Math
We went over the idea of division again, such as in the equation 46÷3, which can be: 46 divided into 3 groups; 46 divided into groups of 3; or how many times can 3 fit into 46. Although they all look different, the quotient is the same regardless of how they interpret the division equation. We then went over how to solve it visually using models; then we had the students solve division questions (simple ones) using a new strategy called the box method division. Although this may be different from how parents were instructed to divide, the idea is still the same, that is, figuring out how many groups of the divisor (or how many times) you can make out of/fit in the dividend. Here's a brief video that you can watch to help you understand the process a bit better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2B5LwdZZQ4. The great thing about this method is that it's a little bit more forgiving. Students do not need to find out the largest number that can go into the divisor without going over. They can do it in more manageable chunks. That said, students should be working towards more efficient ways to divide - and that is the goal by the end of this unit - and a big part of this is students having mastered their times table. There are still a few students who rely on skip counting to do this. Parents, this is something that you can help your child with at home. Please let me know if you need extra resources to review the times table at home with your kid. Science This week in science we spent more time focusing on electricity. The students created comic strips discussing unsafe uses of electricity and how they are solved. The students experimented with a light bulb, battery and an alligator clip to find out many ways they could arrange the 3 items to make the light bulb shine. The students worked through this challenge and every group was successful in finding at least 2 ways. Next week we will continue to focus on circuits. Humanities The grade 5s have been continuing to research the different regions of Canada in preparation for a more in-depth project beginning next week. Students will research the history, resources, and conservation projects of a chosen region. They have also completed their assigned discussion group roles on the first four chapters of “The City of Ember”. Students will have discussions with their small groups over the next couple of days sharing their ideas, predictions, and personal anecdotes related to the story. Please feel free to ask students about their role in their discussion group as well as what events have been happening in the story thus far. As usual, please don’t hesitate to contact if you have any questions Swimming Field Trip Please view the documents (x3) on the forms page for information about students' upcoming swimming field trip in PE (early February). If interested in volunteering, that is, you have an up-to-date police clearance, please contact either Ms. Haigh ([email protected]) or Mr. Schmeichel ([email protected]) OR by replying to the parent volunteer committee email.
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HUMANITIES
We have finished watching the Canada video series and are now researching a topic for our TED talks that will be presented next Wednesday. We are also continuing on with reading comprehension and refining our grammar and editing. At some point in the next week we will also be doing another creative writing exercise and editing that. As always, if you have any questions about what is going on in the classroom or what your child is bringing home to work on, please do not hesitate to contact me. SCIENCE We discussed why it was important to be able to not only measure weather phenomenon, but also why it's essential that we are able to predict the weather. We also went over graphing conventions such as titles for graphs, x- and y-axes, and having equal intervals. Students then use LEGO bricks to graph their data from their daily weather recordings. Students chose any of the weather phenomenon such as temperature, wind gust, or air pressure to graph. They then use mark-up app called Skitch to label necessary parts. Lastly, we talked about our recent activity they consider "science-y" or typified science and the beauty of science. Looking ahead: clouds and their role in predicting weather MATH We were able to record mental math interviews this week, with a few students left for next week. To see how your child did, please check their Seesaw files. Also, students worked on providing examples and non-examples for a couple of multiplication conjectures. Looking ahead: PEACE FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES Peace festival activities are in full swing next week. We have a busy week ahead. - Keynote speaker on Monday for all students about empathy and caring for others - Skating TUE Dec. 18 - helmets mandatory (must be CSA approved); skates optional: sliding or skating - Fun carnival games in the gym on WED - non-perishable food items welcomed to play some games! - Peace Festival Market visit WED Dec. 19 (5.1); and TUE Dec. 18 (5.2). Please note that the Market includes student-created crafts for which the proceeds will go to Inn From the Cold (cash only), as well as goods from Nepal for which the proceeds go to Medical Mercy Canada’s Nepal project (including building a school that Connect has helped fund over the years; cash or credit card accepted) - Gift exchange (optional) THU Dec. 20; Winter break class party potluck (optional) MATH We started our mental math interviews for students to show their application of basic facts and number