Online Learning April 27 - May 1

Welcome to our fourth week of online learning. Please look for a message below from one of our school’s community partners about accessing food resources if needed.

Answer keys are now posted for last week's assignments where applicable. We have provided feedback but would like students to check their work and ask questions if they are unsure of why an answer is correct/incorrect.

There are some changes to the type and amount of work posted this week. After tracking how much work was completed in each subject area during our first three weeks, looking at what curricular areas we want to prioritize during the remainder of our online learning, and continuing to work within the Alberta education guidelines, we have decided to reorganize our LA, social studies, and science assignments. Since our science and social studies assignments involve reading comprehension, various types of written responses, and presenting information, we will now be considering time spent on these two subjects as language arts time. Due to this integration of subjects, there will be fewer LA assignments posted each week (since students will be practicing those skills in the other subject areas as well).

Here is how this will look for students:

• In the LA classroom, you will continue to see a few assignments (about an hour to an hour and a half of work, depending on how much time is allotted to other subject areas utilizing LA skills). Each week's assignment will also include a sentence telling you what to look for in the social and science classrooms. LA work will continue to be assessed by each student's LA teacher.
• In the science and social studies classrooms, you will continue to see weekly assignments posted. The time spent on those assignments will now count toward time spent on LA. Science and social studies assignments will continue to be assessed by Mr. Mueller (science) and Mr. Shackelton (social).

With those changes in mind, assignments are now up for this week in all 4 classrooms (LA, math, science, and social studies).

LA (approx. 1 hour + optional extension task)
In addition to the science and social studies LA work, students will continue working on news reports. This week, there is a set of facts about which students will need to write their own news report. This is one of the writing tasks that would have been completed during the PATs, so despite not having PATs this year, it is a skill we will continue to practice. There is also an optional extension activity to write a news report on any topic.

Math (approx. 2.5 hours)
We are wrapping up patterns. There is a pattern quiz to complete online (this will be instead of a basic facts quiz this week). Our next area of focus is algebra and equations. There is an introduction lesson and some practice work, along with videos for students to begin to familiarize themselves with this topic. Relevant tasks and any unfinished tasks from other units are assigned on Mathletics, and students have been asked to answer a few questions about what tasks they completed this week.

Social Studies (approx. 1 hour, counted as LA time)
Mr. Shackelton has posted reading about Ancient Athens with questions to answer about their class structure and lottery system. 

Science (30min-1hour, counted as LA time)
This week’s science topic ‘revolves’ around the Sun, the centre of our solar system. Students will be provided with an interdisciplinary viewing/reading comprehension task that combines LA and science. After watching a National Geographic video on our star, they can test their understanding in a true and false quiz and journal about the topic. If they wish to expand their knowledge, they are welcome to engage in a targeted research task on the various types of stars and their life cycle from solar nebula to black hole/ cold dwarf star.

Now that science and social studies are built into LA time, the expectation is that assignments are completed for all four subjects. Weekly assignments continue to be due on Sunday, but we are still accepting late work. If you are handing in late work, we are trusting you to complete it honestly and without checking the answer keys, which are posted on Monday mornings.

All grade six teachers will continue to be available online during school days. There will be daily links to Google Meets so that students can ask questions and see each other. We are also continually responding to stream comments and emails, as well as posting individual comments on student work. Attendance on Google Meets is not mandatory; it is simply another resource that is available to students if they need it.

Have a great week!

A message from Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids:

Brown Bagging for Calgary Kids is a valued partner of Beddington Heights School. If your family is in need of support with finding food resources please visit www.bb4ck.org

• You can go online and request a grocery store gift card. BB4CK is offering $30/kid every 2 weeks. This can be used to purchase groceries to help provide food for your child in the next couple of weeks. You can learn more and/or sign up to receive updates on the BB4CK website. Please visit www.bb4ck.org/help to learn more. Recipes and grocery tips will soon be uploaded to this site as well.
• Please check out our FoodFinderYYC app: foodfinderyyc.com OR text FOOD to 587-318-0232
• This is an incredible, free and anonymous texting service that allows families in need to find free food that has been lovingly prepared in their local community.
• The bb4ck.org/help page will continue to be updated with information for families, including recipes, grocery shopping tips and more.

