The last full week of February. A few reminders. The grade six students received information about course selection for next year at Brock Middle School. They need to have their course selection sheet returned by Monday, February 27th. There is an information meeting for parents tonight (Feb21st) at 7:oo p.m.  in the Brock Middle School library. This Friday is a professional development day, so there will be no school. All teachers in the district will be at workshops.

READING
We will be completing Moses, Me and Murder this week. There will be a quiz next week. The third book report for grade 5s is due Thursday, February 23rd. The fourth book report for the 6s is due Monday, February 27th. 
WRITING
The fairy tales, except for a couple students, are finished. The students will now self-assess their fairy tales and then I will assess them. Our binding machine is in for repairs, so I will be looking to borrow one from another school to bind all the fairy tales.
SPEAKING and LISTENING
The students will receive another debate topic this week. They will be doing a solo debate next week.
MATH
We had a quiz this week on ratio and percent. Please help your son or daughter with corrections, then sign and return it to the school. 
SOCIAL STUDIES
The students continue to work on their culture projects. They are due to be presented next Friday (March 2nd).
SCIENCE
The students had a final test yesterday and today on extreme environments. Our next topic will be simple machines.


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It is a fairly busy week. Tomorrow we have our third Young People's Concert. The students will be watching the Goh Ballet perform. In the afternoon, there is a Valentine's dance. It will cost $2 to attend the dance. The boys' basketball team will leave at 2:00 tomorrow for their game in Barriere. A reminder that next Tuesday (21st), the grade 6 students will meet with the Brock Middle School counselors to start course selection for next year. There is also a meeting for parents @ 7:00 p.m. (Tuesday 21st) in the Brock Library if you have any questions.

READING
On Friday we will be completing Moses, Me and Murder chapters  13 and 14. The third book report is due on Wednesday for the 6s and February 23rd for the 5s.
WRITING
We are finally getting to the end for the fairy tales. They are all due next Monday (Feb. 20th). The students will then complete a self-assessment, before I formally assess them.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
The students are in groups of two or three preparing for a debate on Wednesday. The first debate will be in groups and the second debate they will do solo.
MATH
We continue to learn about percent and ratio. It would help greatly if each student could purchase a basic calculator to use the rest of the year.
SOCIAL STUDIES
The culture projects are coming along great. They are due March 2nd, when they will be presented to the class.
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READING
We will be completing chapters 11 and 12 of Moses, Me and Murder on Wednesday. The second book report for the grade five students is due on Thursday. The third report for the grade six students is due February 15th.

WRITING
Slowly, but surely the fairy tales are getting completed. They are all due by February 20th.
LISTENING and SPEAKING
The students will soon be getting a topic to research for a debate. They  will need to develop strong arguments for both sides of their argument because they will not know what side they are arguing for until the day of the debate.
MATH
We began learning about ratio today.
SOCIAL STUDIES
They are well into their culture projects. They will need to be completed and ready to present by March 2nd.
SCIENCE
This week we learned about caves and how they are an extreme environment.
 
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Please don't see your shadow, groundhogs! Wow, it's almost February....so far so good for winter. Today is the school Spelling Bee. Good luck to all students participating.

READING
We will be completing chapters 9-10 in Moses, Me and Murder. It will be due Wednesday before they leave. I have still not received the first book report from some students. The second book report is due tomorrow (January 31st) for the 6s and February 9th for the 5s.

WRITING
The fairy tales are coming along very well. Many of the students are coming very close to finishing. Once they are all done and bound, they will read them to their Kindergarten and grade 2 buddies.

MATH
We continue to work on fractions, with a quiz coming on Monday or Tuesday. I would like all students to purchase a basic calculator, preferably by next week. We will be using calculators for many of the concepts covered the rest of the year.  It should not cost more than a couple dollars. A basic solar calculator, that can be found at the dollar stores or other retail stores, will be fine.  I have some that students could borrow, but it is much better if every student has  own.

SOCIAL STUDIES
The students are well on their way with their culture projects. There are some fabulous creations.
 
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Better late then not at all! The last full week of January and the weather has not been too bad. Maybe the groundhogs will predict an early spring next week.

READING
The students completed chapters 7 and 8 of Moses Me and Murder.
WRITING
The fairy tales are coming along great. Some are finished and most are well on their way. They should all be completed by the middle of February.
MATH
We are learning about fractions this week. If you go to the developmental math area of khanacademy, there are videos and examples to help reinforce what we are doing in class.
SS
The students are creating their own cultures in small groups. This will include typing information and a lot of building of cool things. 
SCIENCE
We continue to learn about extreme environments.
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We survived tubing....what a great day we had! It definitely is colder this week. Make sure you bring warm clothes. There are no field trips planned for this week.