properties like multiplying by 10 and place value knowledge. If your child was interviewed, they should have a video uploaded on Seesaw. However, we weren't able to interview everybody this week, which means we will continue with this next week. We also discussed what conjectures are in math and we looked at a couple of multiplication conjectures. Students either agreed or disagreed with them, which they should have provided examples and non-examples for depending on their stance. We also wrote a quiz on multiplication on Tuesday. The actual quiz was returned to student and should be in their Seesaw. If students still need a bit more practice on it, I suggest going to some online resources like https://www.commoncoresheets.com/SortedByGrade.php?Sorted=4nbt5 OR tinyurl.com/khanrec (under the tab multiplication) Looking ahead: Continue with multiplication interviews, division, NEED to be very familiar on how to subtract SCIENCE Students presented their weather instruments construction. Finished projects are on Seesaw for your viewing. Students explained how they work, what units were used to measure their individual weather phenomenon. We also represented their daily weather observations in graph form. This week, we celebrated computer science week. We let the kids do Hour of Code on Wednesday on code.org, and students participated on a micro:bit workshop on Thursday. Cool stuff!!! Lastly, students are uploading their video and/or audio recordings of what parents, family, and friends define to be beautiful. Looking ahead: Clouds and cloud patterns to predict weather. HUMANITIES We have finished reading Fish in a Tree and have reviewed the lessons and moral from the story. Canada the story of us videos have given us an overview of the history and diversity of Canada. We are almost finished this series and will soon start our research into one event or Canadian that we want to learn more about. These will be presented in the form of a 2 minute TED talk. CENTRAL LIBRARY FIELD TRIP ON MONDAY Students will be going to the new Central Library on Monday to watch the Grade 6 students with their TED Talks on Space Science. Along with this activity, they will also be observing for what they consider beautiful in the new library. Thank you to our volunteers who will be joining us on Monday! Digital copies of the form and parent letter are attached to this email if you need an extra copy to print out.
Math
In math, we looked further into symbolic arrays. We also worked on several examples of models and determined whether or not a model represented 24x5. Students had to articulate their reasoning for their decisions. See Seesaw for student work. Looking ahead: traditional algorithm, lattice method, mental math interviews for at least double-digit by single-digit factors. Science We discussed why observations are an important part of the scientific process and elaborated on two different kinds: qualitative and quantitative. We also went over different weather phenomena and discussed what each one was about and what devices are used to measure them. We also started taking daily qualitative observations about the weather and started using a secondary resource for quantitative data. Looking ahead: weather instrument construction Humanities We will continue with the video series "Canada: The Story of Us." Students will be choosing a person or event that was significant in building Canada to research and present in a form of a TED Talk. We're almost finished reading A Fish in a Tree. Please continue to read at home with your child. Throughout the week, students have been editing their own work, along with editing their peers' with the purpose of improving their own writing and editing skills. Report Card and Home Conferencing Please have the report card folder along with the parent feedback form/attendance sheet returned to your child's homeroom teacher. If you were unable to attend student-led conferences, we encourage you to do a home conference with your child. Spirit Wear If you ordered Spirit Wear this year, we are happy to inform you that they are here. They will be available for pick up during student-led conferences in Mrs. Melville's room or be given to students next week. Calendars Our annual school calendar for 2019 is now available for purchase. Please see the attached poster for details. Please visit https://squareup.com/store/connect-charter-school-society/item/connect-calendar to purchase a calendar. We will deliver prepaid calendars to your classroom or office. Humanities We continued viewing the videos of the history of Canada. We have just finished videos to the end of WWI, and I believe it has given students a very clear picture of Canada’s involvement in the war and the value of our troops, particularly in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
