June Newsletter

June ’10 Newsletter
Mrs. Shields Room 20
http://mrsshieldsblog.blogspot.com/

Here we are...June! This year has flown by quicker than I had thought it would. Time flies when you are having fun!

Grade 5 Farewell is scheduled for Friday, June 25. Students will be bringing home a request from the Tea Committee asking for a specific item for the Farewell. Students will also be bringing home an invitation to the Farewell that asks for an estimate of people who will be attending. Please send a baby picture as soon as possible. These pictures will be returned. We thank you for your cooperation in helping us to make the Farewell a special event for our students.

We will be going to the swimming pool three times in June. Our scheduled days are:
- June 15 (2-3pm)
- June 17 (2-3pm)
- June 22 (11-12pm)
If the weather cooperatives with us, both grade 5 classes will have lunch in the park as well.

Nicole Kennedy will be visiting our classroom. She will doing a presentation on Predator/Prey Relationships and Adaptations. She will be in our classroom Monday, June 7 from 2:30-3:30.

To finish off Grade 5 we will...

Language Arts
We will continue with Centers until the end of June. Guided Reading will also continue as we are moving through the material and focusing on more challenging strategies and discussion.

Spelling will continue, although with a bit of a twist. Students will be asked to pick their own spelling words, chosen from words they notice they have trouble with in their writing. The format will be the same as previous lessons.

Students continue to do a wonderful job with writing. I am very proud of how far everyone has come as authors! We are currently working on writing and using Photostory to create a digital book.

Math
We have begun our last unit: Statistics and Probability. The students get to have fun with this unit as we do many experiments to test probability and conduct surveys to collect information for graphing. Within this unit we will focus on the following outcomes:
• Learn the difference between first-hand and second-hand data
• Ask questions and decide whether the answer requires first-hand or second-hand data
• Find examples of second-hand data in print and electronic media
• Solve problems by constructing and interpreting double bar graphs
• Use words such as likely, unlikely, impossible, and certain
• Describe the probability of everyday events
• Compare the likelihood of two events

Social
We will continue our Federal Government Makes Decisions unit throughout the month of June. Students have been doing a wonderful job exploring various resources to learn some of the many components of our government. We will finish off the year by doing a small research project on a Prime Minister (past or present). We will also conduct a classroom election where students will get to experience the voting experience.

Science – Mrs. Gale
We will continue to work on our Resource Unit; students will work on an activity of their choice that is related to water, air, and soil pollution, or waste disposal practices. The topics of conservation and recycling will be a focus.

Phys. Ed – Mr. Leidl
Students will complete preparations for the school track and field meet during the first week of June. They year will end with school swimming, tennis skills, and softball.

Health – Mr. Leidl
The year will end with students reviewing their personal wellness action plans that they established at the beginning of the school year.

Art – Mrs. Schentag
We will conclude our Ethnic Dance Unit in the first week of June. Students have learned some fun, novelty dances but they have also learned the popular prairie dances such as the Butterfly, Polka and Schottische. They were great sports and were always willing to give each dance their best effort. You may be pleasantly surprised by their talents at the next family dance!

We will finish up the year by delving into a Visual Art Unit concentrating on drawing while focusing on the summer activity of biking in order to inspire our artwork. I plan to invite Mr. Zack from the high school into our class, to give a presentation to the students about the technique of biking and the success of the local bike club.

Students will also practice their Farewell Song for their Grade 5 Farewell.
With that, I would like to say "Farewell" to a wonderful group of Grade 5 students. I hope that you enjoyed your time in Arts Ed. as much as I did. Your motivation and excitement in everything that we did in class made for a wonderful and memorable Grade 5 year.

I wish all of you the very best as you enter the High School. I only see great things happening in your future!

Best Wishes, as well, for a relaxing summer holiday!

French - Mrs. Orosz
Students will take home a portfolio of their work based on the play L’Arbre Ungali during the second week of June. At that time, they are to present the play to you with their paper puppets, and show you their “cahiers” or exercise booklets.

Please fill out and return the brief parent feedback form which they will give you then, about your child’s French presentation to you. Thank you for returning them by June 14th (Monday).

The class has participated in creating a class “written story re-telling” of L’Arbre Ungali. Some students have completed their cahiers, and are writing out their own “story re-telling” or “histoire avec des mots différents.” It is exciting for students to realize that they can tell the same story with different words, in French! We look forward to adding details to, and sharing, this work with each other in our remaining classes.

Students have shown significant growth in their ability to understand, speak, read and write in French this year. It has been a pleasure to guide your child in these achievements.





