This week has been all about “Cleaning things up”.
It all began with Earth Day on Monday where we spent some time thinking about how important our earth is and how we need to keep it clean 
and healthy so it can keep providing us with so much. It was great to celebrate Earth and show it some well deserved gratitude!
We presented our Earth Day reader’s theatre plays On Thursday to a Mrs. Wilson’s and Ms. Allen’s classes. They provided us with feedback on our performance in each scene and focused on our oral language skills. Presenting to an audience of your peers is not easy and we are so proud of you for being courageous and stepping out of your comfort zone to do that! Well done Div. 6. 
We used the data those classes gave us to learn about “averages” and how to calculate them. In partners we calculated the averages from 5 sets of feedback. Then we took those averages to determine what the final average was from ALL of the feedback provided. It took some calculating, but we had fun figuring it out!
We moved on to cleaning up and reviewing our fraction and decimal work with the Grade 5’s. We had our unit test on Wednesday which seemed to go well for most of you and so now,
we will be moving on to Measurement and Geometry starting next week!
Next, we worked on typing up and editing our Extreme Environment Essays to get them ready for publishing. You took your drafts home on Wednesday and it is my hope that you will all have them handed in by Friday night or Saturday at the latest! While you are working on them at home, it is a great idea to have an older sibling or parent have a read through your work. 
Our best editors are usually those who have no idea about your topic or your assignment. A sign of a well written essay will be that they can read through it easily (because there are no errors) and that they understand what you wrote. If they stumble or have questions, that is a sign that you should make some changes in order to “clean it up”.
Along the lines of some other writing, we learned a new poem this week as well! The Diamante poem is a 7 line poem around antonyms ( opposites). To kick us off , we did another word sort using pairs of antonyms… but ones that were more abstract. Pairs such as “hero/villian”; “wealth/poverty”; “determination/apathy”. As a class, we wrote a Diamante using the antonyms “reality and fantasy” as our anchor words. This sparked our creative juices as we continued to write our own poems.
Our new Social Studies unit is focusing on our government. This week we watched a video about the 3 levels of government in Canada: Federal, Provincial/Territorial, and Municipal. Next week we’ll dive into those a bit deeper. The technology we’ll be using to share what we learn is Power Point. 
In our randomly created triads, we have been creating a mini- ( 5 slide) power point to show what we know how to do using this platform. Most of the us have created power point presentations before so this was just a “refresher” before we embark on the actual project.
Finally, we had some long discussions about how important it is to stay clean during puberty. We discussed the changes that happen to our body when we experience puberty like; increased sweat, overactive oil glands, acne, and of course,
menstruation. It is important to remember that personal hygiene routines are super important when you are experiencing so many changes in your body. Next week, we will move on to discuss the science behind our reproductive organs and what jobs each part plays in the cycle of life. We were very pleased how well you handled our discussions this week because we know it can be quite embarrassing to talk about our bodies so openly. You all asked some really great questions and a lot of you already know what to expect, which is great!
Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Radin as he is moving to North Vancouver. We will certainly miss him in Division 6… but we also know that his new classroom will enjoy his presence and energy just as much as we have here. We hope your transition into your new class is smooth and you enjoy your time in your new school as much as you have enjoyed your time at Brentwood Park! Good luck Radin!
This weekend’s blog response question is this:
A book has 8 chapters. Ch.1: 14 pages. Ch 2: 22 pages, Ch.3: 12 pages, Ch.4: 17 pages; Ch.5: 25 pages, Ch.6 19 pages, Ch. 7: 20 pages and Ch. 8: 15 pages.
What is the AVERAGE number of pages in each chapter?
Have a wonderful long weekend Division 6! Monday is a Pro D Day!
Mrs. Gil and Mrs. Davis
This week was all about getting ready for our Student-Led Conferences that took place on Thursday afternoon. Preparing for these takes some time and included reflecting on yourself as a reader, writer, mathematician, as well as how you are doing in terms of behaviour and work habits. In addition to that, you pulled a variety of work samples representing Pride, Improvement, Perseverance, and Creativity. We know that there were probably several samples for each category, but narrowing those down and choosing only one or two can be challenging. Finally, you set goals for the last stretch of this school year, we provided a goal for you, and then your parent(s) gave you one as well. Beyond the portfolio package you created, you also toured our class, had your parents respond to our GOW question, and toured our store fronts. 
It is always such a joy to watch you interacting with your family on these events. We love seeing you take the lead and show your work with such confidence and pride. Well done Division 6! Parents, we hope that you enjoyed the showcasing of not only your child’s growth but also seeing some of what we in Division 6 have been up to this year!
Our Graph of the Week questions that we asked this week were “What was/is your favourite/ least favourite subject?” We asked all the family members that came on Thursday to respond — and the students also answered this question too. On Friday morning, when we recorded the responses, we discovered that Science was the parents’ favourite subject ( followed closely by Math). 
The students’ overwhelming favourite was Math. 
Language Arts ( reading, writing, speaking) ranked on the bottom of the list. Why??
We continued our extreme environment robot work and started a new unit in Social Studies. 
In partners, we sorted a set of vocabulary into 5 different categories. Some words we knew, some we recognized, and some we were completely new to us. After our sort, we predicted what we were going to be learning about. Over the next weeks of school we’ll dive into this subject a bit deeper and embark on a mini research project. Our learning will be showcased and presented using technology.