We have been doing more work in self and peer editing with a view to clearer writing and the value of editing or having someone else edit your work. Please try to have your child read out to you at home. By next week we should be done the reading of Fish in a Tree, so please discuss this with your child. Math Went over how to multiply multi-digit numbers visually and symbolically by using an array. We will continue to work on using these strategies and others so students begin to master how to multiply multi-digit numbers. Please reinforce these strategies by getting students to practice them at home (double digit by double digit, e.g. 34 x 14). You don't need to know how to do the methods but you could encourage your child to explain it to you. Your child should be adept in using them but you may use the traditional algorithm as a check for their work (or a calculator). Looking ahead: More work with strategies for multiplication and mental math interviews (students should be able to multiply at least a double-digit by a single-digit number mentally, thus mastery of times table is a pre-requisite) Science We began our study of weather by looking at student ideas of what constitutes weather. We also talked about other ideas that they had that didn't relate to weather, such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanos. We then identified weather phenomena that can be measured (temperature, humidity, pressure, precipitation, and wind speed). For each phenomenon, students researched on their definition, units of measurement, and devices used to measure them. Looking ahead: Using second-hand data to keep track of weather phenomena (for about a week) and building our own weather instruments Report Cards Report cards will be sent home on Monday. Student-led conferences will be Thursday (4-8 pm) and Friday (8 am-1 pm). Scheduling procedures and times will be emailed next week by the office. Please check your emails regularly for that message. Home conferencing is also possible if the dates/times are not convenient for you and/or availability of time slots are limited. Humanities We have started to watch the CBC series “Canada: The Story of US”. Please ask your child about what they have learned from the video so far. This is intended to give students an overview of the history of Canada and start to understand the elements that were in play along our past and the diversity that is our country today. We are continuing with the reading of Fish in a Tree. Students will be bringing home our latest Reading Comprehension sheets to finish up if they haven’t yet, and also for a parent signature. Please review these 2 sheets with your child and feel free to put comments on the sheets or send me an email with any comments or questions about these assignments. Many students will have “20 club” associated with these as well.
Math - worked through an open-ended problem on estimating dots (students uploaded their work; if not found there, your child has not submitted it yet. Please ask them where theirs is). - worked through 3 estimation strategies to help with mental math and evaluating reasonableness of answers (front-end, compensation, and compatible number strategies. Looking ahead: multiplication! Your child should be well versed in their multiplication facts before heading into more complex calculations and problem-solving questions Science - Student check-in on wetlands. Results to be given next week. - Looking ahead: Investigating how humans have affected wetlands - the positives and the negatives Spirit Wear The link for ordering Connect Charter School Spirit Wear is: https://squareup.com/store/connect-charter-school-society The link will remain open until Monday, October 29, 2018. The photos in the link show the products in black only. There is a choice of colour. Please contact Mrs. Heather Melville directly if you have any questions ([email protected]) Camp Impeesa
First of all let us thank all of you for your contributions to our fall camp trip to Camp Impeesa. Camp was a wonderful experience and we enjoyed the extended opportunity to get to know your child better. It was a great success and the students will no doubt have many special memories of the activities and moments that we shared. Please take some time to ask your child about some of the moments that were memorable for them. We would like to publicly acknowledge our wonderful parent volunteers who joined us on this trip and made this experience possible for us and our students. Thank you to Mrs Lewis, Mr. Hope, Mr. Walker, Mr. Chrysdale, Mr. Roe, Mrs. Matheson, Mr. Lau, and Ms. Whelehan. Fort Calgary Please have these forms submitted and signed as soon as possible. We are still looking for volunteers for both homerooms to join us on this field trip on Wednesday. Please email your child's teacher. Digital form is attached. Humanities As is usual after any of our EXPO trips and camps, we will be spending time reflecting on and writing about our activities and the wonderful places that we experienced at Camp Impeesa. We will continue with the reading of Fish in a Tree that helps us look at the different strengths or challenges we have as learners. Please make sure that your child has a chapter book that they are reading at home, be it their own or one from our library. Should you have any questions about what is happening in our Humanities class, please ask your child or email Mrs. Leland Photos Camp Impeesa photos are online. www.tinyurl.com/5152photos Math/Science There will be a math check-in on Thursday next week on number forms and place value. We also conducted the remaining gallery walk that were not done last week. Lots of great work by students! Orange Shirt Day Oct. 2 is Every Child Matters Day - students are encouraged to wear orange on this day Terry Fox Run Oct. 1 is Terry Fox Run day. Parent Info slides
