MS. DICKSON'S
What's happening in Grade 6?
June 9/17 Our baby chicks have gone back to Farmer Dan's place to be raised as chickens to lay free range eggs. Please check out the photos below (taken at 18 days old).
Here are their beginning and ending weights from Day 7 to Day 18
Dot: 74 g - 167g
Esther: 76g - 190g
Midnight: 89g - 196g
Chip: 79g - 174g
Skipper: 72g - 153g
Cooper: 77g - 182g
Fluffball: 73g - 179g
Here are their beginning and ending weights from Day 7 to Day 18
Dot: 74 g - 167g
Esther: 76g - 190g
Midnight: 89g - 196g
Chip: 79g - 174g
Skipper: 72g - 153g
Cooper: 77g - 182g
Fluffball: 73g - 179g
June 5/17 It is our last month of grade six and there is a lot going on! Please remember to check your agenda for important daily information and to check the "Dates to Remember" page on this website
June 5/ 17 Celebration of Learning AVIONICS CHALLENGE - Parents welcome! June 15 - 1:00 - 3:00
Panorama Room, Edgemont School (see below)
Panorama Room, Edgemont School (see below)
May 24/17 Our 7 baby chicks have arrived! Our class used the Iroquois Confederacy model of consensus for decision-making in order to choose the names. It was a slow and frustrating process for some, but all participants were able to contribute to the descision-making process. We plan to keep the chicks for 3 weeks to chart and study their growth and compare data using mathematical means. Check out more photos of the chicks on the Photos & Contact page!
May 18/17 For our unit on Flight, Air & Aerodynamics, students create a paper airplane to correctly identify and locate design features that affect ROLL, PITCH, YAW and THRUST. See their creations below!
May 18/17 Blog Update- Written by Mayor Simrah and Councillor Miranda
We’re almost at the end of the year! Is it already the middle of May? Let us tell you about the past few weeks, before time runs out! Starting with Math, we continued with probability. We did an experiment using dice. Using theoretical probability, we then later found the experimental probability. For example, the theoretical probability of rolling a divisor of six would be ½. This week in Math was not too busy, which was because of all the other things we’ve been doing.
In Science, we finished our third unit, Sky Science. To end this subdivision, we had a test. It was all multiple choice, so most of us did very well. Before starting a new unit, we created a creature, indigenous to our planet, from Planetmania with clay. Ms. Dickson has put up some pictures of us making them in progress. In turn, we started our final unit: Aerodynamics, Flight and Biomimicry. Aerodynamics is creating something that reduces drag, created by air. Flight is something that flies through the air. Biomimicry is copying things from nature. We watched videos on Flight and Biomimicry, and researched on Aerodynamics vocabulary. Yesterday was a very nostalgic experience. It was our last field trip, from this school. We are also the last Grade Six class to go off campus. We watched a video on a egg developing, from egg yolk to a chick.
Language Arts has been a very occupying subject. We wrote our first P.A.T! The Grade Sixes were assigned to write a short story, from a picture, and news article, with facts already written. Before we began, we had a few minutes to discuss with our peers. For Mother’s Day, we wrote a reflection and made roses, with sentences written on them. We hope you enjoyed them! As you may know, we finished City of Ember a few weeks ago. As a result, we made an outline comparing and contrasting the book and movie. Afterwards, we wrote a essay, expanding the outline. We started Current 4 kids again because, our Language Arts PATs are coming up, and it’s improving our reading comprehension.
Social Studies as also been a very…. engaging subject. Canada is 150! Mr. Thomas’ class made a survey with dot stickers and paper. Each week, there are two new surveys. For example, there was celebrities, inventions, influential people, etc. We also have continued with the Haudenosaunee, better known as the Iroquois. We created two double page spreads, one for male and female roles, and one council page. On the female and male page, we wrote what the roles were, and drew a picture of Haudenosaunee female and a male. On the council page we drew the Mohawk council, and drew all the nation and clans to represent the grand council. In the grand council page we wrote how much Hoyaneh were in each nation.
Here are some upcoming events: chicks are arriving after the long weekend! They are a day old, and we will be using them for Math. Since we have been doing Aerodynamics and Flight, we will be conducting experiments with the properties of air. We are slowly getting closer to the end of our Social unit, we will be having a test on May 25, Thursday. For our Planetmania creature, we will be priming them and painting. Finally, we will be graduating from Grade Six soon. Our class is selecting a song that will be played. So far, Ms. Lang chose a song for us to sing. Stay tuned!
These past years have been a blast. Some of us have been here for over 5 years, while others have came here last year. No matter when we came, we all matter. For some of us, this is be one of the greatest moments of our life. We hope that these moments grow with us, as we venture on in our lives.
We’re almost at the end of the year! Is it already the middle of May? Let us tell you about the past few weeks, before time runs out! Starting with Math, we continued with probability. We did an experiment using dice. Using theoretical probability, we then later found the experimental probability. For example, the theoretical probability of rolling a divisor of six would be ½. This week in Math was not too busy, which was because of all the other things we’ve been doing.
In Science, we finished our third unit, Sky Science. To end this subdivision, we had a test. It was all multiple choice, so most of us did very well. Before starting a new unit, we created a creature, indigenous to our planet, from Planetmania with clay. Ms. Dickson has put up some pictures of us making them in progress. In turn, we started our final unit: Aerodynamics, Flight and Biomimicry. Aerodynamics is creating something that reduces drag, created by air. Flight is something that flies through the air. Biomimicry is copying things from nature. We watched videos on Flight and Biomimicry, and researched on Aerodynamics vocabulary. Yesterday was a very nostalgic experience. It was our last field trip, from this school. We are also the last Grade Six class to go off campus. We watched a video on a egg developing, from egg yolk to a chick.
Language Arts has been a very occupying subject. We wrote our first P.A.T! The Grade Sixes were assigned to write a short story, from a picture, and news article, with facts already written. Before we began, we had a few minutes to discuss with our peers. For Mother’s Day, we wrote a reflection and made roses, with sentences written on them. We hope you enjoyed them! As you may know, we finished City of Ember a few weeks ago. As a result, we made an outline comparing and contrasting the book and movie. Afterwards, we wrote a essay, expanding the outline. We started Current 4 kids again because, our Language Arts PATs are coming up, and it’s improving our reading comprehension.
Social Studies as also been a very…. engaging subject. Canada is 150! Mr. Thomas’ class made a survey with dot stickers and paper. Each week, there are two new surveys. For example, there was celebrities, inventions, influential people, etc. We also have continued with the Haudenosaunee, better known as the Iroquois. We created two double page spreads, one for male and female roles, and one council page. On the female and male page, we wrote what the roles were, and drew a picture of Haudenosaunee female and a male. On the council page we drew the Mohawk council, and drew all the nation and clans to represent the grand council. In the grand council page we wrote how much Hoyaneh were in each nation.
Here are some upcoming events: chicks are arriving after the long weekend! They are a day old, and we will be using them for Math. Since we have been doing Aerodynamics and Flight, we will be conducting experiments with the properties of air. We are slowly getting closer to the end of our Social unit, we will be having a test on May 25, Thursday. For our Planetmania creature, we will be priming them and painting. Finally, we will be graduating from Grade Six soon. Our class is selecting a song that will be played. So far, Ms. Lang chose a song for us to sing. Stay tuned!
These past years have been a blast. Some of us have been here for over 5 years, while others have came here last year. No matter when we came, we all matter. For some of us, this is be one of the greatest moments of our life. We hope that these moments grow with us, as we venture on in our lives.
May 10/ 17 We are beginning our new Science unit on Air, Aerodynamics & Flight. Our class will be heading to the Calgary Zoo to participate in a "Biomimicry" program. Today, our class read a recent local news article and watched a short promotional video about a drone designed to look and fly like a Peregrine Falcon for bird control at the Edmonton Airport.
Here are a couple of links: Edmonton Sun article and very short promo video that shows drone in action
Here are a couple of links: Edmonton Sun article and very short promo video that shows drone in action
May 10/17 Students work in partners or small groups to anwer inquiry questions on the Iroquois Confederacy (*see document in Links> Social Links
Apr.28/17 Germination Rates and Growth Comparison Charts for our Space Tomato Seedlings - see below!
Apr. 27 Update from Class Mayor Simrah (Councillor Miranda is absent)
September…...October…...November…...December…..January….February…. March and April! Eight months! Only two months left! Who knew time would go by so quickly? This week has shown us that we need to make the most of our time left here at Edgemont! Here’s an update on the things we’ve done!
