Merci et Bienvenue!

This week is bittersweet for me because though we as a school prepare for the excitement of Christmas and holidays (and baby's arrival) it is sadly my last week with the students. I want to take this time to thank the parents and the St-Gemma community for a wonderful 2016. To the grade 6 students in particular I must say a huge thank you because they have been taking very good care of me (not letting me carry anything, offering me chairs, making sure I eat and drink enough). They are an incredibly kind group and I know they will have a successful rest of their year.

Conversely, I am very happy and excited to announce that Mme Longchamps will be taking over for me after Christmas break. Mme Longchamps is currently completing an LTO at nearby St-Thomas Moore in Kindergarten. Though K to 6 is going to be a big change, Mme Longchamps has taught high school before so she knows quite a bit about where are grade 6s are headed and how to prepare them best. She is very excited to meet the students and get started in the New year!

Foire des héritages

With electricity finished we are moving on to our first social studies unit; Canadian identity and heritage. For this unit, students will study a group or person who has made a significant contribution to Canada's heritage and/or identity. Students will present their projects in a heritage fair in a similar format to a science fair. We will invite parents and the rest of the school to come and visit our fair (most likely at the end of January date TBD).

Unmaker fair

We had a blast yesterday! We took apart computers, old cell phones, keyboards, remote control cars, a stereo and a hair dryer. We learned a lot about how electronics work...particularly how systems are closed or opened with buttons or other devices and how this makes the device perform different actions. We learned how heat is produced in a hair dryer. We even got to learn about the components of computers like the fan, the hard drive etc. A huge thank you to everyone who sent in their broken electronics, gloves and tools. Additionaly a big thank you to A.M.'s Dad who supported us in our tinkering.

Unmaker fair postponed

Due to possible inclement weather we will postpone our Unmaker fair till next Tuesday.

Unmaker fair update

We will be holding our unmaker fair on Tuesday November 29th in the afternoon.

We would love to have some parent volunteers to help take apart our electronics. Let me know in your child's agenda if you can come volunteer for part or all of the afternoon.

Also, we will be looking to borrow some tools and work gloves on the day of. If you can lend us some please send them in with your students. Make sure to label with tape so we know what belongs to who.

L'électrcité

We are starting our second science unit this week, electricity and electrical components. For the next few weeks the class will work in shifts on  two separate learning goals or projects.

1. Students will read about static electricity, simple circuits and safety while doing a few hand on experiments such as constructing simple circuits with a few components. 

2. Students will prepare for a debate where they will have to prove that their type of electric (hydro, geothermic, solar, fossil fuels, etc.) is best (cheaper, better for the environment etc.) 

Here is our electricity padlet with videos, links and curriculum expectations. 

Évaluation biodiversité

In their science folder students have a received feedback and an evaluation on the caractère progression we co-created. Three important things to mention about these assessments:

1. While I normally make it a priority to communicate in French to students I wrote the feedback in English so parents and guardians could also read the feedback and have a good idea of how they are doing and where to go next.

2. While we created the caractère progression together, the original progression is not age or grade specific. Thus, very few students will have achieved the highest level of achievement. This does not mean that they didn't get a level 4 or their project. For our purpose, we were aiming more for the 2nd or 3rd row.

3. You will find no grades. I do this because the students tend to fixate on the grade and the really useful feedback falls on deaf ears. You and your student should be able to tell by the feedback whether they demonstrated deep or vast learning. For many of the students the next step we will be working on is collaboration (more to come on this subject!)

Unmaker faire

We are winding down our biodiversity unit and I am trying to prepare for our electricity unit. Last year one of the highlights of the unit was our unmaker fair. Students and parents brought in old electronics and we took them apart to get a good look at how they work and the electrical components behind them. As such, we are looking for any broken electronics you have lying around at home or might notice being thrown away. 

Things such as:
- hairdryers
- clocks
- electrical toys
- phones
- music devices (stereos or the like)
- computer and components (keyboard, mouse, monitor)
- kitchen appliances (blender, electric tea kettle)
- flashlights
- remotes
- cameras
etc...

 As the day approaches we will also be looking for parents willing to help us safely use tools and take apart our loot. Thus, more info to come!

Caractère/Biodiversité

We've been hard at work on our biodiversity deep learning journey! I must say that this class has taken to deep learning like fish to water. Most students are really excited to learn about a topic of their own choosing. We are developing classroom experts in; climate change, ocean conservation, energy conservation, tropical/amazonian forest ecosystems and conservation, medicinal plants, illegal and big game hunting and the arctic ecosystem to name, solar panels and many more interesting ideas!

Most students have recorded a lot of their learning in folders or slides. They have now moved on to choosing/creating a final task. At the beginning, most of the class was solely interested in creating google slides to present what they had learned. However, we took a second look at the Character progression and noticed that at the most advanced level students use their knowledge to come up with solutions which improve their own lives but also the whole worlds. Thus, I am trying to get students to come up with final tasks that make a difference. This has been our biggest challenge so far as climate change or the destruction of the rainforest are complex problems and it's hard to come up with a solution that WE can do. So far final tasks vary from websites to inform the world on a particular issue,  creating a book to put in our classroom and school library, raising money as a class to "adopt" an animal through the WWF, writing a proposal on the possibility of installing solar panels on the school. I am really trying to open the student's eyes to the possibility that there is more to life than Google slides.

