In case it has not been said before or, in case you have not heard it enough, Welcome to Grade 5. It is a fun year that already shows great promise and strength. I will use these weekly newsletters to inform you of things completed, events upcoming, announcements from school, future curriculum and opportunities not to be missed. They will not be too long but I can tell you that they are important. I do try to keep them to once a week, usually on a Friday or Saturday. In case you have relatives that want to see this they can use https://dawcom-newsletters.blogspot.com/ to see the same newsletter as I keep a recorded duplicate on this site.
Two fast dates to put on your calendar:
Thursday August 22 - Back to School Night
Thursday-Friday Sept 5-6 - Grade 5 Retreat
Just to give you an idea of the involvement of grade 5 students, over the span of this past three day week we completed our adjective name tags, three get to know you activities, two community building activities, our first homework (and even presented it to others in the class), started our first oral reading (Skinnybones by Barbara Park), started our first writing assignment by developing interview questions, completed our Mr. Bubbleheads, initiated our personal shields, started our first Art in Math project (square numbers up to 16 x 16 = 256 and also basic patterning), completed two band/music periods, one art period and three world language periods. I also managed to get individual pics and a class pic. It was interesting to hear several students indicate how fast this week went.
Thursday August 22 - Back to School Night
Thursday-Friday Sept 5-6 - Grade 5 Retreat
Just to give you an idea of the involvement of grade 5 students, over the span of this past three day week we completed our adjective name tags, three get to know you activities, two community building activities, our first homework (and even presented it to others in the class), started our first oral reading (Skinnybones by Barbara Park), started our first writing assignment by developing interview questions, completed our Mr. Bubbleheads, initiated our personal shields, started our first Art in Math project (square numbers up to 16 x 16 = 256 and also basic patterning), completed two band/music periods, one art period and three world language periods. I also managed to get individual pics and a class pic. It was interesting to hear several students indicate how fast this week went.
Coming up next week we begin our first math unit in Whole Numbers. This is a fairly short unit where students learn numbers up to 10,000,000 in numeric, written an expanded notations. There are also some continued basic patterns. This unit prepares students for future units on multiplication and division. This brings me to something that I think is very important in math - basic multiplication facts to 10 x 10 = 100 being firmly established. While I will work with this in class, it is very important for future math success that students have these memorized and instant recall available as soon as possible. I read an article this summer that approximately 60% of all math that adults do involved multiplication of some sort. While I cannot verify this, I do think the author is in the right ball park when you think of the math we do everyday. Best way to memorize this is orally. Recite from a basic facts chart all the facts in order, out loud, every night. In about two to three months, it will be firmly entrenched in the students mind and ready for use at an instant. I remember my mom doing this with me when I was a boy in school.
Our first reading unit is on the book club. As reading is something we do everyday of our lives, being able to talk about reading is an important skill for all students. It is not important what the length of reading is, so long as they can recall the important details from the reading. We will spend our unit in narrative books as this relates to our writing unit on the Personal Narrative. One thing I would like to suggest its that there is at least once a week (twice is better in this case) where your student reads out loud to someone in the household. This greatly improves fluency and ensures that there is focus while reading. Stopping for questions and understanding is an important part of this. As a long time teacher, I can say that those students who did this over and over had greater growth in their individual reading than if it had not been done. I do model this in class with an oral read almost every day. I vary the books so that students understand that all understanding of reading is dependent on the genre being read.
Our first writing unit is the narrative story. How can I use the story format to tell about things I have done in my life? These are to be simple every-day events such as learning to ride a bike, visiting relatives, first dance recital etc. We will take the time to look at the event, descriptions, actions, emotions, outside influences and the grammar of the story. It is a fun unit and one that may involve the students asking you for information (like learning to walk) when they can not remember all the details. Please feel free to regale them with all the above.
Thursday is Back to School Night and I am looking forward to seeing all of you. Please note that due to the size of the room and number of adults, there is no room for students. They should stay at home for this night.
Home learning is always a volatile subject so here is the long and short of it for my class. For most weeks students will get the entire week’s home learning on Monday. It will be in a packet to make for easy movement home and back. Each night there will be one reading/writing assignment and one problem solving assignment. For the first week, some of the problems will be hard as I can only cover one or two strategies per day. For the most part, these strategies match with the homework but it is possible that we either run out of time or do not complete the strategy teaching. This is OK and students are just to do their best. I will cover all the strategies by the end of the week so the rest of the year will be much more settled. Students will get their daily assignment in their planner but if a student wants to get all their homework done on Monday night that is OK too. I have to admit, this is how I would have done it so that I had time for other things I liked to do. Home learning cannot be late in my room as it is always reviewed the next day so, if it was not done or not understood, it is a good learning situation. That being said, please do not be afraid to help your student with anything they are having problems with. While something is fresh in their mind, the learning is much greater than waiting until the next morning. The last part of the home learning is reading. I have no set time for this but do ask for it to be done all seven days a week. It should be viewed as something that is a Monday to Sunday event. Reading is something done ALL the time so I ask for it all the time. At the start of the year this will be inconsistent especially since the library is not open yet. But once we get going, I am hoping that some reading will happen every day for the whole year. Good habits are always worth it,
Tuesday will see the Responsible Use Agreement (RUA) go home to be signed by both you and the students. They bring it back with them on Wednesday along with their computer. I have lessons already organized by the ICT department for students to learn accounts, printing, organization and following the school guidelines for the use of technology. After this, students will most likely need their computers every day until the end of the school year. Being a former head of technology for a school and having taught technology class to ES, MS and HS students, I have plenty to teach them about how to use technology for learning. It is also something they really enjoy.
I think this dissertation has gone on long enough. It is truly a pleasure and blessing to have your students in my class and I am looking forward to a fruitful and pleasant grade 5 year with them. I always end by letting you know that if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me and I will gladly set up a meeting time.
