Week 15 - Dec 8 - 12

Hi All, this post comes a day late - 'tis the season for colds and I've been at home recovering. Here's the plan for the week ahead:

Math: Let's keep practicing the partial quotients strategy for division. I'd like to see how you're doing at the end of the week. With more practice, will you be ready to move on to the next piece of the dividing puzzle?

L.A.: We have come to the end of our study of Refugee. I know from the number of you who've picked up other Alan Gratz books that this was a really good book for many. That's great, I like it too! We will turn our focus to more reading strategy work over these next two weeks.

Science: We are also coming to the end of our look at Body Systems. We now get to turn our attention to the skies. Our Solar System is a pretty interesting little corner of our galaxy. With long nights ahead over the next couple of months there will be opportunities for stargazing. For those hoping to get a head start, this year's Geminid meteor shower will peak on Saturday, Dec 13. If it is clear outside, and you can stay up late, bundle up and head out to your fave stargazing spot (Cattle Point is the nearest, though it can get busy). Hopefully the clouds will part for a little night sky show.

Writing: We will begin to explore Organization as a writing trait.

The Young Entrepreneurs Project launches this Thursday. More to come about this next week!

This is a busy time of year, with plenty of fun extras to come your way. Stay healthy, wash your hands, eat well and get lots of sleep, okay? Enjoy your week!

Week 14 - Dec 1 - 5

Hi 13's, 

We have a full week of learning ahead. Let's get at it!

L.A. - We'll continue to work on our Refugee posters this week. These are (tentatively) due on Friday, so work hard and make good use of your class time, okay? I've noticed that many of you really enjoy these structured projects, especially when they have options and extension opportunities. I'd like to be able to do more of these in terms 2 and 3. Show me this week that this is a good idea, okay?

Social Studies - Let's get to that bit we didn't find time for last week. Our goal is to look at the basic human rights that were denied to the characters in Refugee. Do some thinking in advance: the human right that you highlighted weeks ago with the mini-poster is your area of knowledge. Can you think of a moment or a situation in the novel when this right was taken away?

Math - Our look at division concepts and strategies will ramp up this week. Our go-to strategy for dividing will be the partial quotients strategy that some of you are already familiar with. (Elementary teachers may have called this the "big seven" strategy... not a term I like to use, but there it is...). 

Science - We have one more lab to get to this week. And it is about memory. How sharp is yours?

Lots of winter-themed stuff is heading your way over the next three weeks. Candy-can Grams, winter extravaganza posterboard display, and a holiday charity drive. Stay tuned to the announcements!

Enjoy your week, everyone.

Week 13 - Nov 24 - 28

Hi All,

Thanks for your patience with this week's post. We've got a busy rest of the week ahead. Let's go!

Math: We'll introduce some division concepts this week. Let's explore "divisibility rules", and look at two ways of thinking about division. While you may not know it, you have been dividing since you were little. Sharing equally is a basic, intuitive skill. (There are 4 trucks in the sandbox, and you and a friend decide to share them, taking two each.) At the same time, we will continue to practice basic division facts.

L.A. and Social Studies: We have reached the end of Refugee. Let's link the story back to what we learned about fundamental human rights. Which of the Universal Declaration rights were denied the characters in the novel? We'll also put together a collection of the "best of the book".

Writing: Your "food poems" look great! You've made some strong word choices, and have shown off top-drawer vocabulary. Let's keep it up! The sensory details theme continues this week as we find our inspiration from magazine photographs. 

Science: Your nervous system extends throughout your body. An experiment in sensory reception is coming your way this week.

The end of your first term is near. We'll spend some time this week reflecting on your middle school journey so far. What have you done well? Where could you find improvement? What do you look forward to?

Have a great week, everyone!

Week 12 - Nov 17 - 20

Hey folks! This is a super-short week. Thursday is CC day, which likely means a shortened day for you. And Friday is a Pro-D day. Enjoy that extra day, okay? In the meantime, here is our plan:

Math: we've begun to explore multiplicative relationships, which will lead us toward understanding of shared (or "common") multiples, as well as common factors. It will be important to know the difference between these two ideas. And as we look into these, we'll start to look at division strategies.

L.A. and Social Studies: we should have enough time this week to finish Refugee. Let's spend a little time exploring the refugee storybooks that are here in the classroom. We'll identify some experiences that are often shared by refugees, no matter the circumstances of their departures, their journeys, and their arrivals.

Writing: Word Choice remains our focus this week. We'll continue to work on sensory descriptive writes as vehicles to showcase awesome use of language. Look for a poetic task on Classroom early this week.

Science: Let's continue to learn about the nervous system.

Music: On Tuesday this week, we'll be treated to a Victoria Symphony Brass Quintet performance. 