I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of my classroom this year. We have had a tremendous year of learning, full of excitement and new experiences. I can honestly say that I will miss spending each day with this wonderful group of unique students.

Best of luck next year in Grade 6!

Mrs. K. Shields

Our week started off with Day 3 of Centers.

After recess, students had Library with Mrs. Schentag.

We completed Math Pods today as well. Seat work had students working with the Census information they compiled last week. Students have to construct a double bar graph using any of the information from the Census. At teacher table, we reviewed the graphs drawn last week. We also began talking about the language of probability. Students were assigned #1 from page 274. At computers, students watched a short video introducing Probability. Once you click on the site go to lesson 19 for the video.

Students finished off the day with French and Phys. Ed.

Reminders:
Our last book order has gone out. Please have all book orders in by Wednesday, June 2.
Spelling Test tomorrow
Please bring $5 for swimming

Day 2 of Centers started off our Friday. Great job Grade 5!

After recess, we continued to work on our Photoshop narratives. Students also handed in their Creative Creature stories.

Students had French with Mrs. Orosz before lunch.

We completed Math Pods today as well. At seatwork, students continued to work on their graphs from page 268 (#2). This graph is due for Monday. We reviewed yesterday's assignment at teacher table (pages 264/265, #3,4,5,6). Students also started to work on #4 from page 268. We are continuing to work on our double bar graphing skills!! At computers, students inputed information into the Census Canada website that we will use for activities next week.

To finish off our day, the Grade 5's enjoyed a Farm Safety presentation.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

We started off our short week with our monthly assembly. Great job to those students who performed this morning.

We continued to work on our spelling sentences for Lesson 25. Choosing "trouble" words has been challenging!

After recess, students continued to work on their Creature Creation stories. Some students also started our next assignment in which students are using Photostory to present their next narrative.

After lunch, we discussed and completed a chart comparing the duties of our federal government, provincial government, and municipal governments using the website Canada Info.

We finished off our day with Math Pods. One group worked with Mrs. Lippai to discuss interpreting double bar graphs. Another group worked with me to construct a double bar graph. Lastly, the computer group worked through a Reading Charts and Graphs quiz on the computer pertaining to double bar graphs.

Reminders
Students have been asked to bring a baby picture to school. You can also email a picture to Alana Burns. These pictures will be returned.

We started out this beautiful Friday with Spelling. Students had to look through their writing binders and choose 7 words that they have had trouble with spelling. They then used these words, as we have all year, to compile 7 sentences.

We then completed Math Pods to start out our new unit: Statistics and Probability. At teacher table, we worked through questions 1-3 from page 260 focusing on the difference between first and second-hand data. At seat work, students worked on question 4 from page 260. Students worked in partners to come up with a question to ask their classmates to collect first-hand data. At computers, students used the website Grapher to create a graph using the information given in a short story from class. Students then printed these graphs to hand in.

Students finished off the day in French and Phys Ed.

Have a great long weekend everyone and see you on Wednesday!

We finished up our last day of Centers this morning. Activities are due for tomorrow.

After recess, students had Science with Mrs. Gale. They took home their tomatoes plants as their green thumbs shown through!!

We then wrote our spelling test and read the next chapter in our read aloud.

After lunch, students wrote their Transformations unit test. I have sent the tests home for you to look at and send back to school tomorrow. I have also sent home an updated Markbook for math through email. We began discussing first and second hand data also, as part of our next unit: Statistics and Probability.

To finish off the day, we continued to work on our Creative Creature stories.

Have a great day and enjoy the heat!!

A special thank you to Mrs. Davis for coming in and taking pictures of the Grade 5's for the Farewell!

We worked on Day 3 of Centers this morning.

After recess, students had library with Mrs. Schentag.

We then reviewed Transformations for our Math Test tomorrow.

After lunch, students had French and Phys. Ed.

Reminders:
Spelling Test tomorrow
Math Test tomorrow

We started a new set of Centers this morning.

After recess, students had Science with Mrs. Gale. We then went to the computer lab where students could choose any math game from the Transformations folder.

We completed a unit review in Math after lunch. We will be having a unit test on Thursday, May 20.

Students finished the day off outside in Phys. Ed.

Reminders:
Donnica Davis will be coming in to take pictures of the Grade 5's on Wednesday morning.

Grade 6 Orientation will be held in the evening of June 8.

Subway lunch - Wednesday, June 19

Today, we started with Spelling. This week's new words are: downstairs, completion, summarize, pleasant, central, scoundrel, and carefully.

