Friday, January 21, 2022

 Today we: Began our day with daily mindfulness. Students are adjusting to the routine of preparing to learn through quiet time to settle into their minds. 

New weekly helpers were picked, hooray for Yasmine and Titus! Every week, the helpers do things such as delivering papers to the office, turning off the lights when we use the smart board, hand out papers or journals for activities, and they get first pick when the class is given options. 

Literacy block was very fluid today, students were sorted into one of the Daily 5 groups to begin their reading and writing skills. After a few minutes, they were given the choice to rotate to a different group to practice another skill. For example, someone doing Read to Self chose to start Work on Writing by planning a story with a peer. Some did Partner Reading in the open area in the hall and a small group got to play Word Games. 

We continued our DrumFit lessons for P.E., and while we miss Mr. Newton terribly, it sure was a treat to have Mr. Scout lead the lessons today. 

The rest of the day was spent using technology for Literacy and Math. An assignment was created on Prodigy and some students wrote stories in partners on Google Docs. 

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend of fun and rest. See you Monday! 

Thursday, January 20, 2022

 Today we: began the day with our daily Word Work Program. Students are starting to know the routine so well! We worked on our Lorax Letters and they have been fully completed. There was some free writing done on the Chromebooks when they were done, many excellent stories were shared with me and I look forward to reading them. 

In math we practiced our increasing patterns using math manipulatives such as blocks and cubes. Students worked in groups, rotated to stations (sanitizing of course) and build patterns that each had a pattern rule to follow. This was followed by a Prodigy assignment on the computers specifically geared towards Statistics and Probability. 

After lunch we continued our research on the Interior Plains region of Canada, making a brochure page in our visual journals. We highlighted the natural resources, climate, industries, and geographical features. 

In health, students practiced some relationship building by choosing an unlikely partner to get to know better. They were to share two truth and one lie, and try to discern which was the lie. They presented their new knowledge about their friend to the class before we went to gym. 

In P.E., students followed the lovely Ms. Gadbois who was energetic enough to demonstrate the DrumFit videos projected on the screen. They had a playlist of favourite songs and they drummed their hearts out! 

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

 Today we: learned how to print on the new system! Students worked on their good copy of their Lorax letters and some were able to hand in their good copies. The students who printed became the class "experts" and helped the following students learn how to print. It was an excellent way to give autonomy and leadership. 

It was another blue day, so with indoor recess, we watched a Bill Nye video about electricity to prepare them for the new science unit. A quick game of wax museum helped get some energy out before beginning math. 

In math we reviewed the Statistics and Probability unit. We discussed some review questions and they did Think-Pair-Share to find the answers, then we discussed them as a class. We touched on double bar graphs, data collection, and the likelihood of events in numerous scenarios, such as drawing letter tiles from a Scrabble bag. 

In the afternoon, students began their Electricity science unit by doing a research project on the chromebooks. They were given 2 websites to look at, and a google document to record their findings and consider big world ideas, like what will happen if we didn't have electricity, and how would it affect our daily lives. 

Students were assigned a specific set of tasks on Prodigy on Statistics and Probability. They were able to have some time to catch up on any assignments, complete work, and then practice their math skills through the prodigy games and challenges on the computer. 

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

 Today was Jennifer's birthday!! She really enjoyed having indoor recess today. It was a blue day so we had to get creative about body breaks as we were in the classroom for the whole morning. 

Many students started their good copy of their Lorax letter. I was pleased to see many animals and facts about wetlands mentioned and how important it is to protect them. 

In math, we explored how multiplication can help with patterns. We created patterns and rules that could be put into a formula to find the 20th term. Then we explored real world problems that this could be applied to, for example, how much video games cost and how much it would cost someone to buy everyone in the class a new video game. This was very engaging as the students have much interest in video games. 

After lunch, students calmed down with some silent reading, and then they went to music to play xylophones. 

In P.E. they played Drum Fit which was especially exciting! Giant exercise balls were used as a drum and students banged to the beat and danced around the gym to some energetic dance music. Mr. Newton even dressed for the occasion! 

The weather should be warming up so be prepared to go outside for recess tomorrow! Happy Tuesday everyone.

Monday, January 17, 2022

 Today we: started the good copy of our Lorax Letters. Students were given teacher-edited rough drafts to revise, and chromebooks to do further research on the effects of damaging a wetland. 

In math, we continued our learning of patterns by exploring number pattern rules and finding the next terms in increasing patterns. This was used with images of counters instead of real counters to limit sharing objects and spreading germs. Students practiced their addition, subtraction, and some simple multiplication to find the next terms in the pattern sequences. They worked in partners and we did a peer marking exercise to deepen understanding. 

In the afternoon, students had both music and physical education, so they had a lot of energy! In between, we read a book about dog sled communities and how they use Canada's natural resources. Students wrote the resources in their visual journals and accompanied it with a picture of what they learned. 

Tomorrow we are expecting the temperature to drop drastically, so be prepared and dress warm! See you in the morning. 