In Science, we’ve continued presenting our Planetmania projects. This project was to learn more about our solar system’s planets. Starting at from the smallest, the planets go: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and finally, the dwarf planet we all know and love, Pluto! We had to find out about the scientific aspects about the planet, and then we got to the creative part. This includes: atmosphere, revolution and rotation, surface conditions, and relation to the Sun. In the creative part there is: indigenous species, travel arrangements, accommodations and more. We also continued observing our space tomato seeds! So far we have about 30 sprouts.
Switching to Social Studies, we continue to learn about the Iroquois Confederacy. Our student teacher (soon to be leaving!), Ms. Koleff, is educating us, while she is here. So far we’ve held a Grand Council meeting on the topic of computers. We also learned about clans and nations. Since Canada is 150 years old this July, we chose our favourite animal and food that represents Canada the best. Some of the options were: Alberta beef, maple syrup, Canada Goose and beaver. This is some of what we have done in Social Studies.
In Math, we have started a new unit; probability. We first calculated the theoretical probability of something, then we found out the actual probability. We also got our math tests back and reviewed them, ensuring we know the unit well enough, for the P.A.T’s.
We have been doing more and more of Language Arts, in order to prepare for the L.A P.A.T on May 11th. The novel, City of Ember, was amazing. We watched the movie, then compared and contrasted. We were asked to choose if the movie was better or the book. Personally, I enjoyed the book because of the detail. Other people say that the movie was “more dynamic”. We have also starting practicing writing with a time limit. This encourages us to start managing our time more wisely, and breaking it up into chunks, such as time for editing, first paragraph, conclusion, etc.
Gym has been a nostalgic experience for some us. We started Mission Impossible. Basically, it is a long obstacle course, dedicated to practice our gymnastic skills.
Upcoming events include: May 2nd, we do a practice Provincial Achievement Test. Patrollers, Grade 4 students will be taking over your duty. For now, they will be shadowing you. Is it already time for us to leave? It can’t be! Anyways, we have a Science Unit test coming up next week on Sky-ence (Sky science). On May 5th, Quest Theatre will be presenting a show called Treaty 7. Then on May 11th, we have our first P.A.T (Ahhh!). Afterwards, we will be going to the zoo with Ms. Khoang’s class. Our next unit in Science is Flight and Aerodynamics. We will be learning about how planes fly and much more. Skipping ahead to June, our other P.A.T’s are from June 19th to 23rd. A reminder to those in Gauss Club: the contest is on May 10th. A day before the first Provincial Achievement Test.
It’s truly astonishing how fast everything is going by. Seeing how much we’ve grown and learned over the course of these past months brings back so many memories. The friendships we’ve made and the people we’ve met. Hopefully, we keep this in our memories, as we go on in our lives.
September…...October…...November…...December…..January….February…. March and April! Eight months! Only two months left! Who knew time would go by so quickly? This week has shown us that we need to make the most of our time left here at Edgemont! Here’s an update on the things we’ve done!
In Science, we’ve continued presenting our Planetmania projects. This project was to learn more about our solar system’s planets. Starting at from the smallest, the planets go: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and finally, the dwarf planet we all know and love, Pluto! We had to find out about the scientific aspects about the planet, and then we got to the creative part. This includes: atmosphere, revolution and rotation, surface conditions, and relation to the Sun. In the creative part there is: indigenous species, travel arrangements, accommodations and more. We also continued observing our space tomato seeds! So far we have about 30 sprouts.
Switching to Social Studies, we continue to learn about the Iroquois Confederacy. Our student teacher (soon to be leaving!), Ms. Koleff, is educating us, while she is here. So far we’ve held a Grand Council meeting on the topic of computers. We also learned about clans and nations. Since Canada is 150 years old this July, we chose our favourite animal and food that represents Canada the best. Some of the options were: Alberta beef, maple syrup, Canada Goose and beaver. This is some of what we have done in Social Studies.
In Math, we have started a new unit; probability. We first calculated the theoretical probability of something, then we found out the actual probability. We also got our math tests back and reviewed them, ensuring we know the unit well enough, for the P.A.T’s.
We have been doing more and more of Language Arts, in order to prepare for the L.A P.A.T on May 11th. The novel, City of Ember, was amazing. We watched the movie, then compared and contrasted. We were asked to choose if the movie was better or the book. Personally, I enjoyed the book because of the detail. Other people say that the movie was “more dynamic”. We have also starting practicing writing with a time limit. This encourages us to start managing our time more wisely, and breaking it up into chunks, such as time for editing, first paragraph, conclusion, etc.
Gym has been a nostalgic experience for some us. We started Mission Impossible. Basically, it is a long obstacle course, dedicated to practice our gymnastic skills.
Upcoming events include: May 2nd, we do a practice Provincial Achievement Test. Patrollers, Grade 4 students will be taking over your duty. For now, they will be shadowing you. Is it already time for us to leave? It can’t be! Anyways, we have a Science Unit test coming up next week on Sky-ence (Sky science). On May 5th, Quest Theatre will be presenting a show called Treaty 7. Then on May 11th, we have our first P.A.T (Ahhh!). Afterwards, we will be going to the zoo with Ms. Khoang’s class. Our next unit in Science is Flight and Aerodynamics. We will be learning about how planes fly and much more. Skipping ahead to June, our other P.A.T’s are from June 19th to 23rd. A reminder to those in Gauss Club: the contest is on May 10th. A day before the first Provincial Achievement Test.
It’s truly astonishing how fast everything is going by. Seeing how much we’ve grown and learned over the course of these past months brings back so many memories. The friendships we’ve made and the people we’ve met. Hopefully, we keep this in our memories, as we go on in our lives.
Apr.25/17 Students observe the first signs of growth/ germination of our Space Tomato seeds for the "Tomatosphere" experiment. Our class will be doing an experiment to track growth and general health of the plants in regular potting soil vs. 50/50 potting soil and worm casting compost. Stay tuned for our observations!
Apr.20/17 Blog entry written by Mayor Simrah (class Councillor Miranda absent this week)
Another month gone by! It’s truly astonishing how time flies! We have 2 months until we graduate! Here are some things we did these past weeks.
As you may know, we have been reading City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau, and we’ve finally finished it! Apparently Ember…… Well, I shouldn’t spoil it. Anyways, this novel was spectacular. After reading each chapter, we were assigned to write a response about what we read. It’s great practice for the P.A.T’s. Oh, didn’t I mention that the P.A.T’s are on May 11? That’s three weeks away. Well, this is going to be interesting.
In Math, we finished our unit on geometry, and we had a quiz. Our student teacher, Ms. Koleff, marked those. Before the quiz though, we had some time to review the basics.
Science has been one of our more…stressful units. We were told to create a brochure for a trip to another planet. Alongside this, we created a presentation, such as a commercial, slides or skit. The University of Guelph, along with Tomatosphere, sent us tomato seeds from the International Space Station. We do not know which seeds are space seeds and which ones are normal, though. That’s for them to reveal. So far, we have no sprouts.
In Social Studies we have started more thorough research into the Iroquois Confederacy. We read a Robbie Robertson story called “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker.” We also started acting out roles from the Iroquois, such as Clan Mother, Hoyaneh, etc.
Our astounding play, The Jungle Book, was performed on April 11th and 12th. From our class we had: Anthony as Baloo the Bear, Justice as Shere Khan, Brookelyn and Simrah as Kaa the snake, Saebin as a vulture, Paniz as a Prickly Pear, and Noor as a wolf. Not to mention the people who sang and were emcees.
In gym, we started gymnastics. Each station was a different challenge. There was rhythmic gymnastics, headstands, balances and so on.
Earth day is on April 22nd this year. What will you be doing in honour of it? We watched a webinar on Renewable Resources for Energy in Canada. Perhaps one day we will be using all reusable resources.
Upcoming events include: Watching the City of Ember movie (since we finished the book). We will also be observing our Space seeds as the go along in their germinating journey. On Monday, we will be presenting our Planetmania project with the brochure and extra. Since the Provincial Achievement Tests are coming soon, we will be practicing writing short stories and news articles with a limited amount of time. Ms. Dickson is really pushing us (in a good way) to manage our time, since the P.A.T’s have a restricted sum of time. From our Planetmania brochure, we are creating a clay piece of an indigenous specie. This will be our first time we have been working with clay. Since we finished geometry, we will be starting a new unit in Math; probability. Probability is basically the odds of something being in your favour or not.
