Last week was a very busy one, and I did not seem to have a chance to blog about our classroom happenings! On Monday, myself and 4 other teachers were invited to a workshop in the west end on integrating Makerspace activities with the Math curriculum. It was very interesting to see what other schools were doing, and to share activities we have done in our class with the Ozobots and STEM activities. Tuesday was a "Snowday", so classes were combined for different types of activities. Wednesday and Thursday we tried to get back on track, completing activities and evaluations for report cards. On Friday, both groups had a great PGL on the Road workshop with Mrs. Quail-Blier! The problem she asked them to design a solution to was drawn from current events, and had a real-world application. It was very interesting to listen to the conversations within the groups and see the creative solutions each group came up with to solve this challenging and heartbreaking problem. Talk to your child to see what they remember of the challenge, and how their group solved it! I posted some pictures on Twitter!
This week, Monday is a PD Day.
Grade 5: In Language Arts, we will be completing our CASI tests on The Living Town before beginning to read Courage and Honour: The Life of Thomas Prince. We will then begin writing our own biographies, after identifying the characteristics of a biography and developing an anchor chart to guide our writing. I am really looking forward to reading these! In math, we are wrapping up our Measurement unit, and will complete a review tomorrow using PearDeck. This will be followed by a short quiz covering the main topics of perimeter, area, and converting between units of measure. (mm, cm, dm, m and km). The TIny Houses turned out really, really well. I am amazed at the creativity and detail which most students put into their tiny house models! I did post some pictures on Twitter, and will post some more pictures tomorrow.
Grade 4: In Language Arts, we will be completing our CASI tests on Islands. We will then begin the Making Connections Unit by reading Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back; A Native American Legend. As we read about each month, or Moon, the students are encouraged to relate to events in their own lives that happen during that time of the year. In math, we are wrapping up our Measurement unit, and will complete a review tomorrow using PearDeck. This will be followed by a short quiz covering the main topics of perimeter, area, and converting between units of measure. (mm, cm, m and km). The Project based learning activity of designing a Zoo turned out well, for the most part. Many students put a lot of effort and creativity into designing their zoo and including many interesting features. They are posted on the bulletin board in the classroom.
This is a great video on using the Magnetic Metric Staircase to help with conversions between units: Magnetic Metric Staircase
Upcoming events:
*Friday, Feb. 3 is the Winter "Glow Party" Family Dance at St. Peter's High School Information is available here
*Thurs, Feb. 2 will be Sweater Day! The thermostat at school will be turned down by 2 degrees, so wear your favourite sweater and stay cozy!
Monday 30 January 2017
Monday 16 January 2017
Hello and Goodbye
We have had a couple of changes to our classes over Christmas Break. Our Grade 5 class have had to say Goodbye to Nathaniel, who has moved to Nova Scotia over the holiday. He will be missed. Our Grade 4 class has enthusiastically welcomed a new student, Andrew. Welcome to St. Clare, Andrew!
Our class led the New Year Liturgy on Friday morning, and it was lovely. Congratulations to the readers who practiced all week and did a great job reading in front of the school on Friday. Well done!
Our first week back was a busy one, with looking ahead and planning goals for the upcoming year, 2017. Both groups took some time this week to look at areas of their lives that they might like to improve upon, whether at home, school, sports or hobbies; and how they might bring about change in those areas. They have written out their plan in a paragraph, edited it, and made a good copy for display. Both groups also spent some time working on grammar concepts and did a little intro to spelling work. Next week we will continue with grammar, spelling and reading practice, with a CASI reading test likely at the end of this week or early next week. No need to study for this test, though! It simply gauges the student's ability to read and understand grade level material, summarize it, give the main idea, and apply some of the knowledge of text features, character traits, or author's purpose to answer questions.
In math, we have been working on linear measurement, perimeter and area. The Grade 5 class have started a Project-based Learning activity involving the design and construction of paper Tiny House models. The purpose of this activity is to have them calculate the area and perimeter of each item in their house, as well as the house itself and all of it's features. They are really cute! I will post some pictures when they are completed, right now they are in the design and construction phase.
