Month: June 2016

Dear Parents and Students:

Reminders for the last week of school:

***Please be on time for Monday morning, as we will need to set up for projects ahead of the awards assembly.

***Homework: Finish any last details on your independent project. Print bibliography and Q&A if you need to so it is ready to go on Monday. Look for magazine pictures AND the words to your tanka poem on nature, so we can put those words on the canvas next week and finish our artwork before you leave.

***No water park today due to weather, but we will try again Monday or Tuesday depending on time, so please have supplies ready (towel, mat, etc.) depending on weather. A reminder that there are not to be any water guns used on the playground at any time — only during designated times and in designated locations as part of a special event.

Recognition Assembly – Monday June 27th at 9:15 AM: Please do join us if you can. Many students are receiving special awards during this assembly and you are welcome to come!

Independent Project Viewing – Monday June 27th at 10:45 AM: Please join us for a casual viewing of independent projects. This is mainly an opportunity to have a discussion with students about their projects. Everyone has done a lot of work, and all projects are using different media and ways of sharing the information with you. If you are not able to come, please join your child in sharing with them one-on-one from 3-4 PM after school as Ms. DeTerra will stay so you can do this. PLEASE RSVP if you can so I know whether or not to stay.

Grade Seven Leaving Assembly – Tuesday June 28th at 9:15 AM: This is a special assembly to say goodbye to our grade 7 students. This assembly will include the presentation of our grade sevens, our valedictorian speeches, our grade seven awards, and a special send-off by our Kindergarten students. You are welcome to join us! The intermediate choir (which includes Div. 5) will be performing a song for the sevens, as well.

Final Day of School Wednesday June 29th 10 AM Dissmissal: On the final day, we will say goodbye and students will receive their report cards. Students are dismissed promptly at 10AM and will need to take all personal supplies and belongings with them at that time.

Thank you again for your support!

Kindly,

Ms. DeTerra

Hello Everyone!

We are currently finishing up the year with our independent projects and poetry journal art. Friday afternoon we are at the water park, Monday we have our awards assembly, Tuesday is the grade seven leaving ceremony, and Wednesday is last day with early dismissal at 10am.

Due to lots of productive work on our independent projects and the many other events from the end of year, there will not be a quiz on our last unit; however, we are in progress finishing our poetry journals and art.

Your independent project will include:

• Display of your PPT, Diorama, Game, or other media
• Typed Bibliography, Printed
• Project Sheet
• Questions and Answers, Typed, Printed
• A sign showing your topic
• A rubric where you evaluated yourself (see your project planner)
• A self-reflection — one page done in class Monday afternoon.

We will be looking at these projects from 10:45 – 12:00 on Monday, June 27th. Parents are welcome to come then. Please RSVP with Ms. D. We will likely have a few other visitors that will come through, but it will be a casual event. This is not meant to be a science fair format, and is more about sharing knowledge and the research process.

After school that day, Monday the 27th, Ms. D will stay for one hour should anyone like to show their parents their projects at that time, sort of like a student led opportunity.

Many students may also have projects to share electronically, and we will discuss if they can be shared via our projects page on this blog.

Wednesday is our last day! Early dismissal at 10 am. We have already begun sending home work so the classroom is ready for the summer. Report cards are distributed on that last day.

Wow! I can’t believe we only have four and a half days left of our first year of MACC!

Grade 4 students who are staying with me for next year have received a supply list, which we talked about in class. Grade 5 students will be with Mr. Peter Gaitens next year, who we met during a morning visit to our class. He will provide supplies info in September, so I recommend everyone in his class wait to get supplies beyond the pencil and paper basics. If you have questions about next year, please email me!

I look forward to handing out our special MACC awards next week! Students did nominations to celebrate everyone’s strengths in our group. We started the year with our chain of strengths, with details of what we were all bringing to our community, and now we will end with a fun recognition of who we are at the end of the year.

Ms. D

Dear Parents:

Just a reminder that on June 20th, Monday, we have our field trip to Rocky Point Park. I have contacted drivers who have volunteered to take everyone. Thank you so much for your help! If I missed anyone, please do let me know. As a reminder, you need to have a driver form on file already, though, in order to drive.

