Category: We are readers.

Dear families of Division 6,

The more I teach your children, the more I love and adore them! We had another great week together! Every morning after Flex time, I play a song to indicate that it’s time to clean up and come to our Community Circle. I was playing a song called Best Thing Ever and I dedicated it to them. Here’s the best line that reflects how I feel: There’s nothing better than feeling alright. Together. This is the best thing ever. We really do enjoy being together.

Click on image to watch the video update

We are writers.

This week, we continued to work on our paragraph writing. I have to say that how they responded to the writing lessons was so heartwarming! I asked them how many felt they wrote their best paragraphs ever and many proud hands went up! They followed a set of criteria as they wrote. Then used the simplified rubric to self-assess. Next, they were paired with a partner for peer assessments. Click here to see the rubric we used. Reflecting on our writing is an important piece of our learning. Reviewing a peer’s work teaches us different skills too!

I just launched an online course on Writing Strategies with the Teach Better Team last week so it’s exciting to share the same tried, tested, and true lessons I teach your children but to a wider audience!

Students worked hard on their spelling words. It’s rare I give spelling tests but students were having trouble with some basic homophones so I wanted them to spend some time learning them. After a pretest, some didn’t need practice so I gave them personal challenge words instead based on their own writing. They chose the number of spelling words they wanted. Yesterday, I gave 17 spelling tests at the same time! Personalized learning!

Click here to watch this video if your child is still having trouble with there, their, and they’re.

We reflect on our learning using FreshGrade.

It has been a little while since they last logged in to FreshGrade. To refresh your memory, this is their e-portfolio where they reflect on their learning. All students uploaded a sample of their paragraph writing and reflected on their development and should have added a recording of their reading as well along with a lot of their art! Here are the questions they are asked to respond to as part of their reflection:

• Explain what we did in this task.
• What are you proud of? What are your strengths?
  • I can…
  • I can…
• What would you do differently next time?
• What did you learn about yourself?

Each entry should answer the above. I will be adding you to their account so you can view their posts. This is another great way that we communicate student learning with you and complementary to the Learning Update that was sent home today. I told them that you have homework…sorry! I know they will really appreciate it if you log in (once I add your email to their account) and comment on their learning. Here are some guiding questions that may help you with writing your comments:

• I love how you…
• I appreciate how hard you worked on…
• I am proud of the way you…
• Tell me more about…

We are mathematicians.

Grade 5 students received their Fractions Test #2 back. The first test gives students a very clear picture of where they were at and the second test gives them an opportunity to show how they’ve learned it better. Even students who showed proficiency the first time did a much better job of explaining equivalent fractions the second time around so they even noticed an improvement! This is exactly why I love giving a re-test. Because math is so foundational, this is an important practice in assessment. I was so very impressed how so many of them have become proficient! Thank you so very much for your continued support at home.

This week, we learned about comparing and ordering fractions when the denominator is the same and when the numerator is the same. We also learned about mixed fractions. We will be learning about decimals next week so if you’d like to spend some time reviewing at home, they will be more prepared next week. Feel free to watch this video at home: Math Antics Decimals Place Value

All About Me Presentations

I wish you can be in the room when we work on our All About Me projects on PowerPoint. They have been working so hard and they are so engaged! They ask to work on it! And when they do that, you know they love to work on it! One student shared that he forgot all about his pain (from a fall) because he was having so much fun!

Another student said this year was the first year he used laptops, so I am so impressed with how quickly they learned how to navigate, learn all of the features, and be creative! Next week, we will begin presentations. Students should come prepared to present. Each slide should have minimal words with an engaging image(s). They should be able to share 3-5 sentences about each slide. Please ask your child to practice their presentation at home.

Learning Updates

Writing these felt like a gift. I tweeted it out too!

If you have any questions about the Learning Update for your child, please reach out. Remember, we work as partners in your child’s education. We highly recommend you sit down with your child to talk about all of their successes and discuss the goals they set for themselves. Give them a voice. Ask them how you can support them.

Reminders:

• Scholastic Book Fair – last day to purchase is Friday, November 26 online only. Thank you so much for your support!
• Please sign and return the progress report envelope on Monday. Thank you!
• Tuesday, November 30 – Hot lunch (Tentatsu)
• Friday, December 3 – Jingle Bell Walk food collection

My words alone cannot truly express how much joy it brings me to be your child’s teacher but you can’t quite see into my heart so I guess my words (and video) will have to do! Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us and for your continued support at home.

If you feel inclined, we’d love to hear from you after you read these blog posts. Please feel free to leave a comment or email us!

With a heart full of gratitude, Ms. Chan (and Mrs. Paulich)

Dear Div. 6 families,

It was a full week of learning!

Scholastic Book Fair begins on Monday! Students wrote in their Planners that our day to shop and buy is on Monday! Students can bring money or you are welcome to shop at home online. Check the Gilmore website for more details and links.

We are writers.

