Today we saw 3 more presentations. The first was Lia’s delicious ‘hamburgers’. As you can tell, she wasn’t the only one who enjoyed them. 🙂 Vanilla cake, chocolate cake, icing and coconut, mmmmmmmm good!
Jaime also presented her shawl that she knit, under the tutelage of her Aunt and Great-Grandma (and perhaps youtube). Beautiful work, Jaime!
Hannah presented a haiku deck about ‘The Ocean’. It inspired me/us to visit (more) beautiful beaches in the future.
We are so proud of all the work that the students have completed during Genius Hour, but more importantly, we are proud of their passion for learning about the world around them. Their curiosity and creativity is inspiring to their peers and their teachers. Great work this year on Genius Hour, Grade 6’s!
I can hardly believe it’s the first week of May. Time is flying by and there is a LOT going on in the next several weeks. At the end of this blog post I will put a list of days to add to your calendar.
The students this week are getting their fill of yours truly, Mrs. Derksen. 🙂 Mrs. Goosen is spending some lovely family time in the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’, though I would argue with Walt Disney and say that Highroad’s Grade 6 Class is the happiest place on earth! At least it’s one of my happy places.
Today the students started their final non-fiction writing project. They are working with partners to research and examine a part of Japanese Culture. In a few weeks, they will present their findings to the class. They picked such interesting and varied topics – sumo wrestling, origami, Japan’s role in WWII, Martial Arts, the Feudal System, Agriculture & Fishing, Traditional Drama & Clothing, and the Economy. I can hardly wait to hear about what they’ve learned!
GIFT WRAP NEEDED: Please send a gift bag, tissue paper, &/or gift wrap with your student on Friday so that they can wrap their mother’s day gifts. It needs to be large enough to fit an item that is 12″ x 12″ x 1″. I think you’re going to like it!!!
HOT LUNCH: Tomorrow there is the hot dog and french fry lunch. If students did not pre-order, they can still purchase lunch (hot dog $2, fries $3) but they will have to stand in line.
TRACK AND FIELD CLUB: Tuesday and Thursday practices continue each week as we countdown to the track meet. If you haven’t returned your child’s permission slip for the track meet, please do so asap. I will be running the shot put event at the track meet and am still looking for one more volunteer to help me. If your son/daughter is in the shot put event, this would be a GREAT opportunity for you to see them compete, up close and personal. Please contact me, Mrs. Derksen, if you are interested.
AFTER SCHOOL PICK-UP: Just a reminder that the students are only supervised until 3:30pm each school day. If you pick up your children after 3:30pm, they will not be supervised by Highroad staff. If they are causing any problems around the school, they will need to sit by the office until you arrive.
SPELLING: no Spelling this week. Don’t be too disappointed! It’ll be back next week. 😉
UPCOMING DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR:
Tuesday, May 13th: Knights Day to celebrate the Track Team.
Monday, May 19th: Victoria Day- no school
Monday, May 26th: Spring Sing Concert 7pm ALL GRADE 6 STUDENTS REQUIRED TO ATTEND.
Tuesday, May 27th: Track Meet @ Swanguard Stadium in Burnaby – for Track and Field Club Participants only.
Friday, May 30th: 1st Annual Art Gallery for Grade 4-6 Students and their families. 6:30-8:00pm More details to follow, but you won’t want to miss it.
Friday, June 13th: Intermediate Fun Day. Noon Dismissal.
Monday, June 16th: Intermediate Classes @ Cultus Lake Waterslides. (Pray for SUN!)
Wednesday, June 18th: Noon Dismissal.
Friday, June 20th: Last Day of School. Noon Dismissal
On Wednesday, May 7, there will be a hot dog and french fry lunch. Tomorrow the forms will be coming home for the students to fill out. If you want to purchase lunch on May 7 you may also bring some money and purchase lunch at the kitchen. Just so that you know, pre-ordering is a faster option….these orders will be ready first, which will enable the students who pre-order to eat and get outside to play! Pre-orders will be accepted until 3:30 on Tuesday, May 6. The forms can be returned to the office or to the classroom teacher.
Thanks!
Here are the Spelling words for the week, test on Friday as per usual.
senate, senator, expense, acquire, elaborate,elegant, ancient, delicious, confidential, conversion, distinguish, ignore, ignorance, necessity, excellence, meant, providence, finally, interfere, interference.
REMINDER: Current Events QUIZ tomorrow.