Weeks are going by like minutes. Sooner or later we will be graduating from Grade 6. Hopefully it is later! Anyways, these last months need to be the most relaxing and enjoyable. After all, it is our final days at Edgemont! Even though we may go through tough times, I hope we will be able to find the pleasure in things!
Another month gone by! It’s truly astonishing how time flies! We have 2 months until we graduate! Here are some things we did these past weeks.
As you may know, we have been reading City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau, and we’ve finally finished it! Apparently Ember…… Well, I shouldn’t spoil it. Anyways, this novel was spectacular. After reading each chapter, we were assigned to write a response about what we read. It’s great practice for the P.A.T’s. Oh, didn’t I mention that the P.A.T’s are on May 11? That’s three weeks away. Well, this is going to be interesting.
In Math, we finished our unit on geometry, and we had a quiz. Our student teacher, Ms. Koleff, marked those. Before the quiz though, we had some time to review the basics.
Science has been one of our more…stressful units. We were told to create a brochure for a trip to another planet. Alongside this, we created a presentation, such as a commercial, slides or skit. The University of Guelph, along with Tomatosphere, sent us tomato seeds from the International Space Station. We do not know which seeds are space seeds and which ones are normal, though. That’s for them to reveal. So far, we have no sprouts.
In Social Studies we have started more thorough research into the Iroquois Confederacy. We read a Robbie Robertson story called “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker.” We also started acting out roles from the Iroquois, such as Clan Mother, Hoyaneh, etc.
Our astounding play, The Jungle Book, was performed on April 11th and 12th. From our class we had: Anthony as Baloo the Bear, Justice as Shere Khan, Brookelyn and Simrah as Kaa the snake, Saebin as a vulture, Paniz as a Prickly Pear, and Noor as a wolf. Not to mention the people who sang and were emcees.
In gym, we started gymnastics. Each station was a different challenge. There was rhythmic gymnastics, headstands, balances and so on.
Earth day is on April 22nd this year. What will you be doing in honour of it? We watched a webinar on Renewable Resources for Energy in Canada. Perhaps one day we will be using all reusable resources.
Upcoming events include: Watching the City of Ember movie (since we finished the book). We will also be observing our Space seeds as the go along in their germinating journey. On Monday, we will be presenting our Planetmania project with the brochure and extra. Since the Provincial Achievement Tests are coming soon, we will be practicing writing short stories and news articles with a limited amount of time. Ms. Dickson is really pushing us (in a good way) to manage our time, since the P.A.T’s have a restricted sum of time. From our Planetmania brochure, we are creating a clay piece of an indigenous specie. This will be our first time we have been working with clay. Since we finished geometry, we will be starting a new unit in Math; probability. Probability is basically the odds of something being in your favour or not.
Weeks are going by like minutes. Sooner or later we will be graduating from Grade 6. Hopefully it is later! Anyways, these last months need to be the most relaxing and enjoyable. After all, it is our final days at Edgemont! Even though we may go through tough times, I hope we will be able to find the pleasure in things!
Apr. 20/17 Social Studies: Iroquois Confederacy
Each student was given a role to play to act out a meeting of the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy. Roles included: clan women, clan men, one clan mother, and one clan Hoyaneh. Each clan discussed two separate FICTIONAL issues that were taken to the Grand Council by their clan mother and Hoyaneh: 1) Should our school have early dismissal on Wednesdays or Fridays and why? 2) Should the students in grade six at Edgemont school have a school issued computer for their own use in class? Why or why not?
Each student was given a role to play to act out a meeting of the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy. Roles included: clan women, clan men, one clan mother, and one clan Hoyaneh. Each clan discussed two separate FICTIONAL issues that were taken to the Grand Council by their clan mother and Hoyaneh: 1) Should our school have early dismissal on Wednesdays or Fridays and why? 2) Should the students in grade six at Edgemont school have a school issued computer for their own use in class? Why or why not?
Apr.19/17 Using 1 cm cube blocks to explore, calculate and confirm volume of rectangular prisms
Apr.18/17 Reading City of Ember - reading response question: "Should Lina and Doon take Poppy (a toddler) down the river to the unknown land? - make a chart of pros and cons." Below is a collection of responses from students of Ms. Dickson's class.
April 7/17:Creating visual art pages as part of our reflections on our trip to Telus Spark for the sky science program: "Looking Up in Wonder"
April 7th, 2017 Blog entry written by new class Mayor Simrah and new class Councillor Miranda!
Time flies by so quickly! It’s already April! Only three months left of school! Here’s what we did these past weeks!First off, we have a student teacher! Her name is Ms. Koleff, and she will be joining us until the end of April. Ms. Koleff came to our field trip with us, and will be teaching us about the Iroquois Confederacy. Robbie Robertson, a famous Canadian singer, retells the story of “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker”. Hiawatha is a Mohawk and Cayuga descent, his family killed after the malicious Tadodaho orders his soldiers to war. Hiawatha, vengeful, goes out to plot against Tadodaho. A Peacemaker talks sense into Hiawatha. Afterwards, Hiawatha realizes that the tribes should unite, not fight.
Our previous mayor and councillors terms have ended. Our new class council is Miranda (our councillor) and Simrah (our mayor). The candidates for councillor was: Kevin, Evelyn, Saebin, Mohiz and Miranda. For mayor our candidates were: Brookelyn, Noor, Alex and Simrah. Our mayor and councillors first task was to plan the desk change. They decided to let us choose where to sit.
As you may know, we have been reading “City of Ember” and are currently on chapter 14. After reading the chapters, we were assigned to answer questions. A few weeks ago, we drew pictures as to what we thought Ember would look like if we were on a street corner. In math, we started a new unit on area and perimeter of squares and rectangles. We did both interactive and nonreciprocal activities.
In science, we are currently working on sky science. After finishing our presentations, we are creating brochures on a “trip to another planet”. We were randomly allotted planets, from Mercury to Pluto. Speaking of science, we visited Telus Spark as a part of our new unit. There were 4 exhibits to explore; Earth and Sky, Being Human, Energy and Electricity and Open Studio. Subsequently, we are doing a Visual Journal page about our experience at Telus Spark.
In gym, we are doing Aboriginal games, such as two leg and one leg kick, back wrestling, shoulder wrestling and more. We have also been going out to play kickball and go to the playground. In music, we started drumming with groups. Each person made up their own four beat pattern. The rhythms must be connected and flow together. Afterwards we are going to add in different instruments.
Upcoming events include: in depth learning about Iroquois Confederacy, Lockdown practice, Senior Choir performance, and we are starting an experiment with chicks in May. We are also going to observe tomato seeds from space! Our class is going to put it into our worm composter to see what happens. These past weeks have been a blast! Who knows what surprising activity will be coming up!
Time flies by so quickly! It’s already April! Only three months left of school! Here’s what we did these past weeks!First off, we have a student teacher! Her name is Ms. Koleff, and she will be joining us until the end of April. Ms. Koleff came to our field trip with us, and will be teaching us about the Iroquois Confederacy. Robbie Robertson, a famous Canadian singer, retells the story of “Hiawatha and the Peacemaker”. Hiawatha is a Mohawk and Cayuga descent, his family killed after the malicious Tadodaho orders his soldiers to war. Hiawatha, vengeful, goes out to plot against Tadodaho. A Peacemaker talks sense into Hiawatha. Afterwards, Hiawatha realizes that the tribes should unite, not fight.
Our previous mayor and councillors terms have ended. Our new class council is Miranda (our councillor) and Simrah (our mayor). The candidates for councillor was: Kevin, Evelyn, Saebin, Mohiz and Miranda. For mayor our candidates were: Brookelyn, Noor, Alex and Simrah. Our mayor and councillors first task was to plan the desk change. They decided to let us choose where to sit.
As you may know, we have been reading “City of Ember” and are currently on chapter 14. After reading the chapters, we were assigned to answer questions. A few weeks ago, we drew pictures as to what we thought Ember would look like if we were on a street corner. In math, we started a new unit on area and perimeter of squares and rectangles. We did both interactive and nonreciprocal activities.
In science, we are currently working on sky science. After finishing our presentations, we are creating brochures on a “trip to another planet”. We were randomly allotted planets, from Mercury to Pluto. Speaking of science, we visited Telus Spark as a part of our new unit. There were 4 exhibits to explore; Earth and Sky, Being Human, Energy and Electricity and Open Studio. Subsequently, we are doing a Visual Journal page about our experience at Telus Spark.
