daw.com - January 25

 I had a great weekend with the MUN team that attended CISSMUN in Shanghai last weekend.  It is amazing to watch these leaders of tomorrow research and debate topics that are real and of today’s interest.  I thought back to the time that the class did their debates and hoped that some of them would find it a passion and participate in events such as this when they get to middle school next year.

We spent some time on Thursday in the cooking lab taking fractions to the real world.  I had a banana bread recipe that was almost entirely made of fractions and for the first time in the five years I have been doing this, every loaf turned out just right.  It was fun to watch the students work out how to measure the ingredients and also make sure they were using the correct amount. The results at the end proved they really do know what they are doing.

We are coming to the conclusion of our Innovations Through Nature unit with both a project that was inspired by nature and a written article on the nature itself.  Students are busy preparing for their presentations next week with constructions, Powerpoints, Keynotes and posters.  I can hardly wait to see the final results.  Everyone is on track and this should be concluded by Friday of next week.

I am a little behind in return work since the winter break but in the past week I did return the students  Theatre Project, and Unit 3 Math.  I plan on getting back their research article and decimals booklet next week.  I apologize for the delay in this but there are some other things needed that had to take a precedence. Notes about this are always in the planner so you can keep track.

As we move closer to the Chinese New Year holiday, I know some of you might want to leave earlier than planned.  This is fine with me but I do ask that you please let me know so I can plan accordingly.  It really does help me out.  I thank-you in advance for this.

That is it for the past two weeks so have a great weekend.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I will gladly set up a time to meet.

daw.com - January 11

Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone has had time to regenerate and unwind. We are now in the last semester of the grade 5 year and there is a lot still going on.  I believe you will find that this part of the school year goes by even faster than the last one - and that one was fast.

Our reading unit will continue to look at more complex non-fiction reading.  This means that information books no longer just provide facts but will also include commentary regarding the subject.  Students therefore need to learn how to navigate through a book like this to get the most out of it.  We will use specific examples in the learning to assist students in their understanding of the text.

Our written unit goes into part two of Information Articles.  The first on the the students did was not too bad and I was impressed with the information they had to populate their articles.  Now it is time to do it again, but this time with a specific topic - Biomimicry.  By the end of this unit, each student will complete an article on this subject.  All writing from now on must be completed in paragraph form with all the proper punctuation and identified parts of a paragraph.  We have been learning this for the last 3-4 months and will continue with more learning as this unit continues.

Math continues with fractions but now introduces multiplication and division.  This will also include whole numbers with fractions or improper/mixed numbers as quotients.  It is one of out longest units of the math year and continues almost to Spring Break.

Next week is class pics.  At this time I am not sure when this is as the assignments have not yet come out but the elementary school has been assigned Tuesday and Thursday so it will be one of these two days.  Please have your student dress well for these pictures.  Nothing formal but I would like to remember them and have them remembered for the wonderful students they are.

I will be away with the High School Model United Nations group (MUN) from Thursday afternoon until Monday returning on Tuesday to class.  We will be in Shanghai at a local conference.  The students have worked hard for this and are prepared for the debates and resolutions they will be involved with.

We had two days this week where we did some engineering activities and I was impressed with the creativity and innovation the students showed.  We have an engineering unit later in the year and these activities lead into it.  There are about 4 more in the coming weeks.

Report cards go out next week.   Please let me know if you have troubles getting them or want to discuss them.  I will gladly set a time up for us to meet.   It most likely will have to be after I get back with my MUN group.

If anyone is going to leave early for the Chinese New Year holiday in three weeks please let me know.  It is for planning reasons that I like to know.  There is no problem with this.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.