Hill Junior School: Weekly Parent Information

It is hard to believe that we are already heading into the final week of classes. We want to thank the student-athletes for their enthusiasm to learn and grow and their level of commitment to the program. The student-athletes make The Hill what it is and we are fortunate to work with such exceptional boys and girls! Literacy/ Social Science

The grade 7/8s are working through a socials unit on the human impact on the earth including water pollution, housing and air, noise and light pollution. Students selected a scenario to look further into while also selecting a form of research to use. Students were asked who they trust more to support their belief of climate change between scientist or politicians. In a journal, students were asked a few personal questions about their time at the Hill. One grade 8 student's advice to a future Hill student: "The most important advice I would give somebody attending the hill next year would be trust your coaches." A grade 7 student shared how they experienced growth this year: "Some growth I've noticed is my confidence on and off the ice, for example, presenting a project in class or stepping up in a drill on the ice." It was a fun week capped off with a special task of providing a video of themselves doing a recap of their year. The grade 5/6s powered through seven chapters of their novel along with their chapter questions. It's hard to not turn to the next page! I will guess that there are a handful of students who have already gone ahead of our assigned chapters. The grade 5/6s were also asked to journal what advice they would give or to acknowledge any growth they've experienced. Here is some advice from one of the grade 6 students: "Well, first, always be on time for classes (especially workout). If you are late for workout, on the stairs you go. Hockey is really fun. All you have to do is work hard and for the last 15 minutes we play a scrimmage. The teachers are really nice and will always be supportive no matter if you are right or wrong and lastly, always be positive. If you are positive you will make friends really easily." Students were asked to finish the week off by recording a video of themselves to highlight the year. Their opinions are great to hear. Math/ Science For this upcoming week the we will be having class via Zoom on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and check-ins on Tuesday & Thursday. Our Zoom classes will resemble a regular class where we will be doing most of our learning and our check in days will be full of homework checks and questions. For the 5/6's our meetings of groups of 3 will be on Monday, Wednesday, & Thursday where we will discuss our progress on our Constellations project.  Grade 5/6s This past week, the class learned how to calculate area of a trapezoid and the students selected their constellation for their final project of the year. This week we also started our one-on-one meetings where we went through any problems or questions regarding their constellation project. Next week, we will continue to have one-on-one meetings and focus on completing our constellation projects by the end of the week, as they are due on Friday, June 12th. Grade 7/8s This past week, the class worked on calculating the circumference and area of a circle using algebraic equations and used inspection to solve for values of missing variables. At the end of the week, the class was introduced to volume of a cylinder and explored how they could use the area of a circle to find out a cylinder's volume. Next week, we will be learning how to calculate the surface area of a cylinder and be writing our final quiz of the year. The Measurement quiz will cover all that we have learned in the past couple weeks and will be during class time on Friday, June 12th. Furthermore, at the beginning of next week, the class will be tracking their water usage for the week and will be handing in their Water Usage Log with reflection in at the end of the class on Friday.  French Grade 5/6s Another great week with the grade 5/6 French class. As the year is winding down, I want to congratulate the students for such a great year. There is so much to be proud of. So many of the students have improved, not only in the French language, but in many other subjects and areas of their lives. It's been my privilege and honour to be their French teacher. I'm extremely proud of each and everyone of them. They all brought something unique to the class that made my experience, and I hope theirs enjoyable. This past week, we worked on reading comprehension to finish off the year. Of course, we had Fun French Friday to cap off the week! Grade 7/8s Another great week with the 7/8 French class. The students continued to work on their culminating tasks where they each have a country that they are exploring. The students finished their recorded presentations and we met individually to go over their topics. I was blown away with how much detail they went into. It was very insightful and I'm a very proud teacher. This culminating project was to emulate what they will expect for the next four years. I'm happy with the final product, and I hope they learned just as much as I did throughout their experience working on this project. Lastly, I would just like to say I am grateful and thankful to have been apart of their journey. Congratulations! Physical Education and Health Last week we once again had three workouts together on Zoom, two in small groups and one with the whole class. Although this is not how we envisioned the end of year, we are proud of the way the junior school student athletes have embraced the challenges that have come their way. We are proud of how they've matured and progressed throughout this year! Heading into this last week of classes the goal will be to have fun, enjoy the beautiful weather and get a couple of good workouts in.

Important Dates: Friday, June 12th, 2020- Final day of instruction in the Junior School Thursday, June 18th, 2020- Athletic Gala 6:00- 8:00pm (via Youtube Live)  Have a great week!  Sincerely,  Courtney McCracken, Jake Cook, Drazen Glisic, Luc Magnan, Tory Merrill