Helping Your Child to be Successful in Grade 6

Here are some simple tips for helping your child to have a great year! Stay positive and offer lots of encouragement Read through the agenda every night to stay updated Create a quiet work place for you and your child to do homework (away from technology and distractions) Allow your child to see you read and write and discuss how what you read relates to everyday life Go on outings and be inquisitive! Read with your child everyday Ask me questions whenever you are unsure or need support

Ms. Durdan Contact Information

Please feel free to contact me whenever you have any questions or concerns. Children tend to perform better at school if there is open communication between the teacher and home. Also, please let me know if you are willing to volunteer around the school!

Welcome To Ms. Durdans Class

Telephone:
Email: adurdan@dsbn.ca 905-357-0000, ext. 1001

Grade 6 Valley Way School 2014-2015

Class Website: msdurdanclass.com

School Address: 1004 Valley Way St. Catharines, ON L2E 4R6

Parent Information Brochure

For information in another language please call Ms. Durdan

Planning
All course planning will take into consideration the following (and more!): Curriculum documents Student knowledge and special interests Character development Multiple intelligences (please see class website for more information) Learning needs of students Differentiation (visual, auditory, tactile, and hands-on activities) A

Assessment
design, meaning that they are created with the question, what do I want the students to know

Agenda
The agenda is a daily form of communication between the school and home. Each day students will be given time to write in their agenda The agenda will include homework, important dates, and classroom updates Notes from the teacher may be written in the agenda

in mind. The planning begins with the end product. For more information on Backwards Design please see the class website. Students will be assessed in many different ways throughout the year including formative assessment practices and self-evaluation tasks.

c hievement Chart (see link on website) Opportunities for choice

Each major unit will end with a culminating task that allows students to demonstrate what they have learned. The culminating task activity will be discussed at the start of the unit so that students can brainstorm ideas and collect information for their end piece. All units are created by backwards

Formative Assessment occurs throughout a task as opposed to Summative Assessment, which occurs at the end. Formative Assessment provides guidance to the students while offering them suggestions for improvement and the next steps, and encouraging revision of work.

The agenda is the most frequent source of communication between home and school. It is most effective when guardians that the time to look over it with their child each night.

An emphasis will be placed on selfevaluation skills so that students learn to become efficient evaluators of their own work. Through self-evaluation students will be

First Important Date: Meet the Teacher, September 20, 5-8 pm