In gym, we are doing Aboriginal games, such as two leg and one leg kick, back wrestling, shoulder wrestling and more. We have also been going out to play kickball and go to the playground. In music, we started drumming with groups. Each person made up their own four beat pattern. The rhythms must be connected and flow together. Afterwards we are going to add in different instruments.
Upcoming events include: in depth learning about Iroquois Confederacy, Lockdown practice, Senior Choir performance, and we are starting an experiment with chicks in May. We are also going to observe tomato seeds from space! Our class is going to put it into our worm composter to see what happens. These past weeks have been a blast! Who knows what surprising activity will be coming up!
Apr.5/17 We read : Hiawatha and the Peacemaker as an introduction to our Social Studies unit on the Iroquois Confederacy. This story is (re)told by legendary Canadian, Robbie Roberston and the book came with a song composed and sung by Roberston on a CD.
Apr. 6/17 Students are reading City of Ember as part of our Language Arts curriculum. (see some of their drawings of a street corner in Ember below)
Apr.4/17 Students were asked to draw a "street corner" from the City of Ember, as an activity to get their thoughts down on paper visually before writing a descriptive paragraph about a "street corner" in Ember. These are their drawing above.
Mar. 17/ 17 Mr. Quinney is starting a Gauss Math Club for students grade 4-6 who are interested in working on challenging Math problems at home in preparation for the Gauss Competition. Students interested should attend first meeting in Lower Library on Tues. March 21, at afternoon RECESS with Mr. Quinney.
Mar. 17/17 Update from Class Mayor Anthony:
We did it! We’ve made it through another week in Grade 6! Why do we say this? We’ve done SOOOO much math over these few days. It’s as if it’s our only subject in school (not actually, but you get what we mean). It all started on Pi day. The class made a paper chain link of different colours to represent different numbers. Altogether, the students made 100 links! Pi is the irrational number used to calculate the circumference of a circle. The first few digits of pi are 3.14159265358979323846264338327950… Then it goes on forever! As a treat, Ms. Dickson brought is some pizza to share. After the delicious snack, the class calculated the circumference of the pizzas. That was just part of our week! Angles, polygons, triangles, and so much more! We’ve even had a quiz on it! Oh gosh, the math avalanche goes on forever!
Finally, moving on to a different subject: LA. We had a mountain of a work to do, but it was very enjoyable. You thought we finished with descriptive writing in Grade 3? NOPE. Since we have been reading a new novel, City of Ember, Ms. Dickson had us write a paragraph on what we see when we think of the city, with ‘juicy’ words. Before that though, we did a warm up activity where each student got a plain sentence, and they had to make the sentence more interesting.
Most of the class has now shared their presentations on Sky Science. These presentation are mainly about teaching the rest of the students about their topic. These topics included things like, ‘The Phases of the Moon,’ or ‘What Would Happen If the Earth Stopped Rotating?’
Some upcoming events include our field trip to Telus Spark, and the parent/teacher conferences on Thursday, March 23rd. That’s a summary of our week in Grade 6.
(Side note: Our mayor and councillor’s (Anthony and Daniel) term is about to end. We thank them for their hard work and dedication towards this class. - Simrah)
P.S. from Ms. Dickson:
We also:
- watched a show called "Jurassic Bark" by Evergreen Theatre
- "Friendology"
- Which One Doesn't Belong? Polygon Quiz
- Senior Choir Practice?
We did it! We’ve made it through another week in Grade 6! Why do we say this? We’ve done SOOOO much math over these few days. It’s as if it’s our only subject in school (not actually, but you get what we mean). It all started on Pi day. The class made a paper chain link of different colours to represent different numbers. Altogether, the students made 100 links! Pi is the irrational number used to calculate the circumference of a circle. The first few digits of pi are 3.14159265358979323846264338327950… Then it goes on forever! As a treat, Ms. Dickson brought is some pizza to share. After the delicious snack, the class calculated the circumference of the pizzas. That was just part of our week! Angles, polygons, triangles, and so much more! We’ve even had a quiz on it! Oh gosh, the math avalanche goes on forever!
Finally, moving on to a different subject: LA. We had a mountain of a work to do, but it was very enjoyable. You thought we finished with descriptive writing in Grade 3? NOPE. Since we have been reading a new novel, City of Ember, Ms. Dickson had us write a paragraph on what we see when we think of the city, with ‘juicy’ words. Before that though, we did a warm up activity where each student got a plain sentence, and they had to make the sentence more interesting.
Most of the class has now shared their presentations on Sky Science. These presentation are mainly about teaching the rest of the students about their topic. These topics included things like, ‘The Phases of the Moon,’ or ‘What Would Happen If the Earth Stopped Rotating?’
Some upcoming events include our field trip to Telus Spark, and the parent/teacher conferences on Thursday, March 23rd. That’s a summary of our week in Grade 6.
(Side note: Our mayor and councillor’s (Anthony and Daniel) term is about to end. We thank them for their hard work and dedication towards this class. - Simrah)
P.S. from Ms. Dickson:
We also:
- watched a show called "Jurassic Bark" by Evergreen Theatre
- "Friendology"
- Which One Doesn't Belong? Polygon Quiz
- Senior Choir Practice?
Mar. 14/ 17 or 3.14 was Pi Day - Ask your child what our class did to observe and celebrate this day with Math!
Mar.8/17 "Currents 4 Kids" is an online resource of current event news articles for grade 6 students to read. Edgemont School has purchased the license for our classes to use this terrific resource. Our class has made agreed that our class goal would be for each student to read 2 articles per week and to answer both the "On the line" and the "Between the line" questions. Each student was given their own username and password. You can go back and re-do your quizzes if you would like to. Writing answers for the "Responding" part is optional - but strongly encouraged!:) There are some great articles with some very interesting facts for students to read about. Check out the website
Feb 1- 28 Update from Class Mayor Anthony and Class Councillor Daniel:
In this past month and a half, the students have had so much fun! To top it off, we got a blast of nostalgia when we started Gaga ball in Gym, because we had played Gaga ball at Outdoor School, back in October. We also started Sky Science with Ms. Mckay-Smith’s class. The class brainstormed inquiry questions about space and other things of that sort. We also started our new novel study, The City of Ember. We also started to make our intent bracelets, which we chose a word and had to indent it into a washer. Today we had a look at a webinar that talked about bats and echolocation. Our scratch art , which focused on Athenian democracy and Calgarian democracy was finished and made into a column with our paragraph and was taped to a bamboo stick, which in turn was taped to the column/ 'vessel'.
We are going to make a compiled work of our PPT Stories. We started to make the stories two months ago about three images about a place, person and thing. We also had a science unit test on Evidence & Investigation and watched a video on the elusive mammal, the wolverine, where we took notes and had quiz on wolverines, which was an open-book quiz.
In this past month and a half, the students have had so much fun! To top it off, we got a blast of nostalgia when we started Gaga ball in Gym, because we had played Gaga ball at Outdoor School, back in October. We also started Sky Science with Ms. Mckay-Smith’s class. The class brainstormed inquiry questions about space and other things of that sort. We also started our new novel study, The City of Ember. We also started to make our intent bracelets, which we chose a word and had to indent it into a washer. Today we had a look at a webinar that talked about bats and echolocation. Our scratch art , which focused on Athenian democracy and Calgarian democracy was finished and made into a column with our paragraph and was taped to a bamboo stick, which in turn was taped to the column/ 'vessel'.
We are going to make a compiled work of our PPT Stories. We started to make the stories two months ago about three images about a place, person and thing. We also had a science unit test on Evidence & Investigation and watched a video on the elusive mammal, the wolverine, where we took notes and had quiz on wolverines, which was an open-book quiz.
Feb. 13/17 Science Quiz - Evidence and Investigation will be on Wednesday, Feb. 22nd - see study links and doc's on LINKS page (under Science Links)
Feb.9/17 Ms. Dickson's class and Mr. Thomas' class go to the Youthlink Police Interpretive Centre. (A few photos shown above) Students were able to obtain forensic evidence to help them solve the Youthlink crime of the stolen and burned car found in Ogden.
Feb.6/17 Special visit from Calgary Police Constable Harms as enrichment for our Evidence and Investigation Unit
- showed us tools of the job: taser, handcuffs, tire prongs, pepper spray, protective vests, flashlight, tool pockets
- works on a plain clothes, undercover unit for Calgary Police Service
- the constable answered questions from students about his job, such as:
What was your longest case?