Online Learning April 20 - 24

Welcome to our third week of online learning. Please check for Mr Hebert's April principal message at the bottom of this post. Answer keys are now posted for last week's assignments where applicable. We have provided feedback but would like students to check their work and ask questions if they are unsure of why an answer is correct/incorrect. Assignments are now up for this week in all 4 classrooms (LA, math, science, and social studies).

Our buddies have been missing us so we are going to have the opportunity to do a buddy Google Meet this Thursday. Their usual meet is Thursday from 9-10, and we have been invited to join them this week. The meeting code will be emailed to students and posted in the LA classroom stream on Thursday morning. Just like with all other Google Meets, the buddy meet is not mandatory but please consider stopping by to say hi.

LA
The news article unit is continuing. This week's focus is on specific news article elements, including headlines, lead paragraphs, and direct and indirect speech. There are examples to look at, videos to watch, and tasks to complete.

Math
We are continuing with patterns. The first activity is similar to last week's work. Students have to practice using input/output machines and give the pattern rule that relates the input to the output. There is also the opportunity to find similarities and differences between input/output machines and to correct output errors. The next lesson asks students to find the pattern rule and continue listing input/output values for various machines. Students will then have the opportunity to look at patterns that are represented visually through pictures. Just like last week, there is a document with questions to answer about activities completed on Mathletics and a basic facts quiz to complete online.

Social Studies
Mr. Shackelton has posted reading about Ancient Athens with questions to answer about the roles of people in their society and how their democracy worked.

Science

Last week Mr. Mueller posted a two week project about moon phases, so this is the second week for that. Some students completed it last week, in which case there is only a short science quiz this week on the moon phases.

Again, please remember that the focus should be on math and LA. If you are finding it difficult to make time to complete everything, those assignments need to be the priority. This week's assignments are due on Sunday. When the work gets done is up to your family, but if students are handing work in early in the week, they will be encouraged to go back and complete should/could tasks or add detail. Answer keys, where applicable, for this week's work will be posted on Monday.

All grade six teachers will continue to be available online during school days. We will continue to post daily links to Google Meets so that students can ask questions and see each other. We are also continually responding to stream comments and emails, as well as posting individual comments on student work. Attendance on Google Meets is not mandatory; it is simply another resource that is available to students if they need it.

Have a great week!

April Principal’s Message:

You will see this is a difference from past communication where you would have received my message on school messenger. In order to minimize the amount of e-mail to parents/families at this time, we have made a decision at Beddington to include this in the teacher e-mail you are already receiving. Hopefully this supports families need and will provide enough information to give you what you need. 

We are continuing to learn about our student on-line learning and how to keep connected with our students during this period of isolation.  We know that whatever we are asking of you at this time needs to be balanced with your need for health and care of self and others. We will try to provide continuity where we can. Both on-line google classroom and paper packages have been implemented to provide opportunity for ongoing learning opportunities for our students.  This has been working with a level of success and we are glad to see successes with our students. The focus has been on math and literacy activities and we ask that you place your efforts on these activities first. You should be receiving weekly communication from your child’s teacher by this point outlining the week ahead. Teachers are available to answer questions either during scheduled google meet sessions or through responding to your individual questions through e-mail. We continue to refine weekly schedules to best meet needs. 

Our specialists Mr. Sadowsky and Mr. Wiens have provided additional enrichment activities for you to work on. These are not compulsory and are there to support those who wish to engage at a greater level of involvement. I have had a number of questions as to whether these are required. They are posted for those who wish to access them. 

Please note that for safety reasons the office is closed. Access for parents is in the main door and material pickup and drop off is in the gym. You are asked to exit through the gym door afterward. If you have questions for us in the office please feel free to call. Ms. Cumming and I are in the office during the day to answer your questions so feel free to give us a call. 

Our knowledge of “Assessment of Learning” is ongoing. There will be more information forwarded to you regarding what to expect. We do know that report cards for year end will be part of our work. This will most likely be available on-line when they are complete. 

We ask that you keep in contact with your teacher, whether your child is able to complete work or not. We are working to limit factors that prevent this from happening and we are able to provide resources in many cases. We have a listing for a number of resources that we may be able to connect you with. Our greatest goal at this time is to stay connected. We miss you all greatly. 

Stay safe.

