Miss Brakke's Grade Six Humanities

Happy New Year! The grade sixes have been working hard since returning from the winter break. Here are some of the topics and activities we have been working on: We began our third class novel study of Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. The story is written from the perspective of Max, a grade eight student who lives with his grandparents. He is known for his height (taller than most adults) and for not saying much. When a boy named Kevin moves in next door, Max and Kevin aka Freak quickly become friends. Freak is the opposite of Max; very small and known for being very smart. Together they are "Freak the Mighty" going on quests and adventures around their community. Students have been busy creating Matchbook Chapter Summaries as a way of reviewing and comprehending the novel.  We have been learning about Local and Provincial Government, check out the vocabulary page for the key words we have been discussing in class!  

Click this link to access the article from CBC Kids News. 

The past couple weeks in humanities, students have been working on a variety of tasks including: Completing our class novel study of The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. Students completed their chapter summaries and wrote a quiz about the novel. We also watched the movie version of the novel and compared the similarities and differences between them.  Working on our visual notes about Local Government. Using visual note taking strategies taught in class, students created a visual note sheet that included: services, elections, law making, urban, rural, council, and school boards. We will continue to explore how local governments impact us and how we can get involved in our community.  We had a guest speaker, David Howard, visit the grade sixes and explain his role as the president of the ATCO Homes for Heroes project. Students will work towards writing news articles about the project through field trips to the site and our discussion with Mr. Howard. 

This past week in humanities we:  Continued our novel study of The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. We have five chapters left of the novel, if students are behind in their chapter summaries, check out our class summaries here to catch up on work! There will be a quiz on the novel next Monday December 2nd :) Began our Local Government unit in Social Studies, looking at some vocabulary words including: council, mayor, local government, provincial government, services and councillors. Students are using visual note-taking techniques to create their own study sheet of important terms. We began to look at some of the answers to the question: Why do we have a local government?    Check out this video that explains what each level of government in Canada is responsible for! 

This week in humanities we:  continued our novel study of The Breadwinner  by Deborah Ellis. At the end of each chapter, students generate a short list of the main events that took place. To review the chapter summaries we have completed click here ! began our first week of RTI groupings for numeracy and literacy, this will continue for four more weeks.  learned about the history and culture of the Métis using the resources and information on the previous post. 

"Each year on November 16, people across Canada pay tribute to the Right Honourable Louis Riel by holding a commemorative ceremony on the day of his execution. In Alberta, the week surrounding November 16 is known as National Métis week." ( Source ) Complete the following assignment using an iPad or Chromebook.  Additional resource here . 

This week in humanities we: Read the first four chapters of The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. The story is about an eleven year old girl named Parvana who lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with her father. In chapter two, Parvana's father is arrested by Taliban soldiers and the family is left with very little, as both Parvana's mother and older sister are not allowed outside without her Parvana's father. Students are creating graphic novels to summarize each chapter.  We reviewed the Pillars of Democracy (freedom, representation, equity, and justice) as well as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom s. We will have a quiz on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on Thursday next week. Click this link to review the main points from the Charter!  Major (Retired) Bob Wade visited our school this week to speak to the students about his experience as a fighter pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force! He shared many stories of his courage, determination, and passion for...