Spongebob!

Just a little Spongebob for you Grade 5!

We completed Day 3 of Centers this morning.

After recess, students had library.

We then completed Math Pods. At teacher table, we reviewed yesterday's volume assignment. Seat work had students exploring and creating as many rectangular prisms as possible that have a volume of 24 cubic centimeters. Students started to explore capacity and volume with Taking Measures at computers.

After lunch, students had French and Phys. Ed.

Have a great long weekend everyone! See you Monday!

Reminders
Spelling test Monday
Book Orders by Tuesday

BONUS
Hand in your Bonus questions on Monday morning to receive your Bonus points!!

We completed Day 2 of Centers this morning.

After recess, students worked in groups to complete their House Designs and calculate the area and perimeter of each room. Stay tuned for their projects!!

After lunch, we discussed yesterday's math assignment. Students then worked with Nets and estimating the cubic volume of these nets. Students were assigned pages 140-141 (1,2,6,9).

To complete the day, we created a population graph of the different provinces and territories. Students then used the rest of the class to study for their Social test which will be on Thursday, February 4.

Reminders
Sub orders and money due tomorrow
Class trip money and forms due ASAP

Bonus
On our Clustr Map, what do the different dot sizes represent?

I hope everyone has been able to dig themselves out of all the snow!

We started a new set of Centers this morning. We completed Day 1.

After recess, students had Science with Mrs. Gale.

We headed down to the computer lab where students were able to choose any activity from their Math folders working with Area, Perimeter, and/or Volume.

After lunch, we completed Math Pods. At seatwork, students worked in their groups to complete their house designs. At computers, students watched a short video called Volume and Displacement. At teacher table, we reviewed the Explore activity students did last week and worked on page 137 (4,5,6). This assignment is due for tomorrow.

Students finished off the day in Health with Mr. Leidl.

Have a great evening!

Reminders:
Subway lunch order form and money
Class trip permission slip and money

Day 1's always fly by so quickly for me! We started off the day with our new Spelling Words - Lesson 14 (later, purchase, astonished, brought, upon, transform, beautiful).

We then worked on our house designs in Math. Students completed their rough drafts of their houses and calculated the area and perimeter of each of the assigned rooms.

Students finished off the day with Art, French, and Health.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

We completed Day 4 of Centers this morning. All Center activities are due tomorrow morning.

After recess, we started to discuss our first comprehension strategy, Visualization. Each student was given a poem from Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back. Students were then asked to visualize and draw a picture of what they see after reading the poem. Each of these illustrations were added to our Thirteen Moon Turtle that is hanging outside of our classroom door. Great job Grade 5!

Students then wrote Lesson 13 Spelling test. We also completed reading our read aloud, Dive.

In Math Pods today students began their Architect project. Students are working in their groups to design a house. Once they have their design, students will have to calculate the area and perimeter of each room. Students also worked to complete their ideal bedroom design and calculate the area of the furniture they used. At teacher table, we began exploring with volume by working in pairs to find the volume of a variety of containers.

To finish off the day, we continued to work on our Role/Audience pieces of writing. After sharing some of our writing, students were introduced to the trait of Conventions. We then went through our short stories and edited our pieces. Stay tuned for the wonderful writing that students have put together once again.

Reminders
Field Trip permission forms returned to school ASAP
Subway order forms by January 28

Bonus
What is the name of our classroom visitor on February 9 and what does he do?

After Assembly this morning, we completed Day 3 of Centers.

Students had library after recess with Mrs. Schentag.

We then reviewed yesterday's Explore activity in Math. Students then worked on pages 133/134 (1 a,b, 4,6). We will continue to explore with area and perimeter this week.

After lunch, students had French and Phys Ed.

Reminders
Please return the trip permission forms ASAP.
Spelling Test tomorrow

We completed Day 2 of Centers this morning.

After recess, students practiced using the Voice trait in their writing. Students were to choose from a list of roles and a list of audiences to complete a Quick Write activity. Students are continuing to work with writing in difference voices, not just their own.

Before lunch, students had French with Mrs. Orosz.

After lunch, we completed Math Pods. At station 1, students worked in pairs to complete a perimeter activity. Station 2 had students working with perimeter to create spaceships using Airline Builder. At station 3, students worked in pairs to complete an Explore activity looking at area of different rectangles.