Other Weekly Details:
Track and Field Club on Tuesday and Thursday in the SUN!!!
Next Monday, May 5th is a Pro D with NO SCHOOL for students.
Part of our field trip will take place at Science World’s outdoor Science Park. This happens rain or shine so please bring a rain jacket! Thanks!
Due to rain and gym closure there will be no track practice after school and no basketball either.
A few final field trip details:
We would like students to arrive at 7:45 as we are leaving by 8:00 sharp. If parents are driving, they are allowed to bring their child with them but need to email me at pgoosen@highroadacademy.com to let me know they won’t be travelling on the bus. Parents that are driving with their child are not permitted to bring other students along, only their child.
Students need to wear their uniform tomorrow but do not need to wear full dress uniform. It is recommended that students bring their lunch in a paper/plastic bag as there is nowhere to store backpacks/lunch bags etc. that is ‘safe’ (no lockers etc). That way they can eat their lunch and then throw everything in the garbage.
Also wanted to send a reminder that there are to be no electronics on the bus. Students are welcome to bring a camera but not a device with a camera built in…just a simple camera.
We are leaving Science world by 2:00 and hoping to be back by 3:30. Looking forward to our day tomorrow!
Mrs. Goosen
Right now in Reading we are exploring the book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It definitely wins as my personal favorite novel of all time to share with grade 6 students. It has incredible themes interwoven through the book and teaches beautiful life lessons through the life of August Pullman. In the book, one of August’s teachers introduces the concept of ‘precepts’, which he calls ‘rules about important things’. The most recent precept that we explored together was, “Your Deeds Are Your Monuments.” The grade 6 students had to dig deep in their brains to work through this precept and here are a few of their ideas, as well as August’s ideas about it.
Your Deeds Are Your Monuments. What does this mean to you? How do you feel about it?
-your actions represent who you are.
-what you do is who you are.
-what you do, reflects on to what other people think of you as.
-your actions are what you are known for.
-your choices, whether they are good or bad, will become permanent and determine what your life will be like.
-all the choices in my life will be like a statue that represents what I’ve chosen.
-it makes me want to think more about what I’m doing.
August’s response from the book, “This precept means that we should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important that what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they’ve died…instead of being make out of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you.”
Keeping with this theme…today was Service Day. Our class headed to Heritage Park this afternoon to clean up one of their indoor arenas. We picked rocks to ensure that the horses would not hurt their hooves while competing in the arena. Here are a few pictures from our time serving in the community.
That was some back breaking work! Great job students! (and special thanks to Mrs. Sampson for the timbits!)
I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter! The stomach flu went through our house this weekend so we ended up keeping things quiet and low key…not exactly what I had imagined, but relaxing nonetheless…
We have a lot of things coming up over the next week…
Tuesday – Knights Day and the start of track & field. Track begins after school and ends at 3:50pm; recess running club begins.
Wednesday – Service Day. Casual dress for this day. Please return permission slips for this day and we are still in need of a couple of parent volunteers.
Thursday – Track & Field
Friday – Science World fieldtrip. Be at school by 7:45 as we will leave at 8:00am sharp. Students are to wear their uniforms on this day. Please return the permission slips asap and we are still in need of a couple of parent volunteers. Three parents can join us on the bus. We will arrive back at school by 3:30.
There will be no spelling list this week as it is a short week but there will be BMV.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Goosen
Mrs. Derksen and I have been so impressed with the genius hour projects that are being completed! It has been interesting to see the student’s interests and passions come to life through the projects that they create! A few weeks ago Josiah showed his completed Hammock that he made out of recycled clothing and today we learned about what it takes to be an optometrist, saw some cool yo yo tricks, soap carvings and Daniel made a go-cart! I have a couple of pictures here for you to enjoy! Keep up the great work!
We had a lovely time at Sardis Park this morning! We spent a good hour with our nets, buckets and gum boots…scouring the shallow water for any signs of life! At first it seemed void of anything except geese and ducks. But as the students looked more closely they caught and were able to identify tiny organisms swimming around their buckets. We even found some geese eggs and spotted some turtles along one shore.
In the afternoon we went upstairs to the high school science lab. There Mrs. Johnsrude had set up a number of different microscopes and slides for us to look at. We had brought back a water sample from Sardis pond and were able to see some algae and a small fly that was in the our water sample. It was a fantastic day!
I included some pictures for you to look at. Thanks to all of the parents who came out today and helped us. 🙂
