Weeks: November 5-9 and November 12-16

Greetings!

Looking Back…

Thank you to Spencer, Brody, Munkhu, Faith, Logan, and Bobbi for bringing in snacks and goodies for our Hallowe’en celebration! We had an awesome day and enjoyed the little thrills and chills that Belinda’s ghost stories of Lethbridge gave us!



Update:

This is just a brief update on what’s happening in the next couple of weeks.

While this week is 5 days long, next week students are only in school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Monday is Remembrance Day and teachers are involved in district-wide professional learning on Tuesday. 

Our Remembrance Day Assembly takes place in our gymnasium this Friday at 10:30. Parents and families are welcome to join us!

Sneak Peek at the Next 2 Weeks:

Language Arts:

Students will continue studying the Frequently Misspelled Words lists this week and will focus on column 2a. It is important for students to take a few minutes each night to master these words (there are only 12 to study!) So far, not only have I been impressed with the effort students are putting forth, I’ve also noticed growth in their sentence-writing skills, yay! Once again, our test will be on Thursday. Good luck! (Because next week is such a short week, we will not be focusing on a list of FMW.)



We will be taking some time to search for tasty bits of writing in our reading, do some Remembrance Day reflection and writing, as well as launch into our writing unit with exploring ideas for personal narratives! Next week will see us continuing with generating story ideas by thinking of places that matter to us and episodes that occurred in those places.



French:

Students will have another chance to play ‘le cercle magique’ this week before we get into our unit focused on the school!

Qu’est-ce qu’il y a dans mon sac a dos?

This week we will review classroom items and do a 1-minute presentation on Thursday to demonstrate our knowledge. We will then look to expand our vocabulary of school items, eventually including subjects and places in the school!



Social Studies:

We took a trip to Newfoundland last week to see where the Vikings first landed! This week we will learn how to go on a scavenger hunt through the Atlantic region and will also be addressing our envelopes to send Breezy the Beaver off! (If you haven’t already sent in a Canadian address for Breezy, please do so before Wednesday. If you have more than one that you could send, we would love that, as we have a few students without friends and family in other parts of our country!)

Math:

Those multiplication facts are really coming along! Keep up the terrific nightly practice, efforts are paying off for those who are studying! 14 out of 20 students achieved their personal best last week!

This week we will learn how to use front-end rounding, compatible numbers and compensation to estimate sums. Grade five students usually struggle with these concepts, so here’s a sneak peek:

Front-end rounding :

5 203 + 2 173 is about 5 000 + 2 000= 7 000.

Compatible numbers:

3 821 + 1 973: (make it easy, round one or both numbers so that they are easy to work with and you can add them easily)



3 821 is close to 3 800, and 1 973 is close to 2 000, so 3 800 + 2 000 = 5 800.



Compensation: involves rounding one number up and the next number down:

i.e: 2 367 + 4 398

We would round the first number to 2 000 and the second to 5 000 for a sum of 7 000.



(Students: to prove you read the blog, write a note to Ms. B. naming the 3 ways to estimate sums, and give it to her before O Canada on Monday morning!)



Once we have a firm understanding of estimation skills when adding, we will turn our attention to estimating differences (subtraction) next week!



Wellness Education:

Our class has discussed the importance of giving our bodies and brains proper fuels for learning. How challenging it is to do this the week after Halloween! Students are being reminded of the difference between snacks (healthy fuels) and treats (often filled with sugar and have little to no nutritional value). I am certain I have the support of families when I strongly encourage students to ‘eat the healthy stuff first’.

Let’s have a great couple of weeks!

It's Hallowe'en week!

We are almost in November; wow, the time is flying by! I consider myself incredibly lucky because I get to spend my days with a very enthusiastic, respectful, and fun-loving group of students. They are awesome!

It’s another exciting week in grade five! Our Halloween celebration takes place on Wednesday, thanks to the following people for supplying our snacks!

Cheese and Crackers: Brody

Vegetables and Dip: Munkhu

Fruit Platter: Spencer

Juice and Napkins: Faith

Cookies or Cupcakes: Logan

(*Please note that we have 22 students in our classroom.)



