daw.com - October 27

What a great week we just completed.  We have moved along steadily in all our units, which this time are all interconnected, except for math.

Our reading unit is learning how to understand more complex non-fiction books.  We have done this through looking at several articles which show some of the complexities of reading.  These are titles, headings and subheadings that are not descriptive, more than one main idea in the text, having the main ideas and central ideas hidden (implicit) in the writing and the use of more technical language and vocabulary.  This ties is nicely with our unit on Matter and The Scientific Process since next week’s home learning will us this teaching. More on that later.

Our writing unit has been how to take notes and prepare for a research report.  The subject of the report can be anything that falls under the giant umbrella of Matter.  This gives the students lots of choice in what they finally write about.  This week we learned how to take notes in our own words, how to find main ideas and evidence/support for these main ideas, asking and writing questions about what you are reading, even if they never get answered, thinking while reading takes place and noting the thinking down and finally doing writing along side of note taking and not waiting until the end.  This last part is fairly new for students so I am doing it on a regular basis and also asking them to do it as they feel the need.  On Monday we will do yet another flash draft of one of the main ideas they have been researching.  We have also planned a one-hour block in the MS library this coming week for research.  They have a wider array of books for students to use.

Now that we are well along in these units it is time to put them into practice.  The first four books in a series about the Scientific Process will be uploaded to our Google Classroom page.  The only home learning that students have this week is to read these books, take notes, question what they read and to think while they are reading.  Each morning there will be a sharing time where the students gather together to share what they read and found out the previous night.  As there are 8 books in the series, this will continue next week as well.  Students will take home their UOI books to keep track of their thoughts and ideas.  Each day these will need to be returned to class as we use them for our unit as well.

Our UOI this week started to look at physical and chemical changes in matter.  We started an experiment where two eggs are placed in vinegar and water and then observing the change.  Our second one will be a look at the movement of molecules due to temperature.  We are also starting to research why these experiments work and once completed, the presentation will be posted on Seesaw for you to see.

Our math unit has now looked at the addition and subtraction of mixed numbers.  The students learning is on Seesaw for you to look at.  We will continue this week with word problems and also a brief introduction to decimal fractions.  We should complete this unit by Friday with the final assessment.  Our next unit is on multiplication and division of fractions.

I had two interesting conversations with parents this week about certain processes I have in place in my room.  The first one was about the planner.  The idea here is two fold - remind students what is coming up and allow parents to stay in tune with the class.  While I do not ask for planners to be signed by parents, all my students know you can ask to see them.  The second one was on home learning.  Each night there is a home learning assignment that is marked, discussed and reviewed the next morning.  At any time parents should be able to ask students to see their homework, just like the planner.  All my students are aware of this.

This coming week is chapel at 8:30 on Tuesday in Robb Hall, picture day for Korea Days on Thursday morning, and Korea Day activities on Friday.  Please note we do not celebrate Halloween in school.  Band on Monday has been postponed to Wednesday due to limitations for us to practice our chapel. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

daw.com - October 20

We had a great week of starting new learning and also assessing where we are in our learning. While this took a lot of time, it was all in preparation for the learning to come in the next units.  I got an email from the office that MAP scores will be emailed out sometime this coming week.  If you do not get them, please contact the ES office.

We put our first fractions seesaw post up and I am looking for this to become a regular thing now.  Look for more this coming week.  We have covered addition and subtraction of like and unlike fractions.  Our last section was on why division questions end up as fractions. We move on to mixed numbers next.

Our note taking in non-fiction reading started with an organizational exercise as this is the focus in our unit. Taking random and un-organized notes is not worthwhile at all.  We are also learning to not copy from an author as this is not allowed.  Using our own words is a much better way to make sure we understand what we are taking notes on.  It will also help us in our writing as we learn how to write a research report, which must be well organized.

We started our first experiment in our Matter UOI this week with a look at dissolving in different temperature water.  We still have some research to do to completely understand this.  On Tuesday we will do a set of 4 experiments and research each of these as well.  Since this is so new to students, it is exciting to watch them see the wonders of science at work.

Grade 5 is preparing for our Chapel on the 29th and all students have been split into various groups to make ready for this event.  We have a couple more times this week and a dress rehearsal on the 28th.  The chapel starts at 8:30 on the 29th in Robb Hall.

We had a great time at sports day on Friday and I was very happy to see everyone enjoying themselves and trying their best.  The vipers gathered the most points from the day but it should be noted that there was only 13 points difference between the highest and lowest.  This would mean that everyone was really trying hard - congratulations are in order.

Vision and hearing screening is on Tuesday this coming week.

Hope all is well and let me know if you have any questions.

daw.com - October 11

A good time was had by all at the grade 5 retreat, I hope everyone is rested from their holiday and we are ready for the next adventure in 5D.

There is a lot happening this week to keep us busy.  First up is class photos - these are on Thursday Oct 17 right after lunch.  Next is sports day - this is Friday October 18th from 8:30 - 12:30.  ERB will be Tuesday and Wednesday.

Our next math unit is on Fractions and Mixed numbers.  This is the first of he units on fractions that students continue with all year long.  Later it will mix with decimals.  The final assessment from unit 2 will come home this week.

Our next writing unit is on research report writing and is tied in directly with our UOI on matter.  There is a lot of technology with this unit for the research so it is important that computers come to school fully charged each day.  The assessment for the previous unit will come home this week.

Tackling Complexity is our next reading unit and it is the first of several non-fiction units.  While many students enjoy reading these books, very few know how to get the information out of them in an organized manner.  This unit will help with this.  It is also tied in with our writing unit which is based in non-fiction writing.

Out next UOI is on matter and the scientific process.  We will look at the changing of states of matter, both reversible and non-reversible, types of matter (did you know there are seven), how to conduct a scientific experiment through some really neat and interesting demonstrations and experiments.  This is a unit that most students really find fun.

Monday is a Day 5 so students have library,.  We did not have time before we left for retreat and holiday to get this into out planner, so they may need to be reminded to bring their library books back for this day.  There are also several students with overdue books and I would like to get these books either renewed or returned a well.

Home learning will continue this week as should instrument practice and reading.  All together this should take no more than an hour a night.

There is a lot of technology in these units so please help your student to make sure their computer is plugged in each night and fully charged before they come to school.  It will be a shame if they have to miss any of this due to a computer out of power.  All students also need some kind of head set since there are videos and computer simulations to take part in as well.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.