Hi everyone!
It appears that winter has finally settled in. With cooler temperatures and the arrival of snow, I must ask all parents to PLEASE ensure they are sending their kids with proper outdoor gear! This includes a hat, mitts, a warm jacket and winter boots. While most parents do send their kids to school with the proper gear, many students often choose not to wear it at recess times. While staff does the best it can to remind and re-direct, parent re-enforcement of this policy will go a long way to keeping everyone warm each time! Thank-you!
Holiday Windows!
Preparation for our K-5 Holiday concert entitled "Holiday Windows" is in full swing. Students from across these grades have been hard at work practicing and preparing for what looks to be an exceptional day of entertainment! Please mark your calendars for Thursday, Dec. 4th. There will be a show at 1:30pm and again at 7pm. Each year, our gym is quickly filled for these types of events. I would like to ask parents to please attend only one of the shows to allow all parents an opportunity to see their child perform! Thank-you!
Hour of Code
5A and several other classes at LM will be participating in this year's Hour of Code! How exciting! For those of you unfamiliar with this event, you can click HERE to see a short video that introduces and explains this growing phenomenon. With Mrs. Eby's help, we were able to introduce computer coding to our staff recently, and it was a huge success. People completely unfamiliar and unaware of computer coding were quickly invested and having fun! If you want to learn more about the Hour of Code itself, click HERE.
At-Home Supports - XtraMath, Sumdog, Readtheory.Org
Thanks to all the parents that have supported our new at-home supports. As mentioned, these three sites can be accessed at any time (see the links on this blog), and both work very well to further develop key math and literacy skills. If you (or your child) is having difficulty accessing these (or any other sites listed on the 5A blog), please let me know! Thanks!
In the classroom..
ELA.
Our Words Their Way work is off to a terrific start! This is a specialized (and proven) word study program for phonics, vocabulary and spelling instruction. This past spring, I completed a 2-year PLC (Professional Learning Community) that focused on developing, implementing and evaluating this exciting program.
Our Word Work activities occur 4x/cycle and are individualized to the student. Progress is charted often and students are moved through a series of stages based on what they already know! How cool is that? Makes me wish this was around when I was learning these skills....
Math
Students are learning to read, write, order and compare numbers to 100 000. Within this unit, students have also started using various estimation strategies and are learning to round whole numbers in different ways (for different purposes). Our mental math work continues as well each week focusing on our automaticity with math facts to 81, as well as those strategies that help us add and subtract larger numbers.
Social Studies
Our 'intro' to learning about the long ago past has formally segued in a large unit on First Nations Peoples. Here, students will be working in groups to answer the 'big question' --"How did WHERE they live influence HOW they lived?"
Science
Similarly, our work on nutrition and healthy bodies is coming to close. Students will be writing a small quiz on this content on Tuesday, Nov. 25th. Study preparation and support will be provided in part in class.
Final Thoughts
- There will be no school on Friday, Nov. 29th as this day all teachers in P.T.S.D will be using this time to write report cards.
- some parental help with costumes may be required for our upcoming holiday concert, so please watch your child's agenda
Mr. A
