We’ve survived 167 days of school and so far, there’ve been no catastrophes, explosions (we’ve been close a few times) or broken bones (well... we’ll just ignore those because they’re long stories). So I call that a success! Seriously though, what a ride. We’re now left with only 14.5 days of school until we’re done and that’s insane. What happened?!

I’ve been wanting to send out a full, proper update like this for ages and in writing it now, I just realized that it was in March when I last sent one out - talk about asleep at the wheel, eh? My apologies. So, please take a minute to catch up on the latest Grade 5 adventures and what the next 2 weeks are going to look like.

Math - Shape meet Space. Space meet Shape.

We’ve been busy in math lately as students knocked off our Statistics & Probability unit in no time. They explored and worked with both Theoretical Probability and Experimental Probability, after which we focused on different ways to graph collected data. Depending on the situation, students chose from Bar Graphs, Double Bar Graphs, Line Graphs & Pictographs. All this work helped us make better fantasy picks for both NCAA March Madness and the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs (Go Pens!). To round out the work on Probability, we looked next at Patterns. This had us covering the basic concepts of algebra (gasp!) where the students worked with input-output tables, variables and the beginnings of equation building. And... breathe, we’re now all caught up - isn’t time traveling fun?

Our final unit of Shape & Space has us working with Measurement first. We’ve been looking at Perimeter, Area and Volume, alongside reviewing the different ways we measure Capacity (Mass & Liquid). If you visit the Math Resources page and scroll to the bottom, I’ve uploaded some Concept Review Cards that I’ve made to help when studying. With this pretty much finished, we’ll move on to the second part of Shape & Space, Geometry. We’ll be working with the three types of Transformations (Translations, Rotations and Reflections) which is a lot of fun as we get to throw different types of Polygons around in different, random directions.

Science - Weather Watch

We’ve been having a ton of fun lately exploring all the different kinds of crazy, insane and bizarre forms of weather out there. This had us exploring things like the atmosphere and how it affects us, the different types of clouds that exist and what they tell us as well as how we can predict and measure the weather. We looked at weather symbols, the Water Cycle and how/why we have seasons. We had a really great time on our field trip last week to Fish Creek Park where we got to test our weather instruments as well as create our own live weather forecasts. Look out David Spence, you’ve got some competition. :)

We’re coming up to the end of the unit though, which sadly means I have to say the “T” word - TEST!!! Aghhh. We’ve provided the students with a Study Guide outlining everything they need to review as their test will be this coming Friday, June 10th. I strongly encourage you all to work with your child as they review and to assist with this, the students are very familiar with the Weather Web Links page that is filled with helpful, interactive pages related to the entire unit.

Language Arts - Creative Writing

We nearly done our creative writing unit, and students have explored various elements of story writing such as the parts of a story, character traits and character development, setting, and plot development. We’ve practised different ways to start our stories, looked at what the pros at Pixar do and finally, how we can plan and organize our stories to make them wicked awesome (yes, that’s a level of writing). Because we’re so good at this, we’ve even looked at the Pixar Story Rules and seen how they can help us make our stories amazing. They have planned out own narratives, and are now working towards polishing them up in the coming weeks. We’ve gone over how we assess these stories and students have all been given the grading rubric for creative writing, with discussion towards making sure they’re able to meet expectations. I hope to begin reading/marking them soon and hope to have the feedback provided to students asap.

Social Studies - Regions of Canada

We finally made it to our last unit of Social Studies where we’re exploring the different Regions of Canada. Students have practised their textbooks skills as they worked to learn all about about the six geographic Regions of Canada (Atlantic Region, Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Lowlands, Canadian Shield, the Arctic, Interior Plains and the Cordillera). They have currently studied five out of the six, and will be finishing the Arctic Region over the next week. Once they have completed this, they will begin the Regions of Canada Song Project which will have them hitting the recording studio, dropping a sick beat and writing songs about a region of their choice. This has always proven to be quite a fun activity for them and I look forward to hearing their mix-tapes.

Important Dates

Friday, June 3rd - CBE PD Day - No School

Thursday, June 9th - Patrol picnic (all day) for Patrols only!

Friday, June 10th - Weather Watch Unit Test

Thursday, June 24th - last day of classes (11:40 dismissal) and Report Cards come home

--------------

Thanks again to those parents who were able to step up at the last minute to help build our Electric Car Kits, those of you who joined us on the Field Trip to Fish Creek Park and those of you that pitched in with Sports Day. So, the sun is shining, patios are open and there are literally 14.5 days of school left - that is insane.

Please watch for emails in the coming days as we work to wrap things up. Thanks for all your support this past year and here’s to an awesome end of the year. Giddy Up!

Cheers!