After recess, students were given one last class to complete their Hero paragraphs and research packets in Social.

Bonus
What is the name of this month's PictureTrail?

To start off our day, we completed Day 1 of a new set of Centers. At Guided Reading, group 1 continued to work on their own versions of a Trickter's Tale. Their Graphic Organizer is due for tomorrow. Groups 2,3, and 4 completed Character Trait maps for How Raven Freed the Moon.

After recess, students had Science with Mrs. Gale.

In Computers, students worked to practice using perimeter by completing Perimeter Practice.

After lunch we worked as a whole group to review conversions in measurement and perimeter. Students were assigned page 130 (3[a,b], 6{a,b], 7) due tomorrow.

Students finished off the day in Phys Ed.

Reminders:
Class trip forms and money

We completed word processing of Lesson 13 Spelling Words this morning.

We then worked to complete word processing our Three Little Pigs voice stories.

Students were introduced to our new problem solving strategy: Make It Simpler. We worked as a whole group to complete a problem. Students then worked in small groups to complete a second problem.

After lunch, we completed Math Pods. At Computer station, students worked on Building a Shed. At seat work, students worked on pages 124/125 (1,3,4,5,6,8,12). At teacher table we started to discuss perimeter and area. We are working to complete the explore activity on page 124. Please use the Virtual Geoboard to complete this assignment at home.

To finish the day, we worked on our Hero's paragraphs and Canada: Our Country research packets.

Have a great weekend!!

Reminders:
Return permission slips for February trip ASAP

We started the day with Lesson 13 spelling words (describe, government, nothing, complain, independent, responsible, table). We will continue to word process tomorrow.

We then completed Math Pods. Station 1 had students working on a booklet to determine the appropriate unit of measurement. This booklet is due tomorrow. At Station 2, computers, students worked on Measurement Practice. At Station 3, Teacher Table, we discussed using referents when we want to estimate length. Students worked in partners to complete a short referent actiivity where they had to find objects to meet a specific measurement, first by estimating then by finding the actual measurement.

Students finished off the day with Mrs. Schentag in Art.

Enjoy the short day!!

We completed Day 4 of Centers today. All Center activities are due tomorrow.

After recess, students had Science with Mrs. Gale.

We wrote our Lesson 12 Spelling test before lunch. We also read the next chapter in our read aloud, Dive.

After lunch, we completed a period of Math pods. Students were given an opportunity to re-write the Estimation section of their division test. The re-write is attached at the back of the Division test. We have begun our next unit, Measurement. Students worked in pairs to complete an activity titled Measure Up. Students had a variety of measurements to complete. At computers, students completed Measure It!.
The Division test was sent home today. Please sign and return tomorrow.
I have also sent home the most recent MarkBook page for Math. If you have any questions please contact me.

To finish off the day, we worked on adding detail and word choice to our Voice assignment in Creative Writing. Students are doing an excellent job writing The Three Little Pigs from the wolf's voice!! The versions of the story that we are coming up with are hilarious!!

Have a great evening!

Reminders:
Center activities due tomorrow.
Early dismissal tomorrow.

We completed Day 3 of Centers this morning. The final draft of A Tricker's Tale is due tomorrow for groups 2,3, and 4.

Students had library after recess and wrote their Division test.

After lunch, we had French and Phys Ed.

Reminders:
Spelling test tomorrow
Click orders due Friday, January 15

Bonus
Question 3
What color is Spidey?

We completed Day 2 of Centers this morning.

After recess, we worked on our Voice Fairy Tales. Students continued to work through the writing process in writing their own version of The Three Little Pigs from the voice of the wolf. We will be posting these stories on the students' blogs.

After lunch, we worked in Pods to review Division before our test tomorrow. One group worked with Mrs. Gale to practice problem solving in Division. Another group worked with me to review the long division strategies and correct last week's assignment. At computers, students played Math Frog to practice long division. Tomorrow is our Division unit test. Study hard!! Components of the test include:
1. Identify parts of a division question
quotient, divisor, dividend, remainder
2. Estimation - Front end rounding, Compatible numbers
3. Long division - Repeated subtraction, long division
- use multiplication to check
4. Problem solving

To finish off the day, we worked on our Canadian Hero paragraphs. We also took some time to work on our Canada: Our Country research packet.

