Thanks for dropping by again! October was a busy month of assessments, projects, and quite a variety of learning topics. Thank you to everyone who was able to meet with me at Parent-Teacher Interviews -- it was really great to get to chat with you about your children and look ahead to the rest of the year. If you were unable to attend, and would like to chat, please send me an email, and I will be happy to set up a meeting.
We also had our PS1 student, Miss Hannah Couture, come for her orientation, and she will be joining us (starting Monday) for the rest of the semester!
Please see below for a quick video overview of the last month back!
Please see below for our academic focuses in November:
Writing:
This month, we're taking it easy on writing for the first few weeks, focusing on our Book Clubs in reading (though we have done some Summarizing practice). Later on, the students will begin working with Information Writing, focused on selecting a topic and familiarizing themselves with the structure and parts of this style of writing.
In our Word Study lessons, we'll spend the month focusing on Spelling Patterns. We'll work on identifying and working with a variety of common (and less common) phonograms, how they blend with certain letters, and how they can help us to read and spell words accurately.
Reading:
Students will be working in "Book Clubs" to read a book (or books) together, practice their summarizing skills, as well as ask and answer questions to which the answer is not explicit within the text (requiring inference to answer well).
I'll also be doing guided reading with small groups throughout this time, working closely with a few students at a time to target foundational reading skills.
Math:
We've recently wrapped up our study of angles, and will now be moving on to Increasing and Decreasing sequences (including the Fibonacci sequence!). After that, we'll have our first round of looking at graphs, before we take a break to review and the students write their first cumulative assessment, touching on the first level of each of our topics. Students will also continue to develop skills around identifying important information, note-taking, and checking their understanding.
Science:
We recently concluded our Waste & Our World unit - I'm working my way through marking the students' Waste Reports on our school. November will be mostly focused on our first full Social unit, but we may begin our Lights and Shadows unit in the final week of the month.
Social:
We've just begun our Regions of Alberta unit! Students completed a "Travel Profile" survey detailing some of the sights and activities they would enjoy visiting if they took a tour of Alberta. Next, they were given (anonymously) one of their classmates' profiles, and began developing a Travel Plan to one of the regions of our province based on the information contained within. Over the next few weeks, the students will dig deeper into researching each of Alberta's regions and refine their choices, before preparing a polished "Travel Plan Presentation" to present to the class.
Wellness:
Our physical activity in October was largely focused on Soccer, though we did begin with a little bit of volleyball. We will be continuing with volleyball for the month of November. In the classroom, we discussed positive communities, and the benefits of belonging to one. As we continue through November our focus will narrow to look at Healthy Relationships, and how we can recognize and maintain them.
French:
Students will begin moving on to learning about weather, seasons, and seasonal celebrations and traditions. One exciting project coming up will even have students writing their own sentences in French!
Art:
Our art focus for the month will be on tints, shades, and gradations. Students will explore how using different variations on a single colour can help to develop form and depth in their art. We will continue to explore the ways we can talk about art and the choices we've made when creating it. Look for your child's Artist Statement to come home with their finished projects, and ask about the choices they've made.
Important Notes for the next month:
Thursday Nov 9: Remembrance Day Assembly (10:30)
Friday Nov 10: NO SCHOOL (Remembrance Day)
Monday Nov 13: NO SCHOOL (Professional Learning - teachers are collaborating with colleagues from across the division for the morning, before returning in the afternoon to continue exploring the new math curriculum and how it connects to the new resources we have)
