Good afternoon parents,

As you are all aware, the Alta Vista Annual Spring Fair is quickly approaching. Therefore, both classes are looking for donated items for their specific class gift basket to be sold at the fair.

This year, the students in EF56A have selected a theme of “Movie Night”. Some possible donations may include, but not limited to, are: cineplex/itunes gift cards, popcorn, candy, popcorn seasonings etc.

As for EF6A, the theme selected was “A Taste of Canada: Maple”. Some possible donations may include, but not limited to, are: maple syrup, maple butter, basically anything maple.

Looking forward to seeing our class gift baskets created in the coming days and weeks. Our school council thanks you in advance for your generous donations.

DE & AK

Students will be given a form regarding their intentions of returning or not to Alta Vista PS next school year. Please fill it out with what your intentions are right now and return it to either Mme. Kresic or Mr. Ellis.

This will help us, as a school, plan for class placements for the 2018-19 year.

Thanks for your help.

DE & AK

I have not received an update regarding the rink’s condition this week, however, I feel it is highly unlikely that it will be open tomorrow for our skating time. Therefore, I will have to say it will be cancelled again this week.

Mr. Ellis

Every month we will post a new set of key ideas and concepts that your child will be learning in their classes at AV. They are meant to help keep you aware of what general topics are being covered in order to be more efficient and effective in assisting your son or daughter at home. Throughout the year, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us through email at either daniel.ellis@ocdsb.ca or audree.kresic@ocdsb.ca.

Therefore, during March, the following areas will be covered:

English

In English class, we will continue looking at creating persuasive texts for the purpose of understanding some of the techniques used to convince people of ideas and arguments. We will be connecting some assignments done in English to the math unit being covered this month by having students create a team logo for their fantasy hockey team they will be managing. Students will also be creating a bilingual written summary of the specific reasons why they selected the players on their teams making sure they give evidence and/or support for their reasons. They will also present this information to the class.

Also, from time to time, students will be asked to respond to different bellwork assignments from class (Picture of the week, Video of the week etc.) on Google classroom.

Finally, starting in September and continuing until the end of May, students will have the opportunity to choose a minimum of one book to read each month of the school year. They will complete a short assignment at the end of each month on one of the books the read to be submitted through Google classroom. This month it will be due on March 30th.

Math

Moving into March, we will be starting a new unit that will incorporate many different math concepts. Students will become team managers for their own fantasy hockey team based on current NHL and CWHL hockey players. They will need to create a team that fits under a salary cap, search for player stats, and calculate player/team points based on an algebraic formula. While this is the main idea behind the project, we will also be connecting other concepts such as representing money amounts, probability, adding, subtracting & multiplying decimals, comparing/ordering fractions/decimals, estimating percents (Gr.6), displaying information in graphs, and calculating mean/median.

Finally, we occasionally take the time to discuss the many connections between math concepts learned in class to other strands/terms that we have previously looked at or will look at later in the year. This is to impart in students minds that all things in math are connected and that they will likely see some topics again in later units.

Stay tuned for next month’s post reflecting our learning goals for April.

Good afternoon,

The school has been notified that the Alta Vista rink will be closed for the rest of the week due to warmer weather and unfit ice conditions. Therefore, our skating time for tomorrow is cancelled. Students should keep their skating equipment at home for this week. I will update you all again regarding our skating time for next Thursday, however, at this point it doesn’t look good.

Mr. Ellis

Good morning parents,

I just wanted to clarify the dates/times of the EF56A class skating moving forward as some students mentioned this morning that they may not have been clear on the permission forms.

We are scheduled to go skating each Thursday until the March break. (Feb 15, 22, Mar 1, 8) at 12:45pm until 1:45pm.

In order to meet our ratio of 1-10, we will need 2 parent volunteers each Thursday afternoon to help with the short field trip. If you are able and willing to help supervise the skating on any or all of those dates/times, please let either myself or Mme. Rutland know through email (daniel.ellis@ocdsb.ca or beth.rutland@ocdsb.ca). We thank those able to join us in advance.

Hope this clears up any confusion. For the parents of EF6A, skating times should be coordinated with either Mme. Kresic and Mr. Maclean. Please contact them for any questions relating to your child’s time. Thank you.

DE

Every month we will post a new set of key ideas and concepts that your child will be learning in their classes at AV. They are meant to help keep you aware of what general topics are being covered in order to be more efficient and effective in assisting your son or daughter at home. Throughout the year, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us through email at either daniel.ellis@ocdsb.ca or audree.kresic@ocdsb.ca.

Therefore, during February, the following areas will be covered:

English

In English class, we will begin looking at persuasive texts for the purpose of understanding some of the techniques used to convince people of ideas and arguments. To begin, students will have the opportunity to develop a short, persuasive text with their own opinions on a specific debated topic. We will also discover how to identify ways to counter-argue points from the other side. We will also connect these topics with a number of other concepts covered in different subjects (i.e Math & French) by looking at developing a poster/flyer promoting their Robotic Race Track Design from math class while also making it a bilingual version.