Reminders:
Book Orders due tomorrow
Popcorn Sale - Friday, January 15
Math Test - Tuesday, January 12

I was unable to make it to school today as my daughter has the flu bug. Here is what I left for the sub so hopefully it follows the day fairly closely :)

Students started the day by completing Day 1 of Centers. All of the Guided Reading groups are working in the anthology Tales - Clever, Foolish, and Brave.

Students were off to Science with Mrs. Gale after recess.

In Computers, we worked on our research packets: Canada - Our Country.

After lunch, students worked to complete 12 long division questions choosing one of the two strategies introduced. Once again, students are encouraged to use the strategy that they are most comfortable with using. If they finished early, students were given the opportunity to play mulitplication/division folder games. They will have a Division quiz on Tuesday, January 12.

We finished the day with Phys. Ed!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Reminder:
Book orders due Tuesday, January 12.

BONUS
People from all over the world have been looking at our blog. Using the blog map, find and list the names of 3 countries, other than Canada and the United States, where people have been looking at our blog.

Repeated Subtraction Division

Here is a short video clip to help explain the division strategy of Repeated Subtraction. Students have been provided with two division strategies, Repeated Subtraction and Long Division (the "traditional" strategy). I encourage students to use the strategy they are most comfortable with.

Students started the day with Mrs. Schentag in Art.

We then worked to complete the word processing of Lesson 12 spelling words. Students will have a spelling test on Wednesday, January 13.

After recess, students worked on their graphic organizer and first draft for their Voice assignment. Students are re-writing The Three Little Pigs from the wolf's perspective (voice).

After lunch, we worked in Math pods to review Long Division. Students worked in small groups with the Smartboard and completed Drag N' Drop. Students also worked at the computers with Math Frog. Both of these sites allowed the students to review long division. We also worked at teacher table to complete some paper and pencil examples of long division. Students were assigned page 106 (2-a,c,e,g,h,i). These 6 questions are due tomorrow.

After recess, we completed station in Social. At station 1, students worked to research and complete Canada: Our Country. In this booklet, students are looking for the population, capital city, flower, and motto for each province and territory. Station 2 had students working on a Canadian symbols word search. Station 3 had students review their 6 interesting facts that they gathered regarding a Canadian hero. These facts will be used in centers to organize and write a short paragraph regarding their chosen Canadian.

Reminders:
January book orders are due Tuesday, January 12.

Students began the day by creating sentences for Lesson 12 spelling words (machinery, order, nearby, impressive, across, location, opportunity). We will continue to word process our sentences tomorrow. We completed another day of Math pods before recess as well. Students worked on pages 102/103 (4,7,10,13). This assignment has students practice using Repeated Subtraction to divide and is due for tomorrow. At computers, students played Division Magician. At teacher table, students were introduced to the second division strategy, Long Division.

For the afternoon, students had Art with Mrs. Schentag, French with Mrs. Orosz, and Phys. Ed. with Mr. Leidl

We started off our morning with Math Pods. We worked in three seperate groups to complete 2 new division strategies. One station had students working together to use virtual manipulatives to demonstrate division with base ten blocks. Students used Virtual Blocks to answer a number of questions from their textbook. Another group worked with me to introduce Repeated Subtraction to divide. I will provide a video of this strategy tomorrow as this is a new strategy for students, as well parents :). The computer station had students working on simple division questions. Students played Demolition Division.

After recess, students had Science with Mrs. Gale. We then take some time to share some creative writing stories that we completed before break that focused on Word Choice. We also read another chapter in our Read Aloud.

After lunch, we worked in our Guided Reading groups. Group 1 completed the anthology Together is Better and moved into Tales - Clever, Foolish, and Brave. Groups 2,3,and 4 worked on their personal Tales.

To end the day, students were introduced to the Voice trait of writing. We completed a quick write entitled "Who Am I?". We will continue with this trait next writing class.

Bonus
Question 1
True or False We have had more than 1800 hits on our blog.

January Newsletter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got to enjoy some much needed relaxation with family! Thank you for the wonderful cards, well wishes, and gifts. I appreciate everyone’s thoughtfulness. Thank you also to the students and parents who brought munchies for the class party before break.

