Monday, February 28, 2022

 Today we: were slightly off the morning schedule as everyone had so many eventful weekend stories to share. We are back to doing our literacy block rotation every morning so they can read and write more consistently. The phonics program is progressing from 3 sound words to 4 sounds, such as slip (s-l-i-p). 

In math, we did a 5-minute drill on multiplying by 7, then had a number talk about multiples of 7. This was followed up with a mental math strategy about friendly numbers. We watched a video with a song to remember the numbers that make 10, which helped to see more clearly how to add or count on mentally. 

We will be exploring long division more tomorrow, but the students were given extra time this morning to work on anything that needed catching up. Primarily, the social presentations needed to be caught, but those who are done were given time to work on their visual journals in an attempt to earn higher marks. 

In the afternoon, they did some pattern games in music. In P.E., the students started their hockey unit learning to use hockey sticks. 

Finally, with the 30 minutes left of the day, social presentations began and we saw 3 different pairs present their slides and discuss their chosen region.  

Friday, February 25, 2022

 Today we: followed our morning routine the same as always. Phonics and word work are progressing well, and the students are calm and ready to begin after their 5 minutes of mindfulness. Friday housekeeping always involves picking new helpers for the week and setting up new chore responsibilities. The helpers next week will be Abelina and Zak. This was followed by our Literacy Block which cycles students through specific literacy activities like reading, writing, and speaking. 

In P.E., the class played ultimate hide and seek. There were mats set up to hide behind, and anyone with an orange ball could tag you to be out, and the ones with a purple ball were invincible and could un-tag. They had a blast! After this we had a snack and spent some time outside enjoying the snow with the Gadbois Gang. They were challenged with the task of building the highest mountain, and some students even made a mermaid! 

 

The rest of the morning was dedicated to Minecraft. They have earned 10 points this week and multiplied by 5, that makes 50 minutes of time to create their own Minecraft worlds. We had a full class today, no absences, which tells me this is a very engaging learning opportunity! No one wanted to miss it. 

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend! See you Monday! 

Thursday, February 24, 2022

 Today we: had a great discussion about current events and their connection to racism. Black History Month has so many relative subjects and the students were so interested in knowing more about history and current events. We briefly talked about World War II and how it was driven by racism against Jewish people, and how it connects to Putin in Russia choosing to invade Ukraine for similar reasons (we gathered this from a video on the news aired today). Anne Frank was discussed and a few students have already read or want to read her book based on this discussion. We also talked about why the world gets involved in country conflicts and how this takes it from a war to a world war. It was amazing to see so much interest, and we researched so many things as we talked to make sure the facts we looked up were credible - this led to a talk about fake news, propaganda, and social media as well. It was very brief, and many things were brought up, I encourage parents to facilitate more discussions around these topics, but they will be learning more about them as they grow to junior high. 

In math, we are perfecting our skills with our times tables by doing 5 minute drills first and reviewing with a number talk. Today we did the 3's and followed it up with a visual explanation of counting by 3's. We looked at all of the multiples of 3 up to 12, and we used blocks to show groups of 3. We discussed patterns we saw in the line up, and strategies to remember the ones we struggle with - such as referring to the closest multiple we remember and counting up from there. After, the class split off into groups and worked on two division word problems. They were encouraged to work together on strategies and to make mistakes to help get closer to the answers. We took it up as a class afterwards, and reviewed how to do long division which is just more practice using the times table charts. Some light bulbs really went off today!

The kids were thrilled to have outdoor recess again! They've been encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather, and not to count on blue days for every cold day. Hats, mittens, proper coats and shoes are important for playing in the snow. The exercise was definitely missed this week, so they were much less stir crazy with some movement and fresh air. 

After lunch the students had music and P.E., so with the little time in between, they worked on their social presentations. Curling continued with Mr. Newton, and the students are learning the difference between a strong throw and a soft one. With curling, it is crucial not to throw so hard or it will not land on the circle, but blow past it, but they can hit their opponent off the circle! Competition was motivating and they had a lot of fun practicing their skills. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

 Today we: showed up in our brightest pink shirts to raise awareness for anti-bullying. We continued reading a book about racism this morning where we also discussed cyber-bullying and how discrimination can occur in many different scenarios across many platforms. This was a fantastic discussion that promoted a lot of acceptance as we all shared our ethnic backgrounds, our personal stories, and the consequences of cyber-bullying. Students were incredibly kind and open and it was a very positive experience. 