What was your first case?
What was your most boring case?
What was your scariest case?
What was your job before being a police officer?
Do you work with female officers?
What characteristics make a good police officer?
How do you try to collect DNA from suspects?
What is the most important job on the police force?
The constable shared a story about getting evidence on an armed robbery of a store:
He and partner checked ID of clerk, looked at surveilence video, noticed that perpetrator was not wearing gloves. CSI unit came in to take prints using areas of interest from the video, was able to get palm print from front counter and some fingerprints from bottles. Six months later, another robbery happened and the K unit caught the perpetrator. His prints matched the ones on file and his description and clothes matched the perpetrator in the video. He was sentenced to jail time for both robberies.
Feb. 2/17 Class meeting - run by Councillor Daniel and Mayor Anthony
- desk arrangement - choice of new grouping or stay same? Ms Dickson will look at anonymous suggestions over the weekend!
- desk arrangement - choice of new grouping or stay same? Ms Dickson will look at anonymous suggestions over the weekend!
Feb. 1/ 17 L.A., Creative Writing - Person, Place & Thing Story (connect three magazine photos)
Ask yourself these things?
- Does my story make sense? (need connecting phrases or background information?
- Does my story connect my 3 magazine photos in a creative and realistic way?
- Have I checked for capitals on proper nouns and beginning of sentences?
- Have I checked spelling and looked for incomplete/ run-on sentences?
- Have I checked to see if each paragraph focuses on one idea/ part? (not too long or too short?)
- Do I have enough building tension and character development to create a dynamic story and exciting climax?
- Do I have enough falling action to resolve problems and wrap up loose ends?
- Have I used descriptive language and literary tools to make my writing interesting and rich?
Ask yourself these things?
- Does my story make sense? (need connecting phrases or background information?
- Does my story connect my 3 magazine photos in a creative and realistic way?
- Have I checked for capitals on proper nouns and beginning of sentences?
- Have I checked spelling and looked for incomplete/ run-on sentences?
- Have I checked to see if each paragraph focuses on one idea/ part? (not too long or too short?)
- Do I have enough building tension and character development to create a dynamic story and exciting climax?
- Do I have enough falling action to resolve problems and wrap up loose ends?
- Have I used descriptive language and literary tools to make my writing interesting and rich?
Jan.30/17 Upcoming Art/ Social in-class project:
Compare Athenian Democratic Structure and Calgarian Democratic Structure in a visual art piece using Attic Black Figure –style painting/ incising to create two paper ‘vessels’ (cylinders). Click here for information and rubric
Compare Athenian Democratic Structure and Calgarian Democratic Structure in a visual art piece using Attic Black Figure –style painting/ incising to create two paper ‘vessels’ (cylinders). Click here for information and rubric
Jan. 24/17 The Honourable Michelle Rempel, MP, comes to visit grade six at Edgemont School!
- Ms. Rempel gave students a few examples of current federal issues for Canada and how some areas require the federal government needs to cooperate with the provincial governments of Canada on some issues.
- She spoke about the 3 branches of government: Judicial Branch (Courts), Legislative Branch (House of Commons 338 seates - elected & The Senate - apointed), Executive Branch (PM and cabinet)
- She spoke about how a bill becomes a law: 1st reading, 2nd reading & debate, vote, majority vote goes to Parliamentary Committee, goes back to house for 3rd reading, Senate has 1st, 2nd, 3rd reading, if vote obtains majority then goes to Governor General (Queens representative) for "royal assent"
- Ms. Rempel sits on The Standing committee for Citizenship & Immigration
- Ms. Rempel told the students that, "Being an MP requires research for decision-making," and that, "Being a Member of Parliament means that I was selected to serve my constituents."
- Ms. Rempel gave students a few examples of current federal issues for Canada and how some areas require the federal government needs to cooperate with the provincial governments of Canada on some issues.
- She spoke about the 3 branches of government: Judicial Branch (Courts), Legislative Branch (House of Commons 338 seates - elected & The Senate - apointed), Executive Branch (PM and cabinet)
- She spoke about how a bill becomes a law: 1st reading, 2nd reading & debate, vote, majority vote goes to Parliamentary Committee, goes back to house for 3rd reading, Senate has 1st, 2nd, 3rd reading, if vote obtains majority then goes to Governor General (Queens representative) for "royal assent"
- Ms. Rempel sits on The Standing committee for Citizenship & Immigration
- Ms. Rempel told the students that, "Being an MP requires research for decision-making," and that, "Being a Member of Parliament means that I was selected to serve my constituents."
Jan. 17-24 What have we been up to? Update written by Class Mayor Anthony
It’s amazing how fast time flies! We have done so much in the past week, it feels as if an entire month has passed. We have finished a V.J. page on ancient Athens, where we are giving a tour on three places that were important to ancient democracy, the Bouleuterion, Pnyx Hill, and the Agora, plus one that we could choose ourselves. The twist was that we had to tell it as if we lived in that time period. Another thing that we did with ancient Athens was the brown bag project. We were given a brown bag with a modern object inside. We weren’t allowed to look inside, only feel it, and we were given the task of drawing it. Later, we looked inside and had to describe the object inside using the viewpoint of an ancient Athenian.
We also had a MP visit us, Mrs. Michelle Rempel, who talked about her position in the government and her job in representing Calgary Nose Hill area to the federal government. Her job is very taxing, and the amount work she has to do is insane! The dedication she has is admirable.
In Science we continued to do Crime & Investigation, and we are studying footprints and the Class and Accidental Characteristics that they leave behind. Along with footprints, we have done some more detailed study in fibres and hair. We wanted to burn some fibres, but the school didn’t allow us to do it inside, so Mrs. Khoang, teacher of another Gr. 6 class, did some burning of her own, and she compiled it all into one video for us to take notes on.
In Gym, African dance is over, and now we’re in a transition period of skip roping. In Math, we started doing some more detailed fraction and ratio word problems. We also have done some study on Fibonacci, the mathematician who came up with the Fibonacci spiral and number sequence.
Lastly, we had a live webinar session on Mars, and traveling to the red planet.
Jan. 23/17 Field trip to YOUTHLINK Police Interpretive Centre coming up February 9th! Parents: please consider volunteering:) Forms to come home soon.
Jan. 18/17 Special visitor: comes to visit grade 6
- Have you considered going to Branton Bilingual Junior High School for french immersion?
- You have some choices with the CBE for junior high
- Would you like to challenge yourself? Would you like to learn a new language?
- "Late immersion" program is accessible to those entering grade seven
- Open House is Thurs, Feb.2 at 7:00 pm Branton Bilingual Junior High is located at :
2103 20 St NW, Calgary, AB T2M 3W1, Phone: (403) 777-7440
- Have you considered going to Branton Bilingual Junior High School for french immersion?
- You have some choices with the CBE for junior high
- Would you like to challenge yourself? Would you like to learn a new language?
- "Late immersion" program is accessible to those entering grade seven
- Open House is Thurs, Feb.2 at 7:00 pm Branton Bilingual Junior High is located at :
2103 20 St NW, Calgary, AB T2M 3W1, Phone: (403) 777-7440
Jan. 9-16 What have we been up to? Update written by Class Mayor ANTHONY
In these past few days, we have done lots of things, in all different subjects. After we came back from winter break, Mrs. Dickson had us write to resolutions and/or goals for the new year. We also earned our Digital Drivers Licenses, a qualification to “drive” around the web, like telling what sources are reliable to take information from, how to avoid phishing, and that piracy is stealing. And, to have us reflect and to prepare our report cards (coming out on Jan.30!!), Mrs. Dickson had us do some self-assessments, about how we think we are doing in school.
In Social Studies, we have been learning about ancient Athenians, who invented democracy. In our visual journals, we’ve been planning a two page map and tour of ancient Athens, except in this tour, we’re living in Athens as if it was the present, and the 21 century is the future. While on the topic of democracy, we have recently had a class election. The candidates were as follows:
Councillor Candidates Mayor Candidates
Paniz Anthony
Daniel Alex
Justice Jamaal
Evelyn Brooklyn
Our new mayor and councillor took a vote on desk changes, and “groups of 5” is how our desks are arranged now.