Please have your child bring:
-Something to sit on (portable/small/not a giant folding chair)
-Lunch for themselves (with ice pack if possible — will be hot)
-Sunscreen already applied + extra for day
-HAT
-Towel
-Water in a water bottle that can be refilled
-Swimsuit/Change of Clothes
-Water Shoes if they have them
-An item to share with everyone as a “side” or “dessert”
-Appropriate toys/nothing very valuable

Most students have checked in with me to let me know what they are bringing to share. If they have not, please contact me via email, just so we can ensure we don’t bring too many of the same kind of item. We could use extra water/drinks, napkins, small plates. Thank you for your help.

Year Book Notice:  (a notice was missed today to give to our Division – here it is)

It is time to place an order for the 2015-16 Suncrest Yearbook. If you have any pictures you would like to submit, either drop a jump drive or CD off at the office, and we will ensure it gets back to you. You can also email us at burnabymmp@gmail.com  We need the pictures by Monday, June 20th to ensure we can get them in the year book.

Each copy is $15. Please send your money to school; cheques payable to Suncrest PAC. All orders must be in to the office by Tuesday, June 21st at 3PM. (If you want more than one, make the cheque for $15 for each and then Ms. DeTerra will fill in the number you want before the money is turned in, as I have the notice here.)

In order to reduce waste and minimize expenses there are no unpaid copies ordered.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Hello Everyone!

This week, our primary and secondary research comes to a close for our independent project. I have asked everyone to turn in their bibliography, notes, questions and answers, and the project planner sheet. Some of you are taking longer to complete your primary research, and that is okay. Thank you for being good communicators and talking to me ahead of the due date so that I would know what to expect.

Now we will be working all this week on finding a way to display what we have learned. The project is due on June 24th in the morning. You will need to use some time at home, but I have also focused most of the week on project work.

Tuesday: Poetry and Project Work in the AM; Shakespeare Workshop with the MACC 6/7 class in the afternoon.

Wednesday:  Poetry Journal, Project Work, Gym, and a special music session with Ms. H

Thursday: Poetry Journal, Project Work, Music

Friday: Sports Day, Early Dismissal

Then on June 20th we will be going to Rocky Point, as long as the weather cooperates! It has been very cool and wet lately, so we will hope for warmer weather! I will be sending out driver confirmations and information later in the week.

Have a great week!

Ms. D

Hello Everyone!

Congratulations on finishing three sessions of Dragon Boating! It was a great day on the water and we were lucky with the weather. Thank you to all the parents who drove and to all parents for their support of this program. Ms. D sent an email to everyone with details regarding Burnaby Canoe and Kayak’s Summer Camp Programs and their free boating day/open house events. If you didn’t get it, please email me, or see Burnaby Canoe and Kayak site for details.

Today, we did some serious reflecting on our goals, what we learned in MACC this year, and what we hope to develop about ourselves in the future. Ms. D asked everyone to write about this, as I would like to use your words on the report cards I am writing. It is important that each of you understands how you are developing, what your strengths are, and where you can improve. I look forward to reading your reflections. If you missed doing the reflection today, you can find it here, MACC Self Reflection Term Three.

It looks like we have enough drivers for our Rocky Point Park excursion, so thank you to everyone who volunteered! If you needed a driver form, I have sent one home.

For all parents who volunteered this year, you are invited to the Volunteer Tea on June 15th. You should have received a paper invitation.

Remember the Independent Project notes and bibliography portion are due Friday.

Tomorrow, thanks to the PAC funding for workshops, we are having UBC Geering Up present some activities from 10:45-12:00 on science, around the topic of Phenomenal Forces. This should be a fun, end-of-the year activity to help prepare us for learning next year in MACC.

We continued our discussions on poetry and figurative language. We are working on poetry in partner groups, doing List Poems, Univocalic Verse, Alliteration, and Palindromes. Please try one of the types tonight!

LIBRARY BOOKS ARE ALL DUE TOMORROW!

Have a great night!