Updates and Reminders

• Teachers have been continuously providing feedback and returning work that has been turned in. I will keep checking over the weekend.
• This week's assignments are due on Sunday but can still be handed in late if you can't get them done in time. Please prioritize math and LA.
• LA - news articles week 2 
• Math - patterns week 2
• Social studies - ancient Athens week 2
• Science - moon phases project (actually due next week but you can get started)
• Answers to this week's assignments, where applicable, will go up on Monday so that students can check their work.
• Next week's assignments will be posted on Monday morning and you will receive our weekly learning summary then as well.
• Our buddies are missing us and have invited us to their Google Meet next Thursday (April 23) at 9:00. I will post the Meet code for students on Thursday morning. I've been on their Meets a couple times and they've told me how much they want to see you, so it would be great if you could stop by to say hi, even for a couple minutes.

Have a nice weekend - enjoy the break from the snow!

Online Learning April 14 - 17

Welcome to our second week of online learning. Answer keys are now posted for last week's assignments where applicable (activities asking for creative writing or statements of opinion do not have a right or wrong answer) so that students can check their work. We hope to get students in the habit of checking their own work on these types of assignments, but we will continue looking over work and providing feedback. Assignments are now up for this week in all 4 classrooms (LA, math, science, and social studies). 

LA
This week we are continuing our news article unit. There is an article for students to analyze and identify various elements. Next, students have been given a scenario and will use a graphic organize to plan a news report. Finally, students have been provided with two situations / sets of facts and will write a news report about one or both of them. We will use this article as a baseline and next week we will look at how to improve our writing.

Math
We are continuing our work on patterns. The first activity is similar to last week's final activity. There are tables for students to complete and identify the pattern rules. In the next activity, students will complete tables and identify the rule for patterns that involve two operations. We want students to continue the habit of using Mathletics (we did this weekly in class), so this week there is a document for students to fill in to say what activities they completed and how they feel it went. Finally, there is an online version of a basic facts / computation quiz so that they can continue practicing the four operations.

Social Studies
Mr. Shackelton has posted some textbook work this week for Ancient Athens. The link to the textbook is in the document with the questions to answer.

Science
Mr. Mueller has posted a two week project about moon phases. There are many links for students to explore and questions to answer.

Again, please remember that the focus should be on math and LA. If you are finding it difficult to make time to complete everything, those assignments need to be the priority. This week's assignments are due on Sunday (except for science, which will carry over into next week). When the work gets done is up to your family, but if students are handing work in early in the week, they will be encouraged to go back and complete should/could tasks or add detail. Answer keys, where applicable, for this week's work will be posted on Monday.

All grade six teachers will continue to be available online during school days. We will continue to post daily links to Google Meets in the mornings (Mr. Mueller and Mr. Shackelton also have science and social studies Meets some afternoons) so that students can ask questions and see each other - see updated schedule below (GM means in Google Meet, GC means on Google Classroom to respond to comments and give feedback). We are also continually responding to stream comments and emails, as well as posting individual comments on student work. Attendance on Google Meets is not mandatory; it is simply another resource that is available to students if they need it.

Have a great week!

Updates and Reminders

• I have provided feedback (personalized comments on individual documents and on the assignment pages) and returned all work that has been turned in as of now. I will continue to check in over the weekend and return assignments within a few days of them being submitted.
• There is no school tomorrow because of Easter, so teachers will not be online to answer questions. I will still check my email a few times over the weekend. 
• There is no school for students on Monday (it is a teacher PD day), so we will not be on Google Meet and new assignments will not be posted.
• This week's work is due on Sunday but you can still hand it in late if you can't get it done by then. If you are having trouble finding time to complete work, please prioritize math and LA.
• The scavenger hunt and classroom practice were due today but you can still work on it if you're not done. It's a good way to familiarize yourself with Google Classroom.
• Next week's assignments will be posted on Tuesday morning at 8:00 (since Monday was already scheduled as a no school day). 
• We will keep our schedule next week roughly the same as this week - there will be daily opportunities to ask teachers questions on Google Meet and we will all also monitor the classroom streams and have our email open during school hours. 

Happy Easter if you are celebrating!

Online Learning April 6-10

Regular classes began online this morning. Assignments will be up each Monday morning (unless there is no school on Monday) and will be due by Sunday. Students need to check all 4 classrooms to find the work for LA, math, science, and social studies. At the beginning of the week, I will post a summary of what students are working on, just like there used to be a daily class recap.