In math, we did a 5-minute drill on our 6 times tables and then had a number talk about counting by 6's. This helped students to see the patterns as we discussed strategies for knowing our multiplication facts. Students then split into groups to explore a division problem about a school lunch event - for example, samosas were $3 per package and the parent council spent $63 total on samosas, so they had to use their knowledge of multiples of 3 and 6 to find how many packages of samosas were bought. 

The social projects are coming to an end, and students are preparing to present them. Many are starting to write scripts and practice their presentations to one another to get ready for next week. 

Being a blue day, students have been inside for recess twice now, and so I took the liberty of showing them a movie during snack and lunch today - Encanto. They sing the songs to me almost every day, so it was a great way to do something fun and engaging that gave us teachers a bit of calm through the chaos. 

After lunch we read another chapter of the Jumbies, shared predictions, and worked on our visual journals before going to the Learning Commons for new books. We ended the day with a science exploration using battery circuits to make a small lightbulb glow. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

 Happy TWOsday everyone! It is the 2nd day of the week, the 22nd day of the month, the 2nd month, and the 22 year in the 2nd millennium. That is why it is Twins day too! Some students dressed to match their classmates, and all the grade 5 teachers and Mr. Newton all dressed to match in jeans and plaid shirts. Take a look at these matching besties below:

Tomorrow is another spirit day - Pink Shirt Day! This is a day to remember when two boys stood up for a student who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. These boys came to school, the day after seeing this boy bullied, wearing pink shirts to show their support. They also had more than 85% of the school join in wearing pink. This also connects to Black History Month and our learning of the term "discrimination." We all wrote on a tiny pink shirt cut-out what we would do to spread kindness in the school, which will be added to the display in the Prairie room. Remember to wear pink shirts tomorrow! 

Today we: read a book about racism and discussed key words like discrimination, equality, stereotypes and prejudice. We added to our visual journals while we had a meaningful and respectful discussion about stereotypes and unfair treatment. Many classmates had anecdotes to share as these issues are still very prevalent in our time. The important thing is to educate ourselves on the facts so we can prevent unfair judgement. 

In math, we began exploring the concept of division using blocks to make arrays of different fact families in our times table charts. For example, students were able to see that the number 20 can be divided in to more groups than just 4 and 5, such as 2 and 10. They were able to connect the numbers they learned in the chart, and visualize by dividing the objects physically to further their learning.  

We watched a read aloud done by Mr. Scout about planting seeds and the metaphor to planting kindness and watching things grow. This connected to pink shirt day and how we can prevent bullying by being kind.  

After lunch, we had the computers to work on our social projects and prepare for presenting them at the start of next week. We also did a quick survey for CBE. We ended the day with P.E. and curling in the gym. 

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

 Today we: treated the day like a Friday since the students have a 5-day weekend. We had Literacy Block this morning after our Word Work and Phonics routines. 

In math, students had a 5-minute quiz on 8's multiplication facts just to see where everyone is on their comfort levels. This task allowed me to work with individuals based on what skills needed support. Students paired up and created their own 2-digit multiplication problems for each other and walking them through the steps. Using their times table charts to get more comfortable with the facts. 

Before lunch, students made more progress on their regions slideshows. Presentations will be at the end of next week. Students who are already done have begun "special interest" research projects where they choose a topic of interest and make a slideshow and presentation on important facts about the topic. This enhances their research skills. 

After lunch we read the next chapter of The Rise of the Jumbies. Students shared their predictions and while I read, they worked on their visual journals, focusing on their listening and summarizing tasks. 

With a quick exercise to get everyone stretched out and re-energized, the class got to end the day with some earned Minecraft time. 

Here is a look at our Compliment Hearts! 

Spirit Day on Tuesday! TWOsday where we are allowing students to be twins by dressing to match with a friend. This will take some planning so hopefully students can chat over this excellent 5-day weekend. Have a great mini-break everyone!

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

 Today we: discussed the term "discrimination" and how it shaped Black History and the creation of Black History Month. Students corrected spelling errors in the definition written on the board and then we read a book about racism as they jotted down key words and meanings in their visual journals on their Black History Month page. 

In math we continued our multiplication pairings from yesterday, practicing some fact family webs and building mental math strategies for the times table. When students finished their exercises, we used the remaining time before lunch to finish coloring our compliment mats from Friday. 

After lunch the students had Music and P.E. again. In music, they sang a song about how to make new friends and practiced using some instruments with some games. In P.E. they played some inventive curling on the gym floor with some wheelie equipment. Be sure to ask your children for clarification!  

The day ended with computer time to work on our social projects, but with the wi-fi crashing, some students spent the time finishing other work or reading. Hopefully it is back up for tomorrow's Minecraft time!