Santa’s Workshop was another huge success this year. The Grade 5’s raised roughly $410. GREAT JOB! It is always so rewarding to watch the Grade 5’s working with the younger students in trying to help them decide what to buy for that someone special in their lives. The Grade 5’s will work together to decide where this money will go within the community.

We will be going on our “Year End” class trip early this year. We will be going to Regina in February. We will be sending out more information in January that details the trip.

January will give students an opportunity to earn some bonus points. Throughout the month I will add a Blog Question at the end of the daily entry. Students will have to go on a Blog Hunt to find the answer to the question. Students will hand in their answers at the end of the month. I hope that this will encourage students to use the blog as well. Students who complete this activity will receive BONUS marks!

Language Arts
Guided Reading has taken some of the groups into the next anthology: Tales – Clever, Foolish, and Brave. All 4 groups will be within this anthology by the middle of January. Students will continue to focus on a variety of reading strategies using these short stories. We will also be writing a tale focusing on the traits of a tale, something that we have reviewed in small group discussion.

We will continue with Word Choice in Creative Writing. We will also begin our next trait, Voice, which will lead us into Poetry.

We are also going to look at the first of 6 reading comprehension strategies: Visualization. We will use a variety of children’s books and small activities that will allow students to apply visualization strategies to improve their comprehension.
Spelling has taken us to Lesson 12 this week. Students will continue to work with 7 words, sentence creation, and word processing.

Math
We will complete the Division portion of our Multiplication/Division unit as we didn’t have enough time before break. Students will demonstrate an understanding of 3-digit by 1-digit division and interpret remainders to solve problems. We completed our 4th Problem Solver strategy (Use or Make a Table) before break.
We will also start our next unit, Measurement, before the end of the month. In this unit students will:
• Estimate and measure length in millimetre and centimetres.
• Investigate the relationships between millimetres and centimetres, and between millimetres and metres.
• Explore rectangles with equal perimeters.
• Explore rectangles with equal areas.
• Construct different rectangles, given the area and/or perimeter.
• Estimate, measure, and record volume in cubic centimetres and in cubic metres.
• Estimate, measure, and record capacity in millilitres and litres.

We will also be using a Senteo system in our Math class. Students will be using a remote control device to answer a variety of questions using the Smart board.

Social
We will continue with our Canadian Symbols unit. Students will be researching a Canadian hero and writing a paragraph after organizing their research. Students will also be completing a small research project identifying each province’s/territory’s flag, motto, flower, capital city, and population.

Science (Mrs. Gale)
We continue to work on our Matter unit. Students are now learning about the properties of solids, liquids, and gases. We will be looking at physical and chemical changes in matter through various experiments.

French (Mrs. Orosz)
Students will review vocabulary learned before Christmas, and continue to reinforce their comprehension with guided written activities. They will also participate in a lively action song called: “Un bon chocolat chaud.”

Health (Mr Leidl)
Students will participate in a variety of drug awareness projects focusing on healthy decision making and increasing self esteem.

Physical Education (Mr Leidl)
Emphasis will be on ball handling skills with a focus on basketball lead up skills and game strategies. Educational gymnastics, cross country skiing, and outdoor pursuits will also be explored before the February break.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

We jumped right back into things this morning. We started off our day using the new Senteo system with our Smartboard. The Senteo's are hand-held devices that allow students to enter their personal answers. We will be using these devices throughout some of the other subject areas, but only used them today to review multiplication.

We then spent some time with our Guided Reading groups. Group 1 read "Chance for Cherry Tree Creek" in partners then completed 4 comprehension questions. Groups 2,3, and 4 worked on writing their Tale based on the elements of a trickster's tale that we reviewed before Christmas.

After recess, we completed a day of Math Pods. Students worked in pairs to play Multiplication Tic-Tac-Toe to review their times tables. At another station, students played Division Machine. The third group worked with me to introduce estimation and division. Students are using two estimation strategies, Compatible Numbers and Front-End Estimation, when dividing. We have used these strategies numberous times before with other methods of calcuation. Students were assigned page 98 (2,3,4,5). This assignment is due tomorrow.

After lunch students had French and Phys. Ed.

I have sent out the latest MarkBook for Language Arts this afternoon. The January classroom newsletter will be sent out tomorrow.