LA
This week was the official start of our news article unit. One class did a bit of news article work before outdoor school and everyone had access to a practice assignment last week, but this week everyone is reviewing the elements of a news article. There is a slideshow of information with some fill in the blank notes for students to complete on the main elements. Students will then create newspaper headlines and look at different news articles to identify features, answer comprehension questions and focus on vocabulary, and explain why they think various articles might have been in the news. If they want, students can complete a mad libs style activity where they fill in blanks to create a silly news report.

Math
Although pattern work has been assigned on Mathletics and I sent all of you an introductory slideshow before spring break, this week we began our real instruction and practice of patterns. There are two video lessons created by Mr. Mueller and there are four activities (each with a must / should / could element) for students to practice continuing increasing and decreasing patterns and writing pattern rules. As always, students also have work assigned to them from all of this year’s math units on Mathletics.

Social Studies
Mr. Shackelton is starting Ancient Greece. This week there is a link to a video to watch and questions to answer about it.

Science
Mr. Mueller is continuing Sky Science. This week he uploaded notes and videos with some questions to answer about revolution and rotation.

Music and Phys Ed
Mr. Wiens and Mr. Sadowsky are continuing to post videos and activities in their classrooms.

Please remember that the focus should be on math and LA. If you are finding it difficult to make time to complete everything, those assignments need to be the priority.

The grade six teachers will be available during school hours to respond to stream comments and emails. We will take turns hosting open Google Meets so students can ask questions face to face if they want - refer to the schedule posted and emailed on Friday. Attendance on Google Meets is not mandatory; it is simply another resource that is available to students if they need it. If the times don’t work and students can’t make it online to chat with us that’s completely fine. The expectation is that assignments are submitted by Sunday, but when that work gets done is up to your family.

A reminder that there is no school this Friday (April 10) or Monday (April 13) because of Easter. Teachers may be responding to email but will not be online those days.

Here’s to a great first week of online learning!

Story Feedback

Feedback and marks have been emailed to all students who handed in their stories.

Students whose stories were incomplete but shared with me also received feedback and a reminder that their story needs to be finished and turned in.

Friday, April 3

It was nice to see a few of you on Google Meet this morning. As we move forward with more regular coursework starting on Monday, this is the tentative schedule for our availability on Google Classroom and Google Meet. Teachers will almost always be available in some form during school hours, but sometimes that will be limited to email (for example, when we're in staff meetings).

If you could make sure you are connected to the 4 core subject Google Classrooms, that would be great. Sometime this weekend, I will be emailing students (and their parents) who have not yet connected to our Google Classrooms. I am also going to start scanning your stories and rubrics and emailing them to you (at your CBE gmail) so watch for that.

As always, please email me with any questions you have (siwinston@cbe.ab.ca). Thanks for your support this week!

Thursday, April 2

Our first room 20 Google Meet went really well this morning. It was nice to see each other again. We spent some time exploring Google Classroom together and figuring out how to make copies of documents that are assigned. Right now in the LA classroom, there is a scavenger hunt to help you get to know Google Classroom. Part of that assignment involves creating a new document and turning it in. We're hoping you will have it submitted by the end of the weekend so that you'll have had some practice before the real coursework goes up on Monday. In the LA stream, you will also find a posting with a document outlining some expectations for our online classroom. We went over them during our video call this morning, but if you couldn't make it, please review it on your own. There is also an LA news article assignment that Mr. Mueller posted for practice. You can complete this assignment if you want.

Work will be posted in all 4 subject classrooms on Monday morning, so make sure you have joined LA, math, science, and social studies. I think Mr. Wiens and Mr. Sadowsky have also invited you to music and phys ed classrooms. Remember that the focus is on math and LA, so that's where most of your time should be spent.

I will be online tomorrow morning responding to stream comments and emails. If you need help with anything or want to chat, we can talk on Google Meet - I will try to use the same link and nickname as we used this morning.

Google Meet

Go to meet.google.com, click join meeting, and enter the nickname grade6room20

Google Meet Tomorrow (Thursday)

Just a reminder that our first Google Meet online chat will be Thursday morning. Join the meeting anytime between 8:00 and 9:45 to say hi (to me and to any of your classmates who are online). The link will be posted here, posted on the stream in our LA Google Classroom, and emailed to room 20 students.

A lot of room 20 students still need to join the 4 Google Classrooms. Students have the invitations in their CBE email accounts.