March 23-27

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Good Morning Holy Cross Grade 6 Students and Parents,

I hope you had a relaxing and healthy March Break. I miss you already! I know that this is an unusual year with passed union strike days and now precautionary time at home due to covid19. This begins with a school closure for the next two weeks. I have no way of knowing whether this will continue after April 6. I will keep you informed. Don’t worry. I will have school work for you to insure a successful Grade 6 year for however long is necessary. I will have regular contact with you through email, so make sure to check your board email every morning and evening. I will be available to respond to your questions and help you with your work.

• Our class will be continuing our studies online via Hapara.

• You will need to have a device to access this online platform. A laptop, home computer, ipad, etc… is appropriate.

• You will also need a quiet, uncluttered place to work. A clean desk in your room or something similar is appropriate. You should not be working where you do your gaming -- we know the temptation to become distracted will be too great for some --You know who you are!

• You will need to set up a schedule to stay on top of your work and get it done. You should be working on school work for five days a week, just as you would if you were going to the Holy Cross building. As a family you can decide what is an appropriate schedule. You can use the usual Holy Cross daily schedule that includes recess and lunch break if that works:

Block 1: Math 9:15 - 10:30 AM

Morning Recess 10:30 - 10:45 AM

Block 2:ELA & Relig/FamLife 10:45 - 12:00 PM

Lunch 12:00 - 1:00 PM

Block 3 (Frangione/Lee) 1:00 - 2:15 PM

Afternoon Recess 2:15 - 2:30 PM

Block 4 (Frangione/Lee) 2:30 - 3:45 PM

However, as an independent learner, you may find you can get through your work much faster. You may be able to get everything done in the morning, leaving your afternoons free. It will depend on how focused and dedicated you are. You could, for example, work from 8am - noon, taking 10 minute breaks every 30 minutes. Do your least favourite, first; followed by your preferred subjects. Save the best till last.

• Continue to check this class website. There is a lot of relevant subject support in "Parents Place". I will continue with class news/announcements through this blog. I will continue to paste the weekly agenda that includes spelling words under "Homework". Your parents can continue to test you on spelling on Fridays.

• Continue to read a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Sora on your OCSB Student Portal will give you access to ebooks.

• Continue to do your Spiral Math Monday-Thursday. We are at Week 27.

• Write at least one paragraph in your Writing Journal every school day. This should take no more than 15 minutes. Start with the date and title. It should be a proper paragraph (starting with an indent) with at least 5 full, well written sentences. Skip lines. You can write multiple paragraphs if you like. Practice using your spelling vocabulary from your weekly spelling list and other descriptive words. You may choose a different writing prompt from the list each day, or you can come up with appropriate ones of your own. Start picking from this Grade 6 Writing Prompts List. You can do this in your Journal workbook or you can start an ongoing google doc for all your Journal entries.

• You can add practice from your EQAO workbook. We will not have EQAO testing this year, but the workbook still provides good practice on required curriculum topics for grade 6. Skip questions on topics we haven’t done yet. You can go back to those once we have covered the topic.

• I will be covering new Math, English Language, Religion and Family Life topics through Hapara.

You took home the following on the Friday before March Break:

• English Writing Journal

• Spiral Math duotang

• EQAO workbook

• Confirmation workbook

• Book Report Template

You will be using these so keep them in a safe, accessible place. If you weren’t at school to pick up these, then you can do the majority in google docs.

Have a good week.