We will hopefully be working on/finishing up our tasks/projects this week and slightly into next week if need be.

New pedagogies - Caractère

New Pedagogies  are a new way of thinking about teaching and learning for the 21st century in a highly complex and ever-changing world. 

In this model, the role of the teacher is "that of activator of learning who designs learning experiences that build on learner strengths and needs, creates new knowledge using real-life problem solving and help all students identify their talents, purpose and passion." . 

Six competencies guide the learning (les 6 Cs) ; creativity - créativité, critical thinking - pensée critique, communication, citizenship - citoyenneté, character - caractère and collaboration. With every C comes a learning progression or a way of evaluating where the students and educator are in their learning journey. My goal this year is to unpack some of the learning progressions with the students. As a class, we are discussing what they mean in order simplify the progression to student friendly language. Students should be able to evaluate where they are on the progression, set goals and find ways to improve. 

This week we went over the character progression which is all about deep learning, self-regulation, and taking responsibility for your own learning. It was a great way to launch our biodiversité research projects! Here's our student-friendly version of Caractère.

la biodiversité

We are starting our biodiversité unit today by exploring our padlet and defining what is biodiversity. Students will get their first taste of a really open project when they get to inquire about a topic  within biodiversity that interest them. I find that the first project is always anxiety producing because by grade 6 students are really used to being told what and how they are going to learn about a subject. However, once they discover how much more motivating and enriching it is making their own way  they obviously love it. This week we will also be discussing our first C: character/ caractère (post to follow with more info on this).

Meet the teacher

If you happened to miss Meet the Teacher Night here are the cliff notes.

un polyglotte sommeille en vous

Like many people, I am fascinated by Ted talks at the moment. I stumbled on a really great one about learning multiple languages and...it's in French!!!Next week we are going to watch the video and discuss why one should learn one or more languages (obviously focusing on French). We will also discuss some of the strategies we use to support our language learning. We will even look at the FSL curriculum! Below is the link to a padlet with the video, some guiding questions and additional resources (great homework!). Un polyglotte sommeille en vous

première semaine

This week our learning goals are typical back to school goals. We are working on getting to know each other as well as the routines and procedures of the class. We have started preparing very short oral presentations to show the class a bit about who we are and what makes us tick. 

Yup...already...but it should be fun this week. 

Students are encouraged to bring two or three pictures or artifacts to help them tell me, and the class, a little bit about who they are. I would like at least one of the pictures to stay at school to decorate our lovely classroom (it will go back home with the student eventually or I can photocopy it if you don't want to risk damaging or loosing it)

Bring in as soon as possible but any time within the next weeks is fine.

Also, check out our September Newsletter

Caractère

We are on our last C! I love this last C, character (or caractère) because it's all about deep learning, grit, tenacity, perseverance and self-regulating. The 6s spent a lot of time at the beginning of the year talking about grit and resiliency with Mrs. Stanton so they knew a lot about that. Now that we are at the end of the year and they have had a lot of experience with deep learning, they are also able to differentiate a deep learning task to a more superficial one. Here is the English original progression with our student friendly French one.

 

Le vol

Hard to believe but we are on our last science unit of the year! We will be studying flight in the next few weeks. This week we will do a few hands on experiments to learn about, among other things: air pressure, the weight of air, what happens to air when it is heated and some of the properties of flight. Below is a padlet with overall expectations and some links to videos, articles and games to deepen our study. Up, up and awayyy!

Padlet pour le vol

Heritage fair and potluck

The kids absolutely loved the potluck! We had so much food we even invited educators to partake (which was perfect timing seeing as how it's teacher appreciation day). So much yummy food! Our heritage fair was also a huge success! Students, teachers and parents who came to visit were really impressed and the kids were wonderful.

Potluck

The grade 6s are having a potluck to celebrate our learning fair, to share some family recipes or specialities and to raise funds to sponsor a polar bear through the WWF.

Students will sign up for what they want to bring tomorrow. I will try to make sure that we have a healthy mix of foods.

The potluck will take place next Tuesday at lunch. Please send any questions or concerns my way!

Yummm!!!

Foire des héritages canadiens

Vous êtes cordialement invité à la foire d’hértiage des 6e années!

Venez entendre les élèves présentés un morceau de l’héritage et l’histoire canadienne.

Invitations going home today in agendas!

portfolios

Students created portfolios using Blogger a few weeks ago. Every Friday, students get a bit of time to add work, reflections and what they are working on. Check it out with your student today!

La semaine en revue

We have started using a cool green screen app to make our own news reports. Every Friday, a triad of students will bring you up to date news on what's going on in the class or at St-Gemma.

