So much going on! Where to begin?
First of all, it's late notice, but I'm in the middle of a super busy music time right now and have two concerts this weekend that you might be interested in. Both are with a fantastic choral group called Incontra. We are presenting a Christmas program Saturday evening at 7:00, at Knox College Chapel (U of T) and Sunday afternoon at 4:00 at Christ Church Deer Park (Yonge & St. Clair). Both concerts will be great - I think Sunday's includes a sing-along! Tickets will be available at the door.
Thanks for the field trip forms. I've received about half of them already. I noticed that some did not make it into bags, so if you haven't received one yet, please ask your student to bring it home or ask for another copy.
Yesterday we had two presentations. First, our grade 6s had a workshop about homophobia, presented by Teach with Planned Parenthood. Thanks to our fantastic gym teacher for organizing this. During the workshop, students had the opportunity to ask about many of the terms they may have heard, such as "asexual", "transgender", "queer". The leaders defined these terms in an age appropriate manner, explained some misconceptions and let us know when it might be inappropriate to use the terms. They explained the difference between sexual identity and gender identity and unpacked many of the stereotypes commonly associated with different identities. Finally, they discussed how we can take positive steps towards inclusion and treating everyone with respect. I was proud that, overwhelmingly, our grade 6s responded actively and respectfully during this workshop.
Next, we had our regular financial literacy workshop. Our characters are 34 years old and have gotten married, purchased homes and had kids! Now that we are in the real estate market, our net worths have increased substantially, but we still had hard decisions to make about what path we want to follow now in terms of career and housing. Some characters are really struggling with the high costs of child care... (this workshop is starting to feel reeeally personal!). Our lesson was about taxes. We learned about the different ways that we pay tax, and where those dollars go. To some, it was a surprise that we are actually paying for health care, even though we don't whip out our credit cards at each hospital visit. Anna broke down where are dollars are going at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. She also explained what can happen if you don't pay your taxes correctly, highlighting how this is different than if you don't pay a credit card bill. This topic certainly merits further discussion!
This week, we presented our P'tit Jean et la Sorcière play to Mme Potor's grade 2/3 class. They will be our reading buddies this year!
This week, we also started a special Intercultural Understanding unit with Mme Gaudreault. She will be working with us once a week (until February) in the library on this French language expectation. We have begun by talking about critical thinking and bias, and getting to know some players from the French National Soccer Team.
With progress reports completed, each student has set a goal and has stuck it to the corner of their desk so that it is top of mind. I will do my best to give stars when I notice that they are working hard towards their goal (e.g., putting in a greater effort, speaking French with peers). I have also updated our learning skills rubric for Term 1, which will take us until February. This updated rubric contains everything we had been working on before, and one additional expectation per learning skill. These are based on my observations of where our class is struggling, and also a class discussion where students gave their input of what we are doing well and where we need to improve. In particular, we talked at length about having integrity - meaning, doing the right thing, even when we think no one is looking. This came up in discussions about grade 6 lunch and when we've had supply teachers.
Students filled out an updated rubric today. I need to look at them, and will send them home next week for signature. At that time, please read over the added expectations and review them with your student. We went over everything today and I know it is all very manageable.
This week we also completed our math test, which I will also send home next week. Our new unit will be patterning! Next week we will also be ready (hopefully) to start a new art project, our reading groups, and perhaps a new French writing project.
In Science, the grade 6s will finish their presentations and complete their self-assessment of their work on this independent project. The grade 5s had an awesome class yesterday, finishing up their models. We will schedule their presentations for the month of December. Some groups have already started working enthusiastically on this part!
Have a great weekend,
Tamara