Heading Towards March Break....

Hi folks!



Remember when...?

As our wonderful winter weather continues, it may seem difficult to imagine Spring, but it is right around the corner (or so I'm told). I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say it will be a most welcomed change! It has been an exceptional winter that has kept us inside for the better part of three months! Despite notable challenges, we have managed to accomplish much in 5A! As we settle in for March there is still much more to come before we break (March 31st - April 4th). So here is a snapshot of what is going on in our classroom:

Winnipeg Harvest/Empty Bowls Hunger Project

Our recent field-trip to Winnipeg Harvest officially kicked-off this year's Empty Bowl's Hunger Project. Students are beginning to learn about poverty and hunger and how it impacts people directly in our own communities. Best yet, students are seeing how they can make a change and contribute to putting food into the bellies of those in need. Students toured the warehouse, asked questions and saw first-hand how Winnipeg Harvest works and operates. We also spend some (fun) time sorting pallets of onions and potatoes! A terrific experience for all! Thank-you to Mrs. Janice Wheeler for being our tour guide and helping us through our morning! Also thank-you to Mrs. Bellows and Mrs. Plemel for volunteering their time to join us.  Please keep an eye on your child's agenda and any informational handouts that may come your way as we continue to ramp up this most important project! FYI - our culminating 'dinner' has been scheduled for May 8th (4:30pm to 6pm). Please come and join us in our celebration!


School Musical


Tuesday, April 15th. 7pm (open to the public)
Wednesday, April 16th. 1pm and 7pm (open to the public)


Every second year Linden Meadows puts on a musical. This year, students from grades 5-8 will be presenting the musical "Annie". This is a large production which involves many students, teachers and staff. From actors to lighting technicians, make-up and costumes, many, many hands come together in what is always an amazing production. Special thanks to Doug Farough and Greg Swintak for heading-up this exceptional project!

 

Tri-Conferences/Report Cards

Our recent round of tri-conferences last month were a strong success! I always enjoy meeting and discussing student learning and development! Thank-you to parents for coming out to support your child at this time. With this being said, we are staring down our second formal report card coming out this month.

Please note, that there well be no school on Friday, March 14th as I will be using this time to craft your child's report. Completed reports will be sent home before month's end. As always, if you have any questions or concerns about any facet of your child's education, please do not hesitate to contact me. As I always say, we don't have to wait for a tri-conference to meet and talk!

In the classroom...

MATH: We have just finished a formal multiplication unit. This was a rather large endeavor that has been our main focus since Christmas. As we move forward, we will be learning about fractions, decimals and percent. Our multiplication work however, is not finished. We continue to work each week building our automaticity with our math facts to 81, as well as a variety of mental math strategies to help us make accurate computations mentally (and with confidence)!

ELA: Our weekly Word Work activities continue to roll! This is a new, but excellent program that several teaching staff have adopted this year to help teach vocabulary and spelling. Students do not rely on rote memory when constructing written work, rather are learning to identify patterns and relationships between letters and predict meaning (and spelling) when approaching new, challenging words! Awesome stuff!

We have also moved into a more formal writing unit for this term (and next). Students are learning to take ownership of their writing and are constructing personal narratives that focus on their experiences directly. As we move forward in this area, students will be learning about constructing their own stories once we have established the different elements of fiction and their purpose when writing fictional stories.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Students have really started to 'dig in' with our work on early European explorers. Constructing maps, timelines and putting ourselves 'into the shoes of an early explorer' as they set out looking into an unknown world. I always enjoy teaching this unit as students often for the very first time, get some initial sense of how Canada came to be how it is!

SCIENCE: Tracking daily weather conditions and seasonal norms has been fairly interesting this term when considering the winter that we continue to experience!
I am curious to see how our comparative 'graphs' turn out when we formally compare predicted conditions vs. actual, as well as seasonal norms! Students have also been learning about weather, the water cycle, how we measure the different conditions and cloud formations. Although in our initial stages, the students' have been building their own weather instruments which I hope ( I hope) to try out in the real world -- weather permitting of course!


That's it for now! Looking forward to a great month of learning!
Mr. A