Monday, April 25, 2022

 Today we: switched up the routine again. We added CAFE reading to our morning literacy block, now that they have their goals chosen. It is important that students are shifting from learning to read and start reading to learn, so having reading goals helps them read with more purpose and intention. 

In math, we calculated how many students walked/biked/scootered to school as opposed to driving. Environmental Week began today and the smartboard in the Prairie Room will be showing a live feed throughout the week of the classes and grades totals each day. We also calculated who brought a litter-less lunch to save waste. We had a discussion about reducing, reusing and recycling. Then we dove into decimals. We discussed the basic fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 2/3, and 3/4) and what they were in decimals. We used base ten blocks for a visual aid to see out of 100. 

In social, students studied the textbook in groups to see the history of the Canadian Shield region. They read a page as a group and took notes on what they believed was important events and key information and then presented it to the class before lunch. 

After lunch we read the Jumbies and then worked on Fractured Fairytales. We presented our newspaper observations and then did another Venn Diagram on two versions of Goldie Locks. Then we went to gym to work on our cartwheels until the end of the day. 

Friday, April 22, 2022

 Today we: skipped literacy block rotations to work more on our observations of fairytale newspaper articles. We chose new jobs and helpers for the week; next week's helpers are Yasmine and Eva. 

In gym, students worked on hand stands for their gymnastics unit. We played silent ball during snack time and the boys started to throw pretty hard to test my catching skills. 

The class earned all twelve Minecraft points so they got a full hour of time on the Chromebooks. We focused on a task related to Earth Day - they had to build a pollination garden that would support the bees. They were so creative! 

When the hour was up, we did a quick Earth Day activity about pledging to protect the environment. We watched a story read by Ms. Brinson and then wrote our pledge on a fancy cutout of something in nature.

After the Earth Day pledge, we went outside with the other grade five classes and built volcanoes in the snow. We had a great surprise for them when they finished. We brought vinegar, baking soda, dish soap and food coloring to make the volcanoes erupt! 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, April 21, 2022

 Tomorrow is Earth Day! Make sure you wear green and blue to school. Next week will be environmental week and some of the staff has prepared many activities for the students on NLS. We are encouraging the students to pack litter-less lunches, so nothing in bags or wrappers, use containers and reusable materials. We are also encouraging students to walk or scooter to school instead of being driven. Check out these awesome posters made by students in our school:

Today we: did our final practice sheet for comparing fractions. They did some textbook questions as well in their table groups to solidify the concept of comparing fractions. To give the hard-working math professionals a break, because they're just crushing this fractions stuff, they got to play math games for the remainder of the math block. 

After lunch, we dove in the Jumbies with the intention of finishing it. The other grade five classes have finished the story so I'm hoping to catch us up in time to begin the next read aloud on the docket - City of Ember. 

We ended the day with some more fractured fairy tales work. We took 4 pages from a Fairytale Newspaper and worked in groups to read, make notes, and learn about newspaper articles. They will be writing their own newspaper article on a fairytale later in the unit, so this was a good chance for observations and learning through inquiry and exploration. We will read more fairy tales next week. 

See you tomorrow for Earth Day! 

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

 Today we: had 8 students away. Hopefully they are just staying safe from the snowy roads and enjoying a snow day! They were greatly missed today. Due to the absences, we had flexible seating for the day as a trial run to see if sitting by their friends would benefit or hinder their learning. It will be back to assigned seats tomorrow. 

During literacy this morning, we practiced our morning phonics by ending the final phoneme and seeing how the sound can change the word. For example, "brew" has three sounds (b-r-oo) but if you add a "d" sound, the word becomes "brood." Word work was a bit chaotic due to so many being away. I gave some word ladders out as a literacy block choice. 

The class came in from recess soaked from playing in the snow. I am glad to see more students wearing proper winter clothing, but I still need to emphasize the importance of bringing a second outfit in their backpack, wearing boots and snow pants, and doing up their jackets (some take them off as soon as they get outside and I am not always out there with them to monitor this). 

In math, we are applying our fraction reducing skills to compare fractions. We looked at a number of fractions and labeled them lesser than or greater than. This is the final stage of our fraction lessons, and then we will move on to converting fractions to decimals to begin the decimals unit. 

We are very close to finishing the Jumbies read aloud. We will do a reflective written response on our predictions when we are finished. 

Much like yesterday, we had gym and music in the afternoon, and with the little time we had left at the end of the day, we continued social studies. Each table group had a page in the textbook to read together and then share with the class what they learned from that page. 

Hopefully more students come back tomorrow! 

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

 Today we: took some extra time in the morning to share what we did on the Easter long weekend. Word Work is progressing now that we are in revised groups, we are just about all organized now. Literacy block time was cut short due to our discussion this morning, as well as the singing of O' Canada. 

It started snowing really heavily by recess, and many students were not dressed properly. They came in looking like they had run under a waterfall! With this sticky snow, we will likely be going outside tomorrow to do some unstructured snow play, and some land-based learning, so please send them to school with a warm jacket, mittens, hat, boots, and snow pants! 

I was asked by many this morning if we were beginning our health unit on Human Sexuality today. One of our grade 5 teachers is taking a course on how to best approach this subject, so we will begin the unit on April 27, when her course is completed. 

The afternoon was mostly taken up by extra-curriculars - Music and P.E. - but in between we did a little more work on social. We are studying the history of the regions, and how Canada came to be a country based on who was here first and who came to settle.

It was pretty evident that the long weekend and sugar consumption had most of the students riled up. Hopefully they get a good night's sleep and some healthy food tonight and we can learn better tomorrow! 

Thursday, April 14, 2022

 5A spent yesterday with a Guest Teacher, but I was thrilled to come back to see they had done their work and made some progress in math! 

Today we: did our Friday housekeeping since there is NO SCHOOL TOMORROW or Monday. Our new helpers of the week are Titus and Maher. 

We went over the student code of conduct as a class this morning as some students needed reminding of how to conduct themselves in the school (i.e. no bullying, no inappropriate comments, no disrupting others' learning, be welcoming and kind, be fair, etc.). The class earned a lot of points today to make up for the week and while the noise level was always very high, everyone was focused and I saw so many lightbulbs go off! 

Math seems to be going well mainly because they are starting to get the hang of reducing fractions. It was high fives all around when they marked their own work from yesterday and saw how easy it was becoming. 

It was hard to read the Jumbies today due to all the chatter and comments. There really is a Spring Fever in the air. We had a quick trip to the learning commons to exchange our books and then it was off to minecraft. They were tasked with researching architecture and constructing a building in one of the styles listed with a partner. They had a lot of fun interacting and creating. 

See everyone on Tuesday, Happy Easter! 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

 Today we: did a mindful breathing exercise to begin our day. In for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, and out for 6 counts. Mindfulness is a great way to get into the zone for learning, feel calm and focused, and learn to regulate our emotions. The class earned some Minecraft points for being so focused with our morning literacy work.

In math, we continued to practice reducing fractions. Using our multiplication table is further helping them to memorize their fact families and find common factors. 

The students still need a fair amount of guidance for our CAFE reading goals, so we didn't get to read as much today. Once this solidifies, I will start pulling students at this time for one-on-one reading conferences. 

We used the chromebooks this afternoon to look up diagrams of circuits. They drew diagrams in their visual journals of three different circuit types: open, closed, series. They had to look up all the components for a circuit, label them accordingly, and then make a legend for the symbols used for each component. 

For the rest of the afternoon, we looked at fractured fairy tales. We read 2 stories and created a Venn Diagram to compare the similarities and differences of Little Red Riding Hood.