Sneak Peek at the Week:



Language Arts:

Students will continue focusing on the Frequently Misspelled Words lists this week and will focus on column 1b. It is important for students to take a few minutes each night to master these words (there are only 12 to study!) Once again, our test will be on Thursday. Good luck!

We have been focusing on fluency in reading out loud which will directly impact fluency in all reading. We’ve discussed pace, expression, attending to details, phrasing, and smoothness. Particular attention has been given to ‘obeying traffic signals’ or pausing at commas, stopping at periods and using our voice to indicate excitement with exclamation points or wonder with a question mark. Our final preparations this week will include reading to a friend and receiving feedback as well as being video-recorded so we can give ourselves feedback. We will present/perform our books to our Grade 1 learning buddies on Thursday.

We will also be taking some time to do some Remembrance Day reflection and writing this week.



French:

We will be reviewing the Hallowe'en vocabulary we learned last week and creating ‘une carte de loto’ so we can play LOTO!

Next week students will begin reviewing classroom items and school vocabulary before extending that learning to many more items in the weeks to come!



Social Studies:

We have launched our exploration of Canada much like the Europeans did many years ago: starting in the Atlantic Region! This week we will find out if we have what it takes to be an explorer. After examining what we already know about this region of Canada, we will be engaging in some inquiry (creating questions) about this region and will go on a ‘Search for Vikings’ in Newfoundland!



Math:

Last week saw our very first Multiplication Mania (only multiplication). Students were able to get some ‘base-line data’ with their first assessment. Students will once again be graphing their own results. We are challenging ourselves to improve our multiplication abilities by studying for 15 minutes each evening and have been sharing several ways students are helping themselves get better: websites, flashcards, practicing songs and jingles with the multiples, focusing on trouble facts, having parents ask them questions, and playing other games. Understanding that effort now will pay off later (i.e. when we get to 3 and 2-digit multiplication in January) students are working to remove obstacles for themselves by mastering their multiplication facts. If students are practicing 15 minutes each night and not seeing an improvement, we will have to look for strategies that are more effective for them.
Students: to prove that you read the blog, reflect on what the trickiest 2 multiplication facts are for you (i.e. 7 x 8 = 56 and 8 x 8 = 64). Write them on a piece of paper with your name and present them to Ms. B. before O Canada on Monday morning. (Psst...once you've identified 2 that are tricky, it would be wise to practice them so you are ready in case Ms. B. asks you sometime!)

This week we are aiming to solidify several ways of representing whole numbers up to one million with a game and some station work on Wednesday.



Wellness Education:

Last week students brought home a note about our ‘Kids in the Know’ program which we will be starting soon. The concept of personal safety is one of the most important topics we can learn and will serve us throughout our lives. We will also be taking a closer look at the ways we are fueling our bodies and brains, something that is of great importance around the Halloween season!



AGENDA ALERT!



…One last thank-you to parents for taking the time to review and sign your child’s agenda every evening! This is an important study habit initiated by your child that helps our students demonstrate responsibility for their learning. Your initials indicate that you have seen the agenda and that your child has completed what is listed there. I appreciate your help from home encouraging students to keep their agendas neat and up to date!

week #8

Greetings and welcome to another wonderful week in Grade 5! I hope all students enjoyed a restful long weekend and are ready to take on some more great learning in week 8!

*Wednesday is Hot Lunch day!

*Wednesday is also Wellness Wednesday! Students and staff are encouraged to dress in active-wear every Wednesday!

*Thursday is a Spirit Day with an assembly at 12:30. Dress in blue and gold!



Sneak Peek at the Week:

Mathematics:

I’m very proud of the level of commitment and hard work students put into our first unit of learning. They did extremely well on their unit test last week. It is my hope that the high levels of effort and interest continue as we move into the more challenging tasks we will face with whole numbers next!

During this unit, it is expected that students will represent and describe whole numbers to 1 000 000.

