Tuesday 18 December 2012

Visit to Westdale

Both 6Wo and 6We, along with students from Westgrove School, had the pleasure of visiting Westdale School this morning to watch their various bands perform.   Mr. Boch led three tunes with his full Symphonic Band, three holiday tunes with his grade nine students, and two tunes with the jazz band.   They were fantastic! 

After the performance, our students had the opportunity to ask questions of both Mr. Boch and of the band members.  It was great to hear about the different instruments on display, and about the organization of the Westdale band program.  Being a "band geek" myself (during my youth I played French Horn with the Army Cadet program for 7 years) I really enjoyed hearing the new tunes each of the bands had prepared for us.  

Besides the fabulous music, my personal favourite moment of the morning was when Mr. Boch asked the audience, "Have you ever heard of the blues?", to which one of our students responded, "Do you mean the hockey team?".   I had a good chuckle, and realized that maybe it was time to whip out some of my B.B. King, Etta James, George Thorogood and John Lee Hooker tunes!

Thanks Mr. Boch, students and Westdale School!





Monday 17 December 2012

Busy Winter Days!

The students of 6We have been incredibly busy this month!  Always, at this time of year especially, it feels as if there is so much to do and so little time!  So, as pictures are worth a thousand words, take a look at the photos of us and our learning below.  We welcome your comments!


















Wednesday 5 December 2012

Among the Hidden

Today we finished our read aloud of the novel, Among the Hidden, by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  The students were astonished throughout the story to think that families could be limited in the number of children they could have.  This lead to several discussions about human rights around the world, including population laws in China.  Students also made the connection to our new penpals from Uganda who wrote and asked us why we (generally) have small families here in Canada, and told us about the many difficulties they face in their communities due to government and social restrictions.  The students of 6We will be happy to learn that this book is just the first in a series of seven Shadow Children novels.




Monday 3 December 2012

Democratic Electoral Vote

"Today we did a vote for an extra class in a favourite subject.  In the end, the results were 11 for Art, 2 for Social Studies, and we had 4 spoiled ballots.  We learned that this type of voting is fair, clear and encourages participation."  - Luc and Urooj

"Today we had Kindergarten buddies.  My buddy and I went to the compter lab and played on Starfall." -Jade

"Today in Kindergarten buddies, my buddy and I played 7-Up.  I actually ended up teaching Urooj how to play" - Holly

"My Kindergarten buddy had to teach me how to play 7-Up as I forgot how!"- Cylas