In Science, our DNA and forensic studies are progressing steadily. We are currently learning about fingerprints, footprints, hair, and fibres. In Math, we’ve been finding ways to represent fractions in different ways, like drawing, and building with manipulatives. We have also been learning to convert fractions into other fractions with different denominators, and into decimals and percentage.
In Phys Ed, we have been doing African dance with Mrs. Nicole from Sound Kreations. African dance has influenced hip-hop, tap, jazz, and a whole bunch of other dances. As for Music, we have been working on sound compositions, using instruments to tell a story.
In these past few days, we have done lots of things, in all different subjects. After we came back from winter break, Mrs. Dickson had us write to resolutions and/or goals for the new year. We also earned our Digital Drivers Licenses, a qualification to “drive” around the web, like telling what sources are reliable to take information from, how to avoid phishing, and that piracy is stealing. And, to have us reflect and to prepare our report cards (coming out on Jan.30!!), Mrs. Dickson had us do some self-assessments, about how we think we are doing in school.
In Social Studies, we have been learning about ancient Athenians, who invented democracy. In our visual journals, we’ve been planning a two page map and tour of ancient Athens, except in this tour, we’re living in Athens as if it was the present, and the 21 century is the future. While on the topic of democracy, we have recently had a class election. The candidates were as follows:
Councillor Candidates Mayor Candidates
Paniz Anthony
Daniel Alex
Justice Jamaal
Evelyn Brooklyn
Our new mayor and councillor took a vote on desk changes, and “groups of 5” is how our desks are arranged now.
In Science, our DNA and forensic studies are progressing steadily. We are currently learning about fingerprints, footprints, hair, and fibres. In Math, we’ve been finding ways to represent fractions in different ways, like drawing, and building with manipulatives. We have also been learning to convert fractions into other fractions with different denominators, and into decimals and percentage.
In Phys Ed, we have been doing African dance with Mrs. Nicole from Sound Kreations. African dance has influenced hip-hop, tap, jazz, and a whole bunch of other dances. As for Music, we have been working on sound compositions, using instruments to tell a story.
Jan. 16/ 17 Art and Math challenge: use graph paper to create an accurate drawing based upon a fraction! (see example below or see more on "Photos & Contact"
(Jan. 10/ 17 Inquiry question: "What type(s) of fingerprints do I have?" WHORL, ARCH, TENTED ARCH or LOOP? (see photos below) *Fingerprint identification document on LINKS page.
Jan. 10/17 As part of Math, students used a variety of manipulatives to build/ show improper fractions and mixed numbers (see photos below)
Jan.9/17 Class Election!
We said thank you to out-going Mayor Evelyn and Councillor Jamaal and after a vote today we welcome:
Anthony as our new mayor and Daniel as our new councillor! Their first job was to hold a vote on the new desk arrangement and then implement the plan. - Nicely done Mayor & Councillor!
We said thank you to out-going Mayor Evelyn and Councillor Jamaal and after a vote today we welcome:
Anthony as our new mayor and Daniel as our new councillor! Their first job was to hold a vote on the new desk arrangement and then implement the plan. - Nicely done Mayor & Councillor!
Jan. 6/17 What have we been up to?
- Researched Athenian democracy with a partner from Ms. McKay-Smith's class using both the computer and the textbook
- Watched 2 videos on Athenian Democracy
- Started a unit on African Dance in Gym
- Cleaned desks, found a spot for all loose papers
- Practiced multiplication and division of decimals (had 2 quizzes)
- Practiced converting quantities using decimals/ fractions/ percentages
- Checked on our Winter Break worm composter experiment
- Matched suspect photos with suspect profiles in our Youthlink Investigation crime
- Began watching videos and answering questions as a class on "Digital Driver's License" for internet safety and etiquette
- Watched 2 videos on Confederation
- Discussed upcoming change of class jobs and upcoming election
- Researched Athenian democracy with a partner from Ms. McKay-Smith's class using both the computer and the textbook
- Watched 2 videos on Athenian Democracy
- Started a unit on African Dance in Gym
- Cleaned desks, found a spot for all loose papers
- Practiced multiplication and division of decimals (had 2 quizzes)
- Practiced converting quantities using decimals/ fractions/ percentages
- Checked on our Winter Break worm composter experiment
- Matched suspect photos with suspect profiles in our Youthlink Investigation crime
- Began watching videos and answering questions as a class on "Digital Driver's License" for internet safety and etiquette
- Watched 2 videos on Confederation
- Discussed upcoming change of class jobs and upcoming election
Dec. 16/ 16 Winter Break Homework: FINISH "CHASING VERMEER" click slideshow below for the last 3 chapters! DUE Jan.3/17
Dec.16/ 16 CANADA's 150th birthday is close! Grade six was given a challenge: using only red and white pipe cleaners, beads and silver wire, create a replica of a maple leaf and (somehow) represent 150 in your leaf! Students have been researching Canada's history to find a significant event for each of the past 15 decades and have been building a digital, visual timeline.
Dec. 16/ 16 Close up look at the NUTRIENT CYCLE: worm composter experiment - "Do worms prefer fresh vegetable scraps or previously frozen vegetable scraps?" At one end of our worm composter we put a quantity of fresh veggie scraps, at the other end of the bin we put the same veggi scraps, but they had been previously frozen and then thawed. Which scraps will be eaten first? Or will both be eaten at the same rate? We are going to check our predictions after the Winter Break!
Dec. 12/ 16 "Pair Programming" with our Grade 3 Buddies! Our students pair up and take turns navigating on an "Hour of Code" activity
Dec. 9/ 16 Learning about what school boards do as part of local government (Social Studies)
Dec.6, 2016: Students create a Chasing Vermeer, "crime wall," or parade board, to document suspects, evidence, and persons of interest in the mystery of the stolen painting and mysterious letters in our novel study.
Dec. 5/ 16 Students brainstorm ideas/ strategies of things you can do to help solve tricky problems in Math. Students glued reminders of the top 5 strategies they find useful into the back of their math books when working on Math problems.
Dec. 1/ 16, Social Studies Unit Quiz Tues, DEC 13: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms AND Local Government (study guide on Links soon to come!)
Nov. 30/16 Students completed an anonymous survey about doing a SECRET SANTA activity in class. The majority of students voted in favour of participating (opting out is an option). Students drew another student's name out of a 'hat' today. We will be doing the gift exchange on Thursday, Dec. 8! Here is the information we discussed as a class:
Nov. 29/16 Students use "Trivial Pursuit" style questions on local government and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Social Studies) - see photos below.
November 25th Update: What have we been up to?
- Byte Camp, created Scratch accounts (Math, computer literacy)
- Wrote news article about the Byte Camp Session in the role of a "reporter"
- Started reading novel "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliet (L.A.) Students will be working in "Literary Circles" to discuss and respond to different parts of the book.
- Carved "eraser block" with a tree image to use for block printmaking. Students each created 6 cards of their design and donated one to the Drop-In Centre (Christmas Card Program) and one card to Edgemont School. (see photos on Photos & Contact page)
- Challenged ourselves with creating 12 pentominoes and then figuring out how to make rectangles using different pentominoes (see photo below!) (Math)
- Wrote a short story to re-tell a storyline from a animated short film, "Marianne's Theatre" (L.A.)
- Multiples, fractions, decimals and percentages unit test (Math)
- Began a new unit: Evidence & Investigation! Students will become "Special Detectives" to work in cooperation with the Calgary Police Service to solve a crime. Field trip to the Police Interpretive Centre is February 9th. (Science)
- Watched a TED Talk about understanding power at the local level - check out link on this blog! (Social)
- Watched a play about Emily Carr, famous Canadian painter,by Canadiana Musical Theatre Company in the gym. (Arts & History) - Grade 6 students will be writing a news article about this event.
- Secret Santa Survey: Students voted in favour of participating in a Secret Santa exchange. Students agreed to draw another student's names from a hat and pick out a small gift for that student ($10 - $14 maximum). *This is an optional activity and students can choose not to participate.