Finally, our Jump Rope for Heart fundraising campaign kicked off on Friday. We are trying to raise funds in support of the heart and stroke foundation. 
We watched some inspiring videos of what skipping can include — and how challenging a sport it is! Over the next weeks, we’ll be doing a bunch of skipping practice as we gear up for the school wide event in May. What skills will you try to learn?
ith all the cloud cover and rain, we missed catching a glimpse of the rare solar eclipse however, we did watch some live footage to make us feel more a part of what was meant to be a very special event.
we had time to finish up our storefronts and prepare for our shopping days with the grade 4/5 classes. We are very impressed with most of your groups as the creativity and style of the storefronts were really eye catching! 
All of your hard work really paid off on Wednesday and Thursday when we welcomed all the Grade 4/5 classes to come shop! Everyone who came enjoyed seeing your creations and many people purchased your products! 
After the two days of customers from other classes, we decided that we wanted to have a private, “in-house” shopping event as well. Stores opened one last time and you all had a chance to shop at each others’ stores. That was lots of fun!
Following all the shopping, we spent some time calculating the success of our stores and whether or not each business made a profit or suffered a loss. For those businesses that made money, congratulations! For those of you who didn’t, don’t be discouraged… many businesses start off a bit rocky before they start seeing a profit. 
What’s important is what you learned and the how you apply that to the future when/if you have a similar challenge. We hope you enjoyed this project– regardless of how your business did– we certainly did! Our stores will stay here at school until the end of next week so that parents can see all of the businesses during our student led conferences on Thursday.
We had some conferences so you could have some one on one time to try to better understand how to write them. We really want all of you to understand that the topic sentence is the sentence in the paragraph that gives your reader the general topic and also the main idea, or what the paragraph is trying to say about the topic. The other sentences in the paragraph are meant to provide supporting facts and evidence to support your thinking. Next week, we are going to learn how to write Introductory and Conclusion paragraphs for essays. If you have not already completed the body paragraphs in class, do not forget to work on them this weekend so you are ready to move on next week!
Cinquains are five line poems that also follow a particular formula. Not only do they use syllables, but each line also has to adhere to specific parts of speech as well. Nouns, adjectives, verbs, are all part of this poem following a 2,4,6,8,2 syllable pattern. Whew! Lots to remember, but, we’re having a great time figuring it all out!
In our gym times, we have been exploring bars, ropes, mats and Bosu balls. When at each station, you are all working on different skills. Some of you are trying out new ways to roll and balance while others of you are trying hard to get to the top of that rope! A lot of our gymnastics unit has to do with controlling our body movements, strength, agility and safety of course. We are always watching how you move on different pieces of equipment and paying close attention to how you challenge yourself to try new movements. We have a few more weeks with the equipment so make sure you are thinking ahead to what you want to work on most, the next time we are in gym!
There is a “Guess the jelly beans” jar and a “Match” game where students are asked to match teachers to the lucky items on the display board outside the library. On the day of the event, we will be playing school wide bingo as well. It is going to be a fun week for sure!
What is it and what makes it lucky for you?
Can you believe that Spring Break is already over and we’re heading into the final stretch of this school year? Wow– time sure is flying by– especially since we’re having so much fun! Getting back into the early morning and school routine is tough, but after a slower start on Tuesday, we found our rhythm and are now back in the swing of life in Division 6!
Our big focus this week is preparing for our Entrepenuer Fair next week. Our store fronts need to be created as well as some advertising for the classes that have been invited to come. We also created receipts for our customers so that they have a record of any purchases they make. 
Our GRAND OPENING will be on Wednesday, April 10th with Mr. Peters and Ms. Allen’s classes being our first customers. On Thursday (April 11th) we’ll have one more day of shopping and will be visited by Ms. Wilson’s and Mrs.Willis’ classes. Depending on our product supply, we may even be able to have a private day of shopping just for us. 
Remember, our class time is now focused on store creation; however, if you want to continue to create products AT HOME, you are more than able to do that. We will have a LOT of people coming to shop, so having a good inventory of your stock is a good idea!
This month, we’re learning and practicing an EARTH DAY reader’s theater play. The class has been split in half and each person has a part in a particular “scene” of the play. You have taken home your script to practice it a bit over the weekend. 
Memorization is not expected… although it would be a wonderful goal to reach. Focus more on HOW you speak: the expression you put into your lines, the volume and clarity with which you deliver your lines, and your pacing. We’ll keep practicing next week in your groups.
We’ve embarked on a poetry writing project and are creating a collection of different types of poems. Poetry is a style of writing that tells a story using powerful words, phrases, and focuses on the “big picture” that is being painted or ideas that are being conveyed. Different poems follow a particular formula or criteria as well. Our first poem is the Haiku. We have been having fun working together to create these short , but powerful 3 line poems that follow a 5-7-5 syllable structure.
We’ve started part 3 of “If the World Were 100 People” graphing lessons and this week’s question focused on hunger around the world. “How many people have enough to eat?”. We’re very fortunate to be in the category of having enough to eat… but, sadly, still a pretty big segment of humans do not have enough food.