April Newsletter

April Newsletter


Mrs. Shields – Room 20
April is full of many new adventures for Grade 5! Please make note of the many dates listed throughout this newsletter as the dates mentioned are very important for students to be at school on these dates.

As Grade 5 Farewell quickly approaches, we are looking for parent volunteers to sit on various committees. Please let me know ASAP if you are interested in taking part in the organization of this special day. The Farewell will take place in the morning of Monday, June 27. We will be having a meeting on Wednesday, April 20 @ 3:30pm to get the organization of this event started.

Language Arts

The school division mandated Fontess and Ponell reading assessment will take place from April 18-21. Please do everything you can to make sure your son or daughter will be at school on these dates. If a student is unable to attend school during these times, please let me know ASAP.
Students are doing a wonderful job working through the Writing Process. We are wrapping up Word Choice and will make our way into the writing trait of Voice.

We are continuing with choosing our spelling words from the stories we are reading. Please encourage your child to practice his/her spelling words daily as every Friday we have a spelling test.

Centers continues to be a success. As students work through sets of Centers they are reminded that it is their responsibility to make sure their work in completed and ready to hand in. Students who have missed Centers need to make sure they complete these missed stations.

During Guided Reading, students will continue to work on various reading and comprehension skills. Discussing story selections as a small group is also something we are working on. Talking about what you are reading is sometimes just as difficult as comprehending what you are reading.

Independent Reading

Our focus for Independent Reading this month will be on “Making Connections”. We will use a few new book titles to help us practise making relevant connections. Students will learn that good readers connect with stories to help them better comprehend what they are reading. Connecting helps us relate to characters, visualize, ask questions, read actively and remember what we read. Students will begin to see this month how all of the reading strategies they’ve practised fit together to help them be stronger and more informed readers.

Mrs. Lippai


Math

Students just completed the school division mandated Exemplar problem solver. Great job Grade 5! These will be sent into the school division where they will be assessed and returned.

We are entering into the decimal portion of our unit. Students will be connecting fractions to decimals, as well as adding and subtracting decimals, and estimating.

The provincially mandated math assessment, AFL, will be given to students May 30 to June 3. It is very important for students to be at school during these dates as well.

Science

Students will be continuing with the Forces and Motion unit. Students have done an excellent job building their bridges and egg protectors. We will be focusing these new few weeks on simple machines. As we near the end of April, we will hopefully start thinking about our final design project for the unit.

Social Studies

Students are currently wrapping up our Canada’s Influences unit with an expository research paper on an explorer of their choice. Students are using the 6+1 Writing Traits we have learned in Language Arts to research and write this paper.

Our next unit, Canada’s Government, will coincide well with the federal election coming up. We will be looking at the various levels of government and the function of the governing bodies. We will be incorporating Math into this unit using Graphing and Probability concepts as well.

Physical Education/ Health- Mr.Leidl

Students will begin the transition from the gymnasium to outdoor playground pursuits. Focus will be on track and field, softball skills, soccer, golf and tennis. Students will begin a number of health/safety initiatives this month. The first will involve a research project on UV rays and the negative effects of prolonged sun exposure. The second will involve bicycle safety and wearing appropriate head gear. The third will involve planning the Summer Active Physical Activity Initiative.

Art – Mrs. Schentag

Students are just winding up their Dance Unit entitled Surprise Endings, with some very creative dance presentations. In April, we will begin another short Drama Unit entitled, Responding to Literature. The students will listen to selected children's literature and respond by role-playing and problem-solving. They will participate in meetings, tableau activities, chants and improvisation activities related to this literature. This should prove to be another fun-filled arts ed. unit.

20 grade 5 students have also been working very hard as they prepare for their Grade 5 Drama Club presentation. The play entitled, All About Mother, will be presented to the students and staff of P. J. Gillen School and to their families and friends later in April. We wish them well in their drama endeavors and congratulate them on a job well done. Look for hand-outs to be coming home soon.