At the end of this unit, students should be able to say “I can…”:

􀂾 write a given numeral, using proper spacing without commas; e.g., 934 567.

􀂾 describe the pattern of adjacent place positions moving from right to left (10 is 10 x 1, 100 is 10 x 10, 1 000 is 10 x 100, etc.).

􀂾 describe the meaning of each digit in a given numeral; e.g., The 3 in 65 397 is in the 100 place, and therefore represents 300.

􀂾 provide examples of large numbers used in print or electronic media.

􀂾 express a given numeral in expanded notation; e.g., 45 321 = (4 × 10 000) + (5 × 1000) + (3 × 100) + (2 × 10) + (1 × 1) or 40 000 + 5000 + 300 + 20 + 1.

􀂾 write the numeral represented by a given expanded notation. e.g., 400 + 30 + 1 = 431


This Facts Friday students will be challenged with their multiplication skills only in our first: Multiplication Mania! Students will have 10 minutes to correctly complete as many multiplication questions as possible (there are a total of 66 on the page). Please continue studying every evening for a minimum of 15 minutes. Every little bit helps!

Language Arts:

We are launching our study of Frequently Misspelled Words this week! The FMW Study is made up of 6 mini-lessons taking place over 6 weeks where we will take a look at 12 tricky words each week! It is our expectation that students will take their first look at the words on Monday and then work with them that day in class and every evening in an effort to master them for Thursday’s quiz. During the quiz students will be asked to demonstrate their ability to spell six of those twelve words and then appropriately use one of the words in an interesting sentence. Most every student will need to commit some time nightly to these words, after all, they are frequently misspelled…not only by students, but sometimes by adults as well!

Last week we learned about fluency in reading and chose a picture book that we will be practicing in order to read it with fluency to our grade one learning buddies later this week.

French:

After learning a fun game with numbers, we will be studying vocabulary associated with l'halloween this week! We will review mnemonic devices (ways to help us remember) as we learn new words and then we will practise using our new vocabulary with a song and a game!

Here are a couple of links to games for practise:

Fun Vocabulary Games

Rags to Riches

Matching


Social Studies:

Our social scientists demonstrated some excellent inquiry skills last week when I told them that we would all be packing our bags and moving to Fumbo! (Don’t worry, it was just a way to gain perspective in order to develop more meaningful questions.) The questions students posed reflected exactly what we hope to learn about each region of Canada as we travel across our great country:

Location? Landforms/geographical features? Climate? Transportation? Cultural differences? Animals/Plant life? Natural resources/industries? Daily life? etc.

After examining which provinces and territories (political divisions) belong to which geographic regions (physical divisions) of Canada, students are now ready to begin our in-depth exploration of Canada’s Atlantic Region first, just as the European explorers did many years ago!

*Next week's Halloween Fun:

Students are encouraged wear or bring their costume to school in the morning on Wednesday. There will be a few minutes over the lunch break when students could get changed, but please be aware that there are 200 students who use the grade 4 and 5 washrooms, so full preparation may not be a great idea for that short time period. The Hallowe’en parade will begin at 12:30. We have discussed what makes a costume appropriate for our elementary school audience as well as items which may make a costume inappropriate. Students may NOT bring to school anything that represents a weapon or could be used as such. Students are also encouraged to save their 'extra scary' costume items (blood-filled masks etc.) for their trick or treating adventures outside of school time. We want to not only take care of our younger learning friends, but also set a fine example. It sounds like students are very busy planning and creating; we love that creativity; it is a beautiful thing!

Shortly after our Halloween Parade, we will do a drama circle and have our snack and then our grade five students will gather as Belinda Crowson formerly from the Galt Museum (and current city councillor) is joining us! An incredibly gifted storyteller, Belinda will be sharing with us some interesting and exciting stories about Lethbridge, some that just might have a haunting nature! (Do not worry, it is all great fun!)



Thank you to all those who signed up to bring snacks for that day:

Cheese and Crackers: Brody

Vegetables and Dip: Munkhu

Fruit Platter: Spencer

Juice and Napkins: Faith

Cookies or Cupcakes: Logan

(*Please note that we have 22 students in our classroom.)

