Tuesday 11 November 2014

November Newsletter


Dear Families,

 As we enter November, it’s safe to say we are all quite comfortable with our daily routines and school expectations.  Students have been working very hard to keep their desks organized and to keep up with their assignments.  As students continue throughout their grade 5 year, they will continue to take more and more responsibility for their own learning by keeping themselves organized, without reminders from their teacher or families, and by making sure they get caught up on work after being absent.

The staff and students in grade 5 are very pleased to welcome Ms. Domen to our team.  She will be covering for Mrs. Hutcheson for the next couple of months.  Ms. Domen is excited to be working here at Southview Public school and we are confident she will be a fabulous asset to our grade 5 team!

This month, as part of your child’s math homework package, students will be practicing their MAD MATH MINUTES at home.  Their job is to time themselves for 1 minute and complete as many multiplication facts as they can within that time.  They should correct their work afterwards and count how many questions they completed correctly.  Challenge your child to set nightly goals for themselves.  If they got 20 questions right on Monday night, their goal could be to get 25 questions right on Tuesday night.  Skill and Drill is a worthwhile strategy to help to memorize multiplication facts.  Also, don’t forget to sign in to our IXL website! http://ca.ixl.com/  This is where students can practice the math skills that will be taught over the course of the unit. The following links can greatly help to reinforce the concepts we’ve been learning about.  Make sure your child logs-in and completes these assignments!




Over the next month in Language, all students will be reading novels on the Holocaust as part of their Literature Circle activities.  In Literature Circle groups, students will independently read a novel that many of their peers are reading.  Each student will be given a Literature Role and will be required to complete daily responses based on their role.  Every Friday, they will meet with their group to engage in rich, accountable discussions about their novel.  These activities will help with reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.  There may be some nights when students will bring their novels home in order to keep up with their assigned readings.  In Writing, we will practice writing Summary Paragraphs while continuing to work on proper organization and sentence structure. We will also be creating book reviews at the end of the month.  As we finish off our Social Studies unit on the Canadian government, we are moving into our next Science unit, Conservation of Energy. 

Again, thank you all so much for being so supportive to your child, the school and us.  Feel free to contact us at the school with any further questions or concerns. 

Sincerely,

B. Myers-Fairbairn, A. LaRochelle, M. Hutcheson & K. Domen

Friday 3 October 2014

Math Practice

MATH PRACTICE on  http://ca.ixl.com/ 




Don't forget to Log-In!

October Newsletter


Dear Families,


We have had a busy and exciting start to our new school year.  Over the course of the last five weeks we have reviewed the school procedures, classroom expectations, and participated in fire drills.  In the classroom we have been working on Patterning and Algebra in Math, investigating the human body and its organ systems, learning about Parts of Speech in Writing, and identifying  Non-Fiction texts and practicing our reading strategies.  Classroom procedures have been going very well, most students have been good about taking responsibility for their learning by bringing their agenda to class every day and completing their assigned practice at night. Overall, the class has had a very successful start to the school year.

Don’t forget to sign in to our IXL website! http://ca.ixl.com/  This is where students can practice the math skills that will be taught over the course of the unit. The following links can greatly help to reinforce the concepts we’ve been learning about.  Make sure your child logs-in and completes these assignments!



I strongly encourage all students to take advantage of the fact that we are willing and available at breaks to provide extra small group or one-on-one support to any child who needs it or when they have problems or issues with their homework or math practice package.

Over the next month in Language we will continue to focus on the use of the reading strategies Activating Prior Knowledge, Predicting, Making Connections and Visualizing.  If your child is reading with you at home prompt them to: think about what they know before they read; as they read think “what do I think I will be reading about next,” connect what they are reading with their own experiences; and use the descriptive words in the text to help them make pictures in their head as they read.  This will be very helpful.  In Writing, we will be practicing writing Descriptive Paragraphs and focus on developing and classifying our ideas to become better writers. 

This month, students will self-reflect on their learning skills and bring it home for your signature.  The children will complete this at school and discussed it with their teacher.  Please look it over, sign it and return it to school with your child.  If you have any questions or concerns about your child=s start to the school year please don=t hesitate to contact any of us here at the school.

We have had a wonderful start to the school year, thank you all so much for being so supportive to your child, the school and us.  The students have been an absolute delight to get to know, and we look forward to a successful October month!

Sincerely,

B. Myers-Fairbairn, A. LaRochelle, M. Hutcheson

Friday 12 September 2014

Soccer Try-Outs

Thanks to all the Grade 5 students who tried out for this year's soccer team. We were really lucky that they got the opportunity to try-out. The soccer teams will be posted on Monday morning on our athletics board.