Meet the Teacher slides (see attachment). We recognize that some parents were not able to attend so we endeavour to share the info to you. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. Agenda As we discussed in the Meet the Teacher evening presentations, we will be using a digital agenda. Students will be actively writing items in their own calendars by copying items from our (teachers') calendar - this way students get into the habit of adding items into their agenda. You can subscribe to the teachers' calendar by clicking this link and adding it to your calendars: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/connectcharter.ca_eq4jp1s9a9t9rf4v6tvhboqs60%40group.calendar.google.com/private-5e0b6a5f5556e116cc00a70dc0f42b02/basic.ics Conversely, you can subscribe to your child's calendar by letting them log into your device through google and you should be able to see their calendar that way. Health Human sexuality. Please sign accordingly (participation in the lessons or exemption). See attachment for a digital copy, and return to the homeroom teacher. Math/Sci - Field trip Monday to Ralph Klein Park. Please remember to have a bagged lunch for your child and a labeled water bottle. Please keep an eye on Monday's forecast and send rain boots (if your child has one) on Monday. We will be spending most of our time indoors but there is potential outdoor time if it's not too wet or bad. - Worked on Math Started all week. AMA Quickdraw, What's my rule?, Number talks, and Compare and Contrast - Looking ahead: Mathematical mindset, place value, and types of wetlands Humanities Much of the week was focused on introductory activities and getting resources set up. Next week we will be getting into activities related to identity. Math
Students worked on fractions. We reviewed how to read them, how represent them visually (manipulatives, bar model, and number line), and how to write mixed numbers as improper fractions. There was an assignment given on Thursday, which was due Friday. Looking ahead: equivalent fractions Science Since we have been making mixtures, this week we looked at separating them. We conducted an ink chromatography lab where students learned about the different pigments that make up black ink. We emphasized the physical nature of this change, the separation. There were 4 questions to complete (2 pre-lab; 4 post-lab) and were due Wednesday. We also had the founder and director of the Calgary Tesla Society come for a presentation to talk about Nikola Tesla's achievements and biography - as per our electricity unit. Lastly, students were introduced to a challenge task on Friday on separating the mixture of salt, gravel, and sand that is often found on roads in the springtime. Students wrote their own ideas with diagrams, and they will continue this next week by collaborating with a partner to come up with a procedure. We will then collectively do one experiment based on students' ideas. Looking ahead: continue with separating mixtures Humanities We have started to read “The Little Prince” and in the process have had discussions about the differences in perspective between ‘grown-ups’ and ‘children’. It was a most interesting discussion. The students will be asked to write a new chapter for the book where they encounter another individual that may have a lesson or a different perspective for the Little Prince. Please have a discussion with your child to see who that might be or the lesson they could learn. Volunteer tea As a thank you for all the many hours and days of volunteering this year, you are invited to join us for the Volunteer Tea on June 15th. RSVP Here. We very much hope you will join us! Next Year If your child is not returning to Connect next year, please let us know by sending an email. We will forward this information to the office so that a prospective Grade 6 student can be contacted prior to the summer break. We are, of course, sad to hear your child leaving Connect, and we wish your child well in his/her new school. Math
We did a check in on Tuesday on solving equations and writing expressions. Feedback and marks were posted on FreshGrade. Students then learned about different transformations (rotations, reflections, and translations). We also started our fraction unit with an activity where students write down the value of different size blocks. Looking ahead: Fractions and equivalent fractions Longboarding and Scootering on Monday Please remember to bring helmets, proper clothing, footwear, lunch, sunscreen, bug spray, and water bottle. 5.1 will be going in the afternoon; and 5.2 will be going in the morning. 5.1 Health If you gave consent for your child to participate in our lessons on human sexuality, we started our unit with a discussion of puberty. We will continue this discussion next week with focus on puberty and hygiene. Humanities This week we had the pleasure of seeing the play “Mistatim” at the Children’s Festival. We did pre and post analysis activities and the students wrote and shared a character description of the characters and symbols from the play. The discussion was around the concepts of wild vs. tame. Please have a discussion with your child about this play and the history and meaning within it. Next week we will be starting a novel study of “The Little Prince”, which will also address the concept of taming. Band instrument choice Students had the opportunity to try out all the instruments that they can choose from for the grade 6 band next year. They were asked to have a discussion about their choices at home. Students MUST go home to discuss with their parents what their top three instrument choices are for next year in grade 6 band. Every effort will be made to match students with an instrument that is of interest to them and one that is suited to them. Finally, we must ensure the proper instrumentation to provide success to each student and the band program as a whole. Efforts will be made to ensure their first choice. However, students must understand they may end up playing the second or third choice as approved by the band teacher. We will be having the students make their top 3 choices next week. |