*For more images of student printmaking for our Kindness cards - please click on Photos & Contact page
Nov 10/16 Upcoming Novel Study: Chasing Vermeer - a 2004 children's art mystery novel written by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist. Set in Hyde Park, Chicago near the University of Chicago
Students watched a presentation on the visual trademarks of spotting a "true" or "authentic" Vermeer painting with Ms. Dickson using "Lady Writing" as an example. The purpose being to gather insight and knowledge of this particular artist BEFORE reading the novel. Using their new understandings, students were asked to try to identify a "Vermeer" using a selection of similar paintings. Please see their reasonings below
Students watched a presentation on the visual trademarks of spotting a "true" or "authentic" Vermeer painting with Ms. Dickson using "Lady Writing" as an example. The purpose being to gather insight and knowledge of this particular artist BEFORE reading the novel. Using their new understandings, students were asked to try to identify a "Vermeer" using a selection of similar paintings. Please see their reasonings below
November 5/ 16 Student Blog by Mayor Evelyn and Councillor Jamaal
This week in grade six we have been doing “Fix this Text”. The teacher takes a news article and puts grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes in it and the students get individual copies of the article and we have to find the mistakes. After the students have found most of the mistakes the teacher puts the article on the Smartboard and the students tell the teacher what mistakes they found and then we work as a class to figure it out.
We also did “Pumpkinella” with our Grade 3 buddies. We all went down to the Panorama Room and the pumpkins were very interesting! There were pumpkins with Pokemon on them there was also a pumpkin with popcorn and sweets in the bin! In Math, we are working with multiples. For example: list the first 5 multiples of 10 so you would do 10 20 30 40 50.
We also did our Trees and Forest review where the teacher went on Notebook and and showed us some slides about the trees and leaves. For example, a type of leave is “oblong”. A tree shape example is a “Vase”.
This week the students finished the book Hatchet. We had to choose 2 changes and and with 2 cubes. First, we glue everything on then we make the cube. We also finished the movie for Hatchet but the movies name was “Cry in the Wild”. The students enjoyed the movie very much! (Considering the movie was made in the 1990.)
For the past week, students have been presenting their Science poster about endangered species. Some of the animals the students picked were: Wolverine, Woodland Caribou and Swift Fox. The students have also been learning about the local government and the municipal government. The students have also learned how to use the textbook efficiently and writing info down without writing the whole paragraph.
The teachers have been showing students videos about graphic recording. Graphic recording is when students can draw a graphic and show what they are thinking and still gather research at the same time.
This week in grade six we have been doing “Fix this Text”. The teacher takes a news article and puts grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes in it and the students get individual copies of the article and we have to find the mistakes. After the students have found most of the mistakes the teacher puts the article on the Smartboard and the students tell the teacher what mistakes they found and then we work as a class to figure it out.
We also did “Pumpkinella” with our Grade 3 buddies. We all went down to the Panorama Room and the pumpkins were very interesting! There were pumpkins with Pokemon on them there was also a pumpkin with popcorn and sweets in the bin! In Math, we are working with multiples. For example: list the first 5 multiples of 10 so you would do 10 20 30 40 50.
We also did our Trees and Forest review where the teacher went on Notebook and and showed us some slides about the trees and leaves. For example, a type of leave is “oblong”. A tree shape example is a “Vase”.
This week the students finished the book Hatchet. We had to choose 2 changes and and with 2 cubes. First, we glue everything on then we make the cube. We also finished the movie for Hatchet but the movies name was “Cry in the Wild”. The students enjoyed the movie very much! (Considering the movie was made in the 1990.)
For the past week, students have been presenting their Science poster about endangered species. Some of the animals the students picked were: Wolverine, Woodland Caribou and Swift Fox. The students have also been learning about the local government and the municipal government. The students have also learned how to use the textbook efficiently and writing info down without writing the whole paragraph.
The teachers have been showing students videos about graphic recording. Graphic recording is when students can draw a graphic and show what they are thinking and still gather research at the same time.
Nov. 1/ 16 - Veterans Food Bank Drive at Edgemont - please donate non-perishable food items between Nov. 1-10 please
See link for CBC TV news article on Veterans in need:
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/cupboards-nearly-bare-at-calgary-veterans-food-bank-1.3135140
Hello Edgemont School,
As a part of their study of Current Events in Social Studies, the Grade 3’s of Mrs. Shukin's room and the Grade 6’s of Mr. Thomas’ room read the article that contained the quote above and the news hit them! They knew right away that something needed to be done before it was too late. So the Grade 3’s asked their Grade 6 Buddies to help them with this project. What Project? Helping to re-stock the shelves at the Calgary Veteran’s Food Bank! Why? This article is all about how in these tough times, many brave Calgarian veterans / ex-military and their families need help getting the food necessary to take care of themselves. The students realized that they wanted to help the people who gave so much in the past to help keep Canada safe.Food donations are being collected in the big boxes in the main hallway of the school until November 10, 2016! Please help us to help them by donating food to the Veteran’s Food Bank. Remember, to please only donate non-perishable food (tinned, boxed or preserved foods)
Thank you for reading this. - Grade 3’s and 6’s
See link for CBC TV news article on Veterans in need:
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/cupboards-nearly-bare-at-calgary-veterans-food-bank-1.3135140
Hello Edgemont School,
As a part of their study of Current Events in Social Studies, the Grade 3’s of Mrs. Shukin's room and the Grade 6’s of Mr. Thomas’ room read the article that contained the quote above and the news hit them! They knew right away that something needed to be done before it was too late. So the Grade 3’s asked their Grade 6 Buddies to help them with this project. What Project? Helping to re-stock the shelves at the Calgary Veteran’s Food Bank! Why? This article is all about how in these tough times, many brave Calgarian veterans / ex-military and their families need help getting the food necessary to take care of themselves. The students realized that they wanted to help the people who gave so much in the past to help keep Canada safe.Food donations are being collected in the big boxes in the main hallway of the school until November 10, 2016! Please help us to help them by donating food to the Veteran’s Food Bank. Remember, to please only donate non-perishable food (tinned, boxed or preserved foods)
Thank you for reading this. - Grade 3’s and 6’s
October 28th - please see a few Outdoor School photos on the Photos & Contact page
October 28th Student Blog: Mayor (Justice)
- This past couple of weeks we have been doing lots of great exciting things. Outdoor School was a very exciting activity that all students were nervous about, but barely anyone didn’t enjoy it.
- The first day of ODS was getting to know your counsellors and doing a challenge course. Some other highlights were the ECOnomy game and Predator and Prey. Another day was going on a very exciting day hike.
- In P.E. Students worked on Sportball, practicing hand-eye coordination with any sort of “Sportball” (examples: football, tennis).
- Students have been observing worms, looking at how the worms have been changing it’s environment that students gave it (branches etc.).
- In the student’s visual journal, students have made a double page spread to list the main Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Their mark is based on how well they could take information from textbooks and put it into their own words.
- Students finished the book, Hatchet, and have started an activity where they took 2 cubes and made a paragraph or illustration on each side.
- Students started a math project that made a pattern based on a certain code based on each student’s name.
- Students have started working with grade three buddies, showing their collage artwork with the grade three buddies, and teaching them how to write a Cinquain on culture.
- Students have been working on a poster than represents an endangered species and what life would be like without it. This project was with a partner from either their class or the other class students shared a room with.
October 14, 2016
OUTDOOR SCHOOL REMINDERS
*Teachers must keep all medications for the students
*Please remind your child about keys for packing - appropriate clothing, EXTRA clothing, NO FOOD and NO electronics.
*All students must have snowpants, waterproof winter boots, hat that covers their ears, scarf, two pairs of warm waterproof mitts, winter coat, and a warm sweater in addition to their clothes
*Please pack your things in a case/ duffel bag you can carry independently - AND bring a small daypack for hikes/ walks
*Any student bringing their ODS gear in on MONDAY - it comes to our individual classrooms to be stored overnight.
*Any student bringing their ODS gear on TUESDAY morning - they drop it in the Panorama Room from 8:30 AM on.
*We will be load the buses from the Panorama Room.
*Students should keep their backpacks with them on the bus ride out to ODS.
*Each student should have with them - pencils, eraser, sharpener, pencil crayons for their Nature Notes Journal
*Parents can come at 1:30 on Friday, October 21st to pick up their child. Children not picked up early will be kept at school until 3:30 as usual.
*REGULAR BUS STUDENTS: Luggage cannot come to school on the bus and cannot go home on the bus
*We are looking for parents to help to load the buses on TUESDAY morning - 9:15 - 9:45 AM.
* If another adult is going to pick up your child on Friday, 1:30- 3:30, I MUST HAVE a hand written note from you on Monday please
OUTDOOR SCHOOL REMINDERS
*Teachers must keep all medications for the students
*Please remind your child about keys for packing - appropriate clothing, EXTRA clothing, NO FOOD and NO electronics.