CC Day: Thursday afternoon you've earned an early dismissal. Enjoy. And for those of you who're planning to pop in to visit your elementary school, please do so respectfully. Be mindful that folks are busy. I expect they'd love to see you, but after you've said hello be sure to give everyone some space, okay?

Friday is a Pro-D day.

Have an awesome week, all!

Week 11 - Nov 10 - 14

Hi Div 13 Crew! This is a strange week. Just four days of classes for you, with Remembrance Day on Tuesday. There's lots happening, so be sure to continue to bring your best self to school each day.

Swimming - our second OBRec field trip will happen on Friday afternoon. This time, we've got the pool booked for a swim. Remember, good shoes for walking, swimsuit, towel, and a coin for a locker. Fun!

L.A. - We will begin working through the final chapters of Refugee this week. The chapters come fast and furious as the tension builds in each of the storylines. Continue to respond to the inference questions with your best insights and understanding.

Social Studies - we will also begin to tie the storylines of Refugee with real stories and real events. As you know, the expereinces of the main characters of the story are based upon the real-life journeys of real people. We will look at Canada's role in refugee stories over the time periods of the novel, and explore the pros and cons of becoming a host country to refugees. 

Math - Great job on the quizzy last week, team. I'm comfortable to move on to the next stuff now. We will start in with new learning groups this week. This time, you'll each take on a role and have specific responsibilities within your group. We will begin to edge our way into division concepts this week. 

Science - We're just about all done with the endocrine system. Let's jump into the nervous system next!

Curriculum Completion Day - I'll send letters home later this week about 'curriculum completion'. CC day, as they call it, is an opportunity for those who are missing a significant amount of work to spend an afternoon at school getting caught up. In reality, the majority of students head home early on CC day. This term, our CC day is November 20.

That's all for this week, team. Enjoy!

Week 10 - Nov 3 - 7

Hi All. Here is the plan for your post-Halloween week:

L.A.: Refugee continues. This week we'll check back in on our characters, examining how their situations and their choices have changed them. We'll also get into the next section of the book, which leads us into the most challenging and dramatic events for each of the three stories. Enjoy!

Math: Let's revisit rounding and estimating. These are critical mental math skills that you likely remember from previous years. We'll look at when an estimate is "close enough", and when an estimate can help us to double-check our computation.

Science: We'll wrap up our look at the endocrine system this week.

Writing: To this point, our writing has been focused on our ideas. Throughout the year, we will explore six different writing traits, or things to consider when writing and revising our ideas. Your Halloween stories were the result of developing your ideas. Next, we'll turn our writing pencils toward another trait: word choice. The language we choose can significantly influence how our audience understands our ideas. Great word choices can turn drab into dynamic, ordinary into outstanding. Expect some lessons and short writes aimed at developing word choice.

Remembrance Assembly: Due to a quirk in the calendar, our Remembrance assembly will happen early this year - on Friday, Nov 7. You are invited to wear a poppy this week (but please find a safe way to wear it so nobody gets jabbed with a pin, okay?).

Enjoy your week, everyone.

Week 9 - Oct 27 - 31

Boo! We have a full week of classes ahead of us this week, team. Friday is Halloween, of course. Thanks to Constables Nat and Ashley for their safety talk on Monday. (Did you learn anything surprising?) Here is the plan for the week:

Writing: At this point, your first draft should be complete. A first draft is, of course, a work in progress. We will spend some time reading and critiquing each others' work this week. Expect a small task to practice your critiquing skills. You'll look for similar things in your peer's writing as you will in the exercise. Aim to improve your story based on the advice of others. Remember, you'll look to create useful and respectful revision ideas. These include:

• A word choice suggestion
• A place where the message is not as clear as it could be
• A suggestion of a detail that could be added
• A suggestion of a detail to remove
• A place where dialogue is unnecessary and a suggestion on how to rewrite that part
• A suggestion on how the author might rewrite an entire sentence

Your completed and revised final copies are due at the end of the day Thursday. On Friday, you'll get a chance to share your stories in small group settings. Let's create a spooky atmosphere and send chills down each others' spines! 

Math: This week we will continue to practice multi-digit multiplication and to explore ways of showing multiplication. We will look at using array models for in-context word problems and geometry questions. At the same time we'll nail down those basic facts - many of you are pretty good with these, and the work we've done so far is paying off. Remember that I gave you extra practice sheets last week. Continue to work on these at home, okay?

L.A. - We are into our 4th section of Refugee. We're beyond the story's halfway point. It is important to stay current with the reading and the responses. Please don't read ahead - there is no need as you'll listen to the story again in class; and sometimes knowing what is ahead can lead to spoilers for others.

Science - Let's get started on the endocrine system of the body this week. You'll learn about the body's chemical messaging system - glands, hormones, and receptors. You will have heard of some of these chemicals before. Now you'll learn how they direct our body to respond to what it needs. 

