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.