*All students must have snowpants, waterproof winter boots, hat that covers their ears, scarf, two pairs of warm waterproof mitts, winter coat, and a warm sweater in addition to their clothes
*Please pack your things in a case/ duffel bag you can carry independently - AND bring a small daypack for hikes/ walks
*Any student bringing their ODS gear in on MONDAY - it comes to our individual classrooms to be stored overnight.
*Any student bringing their ODS gear on TUESDAY morning - they drop it in the Panorama Room from 8:30 AM on.
*We will be load the buses from the Panorama Room.
*Students should keep their backpacks with them on the bus ride out to ODS.
*Each student should have with them - pencils, eraser, sharpener, pencil crayons for their Nature Notes Journal
*Parents can come at 1:30 on Friday, October 21st to pick up their child. Children not picked up early will be kept at school until 3:30 as usual.
*REGULAR BUS STUDENTS: Luggage cannot come to school on the bus and cannot go home on the bus
*We are looking for parents to help to load the buses on TUESDAY morning - 9:15 - 9:45 AM.
* If another adult is going to pick up your child on Friday, 1:30- 3:30, I MUST HAVE a hand written note from you on Monday please
October 14th Student Blog Entry - by Justice (Class Mayor) & Bonnie (Class Councillor)
- Hello parents, over these couple of months, students have been working together, making exquisite creations with their minds. In this paragraph or two we will be showing you exactly what we did.
- Students worked very hard at showing each other who they were on the first day, lots of activities were dedicated to just that.
- Students formed a circle and passed a ball of yarn around to whoever had a connection to them, in the end we were able to form a web, and lift certain people of our class.
- A couple days in, we read a dragon story, but it wasn’t exactly a good ending, each student made a ending to the story, later they made a illustrations based on their ending.
- The students started a novel study on the book, Hatchet, which was also a big player in the past few months, (creating reading logs, students read Hatchet and are still reading it).
- Students have started making cinquains and are going to create a collage with some painted textures they made.
- In math, the students started word problems and place value and learning how to think in base 5 and form.
- Students have been learning Sportball in Phys Ed and are very excited about it.
- With all their knowledge on trees and forests (of which, they learned about earlier) students have selected a partner and started a project on what life would be like without a selected endangered species of Alberta.
- Overall, students have started this year with lots of confidence and joy
October 1, 2016
Getting to know each other:
Out in the schoolyard, Grade 6 students stood in a circle and threw a ball of wool to another student who they learned they had something in common with – to make a “connection.” After two attempts to get enough connections between students, we were able to lift up a student with our ‘connections!’
Students then used wool pinned to photos on a class photo wall to label their ‘connections’ to two different students.
each other:
Getting to know each other:
Out in the schoolyard, Grade 6 students stood in a circle and threw a ball of wool to another student who they learned they had something in common with – to make a “connection.” After two attempts to get enough connections between students, we were able to lift up a student with our ‘connections!’
Students then used wool pinned to photos on a class photo wall to label their ‘connections’ to two different students.
each other:
Science:
We are studying the topic: Trees & Forests. Using the computers, students have researched the distinguishing features of different kinds of native trees. Using this information, Grade 6 students went out into the school ground to identify which trees were: Balsam Poplar, Trembling Aspen, Lodgepole Pine, Spruce and Larch/ Tamarack. We are about to begin a study of the four levels of the forest: upper canopy, understory, underbrush and forest floor using artwork and poetry as a way to show what we know.
We are studying the topic: Trees & Forests. Using the computers, students have researched the distinguishing features of different kinds of native trees. Using this information, Grade 6 students went out into the school ground to identify which trees were: Balsam Poplar, Trembling Aspen, Lodgepole Pine, Spruce and Larch/ Tamarack. We are about to begin a study of the four levels of the forest: upper canopy, understory, underbrush and forest floor using artwork and poetry as a way to show what we know.
We also participated in a challenge as part of Beakerhead. Each Grade 6 class was given a box containing: 15 ping pong balls, bubble pack, 2 glow sticks, a metal paint can with lid and 50 elastic bands. Their challenge was to create an invention inspired by 'music!' Each class built prototypes in small groups before voting on which group should make the final piece.
Social Studies:
We have begun studying democracy in Canada with a focus on our local municipal government and the four pillars of democracy. Students will be creating skits in small groups to share their knowledge on these four pillars and we will be talking about the role of mayor and councilors within our city.
We have begun studying democracy in Canada with a focus on our local municipal government and the four pillars of democracy. Students will be creating skits in small groups to share their knowledge on these four pillars and we will be talking about the role of mayor and councilors within our city.
Language Arts:
Grade 6 began the year by creating their own ending for the short story Dragon, in which a boy is left in the far north with a family of dragons. Each student illustrated a portion of their ending. We are doing a novel study of Hatchet, by Gary Paulson, in which a young boy is stranded alone in the Canadian wilderness after his small plane crashes on the way to a northern destination. Students are using a reading log and quick visual cartoons to summarize and reflect on the story as it progresses. As part of our Trees and Forests unit, we will begin to study the structure of a Cinquain (5 line poem) and students will create a poem for each of the four levels of the forest.
Grade 6 began the year by creating their own ending for the short story Dragon, in which a boy is left in the far north with a family of dragons. Each student illustrated a portion of their ending. We are doing a novel study of Hatchet, by Gary Paulson, in which a young boy is stranded alone in the Canadian wilderness after his small plane crashes on the way to a northern destination. Students are using a reading log and quick visual cartoons to summarize and reflect on the story as it progresses. As part of our Trees and Forests unit, we will begin to study the structure of a Cinquain (5 line poem) and students will create a poem for each of the four levels of the forest.
Math:
Grade 6 has been practicing our quick, mental math facts by filling in a 10x10 grid using a timer to improve our own personal times.
We have also been studying word problems that involve order of operations: Brackets, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction (BEDMAS for short). We have been reading the information in the problems carefully to extract the necessary information and perform the correct operation to solve each problem using a “one line” equation/ expression.
E.g.: A certain bakery makes 40 muffins a week freezes them and sells these at $2 each. Before the muffins could be sold, the baker found out that 3 muffins were marked with freezer burn. How much will be the total sale for muffins the end of a four-week month? Write an expression and show your work and answer. Answer: [(40x4)-3]x2= $314
(Check out the practice websites listed on the "Links" tab above)
Grade 6 has been practicing our quick, mental math facts by filling in a 10x10 grid using a timer to improve our own personal times.
We have also been studying word problems that involve order of operations: Brackets, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction (BEDMAS for short). We have been reading the information in the problems carefully to extract the necessary information and perform the correct operation to solve each problem using a “one line” equation/ expression.
E.g.: A certain bakery makes 40 muffins a week freezes them and sells these at $2 each. Before the muffins could be sold, the baker found out that 3 muffins were marked with freezer burn. How much will be the total sale for muffins the end of a four-week month? Write an expression and show your work and answer. Answer: [(40x4)-3]x2= $314
(Check out the practice websites listed on the "Links" tab above)
Special Events:
Class Election:
Every few months our class will hold an election to vote on a Class Mayor and Class Councilor. These two elected student will help run class meetings, write the class bi-weekly blog, help coordinate special events, gather feedback from students, and hold votes on class issues/decisions.
Class Jobs:
Each student was asked to write a ‘job application’ to apply for a variety of daily class jobs. Ms. Dickson chooses the person for the job based upon their class performance and the merit of their application letter. Students will rotate through a variety of jobs throughout the school year.
Terry Fox Run:
On Sept. 28th we had our annual Terry Fox Run. Grade 6 students were asked to create a double page spread in their visual journals to illustrate/ define these five areas:
Class Election:
Every few months our class will hold an election to vote on a Class Mayor and Class Councilor. These two elected student will help run class meetings, write the class bi-weekly blog, help coordinate special events, gather feedback from students, and hold votes on class issues/decisions.
Class Jobs:
Each student was asked to write a ‘job application’ to apply for a variety of daily class jobs. Ms. Dickson chooses the person for the job based upon their class performance and the merit of their application letter. Students will rotate through a variety of jobs throughout the school year.
Terry Fox Run:
On Sept. 28th we had our annual Terry Fox Run. Grade 6 students were asked to create a double page spread in their visual journals to illustrate/ define these five areas:
- Tell us 10 reasons why you love your legs
- Define: humility, courage, perseverance, determination, empathy
- Tell us WHO you are running for
- A reflection after the Terry Fox Run
- What the Terry Fox Run means to you