We continued to practice our paragraph writing by writing about our weekend. Students are working towards having a clear opening and closing sentence with details that develop their ideas in between. We are working on adding more thoughts, feelings, and reactions to what we experience in our writing. At this grade level, most of their sentences should be complete, meaning they begin with a capital letter and end with proper punctuation.

Students were given a spelling pre-test on Wednesday mostly of homonyms (words that sound the same but are spelled differently). Some students spelled all of the words correctly so I offered them a challenge. They chose the number of challenge words I had to look for. I took words from their writing they misspelled so many of them have personal spelling words. If these words are too difficult to memorize or there are too many of them, then please feel free to decrease the number to study. Some struggle is “healthy” because they are in their growth zone but too much and they’re in their panic zone/shut down zone so that’s not what we want. You and your child have the flexibility to choose.

All words were written in their Planners. The test will be on Wednesday, November 24.

We are communicators.

We have continued to work on our All About Me in PowerPoint. This project was originally all about learning the features of PowerPoint. The students in the class are really enjoying it! Some are adding in family photos and even home videos! The slides should just be a visual reminder of what they want to share.

Here are some things the class learned:

• How to add and properly resize images (by pulling the corners to keep the ratio right)
• How to move and delete slides
• How to INSERT a video (go to insert and choose Online video), paste URL so it will appear on the slide
• How to insert icons, shapes, text boxes
• Use DESIGN for effectively visual slides
• We talked about how we don’t want too many words on each slide. We want the audience to be engaged by the image and listen attentively to the speaker but when we put too many words on a slide, the presenter tends to read the words and the audience does too.

They learned the shortcut keys too when they highlight words. They wrote it on a sticky note as a personal cheat sheet:

• • Ctrl + B = bold
  • Ctrl + I = italicize
  • Ctrl + U = underline
  • Ctrl + X = cut
  • Ctrl + C = copy
  • Ctrl + V = paste
  • Ctrl + Z = undo

We are readers.

I gave them all an assignment in Teams. It was a reading progress check. They recorded themselves reading a grade-level passage. They had the option to record their voice only or with video too. The kids really enjoyed doing that! They can record as many times as they wish before they hand in that assignment. This was something I just learned last week so it was very cool to try it out! I tweeted about it too and a person who works on the Microsoft Teams responded and retweeted my tweet! He liked hearing about students’ excitement.

We are storytellers.

We read Jeremiah Learns to Read and did a character deep dive. Then we started our own brainstorm of characters for the story we are going to write on a story map graphic organizer. They worked on their setting too.

We are mathematicians.

Please continue to be diligent in having your child practice the math facts. Ideally, spending at least 5 to 10 mins a day on memorizing math facts or playing math games with that purpose will be awesome too! Feel free to take a look at our blog for some ideas for games. The math facts are broken down into strategies: https://sd41blogs.ca/chanl/mathematiciansplay/. They practiced Making 10s Go Fish this week.

We continued with fractions learning how to compare and order them.

Planners

Please continue to check your child’s planner regularly and have them place their planners in their backpack the night before. We would love for them to become independent with this responsibility. Thank you for your support!

Taking care of our bodies

During our community circle time, there are a number of students who are regularly reporting that they are tired and/or hungry. Certain resources say that children this age should still be getting about 10 hours of sleep. As these are basic needs that can really affect their focus, attention, and energy at school, please have a discussion with your child to see if they are the ones who are often sharing they are tired and/or hungry. We do allow students to eat during the day if they need nourishment.  Perhaps a bigger breakfast and more snacks brought to school will help. Thank you for your support!

Informal Learning Updates will go home on Thursday. Please sign and return the envelope next Monday. You can keep the insert.

Pro-D day will be on Friday, November 26. Students do not attend.

As always, we appreciate your support at home. Every single day, we are so grateful to work with such a lovely group of children who love to learn! They bring us so much joy!

With a heart full of appreciation, Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich

Dear Parents of Division 6,

On Wednesday, we honoured those who served in the war at our Remembrance Day assembly. Here is a short video of our Poppy Art for you to enjoy.

We are writers.

We returned to our book on the 7 Healthy Habits of Happy Kids and learned about the benefits of thinking win-win. Students responded to the chapter by writing a personal response or a story that involved a win-win situation. As a follow-up, please feel free to have a further discussion at home.

We are researchers.

This past week, students finished their practice of recording Resources for citations in Word. Whew! It was a process! Students learned about perseverance and the pursuit of accuracy and excellence. It was a great lesson that sometimes in life, it takes many tries before something is just perfect. Each comma, period, and space mattered. Each capital mattered. Each indent mattered. While some began to express some frustration, we were proud to see that many people’s growth mindset kicked in and they began to see it as a challenge! Great appreciation goes to Mrs. Papapanagiotou for working with us for the past few weeks to teach us how to do research effectively. Last week, we also learned how to navigate in PowerPoint. Students really enjoyed learning how to add slides, text, and images! We are now ready to research our inquiry question for learning more about rocks in Science and our Passion Projects!