Week of October 15-19

Greetings and welcome to another wonderful week in Grade 5!

The Book Fair continues this week on Monday and Tuesday. We have a time booked to return to the Book Fair on Tuesday if students would like to bring money to spend.

This week is another short week at school. Students will be dismissed at 11:40am on Thursday October 18^th because the afternoon as well as Friday morning is designated as Professional Learning time for our staff.



Sneak Peek at the Week:

Mathematics:

This week will see the end of our Data Analysis and Probability unit. Our review will take place on Monday and Tuesday before the test on Wednesday.

Next week we will dive into our new unit: Whole Numbers. During this unit, it is expected that students will represent and describe whole numbers to 1 000 000.

More specific outcomes:

Students will…

􀂾 Write a given numeral, using proper spacing without commas; e.g., 934 567.

􀂾 Describe the pattern of adjacent place positions moving from right to left (10 is 10 x 1, 100 is 10 x 10, 1 000 is 10 x 100, etc.).

􀂾 Describe the meaning of each digit in a given numeral; e.g., The 3 in 65 397 is in the 100 place, and therefore represents 300.

􀂾 Provide examples of large numbers used in print or electronic media.

􀂾 Express a given numeral in expanded notation; e.g., 45 321 = (4 × 10 000) + (5 × 1000) + (3 × 100) + (2 × 10) + (1 × 1) or 40 000 + 5000 + 300 + 20 + 1.

􀂾 Write the numeral represented by a given expanded notation. e.g., 400 + 30 + 1 = 431

Check out a few great links to reinforce these concepts:

Finding Place Values

Identifying Place Values

Practising Expanded Form



Language Arts:

This week we will continue our focus on identifying strong writing in our reading and we will also study ways to improve our reading fluency.

NEXT week (not this week) marks the beginning of our focus on Frequently Misspelled Words. The ‘FMW’ Study is made up of 6 mini-lessons taking place over 6 weeks where we will take a look at 12 tricky words each week! It is our expectation that students will take their first look at the words on Monday and then work with them that day in class and every evening in an effort to master them for Thursday’s quiz. During the quiz students will be asked to demonstrate their ability to spell six of those twelve words and then appropriately use one of the words in an interesting sentence. Most every student will need to commit some time nightly to these words.



French:

We are wrapping up our French review with birthday information, weather and seasons this week before we learn new Halloween vocabulary next week!



Social Studies:

Wow! Students really studied for their Social Studies quiz and knocked my socks off! Understanding where Canada’s provinces and territories as well as the capital cities and major bodies of water are located will help with our Social Studies learning all year long!

This week we will become familiar with the features and layout of the textbook and will learn what makes a region! Stay tuned! There’s a lot of great learning ahead!

*Next week's Halloween Fun:

Students are encouraged wear or bring their costume to school in the morning on Wednesday. There will be a few minutes over the lunch break when students could get changed, but please be aware that there are 200 students who use the grade 4 and 5 washrooms, so full preparation may not be a great idea for that short time period. The Hallowe’en parade will begin around 12:30. We will be discussing what makes a costume appropriate for our elementary school audience as well as items which may make a costume inappropriate. Students may NOT bring to school anything that represents a weapon or could be used as such. Students are also encouraged to save their 'extra scary' costume items (blood-filled masks etc.) for their trick or treating adventures outside of school time. We want to not only take care of our younger learning friends, but also set a fine example. It sounds like students are very busy planning and creating; we love that creativity; it is a beautiful thing!

Shortly after our Halloween Parade, we will do a drama circle and have our snack and then our grade five students will gather as Belinda Crowson, formerly employed by the Galt Museum and current city councillor, is joining us! An incredibly gifted storyteller, Belinda will be sharing with us some interesting and exciting stories about Lethbridge, some that just might have a haunting nature! (Do not worry, it is all great fun!)



Thank you to all those who signed up to bring snacks for that day:

Cheese and Crackers: Brody

Vegetables and Dip: Munkhu

Fruit Platter: Spencer

Juice and Napkins: Faith

Cookies or Cupcakes: Logan

(*Please note that we have 22 students in our classroom.)

