Category Archives: News

Happy Holiday Reading

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Hi 5KP, thanks for the blog posts you have been adding. Don’t forget to take some pictures over your break and I can teach you how to add those to your blog.

For those of you looking for a good book to read, Mr. Howitt just sent me an exciting link. Go here to find out what book you would like to read next. You can join up if you want and create an account but you don’t have to, I just kept putting in the names of books I liked.

This would be a great way of getting a list together to put on your Destiny reference page in our school catalog.

Reading Buddies

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Every Friday afternoon for half an hour we get to share experiences with my daughter Hannah’s grade 2 class as we pair up for Reading Buddies. As you can see from these photos we have a lot of fun relaxing and reading with 2JS. The idea is that the 2nd graders choose some books that they would like to either have the 5th grade read to them or that they would like to read aloud to the5th graders. It is a great opportunity for the two grade levels to get together and share some quality time and I appreciate the 2nd graders taking the time to meet with us, thanks Mrs. Speece.

Many students are told for a long time before they get to 5th grade that they are a ‘good reader’. In 5th grade we try to give the students some clearer guidelines about exactly what being a ‘good reader’ looks like. Take a moment to read about ‘What is a critical reader in Grade 5?’

Congratulations

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Well done to the 15 students who completed a blog post  last night. Of those 15, 13 students completed the homework task set to write about the field trip yesterday. Of the students who did not complete the work, 1 had no blog yet as he was new, 1 was absent due to having her appendix out and 1 had forgotten his password…so all in all I am thrilled with the efforts the class are putting in with their blogging. The homework on the art museum was not even due today, it was for any day this week so thanks again for your diligence.

Well done to Jordan who also added another post as well. Great job! The idea is that the students can use this blog for a whole variety of writing and it should not just be used when I set them a task in class. They can be writing about books read, movies viewed, places visited, projects they are working on, ideas they have…really, it is limitless. I just ask them to remember to keep in mind that once what they have said is out there, anyone can see it and so they always want to put their best work forward.

Parents, any time you want to check out your child’s blog, or any other student in the class, you do so by double-clicking on their name under my blogroll down the right sidebar on this page. We would love it if you would take some time to read, reflect and comment upon your child’s writing. I will be discussing with the class this week that it is not appropriate etiquette to correct spelling on your someones blog via a comment. For one thing, they will go back, edit their work and correct the mistake, and then your comment will be out of place. Rest assured that we will attempt some editing ourselves soon enough but at the moment the idea is to get the students engaged and confident with the process. A great way to comment is to focus on a key point they have written about and ask them to elaborate on it in another post, give some praise and make some suggestions for further entries. You can always tell bloggers about their sloppy spelling or punctuation in person or via e mail.

News of the Week…

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Hello Parents and Students, I am back in Shanghai after a two day conference in Malaysia at M.K.I.S. on the 6 traits of writing. It will greatly complement the work we are doing and will be doing in our units of study for Writers Workshop.

As I write this Mr. Davis has taken 5KP to a Shanghai Museum that is part of the Shanghai Biennale. The students’ homework on their blog over the next few days is to write up a post about this field trip, as always, at least two full paragraphs, and include a relevant picture, either of the building or of a piece of art they enjoyed.

Tonight’s only specific homework if for the class to complete a sheet that will help me assess them with their DRA (developmental reading assessment) testing tomorrow morning. It is a student reading survey and it is very important they fill it in with as much detail as possible in their own language. I will be sending it home today in their homework folder so please remind them to take it out and complete it tonight and return it tomorrow.

Here is some information about the coming Fall BBQ.

Information about BBQ details

RSVP for BBQ

I will not be able to attend this year due to being at school for a masters course on the same weekend. However I do hope to see many of you this Thursday at the Open House and I have an open door policy in class so drop in anytime or send me an e mail if you have specific questions. I welcome your input.

Here is a reminder from Mrs. Denton about music homework for band students.

Many students are not filling out their band PRACTICE RECORD. This is their weekly homework and so far many students have a ‘0’ in their homework grade. I will send home notices next week for students that have a ‘0’. Please help remind students to put band homework in their student planner and then to return it completed in their school bag.

Well done to the Falcons who won the prize for having the most spirit yesterday in the House Spirit Walk. Today there is a chance for 5th grade girls to earn points for their house playing soccer at lunch time and Thursday will be the boys turn.

Don’t forget the October Holiday is next week…Hooray! So the students will return to school on Monday October 6th.

Everyday Math

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Hi ParentsI am currently away from your child this morning as they work on their government unit and I am being educated in the new Everyday Math program. If you check out the comments from my blog post on ‘5KP working hard‘ you will see a few of the students made some interesting comments about the family letter that it is supposed to be sent home at the start of each unit.It is up to you if you would like to keep the family letter at home in a safe place or not, it depends how much time you spend with your child when they are doing their homework and also how confident your child is in this subject. I am putting a link for it now on my blog so that you will always be able to access these online from now on if you choose.Copy of Family Letter is also on the right permanently in my blog roll under ‘useful sites’.  Have a great long weekend with your children. 

The rabbits have entered the building!!!

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Well 5KP, little did I know, when I entered room 209 this morning, that when I left it this afternoon I would be leaving two little creatures behind. But a mysterious announcement this morning alerted me to the fact that rabbits had entered the building and I was fortunate enough to be able to take them to my room and we are now looking after them here indefinitely.

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We have named our bunnies ‘Salt’ and ‘Pepper’ for now and a team of “experts” decided today that they are two females…or two males!!! Here’s hoping they are right on at least one of those counts as the other alternative is not a good one.

For homework tonight students can you do a bit of research for me on the rabbits.

What do they like to eat? How often should they be fed? How big will they grow? How can I tell which gender they are? If they breed, how long til we see baby rabbits? How often should we clean their cage? What is going to happen if I let them out??? Can you tell me any good websites out there that we should look at as a class?

Parents, I apologize in advance for the onslaught of “mum, dad, can we pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee have a rabbit, please, please, please!!!

I know I am going to get the same question at home and I can see why after spending the day with these little cuties. I had my work cut out for me teaching this morning’s math class on estimation with Pepper doing a little dance in the cage beside me!

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5KP Working Hard

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Today in class the students completed a variety of math activities as a follow up after their unit one math test and also to get a head start on the unit two math unit that we will be beginning tomorrow. Have test-run-picassa-class-pics-015-small.jpga look at the photos in the slide show below.Some students were working on brainpop.com which is a very popular site with the students that you should have a look at if you get the chance.Overall I was extremely pleased with the results of the math test where the median score for the students was 85%. A few silly errors were made by some students but it was a learning experience for all of the class and I hope you can find a few minutes to look over the test with your child and return it signed to me as soon as possible.Today we were fortunate to have a past student of 5th grade, Ben Wu, come into class and show off his expertise in animating power-point. The class were suitably impressed with what had to show them and I am sure even the brightest ‘tech kids’ in the class learned something new.Thanks very much for your entertaining and informative presentation Ben.test-run-picassa-class-pics-018-small.jpgStudents, for your homework tonight, please make a comment on one of the following topics. It should be at least two paragraphs in length. You may write on more than one topic if you wish but each topic needs a minimum two paragraph response.1. What did you like about Ben’s talk and why? What compliments would you like to pay him?2. If you had to go down and be an expert in a 4th grade classroom what would you teach them?3. How did you do on your math test? Are you happy or disappointed with your results?