The Grade 4 class are consolidating their learning about perimeter and area of non-standard forms before beginning their own Project-based Learning activity, Designing a Zoo. We hope to begin this activity later this week.
We have a Faith Assembly on Thursday morning at 10:45 a.m. The students will be receiving certificates for Justice and Peace. Over the previous month, we have been looking for:
Our class led the New Year Liturgy on Friday morning, and it was lovely. Congratulations to the readers who practiced all week and did a great job reading in front of the school on Friday. Well done!
Our first week back was a busy one, with looking ahead and planning goals for the upcoming year, 2017. Both groups took some time this week to look at areas of their lives that they might like to improve upon, whether at home, school, sports or hobbies; and how they might bring about change in those areas. They have written out their plan in a paragraph, edited it, and made a good copy for display. Both groups also spent some time working on grammar concepts and did a little intro to spelling work. Next week we will continue with grammar, spelling and reading practice, with a CASI reading test likely at the end of this week or early next week. No need to study for this test, though! It simply gauges the student's ability to read and understand grade level material, summarize it, give the main idea, and apply some of the knowledge of text features, character traits, or author's purpose to answer questions.
In math, we have been working on linear measurement, perimeter and area. The Grade 5 class have started a Project-based Learning activity involving the design and construction of paper Tiny House models. The purpose of this activity is to have them calculate the area and perimeter of each item in their house, as well as the house itself and all of it's features. They are really cute! I will post some pictures when they are completed, right now they are in the design and construction phase.
We have a Faith Assembly on Thursday morning at 10:45 a.m. The students will be receiving certificates for Justice and Peace. Over the previous month, we have been looking for:
- For giving generously to those in need
- For being a peacemaker
- For treating everyone equally
- For demonstrating fairness towards others
Don't forget to wear Purple and Grey on Thursday!
Sunday 8 January 2017
Happy New Year! And Welcome Back!
I hope everyone had a safe, relaxing and joyous Christmas Holiday with their family! I know I really enjoyed having the time to just get caught up, and appreciate the little things. I am looking forward to jumping back in and getting right down to work!
We have a change to our library day for both groups - as most of you know, our librarian, Mrs. Hall, has retired after many years at St. Clare. We will miss her calm efficiency, and her ability to locate a resource from anywhere, anytime! The Learning Commons just won't be the same without her! We welcome our new library technician, Mrs. Narbaitz. She will be at St. Clare on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we will be moving our library day to Thursday for the Gr. 4. Gr. 5 students will return their books on Wed morning and choose a new book, which they will get on Thursday morning, when Mrs. Narbaitz checks it out to them.
We have one more math strand to finish up before report cards, and that is measurement. We will start by reviewing how to estimate and accurately measure linear lengths in mm, cm and m using rulers and other standard tools. We will then move on to perimeter and area of various polygons (including irregular polygons in Gr. 5). Finally, we will apply and demonstrate our knowledge in a project based learning assignment - Gr. 4 will be designing and building a zoo, with animal habitats according to set criteria, and Gr. 5 will be building a tiny house in 3D, again according to set criteria. I am really looking forward to seeing the creativity come alive!
In Language Arts, we have almost completed our Self-Monitoring Unit in Gr. 5 - the last text to read is Courage and Honour - The Life of Thomas Prince. Following this biography, we will be writing biographies of our own. We will first write short biographies on a classmate, then on a person we have chosen to research. I will go over the criteria and provide a rubric for this assignment ahead of time. In the meantime, students may want to think about who they would like to learn more about. In Grade 4, we have almost completed our Sequencing Unit. I enjoyed reading all of the "How To" slideshows! Both groups will be spending a bit of time getting back to basics for a week or two - some spelling, grammar, reading and writing activities to get them back in the "groove", and hopefully improve the structure and conventions of their writing.
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