Weekly Recap

Why hello again there! Did you hear we had an exciting visit this Wednesday from Dan Clark of the Roughriders? Well, we did! He shared with us his story of being bullied in elementary school, emphasizing that bystanders have the power to stop bullying. It was a fascinating visit -- and the students were certainly eager for a group selfie afterwards!

Our favourite @sskroughriders player @DanClark67! Thanks for the #AntiBullying message to @RegPublicSchools. pic.twitter.com/vUlADHJVCk

— Jack MacKenzie (@JackMacKenzie_S) April 22, 2015

Awesome afternoon @JackMacKenzie_S in Regina #ImagineNoBullying @RedCrossSK pic.twitter.com/zjRrG9mn99

— Dan Clark (@DanClark67) April 22, 2015

It was great afterwards to celebrate a few days of shorts & sunshine outside!

We had another fantastic week in the classroom! Students have really been enjoying the game Bananagrams during Word Work rotations. I particularly enjoyed this great learning moment on the difference between 'die' and 'dye'.

 Or perhaps someone just really doesn't like neck wear.

Grade 5 Social Studies presentations went very smoothly! Seeing the high expectations from the Grade 7/8 Heritage Fair led to some costumes.... Here we can clearly see John Cabot talking about his life...

 ..and here he is again educating others about why he thinks he's Canada's Greatest Explorer. With the wrapping up of Social Studies, we have started a new Science unit. Grade 5s will be building Rube Goldberg machines. More information is available under the 'Assessments' tab above.

Finally, in Mathematics this week we have had a great time introducing 3D shapes. Yesterday we built shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows for a great visual to help us count edges, faces and vertices. This would be a fun activity for home as well or, if the weather is better, you might try making 3D bubbles (here).

Have a great weekend! Please note the following: 

-Grade 4 Social Studies presentations Monday

-Cardboard tubes (empty toilet paper rolls) are needed for Science. We need 7 more for the Grade 4s.

-Superhero Day May 8

Weekly Recap

Happy Friday!

This week, we continued to discuss how we can be successful in different parts of our lives. Thank you for participating in our success surveys! We know that success means doing our personal best and are beginning to learn that the five keys to success are: 

• Resilience,
• Confidence,
• Persistence,
• Organization, and
• Getting along

We did personal surveys to find out our strengths and weaknesses. Next week, we will set goals on how to improve. 

We have also been working on a group essay - in threes - to answer the question, "Should we watch what we eat?". Students have come up with some very creative arguments about why we should - including food allergies, maintaining a healthy weight and even ethics! Spring break Show & Shares went very smoothly. Most students were prepared and spoke well. Way to go! It was great to have the opportunity to focus on each student individually in this way!

In Mathematics, we have started a new unit on Geometry. How can you help students? Why not look for shapes in everyday life! We have been working on describing shape attributes using terms such as: 

• Parallel
• Perpendicular
• Right angle
• Equal
• Opposite & adjacent sides

We have created Instagram profiles for different quadrilaterals. My favourite hashtag so far? Aiden's parallelogram which is #toocoolforrightangles!

Please be aware of the following: 

• Dairy Queen cake order forms due on April 23
• Sponsorship notices were sent home earlier this week (yellow) for the End of Year BBQ & Carnival. Please let me know if you didn't get a copy & I'll see if I can send home another!

Show & Share

Exciting new classroom development! We are going to be holding Show & Share this week to allow students the opportunity to tell us about their Spring Break activities!

Here is what I expect of students:

• Be organized to present on your day
• Think about what you would like to say beforehand
• Keep your presentation to one minute (and on-topic)
• Speak clearly, with interest, emotion and eye contact
• Bring a prop (optional) if it's okay with Mom & Dad

 Students have volunteered to present on different days. Here's a list of what we have so far:

• Tuesday: Ava, Aurora, Jake & Elian
• Wednesday: Jorja, Nabeel, Cassy, Sophia, Will & Aiden
• Thursday: Willow, Adyan, Jacob, Huzaifah & Isaac
• Friday:  Tony, Ilhan, Hee Joo, Linoy, Ally & Jasmin
• Next Tuesday: Rami & Tim

Weekly Recap

Happy Thursday! We have had a busy, but very enjoyable, week leading up to Spring Break.

On Monday, we got to see a Battle of the Books in action ... which also inspired us to have a Kahoot! quiz on reading strategies Wednesday.

We have also started a new health unit on Success. We will be talking about the five keys to success. Here we are, at left, brainstorming times we have been successful.

The Grade 5s began a new unit on Geometry. We were shape ninjas on Wednesday and searched the school for 2-D shapes.

Then we described the shapes to our partners to see if they could guess which shape we were talking about!

In French, the students made 'snow' sculptures for the unit on Carnival. Their creativity really shone through!

Today, we got to go swimming and were invited to attend the Grade 7/8 Heritage Fair. It was fantastic! Their inquiry projects into events in Canadian history were very interesting ... and there were samples of butter tarts too! Some of your children certainly have a special talent for finding free samples of candy....

What a busy week! Have a safe, happy and relaxing holiday with your family! I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday, April 13th!