Ms. D

Hi Everybody!

Some quick things as reminders and updates:

• Primary Research? Independent Project? Make sure you are working on this and collecting information. On June 10th, I will need to be able to see your notes and bibliography. I will give you time in class on Monday to begin typing up anything you need to on the computer. You should have decided by now what you plan on showing us about your research, as you will have time in class during the week. You need to do the project AT SCHOOL so I can see your process. It is okay to work at home, of course, but bring in your things so I can help you, advise you, and watch your process as part of the overall mark. Thank you!
• Volunteer Tea for Parents: If you can play piano and have some nice piano music you would like to play during the volunteer tea event coming up fast, then let me know! Looking for some brave musicians.
• Rocky Point Park June 20: Return notice as soon as possible. If parents want to drive and do not have a form on file, please put that on the form and I will give one to you on Monday to take home for Mom/Dad.
• French Dialogue: We will present in class on Monday.
• Poetry & Figurative Language: Make sure you are keeping track of the poetry tasks we are doing, so you will be able to put your poetry journal together quickly in class.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. D

Hello!

We have had some great questions today about how to do a bibliography. It can be quite confusing, especially as there are many formats, and there have been many updates to those formats in recent years due to changing media (i.e. increased use of the Internet, online books, etc.)

I provided a handout with the basics to everyone in class; however, if you prefer, there is another way to figure it out if you need help. Go to the website Easy Bib.

On Easy Bib, you will need to choose MLA as your format. Then, choose which type of item you are citing (book, magazine, newspaper, etc.) Then, you can even look up the book you are reading. Easy Bib helps you to automatically generate entries. If you log in, you can even save them in a list.

One word of caution — I do notice that Easy Bib does not do the proper indents. So, no indent on the first line of each entry. Second and third lines of entries need an indent. Please see your handout as a reference.

I hope this helps! If you have questions, please do ask them! Part of the learning on this project is about asking questions. We are learning so much about how to do research!

Have a good afternoon,

Ms. D

Hello Everyone!

Thank you to everyone, both parent drivers and students, for another great day of dragon boating! We came up with team names for our two boats, so it was Sea Tacos versus Taco Cats. We apparently were hungry or something when we brainstormed ideas…..  It was a beautiful morning on the lake. Eric and Wes, our instructors, have been giving us great tips on how to work as a team, follow dragon boating calls, and speed down the lake. Our last session will be on Wednesday, June 8th, for 90 minutes.

We continued working on independent research today. Just a reminder that everyone should now know what their primary research is and be collecting information using it. Be sure to document any interview, survey, experiment, etc. by taking pictures, taking notes, recording conversations, or writing up a lab report like the one we did in class.

On Monday, we had an opportunity to do another science experiment. The purpose was to learn about physical and chemical reactions, to practice using our observation skills, and to review how to write a lab report. Also, as we do experiments, we have been talking “backwards myths.” In other words, in ancient times, they explained things they didn’t understand with myths. Now we have the science to explain what happens, but what if we didn’t? We are working backwards and inventing myths to explain things, too. Our lab question was: How do we know if there has been a chemical reaction? Please explain at home how turmeric is a natural acid/base indicator! And then tell what happens when you combine turmeric, alcohol, calcium chloride, and baking soda in a plastic bag! Some serious excitement over the reaction as we produced a new substance — limestone!

As we look at myths, we are also exploring creative writing through figurative language and poetry. When we don’t have words to describe a feeling, we need to compare that feeling to something that is known! We are creating a mini poetry journal as we do some explorations with free verse, metaphor, simile, alliteration, personification, and more. Yesterday, we played poetry poker to create a crazy free verse poem. Today, we listened to colour poems by Ken Devine and learned to use personification to make a colour of our choice into a person and describing them in a poem. Please finish this poem for homework tonight.

Everyone is working on their french dialogues. I have asked students to practice pronunciation online, memorize the dialogue and present. Some are ready to go for tomorrow, but if not, they must be presented before end of day June 6th.

Check out the posts from several students who are using surveys for their primary research! They would appreciate your response.

Have a great night!

Ms. D