daw.com - August 31

 It is hard to believe, but school for the month of August is over.  Whew, what a great month it was too.

The big event next week is Grade 5 Retreat on Thursday and Friday.  Just some reminders;

1) Everyone needs a snack and lunch for Thursday.  Nothing with nuts please as we have several students who are quite allergic to nuts.  Make it healthy and light.

2) Remember, this is an electronics free night and two days.  No cell phones, no iPods, no MP3 devices, no watches, no cameras (will explain below).  Students are going to be so busy there is no way they will have time for these and with the amount of water around our activities, they could easily get damaged or lost.

3) We are only going out for one night - keep the packing simple and small.  One thing we have had several conversations about was the dishes and tea towel.  Each student will be responsible for washing and drying their own dish ware. 

4) As the entire trip is outdoors, sunscreen, hats, sunglasses etc. are definitely a must.  Please no aerosol spray cans.

5) Have students do their own packing so they know what they have with them.

6) There is a snack store on the way home so if they want to purchase a snack they will need 5000 won with them. Securely stored in the day pack.

7) Two packs - overnight bag and day pack.  The day pack is needed both days for the activities, the overnight is only needed for change of clothes, toiletries etc.

8) Make sure your scholar has fun - wish them all the best as they leave on Thursday morning.  OK, this is my request, but I think it is a good one.  I am planning on doing everything possible to make this the best retreat ever in grade 5 history at SFS.

9) Make sure that return plans are well known by student.  Remember, we arrive back at SFS at 4:30 pm on Friday.

There is a photographer coming with us to camp and all the pics will be made available to everyone.  Once again, there is no time for students to take pics.  They are going to be busy all the time.  We have decided therefore, cameras are not to be brought out to camp. We are also aware of all the water around us for activities and the possible damage to cameras.

Please direct all last minute questions to me no later that Tuesday so I will have time to research answers I may not know.  Thanks in advance.

Beginning band is underway and what a great day Saturday was.  It is to the credit of the students for all the music learning they did that day.  I remember my sister learning to play the French Horn when she was about 12-13.  She was certainly pumped as these scholars were today.

Our first unit in Math is over and the test is completed.  Our next unit is on Multiplication and Division of whole numbers.  This will be with numbers up to 9,999 for the most part with a few explorations into the 10,000’s.   We will also be learning how to use spreadsheets and calculators in this unit.  Watch out for some neat demos at home by your scholars.

Reading a writing are moving along at steady pace with our first move into revisions and edits starting this week.  As well the first book clubs of the year start with assigned books.  Later in the year I will start to let students choose the books they read for the book clubs they participate in.

Ask yourself this question - how do you know your scholar is completing the reading they are doing?  I ask this as I am not convinced that my students are all doing this.  I see them with new books every day or choosing new books every day.  With the books they are choosing, there is only a slight chance they are completing the reading.  It is very important that all books started are completed.  It is OK to not like a book, but it needs to be completed and then a determination made about how good it is.  Comic books are not part of the school reading curriculum.  They are a great read but, unless you purchase all 200-300 volumes, never develop characters, plots or settings.  Graphic novels are ok as they do have all the above.

That is all for this week.  If you have any questions or concerns be sure to let me know and I will set up a time for us to meet.

daw.com - August 23

We made it through our first full week of school and what fantastic week we have had.  We completed many projects and are well into our first units of discovery.  We also welcomed our newest class member Eric Watson.

I want to thank everyone who attended Back to School Night last night.  I hope it was informative.  If you were not able to make it, I am going to put up both the slide show I used, and the Seesaw slide show for you to view at your leisure. Please remember that I am here for your scholar all the time.  Please let me know if we need to meet.

Computers are all now set up for use at school.  Starting on Monday I would like to see students bring them with them every day.  They can store them in the locked cabinet overnight if they want except over the weekend when they must go home.  This is a choice I leave up to you and your scholar.  Be on the look out for much more coming your way digitally.

Grade 5 retreat is September 5-6.  This is coming very rapidly.  Permission slips and packing lists went home on Friday.  The permission slip is due in to me by Wednesday August 28th please.  Be accurate with the information on it as that is what I will take out with me to camp.  We will arrive home on Friday at 4:30 pm so please start immediately to make arrangements to pick up your son/daughter from school or to take the 5:00 late busses.  While I do not know who to call, starting with the transportation office will likely get you what you need.

Next week in math we continue with our look at whole numbers and I predict that the final assessment for this unit will be towards the end of the week.  It is a fairly short unit and I am please with what I am seeing in the way of student learning.

Our writing unit on the Personal Narrative continues.  We have been busy writing small moments from our lives and will continue with this through next week when I expect that each student will have up to five or six small moment pieces.  From there we will look at expanding one into a complete story  and then publish it later in the unit.

Our reading unit is taking the time to write well about what we read.  This is something that I feel the class needs a lot of work in, so I am teaching it with repeated ideas and using many examples from students I have taught in the past and also from professional readers.  Our first library period is next Wednesday so students will finally get to sign out books and bring them home.  I expect that we will visit the library about twice a week for book exchange.  Please remember that after home learning is complete, students should use the rest of their time, up to 50 minutes, to read.  On the weekend I would like them to find 15-20 minutes per day to do the same.  I know this is not always possible, but since reading is such an important life skill, it is a worthwhile endeavor.  

Our migration simulation on Tuesday went very well.  The objectives were met and the students really got a feel for what it is like to be an immigrant arriving for the first time to a new country.  We have reflected on the simulation and will continue with the learning next week.  I will give you a heads up that if you have anyone in your family that has migrated to another country, your student would love to talk with them and hear their story.  It is something that really adds strength to the learning.

That is all for now.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and I will gladly set up a time for us to meet.  Have a great weekend.

Harold Daw

daw.com - Aug 16

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.

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.