.

The following link can be used to review many of these concepts.
Math Aids - Number concepts

We are currently exploring the relationships between fractions, decimals, and percentages. Work in this area will focus on being able to create equivalent fractions with a denominator of 100.

Science - Students have spent the last week learning about adaptations that birds and insects have developed to help them fly. They then needed to determine which forces of flight that these adaptations relate to (Lift, Thrust, Drag, Weight/Gravity). They will complete a poster using this information due Tuesday of next week.

Information about the assignment, as well as links that can be used to find information can be found using D2L.

D2L

Upcoming work will look at how streamlining objects helps reduce drag and also the parts of an airplane and how some of them help the plane to make movements in the air.

Week ending January 10, 2020

Happy New Year!!

Welcome back to school. I hope everyone had an enjoyable winter break.

Student progress can be viewed through PowerSchool. If you have not yet done so, be sure to set up an account. Instructions can be found through the links on the following site:

MyCBE Powerschool

Math: We are currently doing work around the Number unit, focusing specifically on place value and how to read and write numbers in a variety of ways (students should be able to read and write numbers into the billions and the ten thousandths). They will also work around understanding the value of a particular number based on its place value and how to determine if numbers are greater or less than others.

There are many sites online that could support practice at home. Feel free to try the one below:

Place Value - Khan Academy

Science: Students will be wrapping up their look at the properties of air. This week we looked at how air is fluid like water and how the movement of air affects the pressure it exerts. We also looked at how temperature affects air. Use the following page as a helpful review for these topics:

Properties of air

Any questions, please feel free to contact me by email at sthompson@cbe.ab.ca

Week ending December 13, 2019

Math - Students have begun to learn about basic probabilities through work with spinners, dice, and cards. Students have learned that there is a difference between theoretical and experimental probability. Students have learned that probabilities are expressed as fractions (later we will focus on being able to represent them as decimals and percents) and that these probability fractions are frequently written in their lowest terms. Because of this students have learned how to apply division to determine equivalent fractions in their lowest terms. They have also learned how to use multiplication to determine the number of possible outcomes that should be expected for a given set of trials.
Practice is ongoing for computation using whole numbers in all operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).

Sites that may be useful for review can be found at:
D2L
and if you have a public library card
Solaro curriculum review

Science - Students have done activities in class to learn about the properties of air. Some of these properties include that air exerts pressure, air has weight, air takes up space, and air can be compressed. Future work will look at how air moves and how the pressure difference allows birds and airplanes to fly.

Review material can be found at
D2L
and
Properties of air review

Week ending November 22, 2019

Math - Students have been learning how to calculate the volume of right rectangular prisms and cubes.
Students use the formula to calculate volume as Volume = length x width x height


the volume of this shape would be 10 units x 4 units x 5 units = 200 cubic units.
Students are working towards solving more complex problems around this topic, such as finding a missing dimension when a volume is given, comparing various prisms, and figuring out how many smaller prisms can fit inside a larger one.

Students are encouraged to regularly practice operational questions in addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

Science - Students have begun to explore concepts in our Air and Aerodynamics unit beginning with the composition of our air. A poster presentation assignment is what they have spent the last week working towards, using class time to research information about the various gasses and their percentage in our air.

Air composition assignment

Students are being asked to complete these projects for Friday the 29th of November.

Week ending Nov. 15, 2019

Math - Students are concluding their work around area and did practice with multiplication questions that involved 2 digit by 1 digit and 3 digit by 1 digit whole numbers. Students are encouraged to regularly review past topics in order to help them retain their understanding of the work done in class. Many review tools can be found through a general Google search or students can access some through the D2L link.

D2L

Students with a Calgary Public Library card can also access another supportive review tool as long as they know their PIN number by signing up through the following link:

Solaro link through Calgary Public LIbrary

We will be moving into work around volume and multiplication of 2 digit by 2 digit whole numbers.

Science - Students have completed their work on the Evidence and Investigation unit and will be moving into Air and Aerodynamics, starting with a project looking at the gas composition of the air that we breathe. The information for this project can be found here:

Air composition assignment

Students will be given a large amount of class time to research and work on this assignment but should be prepared to complete work outside of class time if necessary.

Moving forward we will be investigating the properties of air through demos and activities in class.

Information about these science topics can be found through the public library link mentioned in math above. Students would benefit from regular review of previous topics in order to help them retain their understanding.

Week ending Nov.7, 2019

Math - students have been learning how to determine the area of a rectangle or square by applying the formula of length x width. Problems involving determining the missing side length of a given rectangle after being given the area have also been explored.
Students also did some work around multiplication of 2 digit by 1 digit numbers with a focus being on how to multiply using multiples of 10.
Students can access practice in these areas by using the following links:

Multiplication practice sheet generator

Area and perimeter practice sheet generators

Science - students have wrapped up their study around Evidence and Investigation and completed a unit review exam this week. Students are encouraged to regularly review this material throughout the year because it will come up again regularly and as we approach closer to the Provincial Achievement exams.
Our next unit will be Air and Aerodynamics which ties in closely with the unit of Flight. Some of the initial topics we will be exploring include air composition and properties of air.

Review materials for all science topics can be located through my D2L page:
D2L
and found under the content section of PAT practice questions -> Science Unit Reviews

Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions at:
sthompson@cbe.ab.ca