Hi 5KP families, both new and old! Welcome to Michelle who has settled in beautifully in the last 24 hours and we look forward to Shaleigh joining our class next Monday; we are still missing a couple of our classmates and look forward to the day we have a full class (yesterday we were only 2/3 full with 6 of our students not here yet!

With only 2 1/2 weeks between our Winter Break and the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) there is much to be done and a short time to do it in.

Math
Our students completed the Pre-Test for our 6th unit in math today, focusing on Using Data and the addition and subtraction of fractions. We will begin the Unit tomorrow and go over the Pre-Test results as a class once we have everyone here.

Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop
We are focusing intensely on Poetry over this period time and I’d love you to do a bit of homework for me parents and share with your children any poems/nursery rhymes/stories you have shared with them as younger children. For example, I always read nursery rhymes with Hannah when she was little, we would sing them together and do the actions, favourites included English classics such as Mary Had a Little Lamb (I never knew it had so many verses), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (a third verse, who knew?) and The Grand Old Duke of York. With Mimi, our second child, I have not been as good at teaching her so many of these traditional nursery rhymes and thank Mrs Borden for doing the job for me so well this year. I have also shared many poems with the girls that my father and grandmother shared with me as a child.

If you could comment on this blog post with an answer like the one above, or e mail me, or just talk to your children about your response, I’d really appreciate it. We are going to really enjoy this unit together as I am very passionate about Poetry and we got off to a great start on our Poetry Friday’s back in September, October and November.

Science
We continued with our Lego Unit today working on building Simple Machines. It is amazing seeing how capable the students are, there are a lot of detailed instructions to follow and we begin each lesson with a lengthy discussion, today it was about Levers, ask your child what a lever is and see if they can tell you what the new 7 letter word is they learned today as they built their own levers. The first correct answer on my blog or e mail wins a coffee pass for tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, students should wear their house shirts please to earn points for their team. There are also several envelopes and newsletters coming home about the Roots and Shoots initiative and also the Family Literacy Event coming up, so please check your child’s bag if they are not forthcoming; youngest child only.

Happy Friday!