READING
The first Newbery book report is due this week. Grade 6s have their report due tomorrow and the grade 5s on Thursday. Make sure you pick books at your reading level so you can meet the deadlines. We also will be doing chapters 3-6 in Moses, Me and Murder this week.
WRITING
All Fairy tales need to be typed and edited this week. The students will have until the end of February to complete the pictures. It is important that they complete one picture every 2 days or so, to be on track to finish.
MATH
We began a multiplication/division challenge today. I will be testing the students on each row of the table I sent home. Each row that they master will earn them a B-buck. When they reach 5 B-bucks they will get an individual treat. When they all master the entire 9 rows, there will be a full class ice-cream party. Please help them practice at home. We will also be having a quiz on Friday on long and short division.
SOCIAL STUDIES
They are well on their way in planning their Create a Culture project. This is a group project, that will continue through the month of February. It will require the students to buy and bring supplies to school.
HACE
We are discussing gender roles in class this week. Yes, the homework is to watch 3 television shows.
 
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January 9th-13th 01/12/2012
 
Tubing at Harper! A big reminder about our tubing trip tomorrow. Make sure you are dressed appropriately. The best way is to wear layers of clothing, so you can adjust if it warms up. You need to remember your helmets, gloves, jackets, snow pants, and lunches (There is a concession, if you choose to bring money). I look forward to a fun day of tubing.
READING
The students should be working on their first book report. They are due on January 17th for the grade six students and January 19th for the fives. The grade five students need to be completing one every 15 days and the sixes every 10 days (adjusted a bit for weekends). We are also doing a novel study called Moses, Me, and Murder. It is about a murder that took place at Barkerville during the gold rush.
WRITING
I have edited half of the fairy tales and will hopefully be done the rest soon. The students then need to get working on the pictures.
MATH
Many of the students still have not mastered their times tables. There needs to be commitment to this at home. We are working on long and short division. There will be  a quiz next Wednesday.

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January 3rd-6th 01/03/2012
 
Happy New Year!! Hopefully you all had a great break. Now it's time for the long, dark stretch to Spring Break. At least the days are now getting longer. We have a lot going on the next couple months. Firstly, please get the tubing money and permission to the school as soon as possible. We go tubing next Friday (13th). If you require financial assistance with this, please see me and I will help you.  
READING
We will soon begin a novel study about the Cariboo Gold Rush. Details coming soon.
WRITING
The students should be finished typing their fairy tales this week. As soon as I edit each of them, they can begin drawing the pictures. This will be due the end of February. Believe it or not, it will actually take that long to complete most of them.
MATH
We began long division today. This can be a very difficult concept for some students. Please help them at home if you can. A video that they can watch to reinforce what we are doing in class is from Khanacademy. This video has longer examples. This site also allows you to do practice questions. I love it!
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Last week before Christmas Break!!!! Don't forget to get secret Santa gifts in by Thursday. We will open them on Friday. Friday is also PJ day, ending with a full school movie in the gym. All students need to have their fairy tale rough copies finished and be typing them this week. The students can log into their school accounts by going to the Norkam website and following the Free NX Linux Access link. You may need to update Java first, but then they can access their writing at home. When we return in January, they will edit and begin to draw the pictures.  You should have also received a permission slip for the tubing trip on January 13th. Please get the permission and money in A.S.A.P.  As always, if you have any questions please contact me at the school by phone or email rbonderud@sd73.bc.ca.  Have a great Christmas break and see you in 2012.
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December 6th-9th 12/05/2011
 
It's a short, but busy week. Wednesday afternoon is the dress rehearsal for the Christmas concert and Thursday and Friday afternoons are the performances. Don't forget to continue looking for or making creative gifts for our Secret Santa gift exchange, which will occur December 16th. 

READING and WRITING
The students have been reading fairytales, and they began creating their own original fairytales. We brainstormed the elements of a fairytale and they were all given the assessment rubric. They need to have a rough copy finished and be  ready to start typing by next Tuesday (December 13th). The goal is to have the fairytale completely written and typed into the word processor by the middle of January, so they can then begin illustrating (which will take several weeks). This week we will also learn about words that are often confused in writing, such as all ready and already, breath and breathe, cloths and clothes, desert and dessert, lose and loose, etc.

MATH
We will continue to work on multiplication of 2-digit by 1-digit, 2-digit by 2-digit, and with decimals. We did a quiz last week, but it was obvious by the results that the students needed more time with this concept. Many of the students still do not have their times tables mastered, which is making it very difficult for them to have success. Please continue to work on mastery at home.





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