September has already come to an end!

Today is the last day of September and I cannot believe it! Last week students had their first field trip of the year to the Halton Water Festival and it was a huge success. The parents that were able to come along were a huge help and I know the students enjoyed having them there.

Math

Students should still be reviewing and practicing their addition and subtraction skills to improve their mental math abilities. We have also been focusing on whole numbers in Grade 4 up to 10, 000 and in Grade 5 up to 100,000. Students have been practicing ordering, comparing, rounding, and writing numbers in expanded form, and words. 

This week we are starting to take a look at time. Students have been reminded that I offer math help every Wednesday and Friday to practice or review any of the concepts we are learning in class.

Language

In Language we are continuing to stop and jot our thoughts while reading along with searching for new words to add to our vocabulary. Students are storing their new words in their expanded vocabulary list in their word work folders. Our focus has been comprehension and using different strategies to ensure we are understanding what we are reading. In writing we are continuing through the 6+ 1 writing traits. 

Reading Log Link

Link to Reading Log for Week of September 25 https://docs.google.com/a/hdsb.ca/forms/d/1vesxMhLkqg7xEw1SSmvJFcWltV9jsE0kDb5SYY4Wpcw/viewform

The Start of Week # 4

Wow time sure does fly! We have started to spend more time focusing on learning skills and how as a class we can set SMART goals to work on each month. Last week students created their first learning skills goal focusing on one of the learning skills (responsibility, organization, collaboration, independent work, self-regulation, and initiative).

Math

We have spent a week on addition and subtraction reviewing strategies to use and focus on solving word problems. Practicing mental math strategies for addition and subtraction are great to do at home. I found many students in Grade 4 and 5 needed the review.

Extra Math Help will be held every Wednesday and Friday at Nutrition Break for students who would like extra practice or help.

Great Math Practice

1. Create your own problem and go through the problem solving pencil to solve it!

2. Play addition around the world (add different amounts of groups).

Example start at 6 add 6 = 12, add 6 = 18

3. A free resource with lots of addition games all using a deck of cards

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-In-the-Cards-Math-Games-and-Activities-FREE-MATH-GAME-VERSION-492665

Language

Our reading Response books are set up and ready to go! Students will be stopping and jotting their thinking, writing me letters, recording new words in their expanded vocabulary list, practicing reading strategies, and reading aloud to work on fluency this year to enhance their reading skills.

In writing students did a great job decorating their writer’s notebooks. We will be working through the   6 + 1 writing traits (Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, Organization, Word Choice and Sentence Fluency) to enhance their writing skills.

What a Fantastic Start to the Year!

What a Fantastic Start to the Year!

5-1 and 4-1 FI have been working hard to create a class community! This past week students begun their first math unit Number Sense. Focusing on refreshing our addition, subtraction and problem solving skills. In Language we are setting up our Daily 5 program while focusing on reading strategies students can use to improve their reading skills (questioning, predicting etc.).

Updates

After talking to a few parents I realized we mentioned in our class note that went home the first day for students to be reading 20 min in English and 20 min in French every night. Right now to start off the year we are only expecting one or the other. If students finish their day in French (ie. period 4, 5, 6) they will read 20 min of French that night. If they finish their day in English they read 20 min of English that night.

Miss. Flett 

Week # 2

What a fantastic first week! We spent the week getting to know each other and worked collaboratively with other classes to learn about Irma Coulson and the qualities she possesses that make her a hero within our community. We also discussed the types of people that we want to be and the qualities that we have or would like to. Classroom expectations were created as a class and the frame work for the year as begun.

This coming week we are going to focus on discussing learning skills and what it looks like to display organization, responsibility, independent work, collaboration, initiative, and self-regulation. We will be starting our first math unit focusing on Number Sense and Numeration. We will be solving problems involving addition and subtraction of whole numbers using a variety of strategies.

In Language students have already filled out a survey to give me a picture of the types of genres and books that interest them. We will continue setting the foundation for our reading program.

Miss. Flett