We are scientists.

Here are some of the questions groups felt they were most interested in learning more about. Students chose from here or one of their own on a list gathered from their own group.

We are mathematicians.

The grade 5’s were given their Fractions pre-test and test. The main goal was to see how well they understood equivalent fractions. We had a number of students away last Friday so they will write in on Monday. Everyone will have their tests returned on Wednesday. Those who are not yet proficient in certain concepts, they will have an opportunity for a re-test on the specific concepts. Details on re-testing will come later. I believe in helping students gain mastery of the concepts because math is so foundational. Your support at home will be greatly appreciated!

World Kindness Day

On Saturday, it was World Kindness Day. We read a story called Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson. Click the link to watch the story read by the author herself! As a response, students wrote kindness notes to at least five people. They had so much fun running (well, walking hopefully!) around the school delivering their kindness notes! They learned that it brought them so much joy to bring other people joy! I firmly believe that when we give the gift of words, we experience more joy than those who receive them. I know that this is how I feel. Showing kindness and gratitude is a great form of self-care! If you’re interested, click here to read more about a popular happiness course offered at Yale University. They blessed me with so many kindness notes! Every day, your children make me feel so very loved and appreciated for being their teacher. I truly am the most fortunate and feel so grateful to be their teacher. Thank YOU for having such wonderful children to share our lives with. We have a great community of learners!

We are leaders.

We really believe in developing leadership skills. I believe every child has leadership qualities. Last month, I published a blog post on the Gift of Leadership as part of my monthly blog series on the Teach Better Team. I talk about the five aspects of leadership and how it is a skill, just like other skills, that need opportunities to develop. If you are interested to read about how we develop leadership qualities in your children on a daily basis, click the image to go to the post.

Appreciation

We are grateful for your support at home. As parents ourselves, we understand how the evenings and weekends fly by. Please be reminded that we are partners in your child’s education. Please feel free to reach out to us should you have any questions or concerns. We know it takes time to either watch our videos or read our weekly blog posts and we appreciate you for keeping up to date. I can see how many views and how many click to open the notifications so thank you for honouring our time to keep you posted. Our goal is to share information with you so that you can have a deeper dive into what they learn and extend their learning should they have the time and interest. All learning at school can be extended at home if you wish.

With a heart full of gratitude, Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich

Dear Division 6 families,

We accomplished a lot this week!

Click on image to view the video update.

SPECIAL REQUEST: Please limit the number of sweet treats your child brings to school for a snack. We prefer they bring healthier snacks to school that will help them learn and focus better. We appreciate your cooperation.

HOMEWORK: Library Research Skills – Complete the sheet and put the cited sources in alphabetical order. On Monday, they will be working in a Word document to record these resources in alphabetical order. Please ensure all papers are returned to school on Monday. Thank you! This resource may help!

Gr. 5 MATH HOMEWORK: Complete work on equivalent fractions. Due Monday.

REVIEW: Please have your child memorize their email address and password if they have not done so yet. Thank you! We will be logging into O365 on Monday.

E-Portfolios

On Thursday, we started adding posts to our e-Portfolios. We use the same email and password to log in. We are using FreshGrade Connect to upload and reflect on our learning. Here are the reflection questions they will need to answer for each post this year:

1. What was the task? Explain. Provide enough details so your parents can understand what you did.
2. What are you proud of? What are your strengths shown through this work?
   • I can…
   • I can…
3. What are 1-2 things you can improve for next time?
4. What did you learn about yourself?

So far, they have just added artwork. They felt so proud! In the future, they will be adding their writing and other projects too. Soon, I will be adding your emails to your child’s accounts so that you will receive notifications when they publish a new post.

We are readers and writers.

The whole school Dropped Everything And Read on Wednesday. Everyone in this class looks like they love to just read. While finding joy in reading for a sustained period of time is important, just as important is having the opportunity to speak to others about what they just read. We had an opportunity to do just that this week as we practiced our Say Something strategy to make connections or share personal stories as it relates to what they read. They practiced taking a deeper dive into what they shared by thinking about looking through a magnifying glass, going deeper when partners asked them more clarifying questions.

After that, they took their ideas, thoughts, and feelings and wrote a response to what they just read in a paragraph. Based on the last couple of writing pieces, each child was given a personal goal to meet for this writing. I believe personalized and timely feedback is so important to their continued growth along with an attainable “next steps” goal.

We are scientists. We were encouraged to be curious! Students were grouped to dive into various books on rocks and minerals. Their job was to come up with many questions.

All students went home with their Passion Project proposal sheets. Please feel free to do the proposal with your child. Once you have reviewed it, please initial the top of the page. Click on Passion Project Proposal to see the sheet. This is due on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Friday was a lot of fun with the parades in the morning and some fun social time with classmates in the afternoon. Have a safe and fun rest of your weekend!

Always grateful for your support at home,

Ms. Chan and Mrs. Paulich