2010
Students in Grade 6 at CCCS have been involved in a flurry of activities.
In Language Arts, students have focussed on paragraph writing, language skills development, novel study, and poetry writing. They have written a portrait of an individual showing kindness towards another, a description of their dream island, Halloween stories and dramatizations for an audience of Grade One students, and - for an audience of their choice in school - a dramatization centering on decisions. In addition, they have developed a scenario detailing the consequences of their class being deserted on an island. They have also invented a superhero and villain, and they have described a conflict between them. They ended their classes in December with a series of frozen tableaux capturing the essence of Scott O’Dell’s novel Island of the Blue Dolphins. Students are currently writing a character poem, a literary work in which the writer acquires a persona and expresses thoughts and feelings from this other point of view, and they are soon to write compositions for the Royal Commonwealth Society competition. Finally, in the spirit of the 2010 Olympic Games, they have written about a cause for which they would willingly “carry the torch,” and in the coming weeks, each student will be tracking the progress of an athlete of his or her choice.
In Mathematics, students have completed the Fractions Unit, a part of John Mighton’s Jump Math program that engages students with its emphasis on the skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and they have completed over half of Book 1 in the program. Soon, they will take a look at some mathematics-centered poetry, and they will try their own hand at it.
In Science, students have been dazzled by Mrs. McConnachie’s smart board, conducted some interesting experiments in the lab, and learned more about the world around them.
In Social Studies, students have been keeping abreast of current affairs. Now that they have completed their study of Japan, their cultural enrichment continues as they are immersed in the study of European countries.
In Humanities, students have been involved in various projects. They have invented a product and then used the power of persuasive language to convince others to “buy” it. They have also explored the nature of truth in an introductory philosophy class. In addition, after viewing a film centering on the four (classical) elements, they composed a poem illustrating the power of these elements and completed a work of art to support their views. Soon they will be drawing a self-portrait and surrounding this image with visual representations of important facets of their life. Later, each student in class will do research on a great contributor to humanity, prepare a biography and poster of that individual, and eventually portray him or her on a day that the students’ parents are guests at school.
Grade six students have expanded their language, athletic, artistic, and musical skills in French, P.E., Art, and Music respectively. Furthermore, they continue to develop their religious knowledge in Religion. For many students, it has probably been a challenging few months, but generally their active imaginations and good effort have helped them to rise to the occasion.
Outside of the classroom, students have participated in the Terry Fox Walk and the Turkey Trot. They have visited the Art Gallery to see Tibetan Monks preparing a Sand Mandala at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s “Sacred Arts of Tibet” and seen John Vicker’s intricately designed Pumpkin Art. They have also had the honour of listening to the vivid, moving reminiscences of World War II veterans at The Royal BC Museum to commemorate Remembrance Day. And they have enjoyed a “Jingle Bells swim.”
In closing for now, Mr. Bird, the Grade 6 teacher at Christ Church Cathedral School, would like to extend special thanks to Clare Turner, the enthusiastic and caring teacher who has been providing the Grade 6 class with invaluable help in the mornings, and to Cody FitzSimmons, the dynamic university student who has been offering great support in the afternoons. Mr. Francis Bird |
