La Classe de Mme Potyka

We’ve got some very interesting things happening this week. Division 4 is definitely starting to be more proactive with their assignments which means we get to tuck into more interesting things.

Our myth skits are starting to form. Rough drafts are due in on Wednesday. I’m very curious to see what creative freedoms the students took as they were very much encouraged to keep the plot and names, but otherwise…

Division 4 was inspired by the e-presentation we had by Ocean Networks. Apparently we would like to create submersibles to see if we can film some underwater life. As a class we determined it would be beneficial to have certain skills in design, math, coding and building. After assessing their own strengths in these areas we came up with random groups today and the students were told to “Go!”. There was a lot of excitement and interest, but also a lot of doubt. How can a bunch of 12 year olds make something this complex? We shall see!

We have another e-presentation Tuesday. This time the topic to be focussed on will be inclusivity. This presentation will be hosted by Get Real; a Canadian non-profit that focuses on combatting racism, 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination, and bullying.

We will be carrying on with our poetry, Dictée and novel studies. It’s very exciting that we are at a place to be building up our regular routine.

Class Work:

English- 3 tongue twisters due Friday (figurative language of choice)

Dictée 9- Act #1-5, pre-test Wednesday

Lecture Independant- recommended date to finish the book is Sunday, students will be given time in class next week work on it (no Dictée). Written work due the last school day of the month; Tuesday, November 30.

Science Humaines – rough drafts of skits due Wednesday. It must be indicated which member of the group wrote which part. All members must have written something.

Points of Interest:

• Photo retakes – Wednesday
• French book orders for l’école des loisirs due Monday, November 22 (this is the ideal date although technically there is no due date, but let me know if you would like me to explain)
• Grade 6 and 7 immunizations – Tuesday, November 23
• Interim Report Cards go home – Thursday, November 25
• Pro-D day (No school for students) – Friday, November 26

It’s a new month so you should be seeing your child working with a new novel (French this time). Just like before, they have a written portion that has to be handed in on the last school day of the month (in this case the 30th). On our classroom calendar we worked out that all the reading should be done by Sunday the 21st, to be able to use class time for the written portion.

We had an online presentation from Oceans Network Canada. For Science, students have been charged with taking the weekend to reflect on what might interest them in regards to the ocean. I’m VERY open to ideas and there are many connections available; animal life, climate change, politics, robotics, indigenous culture, navigation, research, data analysis, boat building, etc.

For Socials/Art/Writing students are working on redesigning Greek myths into interpreted plays. They have encouraged to modify and be creative while keeping the original story.

We’re continuing our work with Figurative Language. Students have been charged with bringing them into their Greek scripts. We watched the following video to help with…um…inspiration? And the students were able to draw out a TON of examples.

Class Work:

Lecture Indépendent – finish reading by Sunday, November 21

English – 3 diamanté with student choice of figurative language due Friday

Dictée 4 – most were sent home for parent signature, some may come Monday, due Tuesday

Dictée 7 – corrections due Monday

Points of Interest:

• Remembrance Day virtual assembly Wednesday
• Donations for poppies currently being collected
• Photo retakes Wednesday, November 17

Students are encouraged to come to school comfy tomorrow; no blankets/pillows please. We’re going to try and have a chill day to mitigate some of the fatigue that might be coming in. Have fun and be safe tonight!

Hello!

Thank you for your patience while we have been experimenting with our class routine. We are a group that needs time to process and opportunity to focus. We have tried out a system of chunking our subjects. We seem to be having better success with that. We still, however, have a significant struggle with deadlines.

Now that we have developed some systems of responsibility that better match our classroom culture parents can look forward to hearing from me on late/missing assignments.

Class Work:

Independent Novel Study

• September – parent signature due Monday
• October – Finish reading novel by Sunday, written work due Friday
• November – start looking for French book

Dictée

• 3 – parent signature due Monday
• 5 – corrections due Monday

Math

• 6s – pg 26 # 1-4, 6-8
• 6s – pg 31 # 1-5
• 7s – pg 33 #1, 2, 4, 5-7
• 7s – pg 36 #1-5

English

• 3 Tankas with allusion due Friday

Points of Interest:

• Pro – D Day tomorrow (No school for students)
• No Dictée next week! (Oct 25-29)
• Pumpkin patch Tuesday (Div 4 students need a bag and a travel mug)

Due to a lack of…enthusiasm? (Ie. Many assignments not being handed in) We’ve been having a lot of classroom discussion lately on how the students prefer to learn. I haven’t sent emails out yet because I still feel like we are finding our groove as a class.

