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!

http://ca.ixl.com/math/grade-5/multiply-by-one-digit-numbers

http://ca.ixl.com/math/grade-5/division-facts-to-12

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