Foire d'héritage

We are well on our way to our heritage fair! For the past two weeks, the class collaborated on an inquiry about the Italien immigrants of Canada. We learned about why they came to Canada, what life was like when they arrived as well as a what they contributed to make Canada a great country. We co-wrote an an entire project which will now serve as an example for our upcoming heritage fair. Our co-written project, details on the project and a rubric can all be found at this link.

This weeks homework

As most will know, students have been working on a design challenge for our space unit. Students have been invited to get their parents to weigh in on their designs. Students can use their scientific journal to show their design and record parents/siblings/aunts/uncles/neighbors feedback in the "étape 7" where students write the strengths and weaknesses of their projects.

Mon héritage

We will be having a heritage fair in mid-april. Our heritage fair will look like a science fair but students will present the history, contributions and stories of a chosen cultural group within Canada. For the next few weeks, as a class, we will study Italian immigration to Canada. This will help students know how to research and write their own projects for the fair. Here is a padlet with curriculum expectations, helpful links and tools.

 

La musique

Before march break we had a brief but intense music unit. We practiced reading notes as well as rhythm. We used Garage band and virtual pianos to play and create music. We even created our own little arias. Today, we discussed the link between music, film and creating an ambiance. We read a poem today and students had to find music to accompany it. In small groups, students will record themselves reading the poem with their chosen ambient music. Now we need to get to work on our number for the 50th anniversary!

partage avec les 5ièmes

Today the grade 5s and 6s got together to share their science projects. The grade 6s shared their mission to mars projects and got a bit of feedback from the 5s. The 5s presented their bridge designs. Both classes had been working on innovative design so it was a great experience to share.

Défi de 7 jours

We are going on a 7 day challenge! We are going to give up a bad health habit (like sugary snacks or too much screen time) or add a healthy habit (like walking every day or drinking more water). We wrote in our portfolios what we are going to give up and some strategies for helping us nail our challenge!

J'abandonne le sucre!

mes stratégies:
- avoir beaucoup de grignotines santé (légumes coupés, fruit, fromage, noix)
- boire beaucoup d'eau
- mangé plus de proteines (ça me garde rempli pour plus longtemps et ça me donne plus d'énergie)

la créativité

Since we are working on innovation in our space unit I thought we would link that to our 4th C, creativity. This month we start every afternoon by discussing a quote. Over the last two weeks we have discussed quotes by Steve Jobs, Picasso, Matisse, Einstein and many others who touch on creativity. So far here's what we think is important about creativity: taking risks, making mistakes, overcoming fear, making connections, knowledge, seeing things other's haven't, thinking outside the box and using your imagination.

One of the interesting debates we had was whether school helps creativity flourish or whether it kills it dead. What do you think?

L'exploration de l'espace - suivi

Most students have collected a lot of data and researched what live would be like on mars and how we would get there. Some of the limiting factors for our designs so far are huge temperatures variations, limited space for food and provisions, cost and time. Most of the groups have brainstormed a few ideas around what to send and how they are going to send it. Now we move one to selecting the best idea, explaining in great detail and justifying why we chose this design.

Yesterday, we had a whole group lesson on some of the verb tenses, linking words and writing characteristics we need to write good explanations and justifications. "To justify we need to prove, give examples or back up our explanation".

"Math in French?!" Of course! If we are going to be sending rockets with provisions we need to be able to calculate lots of important things such as the weight, volume and cost our provisions, the amount and cost of fuel needed, the dimensions of the rocket etc.

the SAMR model

Last week, in a discussion about use of technology and innovation we learned about the SAMR model. The SAMR model helps educators, but in our case also students, judge how to they are using technology. Below is a good explanation of the model.

L'exploration de l'espace

Space exploration is our next big unit of study and we are going to boldly go where no one has gone before, mars! For this unit, students are working on creativity and innovation as they will attempt to solve one or two (time dependant) real-world space problems.

Challenge 1: How would you resupply a laboratory on Mars? If resupply is impossible how would you do then?

Students will record the whole design process using this Journal scientifique.


* No, I wasn't inspired by The Martian, check out my inspiration for this unit at NASA's Mission Imagination.

Canada et le monde - projet final

We are more or less done our Canada and the world inquiry. I say more or less because only a few groups have brought their proposal and whole project to fruition. Some students are waiting to hear from the principal to see if their project is feasible within the school year. Propositions have been evaluated by both the students themselves and the teacher using our co-constructed rubric. Rubrics will be going home for parents to look at early next week. Below are some general reflections on our strengths and next steps.

Strengths:
- We care deeply for various people around the world
- We are aware of issues that have a global impact (e.g. war, climate change, poverty)
- We collaborate increasingly well within the classroom
- We are much more comfortable solving authentic and ambiguous tasks or problems
- We are good at using technology to collaborate and share what we know


Next steps:
- We need to collect more data to truly understand the problem before we attempt to solve it
- We need to use technology to connect with people outside of the classroom who can give us real-world insight and feedback
- We need to be more creative!