In addition, students will be responsible for choosing a second “Hot Topic” issue in the media recently and present their thoughts and opinions about that article during the final week of the month. It will be similar to the assignment completed in November.

Also, from time to time, students will be asked to respond to different bellwork assignments from class (Picture of the week, Video of the week etc.) on Google classroom.

Finally, starting in September and continuing until the end of May, students will have the opportunity to choose a minimum of one book to read each month of the school year. They will complete a short assignment at the end of each month on one of the books the read to be submitted through Google classroom.

Math

Moving into February, we have been quickly been covering concepts related to Geometry such as types of angles (acute, right, obtuse, straight) and measuring/constructing angles (up to 90 degrees- Gr5 & 180 degrees – Gr6)with a protractor. We have also discovered ways to construct different shapes (Gr5 – Triangles & Gr6 – Regular/Irregular Polygons) with specific side lengths or angle sizes.
Students are now working through a very unique way of learning some of these concepts, as they will be also be creating a Race Track design meant for the Lego Mindstorm EV3 robots to drive through. Students will be creating a program to allow the robot to drive a lap of their track taking into account all the different side lengths and angles created in the track (Gr.5 triangles, Gr. 6 parallelogram/other polygons).

In addition to the geometrical component of the race track, we will also make the connection of understanding the rate of the robot while driving. Students will be timing how long it takes to drive one lap as well as the total distance covered in order to calculate the rate at which it is moving.

Finally, we occasionally take the time to discuss the many connections between math concepts learned in class to other strands/terms that we have previously looked at or will look at later in the year. This is to impart in students minds that all things in math are connected and that they will likely see some topics again in later units.

Stay tuned for next month’s post reflecting our learning goals for March.

The school is now accepting Subway/Pizza orders for term 2 online at the following address:

https://www.sagoto.com/avsc/order/index.php

Orders will be taken between January 19th and February 2nd.

Term two will begin February 12 and run through June 25th (Subway) and February 23rd to June 22nd (Pizza)

Below are the links to the flyers posted throughout the school.

Pizza Flyer Spring 2018-uz8xk6

Subway flyer – Spring 2018-1g0wf24

DE & AK

School yearbooks are still being sold for our school and can be purchased at the following link:

https://altavistaps.ocdsb.ca/news/what_s_new/2017-2018_yearbook

Cost is $20/yearbook. Order today to make sure you reserve a copy for your child(ren).

DA & AK

Every month we will post a new set of key ideas and concepts that your child will be learning in their classes at AV. They are meant to help keep you aware of what general topics are being covered in order to be more efficient and effective in assisting your son or daughter at home. Throughout the year, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us through email at either daniel.ellis@ocdsb.ca or audree.kresic@ocdsb.ca.

Therefore, during January, the following areas will be covered:

English

In English class, we have been starting to look at creating a movie trailer for a specific plot of story line. Students have and will continue to create a script of all actions/events/text etc. for the purpose of creating a video trailer of a unique storyline. They will also have the opportunity to discover the art of creating an effective movie synopsis for their movie. Finally, they will work through using movie editing software to create a finished video product.

Also, from time to time, students will be asked to respond to different bellwork assignments from class ( Picture of the week, Video of the week etc.) on Google classroom.

Finally, starting in September and continuing until the end of May, students will have the opportunity to choose a minimum of one book to read each month of the school year. They will complete a short assignment at the end of each month on one of the books the read to be submitted through Google classroom.

Math

Moving into January, we have been continuing looking closely at area and perimeter as well as conversion of metric units. We have developed formulas of specific shapes (Gr5&6- square, rectangle, parallelogram, Gr6- triangle) by deconstructing other shapes (i.e creating a rectangle out of a parallelogram to prove the formula of A= b*h). Students have recently been working on a final project that incorporates all these concepts by designing a placemat and napkin set with the shapes discussed in class.

Moving into the final part of the month and likely into February, we will be looking at some geometry and measurement concepts such as creating angles, properties of shapes and using a coordinate system. We will have a very unique way of learning some of these concepts, as they will be also be discovering the basics of robotics (Lego Mindstorms EV3 kits) and coding in order to program the robot the move certain measured distances, at specific angles and to create lengths of specific shapes side lengths (Gr.5 triangles, Gr. 6 parallelogram/other polygons)

Finally, we have been taking time to discuss the many connections between math concepts learned in class to other strands that we have previously looked at or will look at later in the year. This is to impart in students minds that all things in math are connected and that they will see some topics again in later units.

Stay tuned for next month’s post reflecting our learning goals for February.