We then completed Math Pods. At computer station, students continued to work on ShapeMods. This website is challenging as students have to use translations, reflections, and rotations to complete the levels. At seatwork, students worked on transforming a picture of a fish following specific directions. This activity is due for tomorrow. At teacher table, students worked on page 312/313 (1,2,3) to practice rotating shapes using a point of rotation off the shape.

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

We started out the day by voting on the Grade 5 Farewell song. "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts was the song selected. We will be holding a meeting tomorrow at 3:30 in Room 17 for all of those parents who volunteered to be a part of a Farewell Committee. If you are interested in being a part of the planning, please drop me an email or attend the meeting tomorrow.

Students were given some time today to finish up their Prop Stories that they wrote with a partner. The stories turned out wonderfully and are displayed in the hallway. Take a peek!

We continued to work on Rotations in Math. At seatwork, students continued with the activity from yesterday, choosing a different point of rotation using the first letter of their name. At teacher table, we worked on an assignment (page 308 - #'s 1,3,5). This gave students some paper and pencil practice using rotations. Students continued to review Transformations at the computer station.

Room 20 finished off the day in French and Phys Ed.

Reminders
Assembly tomorrow
Book Orders due tomorrow

Transformations

Welcome to another week! June is approaching so very fast!!

We started the day off today by completing our Math Exemplar problem for the school division. Great job Grade 5!

After recess, students continued to work on their partner Prop Story that was started last week. Most groups are working on their final presentation.

We completed Math Pods after lunch. Students completed a station with Mrs. Gale where they Rotated the first letter of their name in three different locations. With me, we discussed rotation direction and amount of rotation. We will continue discussing and working on rotation for the next few days. Students also completed a computer station playing Transformation games.

To finish off the day, we watched a short video on the Canadian Government and completed an activity focusing on government terms. We then worked on our title pages for the Canadian Government unit. The title pages are due on Thursday. Please sign and return the social test as well.

Please check your email for this month's newsletter, as well the Math Geometry unit Markbook.

Reminders
Book Orders due Wednesday, May 12.
Assembly - Wednesday May 12

May Newsletter

May Newsletter
Room 20

The end of the year is quickly approaching!! We have many exciting things to look forward to.

Mrs. Gale and I will be in touch with those people who have volunteered to be a committee member for the Grade 5 Farewell. We will have a meeting in the beginning of May to discuss some of what we need to do.

The Grade 5’s did a wonderful job on this year’s Writing Assessment for Learning. The students worked hard and demonstrated great writing strategies!

Here are a few of the hi-lights from the month of May:

Language Arts

We will continue with On With the Show in Guided Reading. Reading strategies will be the focus of our small group discussions using this anthology.

Spelling will continue as usual. We will also continue to focus on recognizing misspelled words in our own writing.

Writing will also continue as we have reviewed all 6 traits. We will work to “polish” past pieces of writing, as well develop new pieces with creative ideas.

Math

We will working on Transformations over the next 4 weeks. This unit fits very well with Geometry as we will continue to work with shapes but concentrate more on the movement of these shapes.

• Describe and explore translations (slides), reflections (flips), and rotations (turns)
• Perform and identity translations, reflections, and rotations
• Draw translations, reflections, and rotations

Social

In the month of May we will begin our next unit: The Federal Government Makes Decisions. Students will be looking at various components of the Federal Government including laws, revenues, roles, structure, buildings, and elections. We will be using a variety of resources to gather information, as well conduct "Classroom Elections."

Science - Mrs. Gale

Students did an absolutely fantastic job on their science experiment presentations! There were plenty of “Wows!” during the presentations. Throughout the month of May, students will begin a new unit about the renewable and non-renewable resources of Saskatchewan.
Students have planted their tomato seeds and they are almost ready to go home. They have grown into beautiful plants! Good gardening Grade 5’s.

Art – Mrs. Schentag

We are just completing our Drama unit, which involved using literature to inspire drama activities. Again, students demonstrated a great deal of cooperation and enthusiasm in their work.
During the month of May, we will begin another Dance unit, entitled Amazing Feet – Amazing Feat. Students will learn the steps to various multicultural dances, as well as view and analyze dances on video. We will focus on how the feet are used in these dance selections.
Congratulations to all grade 5 students who participated in the P.J. Gillen Drama Night. It was a huge success!

Phys Ed – Mr. Leidl

Phys Ed classes will focus on track and field, softball, tennis, and playground games.

Health – Mr. Leidl

Units on personal safety will focus on the internet, cell phones, social networking, and peer pressure.