Halloween week can be a crazy moment in our school year. It will be hard for some of you to maintain your composure and your peak learning readiness as the week goes on. Please do your best to stay locked in, to remain respectful of your peers and the adults in the building, and to make healthy choices throughout these next few day. Enjoy your week, everyone!

Week 8 - Oct 20 - 23

Here we are, another Mr. Pite's Room blog post ready for your reading and viewing! This is the plan for the short week ahead:

L.A. - We've got some momentum built for Refugee. Expect the chapters to roll a little quicker, and the tasks and discussion to continue. 

Math - Let's continue to expand our multiplication toolkit. In the background, we'll continue to practice the basic facts to 10 x 10. (For those who are ready, we'll see if you can add some facts beyond 10 x 10 to your memory banks!) At the same time, we'll build upon what we looked at last week - using an array model for multiplication of multi-digit values. 

Writing - The Halloween story project has entered its final two weeks. Remember that I've recommended that you have your draft completed by Monday, October 27. That gives you a few days to revisit and revise and practice reading your tale. Many of you have made a great start. Let's push onwards to complete your story in time to share it on Halloween.

Science - We will finish up our look at the excretory system before diving into our next body system - the endocrine system.

Photo Retakes will happen on Tuesday.

You get the day off on Friday for a Pro-D day.

That's all for this week, folks!

Week 7 - Oct 14 - 17

We are into our seventh week together, folks. I hope that you have found a rhythm, that our routines seem familiar, you are feeling organized, comfortable, safe and happy. Please come and talk to me if there's anything bothering you about the way the year is unfolding for you. I'm happy to troubleshoot with you, or to make adjustments to the way we do things around here!

More learning is coming your way this short week:

Math - we've launched into a review of the basic facts of multiplication. Each day we'll buzz through the facts associated with one number, 2 - 9. We took care of the perfect squares last week (quick! what's 7 x 7?). We've also done the twos and now the fives. And through the week we will tackle the rest of the multiplication table. This stuff is really important! Learning these facts is the key to unlocking much of the rest of what we'll do in math this year. Please know that I recognize that, for many, it isn't easy. Here is your chance to conquer these facts once and for all! If you don't have them by the end of the week, I will offer you a second copy of the practice pages to try at home. 

At the same time we will explore a few strategies and concepts related to multiplication that I find help students earn a broader understanding of just what we're doing when we multiply.

L.A. - Refugee continues this week. If you are away for any reason, know that we take on around two chapters each day. Please catch up when you return - you are responsible for missed work. As of Tuesday this week, we've read the first 100 pages or so. There have been some pretty dramatic scenes. What is a moment that has stood out most for you from each of the three storylines?

Science - This week we'll get involved in a little "learning lab" - a series independent learning tasks about the excretory system. 

Writing - The Halloween Story is well underway. It's time to get those great ideas of yours out on paper (or on screen). Expect a few opportunities to sit down and write your story this week. Remember, the story is due on October 30th, but you'll need to leave time to revise your tale before then. Aim to have your story drafted before October 27, leaving a couple of days to read, review, revise and rewrite the bits that need it. 

That's all for this week, team. Keep up the great work!

Week 6 - Oct 6 - 10

Well hi there! We're back with an almost full week of classes. (You get off an hour early on Tuesday - more on this below.) Here is the plan:

Math - Let's wrap up our look at subtraction strategies. You'll get a quick intro to the "compensation strategy" for subtraction. This is one I like for the mental math skill it promotes. I've got a little video here on the blog that I made years ago that can help explain how it works. Expect a bit of time to practice, then we'll see what you know with a quizzy. 

L.A. - Refugee continues this week. At the same time, please be sure to have a book at the ready for quiet reading times. And remember, as you read books, make a "What's on Your Bookshelf?" card for our collection. 

Social Studies - For now, Socials will echo the themes and storyline of Refugee.

Science - We'll continue our look at the excretory system. Expect demonstrations and a "learning lab" about how our body deals with wastes.

Writing - I have begun to trickle out expectations and criteria for our Halloween story project. Be sure to land on a plot idea this week, okay? It will be important to get started promptly when it comes time to craft your story. Don't get left behind! Take a minute and review the criteria that's been posted here on the blog. 

Skating - is coming at you on Friday. This is our first of six rec center trips this year. If you haven't returned your permission form yet, do that as soon as you can. We'll talk about expectations for these trips in class. Remember to bring your helmet, and skates if you've got 'em.

Interviews: Tuesday afternoon and evening is my chance to sit down for 10 minutes with your parents. I look forward to meeting with you then! Parents, if you haven't yet picked up an appointment time, please check back to last week's email from the school office for the link.

Enjoy your week, everyone.