Friday, January 14, 2022

 Today we: finished a lot of projects and assignments from the week - select students needed the time to complete them while the rest did Literacy Block. 

Literacy block included groups for writing, reading to self, reading with a partner, literacy games like Wordical, and Word Work. Many students finished their good copy of their Wetland Letter so it can be teacher edited over the weekend. 

Students had many movement breaks today, between physical education and outdoor learning. We went outside after snack to explore nature and find Fibonacci spirals and numbers in the natural world. Many found spirals in the pinecones around the trees in the yard, some counted the branches and how they spread out, and some counted the clusters of trees. 

To end the day we had a Fibonacci quick quiz to assess their understanding. With everything completed, we watched the first half of the Lorax email to help spark ideas for the Wetland Letter. We likely will not finish the movie next week so feel free to watch the rest at home - it is on Netflix. 

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

Thursday, January 13, 2022

 Today we: started editing our formal letters about protecting the wetlands. Students read their work aloud to themselves and a peer to ensure their sentences made sense. They also had multiple friends read and edit their letters to help with ideas, spelling, punctuation, and grammar. At the end of the day, some students had a chance to start their good copy on the computers. 

We also continued Statistics and Probability ground work by looking at the definitions and some examples of some key terms, such as probable, improbable, impossible and certain. Students then worked in groups defining scenarios with dice rolling and counter colours. For example, students predicted what the likelihood would be to pull a yellow counter out of a bag with 9 yellow, 2 blue and 3 green counters. 

After lunch we had a trip to the learning commons for some new books! Students were very excited to have new stories to dive into for reading time. 

The day ended with some time to catch up on missed or incomplete assignments. Some students who were away this week got a chance to learn what they missed, many students got some one-on-one teacher time for help and clarity, and those who completed everything got some time on prodigy. 

One more day and the first week back to school will be a success! Hoping everyone is staying safe out there. 

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

 Today we: continued working on the rough first draft of the letter for saving the wetlands. We discussed why it is important to protect them, such as the prevention of flooding due to a sponge-like absorption in the earth. Some students made it as far as self-editing by reading it aloud to themselves when they were done. 

In math, we continued our lessons on graphing. We looked at the amount of boys and girls in all of the grade 5 classes to create a double bar graph. Students then worked in small groups completing some exercises on data collection and double bar graphing. 

After lunch we did a Fibonacci art project. Students were tasked with measuring squares in decreasing size to fit the Fibonacci Spiral. 

We ended the day with some Bench Ball and 4-Corner Tag in P.E. which the students were thrilled to play. It was a wonderful day of focus and learning, and tomorrow we will have some time for students to catch up on missed or incomplete assignments. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

 Today we: explored how to collect first hand data in math. We tallied how many students preferred a list of favourite fruits and favourite pets, and then we made bar graphs to show the results. After we analyzed the patterns found in fruit to further understand the concept of Fibonacci's sequence. They worked in groups and filled out a chart collecting data on each fruit and their characteristics. 

In Science the students were tasked with creating a FlipGrid to explain their food webs which were created before the winter break. This was a chance for them to refresh their memories on the wetlands unit, and to wrap up the unit before we start the next one on Electricity. 

In Language Arts, the students are taking their wetland knowledge and constructing an argument in the form of a letter. It is being written to City Council about protecting the wetlands from a hypothetical factory being built in our neighbourhood. They are learning the format of a formal letter, and practicing the formal language used in an argument. 

To end the day, we did a refresher on the Zones of Regulation. A social/emotional exercise as well as a body break, students were asked to draw a secret colour from a bin and perform in front of the class what it would look like to be in that zone. This was a task meant to help them recognize what emotions may look like or how it could be presented in a peer. 

Monday, January 10, 2022

Today we: had a new student join our classroom, Mehar. Speaking only Arabic, Yasmine was kind enough to give him support today, and Google Translate was a very helpful tool. It is wonderful to be back in the classroom and see all of the smiling faces we missed over break! 

In math, we introduced the Patterns unit with a Fibonacci exercise. This is an increasing pattern sequence coined by the man as named. Students were tasked with finding the pattern rule based on a problem about rabbits multiplying which was followed by a story that illustrated the pattern. For example, every newborn pair of rabbits needs one month to mature, and every month an adult pair of rabbits produces another pair of rabbits. We started with one pair and we were calculating how many by the end of one year. 

For Language Arts, we stepped back into our Words Their Way program, picking up where we left off before the break. Some students were catching up from what they missed in the last week, and others refreshed their memories on their word and sound patterns. 

Music and P.E. filled most of the afternoon. The students got to play some dodgeball tag games such as Snowball Fight and Elephant Ball. Running through the gym with energy and laughter, it was a successful movement activity. 

We ended the day with and art critique of a painting that demonstrated the style of Pointillism. The painting was called La Femme Fatale and it was of a woman in a beret hat, using dots to shape and fill the woman's face and shoulders. The students were very engaged with the style of art, and had many critiques and praises to give the artist. 

Happy to be back in the classroom and looking forward to a week of exciting tasks!