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.