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.