We hope you had a restful break. We had a busy first week back! Here is a recap:
Humanities- This week was spent exploring the vastness of Canada as we began our look into Canada’s geographic regions. The students worked on a large (13x17 ft) map of Canada that we borrowed from Canadian Geographic Education. This map showcased the C3 Expedition that has taken place over the past 150 days. Students explored map features, expedition stops and the 6 geographic regions of Canada. They started working on a presentation that showcases the voyage and the regions. We read some of the Wild Robot and connected through a padlet post, with our class in St. Louis.
Math - we have been exploring strategies for mental math using ideas like doubling, finding ‘friendly numbers’ (ie: numbers that end in 5 or 10), counting up or counting down. This will help us as we delve into multiplication in the coming weeks. We also used the giant C3 map in the Learning Commons to practice estimating and measuring distances using non-standard measurement tools (footsteps, chainlinks, snapcubes). Science - This week we worked to finish up our food chain projects. Students have been working diligently, expanding their knowledge of consumers, producers, carnivores, herbivores and decomposers as they relate to wetland ecosystems. They have been consulting the checklist and rubric to ensure that they are meeting the requirements of the assignment as well as asking for peer and teacher feedback. These will be shared on FreshGrade Monday. Ideally the work was finished this week, although there are a few students who need to finish their’s at home over the weekend. We will be coming back to our wetland unit in the spring to observe the changes we see over the seasons. Next week we will begin our exploration of weather and climate which will carry throughout the rest of the school year.
We hope you have a fantastic fall break. It was great seeing so many of you at the recent Parent- Teacher conferences. We are halfway through term 1 and it was wonderful to reflect on the learning that has taken place and set goals as we move forward.
Humanities: The province presentations were completed this week. The students shared their google slides presentation with their peers. The overall understanding of the geography of our country has improved and the students feel they know more about Canada. Up next is an inquiry into the geographic regions of Canada and a look at current issues and challenges each region faces. On Monday, we started Global Read Aloud. We are reading “The Wid Robot”. This approach to a novel study involves sharing our understanding and discussing the book with classes across the world. We know that one of the classes we are working with lives in the St. Louis area. After fall break the students will learn where some of our other connections reside. We will read and connect with several different classes. This novel also lends itself to connections in the scientific world and we will have many cross-curricular discussions as science and humanities interact. The Global Read Aloud creator, Pernille Ripp shared these thoughts as she welcomed the world to this year’s event.
Math: We had a third check-in for place value. Students were asked to represent a number in the millions in as many ways as they were able. These included: standard form, expanded form, word form and pictorially. Feedback for this check-in is on FreshGrade and students will upload a picture of their work when we are back on the 16th (this week got away from us a bit!).
Science: We had a great trip to the Ralph Klein constructed wetland. A big thanks to our parent volunteers - you are the best! Students had the opportunity to re-visit some of the classroom learning as well as do some pond dipping for aquatic invertebrates. Please visit the website to see pictures of this trip. Back in the classroom, students shared their wetland adaptations projects with their peers. We are now working on wetland food chains and incorporating the knowledge we have learned first hand in wetland ecosystems into our projects. Stay tuned to FreshGrade for feedback on both the adaptations task as well as the food-chain task.
October 16-20 Giant C3 map visits grade 5 Humanities https://canadac3.ca/en/digital-classroom/c3-giant-floor-map/
October 20: Mucho Burrito fun lunch in-lieu of the day we missed.
October 20: Electives in AM, EXPO Kick-off and Greenhouse launch(PM), and first Family Group gathering
Nov 6: EXPO trip to Weaselhead - Parent volunteers are needed
Nov 8: EXPO trip to Inglewood Bird Sanctuary - Parent volunteers are needed
Nov 9: Remembrance Day Ceremony (AM)