It promises to be another fantastic week of learning. Students, remember to take great care of your “vehicles” (bodies and brains); you need plenty of rest, good nutrition and lots of exercise to help “fuel” your learning!

Weeks 5 & 6

Happy October!

Autumn is one of my favourite times of year! I love all the rich colors and the crunching of the leaves, the cool evenings and crisp mornings, and of course the spirit of gratitude as we look toward celebrating Thanksgiving!

In the rear-view mirror...

We had a wonderful walk to the Crossings Branch Library last week. Thank you to Munkhu’s dad and Bobbi’s mom for joining us! We found some great books to read! Students, don’t forget to send your books back before the 3-week borrowing deadline! …and remember that the bookmobile is an option!

Sneak Peek at the Next 2 Weeks:

Language Arts:

The Top 100 Words tests have gone over so well that we are done! Only a few students have a few words they are still working on, so I will be working directly with them to master those few and we shall continue on our way toward focusing on ‘Commonly Used Words’ (this list includes days of the week, months of the year etc). Students will be tested on these this Thursday!

 We will wrap-up our first novel and review of reading comprehension strategies this week! Students have learned that reading is thinking! I will continue encouraging students to use the strategies we have learned in their daily reading practice in order to continue reading growth. Parents, feel free to have conversations with your child about what he/she/you are reading! Ask your student about the following strategies: predicting, visualizing, questioning, making connections, summarizing, identifying the main idea (tell what happened in ten words or less), checking predictions, and making judgements.

Math:

This week we will be creating survey questions and options and then conducting surveys by going to different classrooms in our school. Once data is gathered (that's right: first-hand data) students will return to our classroom to graph their results. It is very likely that we will also begin the second section of this unit: Probability this week!

 A quick note about Facts Fridays:  It is clear that many of our students are taking the time to work on their facts at home every night--the evidence is in the accuracy and speed at which they are experiencing increased success in this weekly activity. I’m proud to report that 15 out of 20 students (2 were absent) demonstrated growth this week and got their best score ever! We are graphing results and many are excited to see how they are growing. We will begin revisiting each of the times tables again this week...Keep up the effort at home, it's worth every minute!

Always on the look-out to make multiplication easier for students, I shared another strategy I learned recently:

The 6 Trick:

1) Take the other number you are multiplying and hold up that many fingers (i.e. 6 x 8, hold up 8 fingers).

2) Count by 5's on each of those fingers (40)

3) Go back and count those same fingers by 1's (8)

4) Add together, et voila! (40 + 8 = 48)

*Students: to show me you've read the blog, come and explain/demonstrate the 6 trick to me on Monday ...I see a scholar dollar in your future! :)

Social Studies:

Wow! Students LOVE taking on mapping challenges on the smart board—especially if the ‘Mission Impossible’ music is playing!

Over the next couple of weeks students will be focusing on the provinces, territories and their capitals in preparation for an upcoming quiz! Students should know where the provinces and territories are located and which capital city belongs to which province/territory!

French:

Our review will continue next week, but this week we are spending time thinking about and listing things for which we are grateful in preparation for a Thanksgiving (l'action de grace) activity. My list has already begun: I am grateful I get to spend my days with an amazing community of sweet young souls!

Looking ahead:

Monday is Orange Shirt Day!

In order to recognize the difficult memories associated with Residential Schools and celebrate that ‘Every Child Matters’, students and staff are invited to wear orange on Monday. We will learn a little more about the purpose of this day (and everyday) in class on Monday.

Lifetouch Pictures:

Students will be bringing home their picture proofs on Monday. Parents, orders are due only 2 short days later: Wednesday, October 3^rd.

Extra-Long Weekend:

We are looking forward to a long weekend for Thanksgiving (no classes on Monday), with an additional day (Tuesday) for teachers to do some professional learning. After that long weekend, we will see everyone on Wednesday October10^th!

Let’s have a terrific couple of weeks!