Essentially no one likes to be told what to do and they all want to figure out how to do things themselves. This work well on Tuesday, and my students produced some really fantastic projects and presentations within a day. This also resulted in much discussion about what it means to pay bills and how we often only get out what we are willing to put in.

So we’re going to try changing things up for two weeks. We’ll see how it goes. Feel free to ask your child about the new “system” and how they’re feeling about it.

Class work:

Dictée 3 – test tomorrow!

Math – 6s – Pg 8 + 9 #1-4, 6, 9

Independent novel study – It looks like everyone has a book chosen. Please talk to your child about their book. Ask about characters and plot lines. They can take until the 24th to finish reading it but the earlier the better! Written work will be coming home tomorrow. Parents need to sign when the work is complete.

We were quite rushed this afternoon and didn’t have time to make corrections. These are not the sentences that will be on Friday’s test, but they will be similar. Grade 6s will have 2 sentences to write out.  Grade 7s will have 3.

Students are reminded to practice writing out the vocab words and to conjugate the vocab verbs. HINT FOR FRIDAY: Activity 2

Monique raccroche après une heure et M. Tremblay est très fâché.

Il se fâche et renvoie ses enfants à leurs chambres pour les punir.

Did your student forget their Dictee duotang at school? No problem!  Take a look under the “Classroom Organization” tab and you’ll find a PDF of all the Dictee for term 1.  Remember, even if they “don’t have homework” they can always be practicing writing out their vocab words.

Also under Classroom Organization are all the criteria sheets for our English poetry unit. Did you student forget their purple book? They can complete the good copies on a white piece of paper and glue it in on Friday.

Have a different kind of problem? Shoot me an email. No excuses! 😉

Class Work:

Dictee 2 – test Friday

Dictée 1 – parent signature Friday

Math – Beanboozled graphs due Friday

Novel Study – Choose challenging English book for October (must be approved by Mme Potyka). Feel free to email for approval.

• September written work is now overdue

English – 3 Cinquains (illustrated good copy with personification) due Friday

Ecriture – the roughest of rough drafts of speech “Mes vacances” due Friday

 

Points of Interest:

• Reconciliation Day tomorrow (No school)
• Orange Shirt day Friday

It seems we’re going to need a lot of help this year using our agendas. Reminder to families that all school work should be written in the agenda and checked off once completed (after which they don’t need to write it any more).

Well, we made it through our first week as a class.  We’ve been working hard at getting our routines established and organizing our school materials. Please take a look through “Classroom Organization” to find how many things are done in the class. I will be updating it as we go.

Today I sent home a packet of papers with information pertaining to the classroom and recommendations for ways that you can help your student find success in the classroom.  There is also three forms that I would like returned for Monday; a classroom contract detailing expectations (pink), an email permission form for late assignments (green), and a questionnaire for intakes giving me more information about your child (white).

Please excuse all the weird dates on said forms.  The photocopier and I have been having words this week.

I look forward to meeting you on Teams next week! Here’s what your child should be working on.

Class Work:

Dictee 1 – Corrections due Monday

English – Cover pages for poetry books due Monday

“Je me presente” poster- *overdue*

Independent Novel Study (Green duotang) – Students should be working towards reading a French novel this week. Their written work is always due the last school day of the month.  Thursday, September 30

I’m very excited to welcome a completely new group of students to my classroom.  Normally I have the luxury of knowing half of them but I’m very curious to see what kind of adventures we get into as the school year progresses.

While my blog is intended for communicating with parents, I absolutely encourage students to use it as well, as an additional resource to aid with their personal organisation.

Please keep a close eye here as there will many bits of news in the coming weeks. I will be updating resources on the page as we go.  I look forward to working with everyone this school year.