Welcome to the new website and home for all things grade five. I finished moving most parts of the website over but will be updating and fixing the stragglers here soon. It’s always a work in progress so, like always, please let me know if there are any broken links or shenanigans and I’ll get fixing them right away. That said, and like the title of the post, we’re moving and busier than ever (and loving it). Here’s a rundown on what we’ve been up to and what we are looking forward to this month.

Math - Patterns & Geometry

With the students all finished our work with fractions and decimals, we explored and worked with ratios last week as a final piece to prepare them for grade six. As of Monday, we’ll begin working on the concepts of Patterns and Relations - concepts that form the basics of algebra in later grades. Students will focus on identifying patterns from given data sets while also articulating their own pattern rules in the form of equations. I’ve included class notes here on the different concepts covered. You can also find more information here on Arithmetic Sequences (same number added everytime) and Geometic Sequences (multiplying by the same value each time). They will mostly be working with tables to develop a pattern rule for these “Input/Output Machines”.

Once we’ve knocked that off, we’ll move on to finishing the second part of Shape & Space; Geometry. We’ll review and identify the different characteristics and names of polygons and then we’ll be working with the three types of Transformations (Translations, Rotations and Reflections). This is a challenging, highly spatial concept that your child will likely appreicate support with at home. On the Math Resources page, there are plenty of resources to support this work throughout the unit as well as concept review cards at th bottom of the page to help with studying.

Social Studies - The Regions of Canada

We’ve begun our second broad focus of the year in Social Studies - the Regions of Canada. We will be exploring the characteristics and features of the six geographic regions in Canada; Atlantic Region, Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Lowlands, Canadian Shield, the Arctic, Interior Plains and the Cordillera). With much of this unit being text based, students will be practising their textbook skills, learning to find, retrieve and understand different text features. As they complete the different regions, they’ll be provided chapter questions for them to record their learning with. We’re developing a pretty cool unit project for them that we’ll roll out in the next few weeks but let’s just say your child will be a living encyclopedia of knowledge on these regions. Oh Canada for real. 

On the Social Studies Resources page, you can find links to video tours and guides from the different region’s tourism boards. We really do live in a good lookin’ country.

Science - Electricity & Magnetism then Wetlands

We are rounding out the last concepts in the Electricity unit, which had us learning all about electricity, how it works and flows and most importantly, electrical safety. We enjoyed being able to practise building and identifying Series and Parallel Circuits - learning the advantages and disadvantages of both. On the Science Resources page, you’ll find links to the vocabulary, Electricity Web Links, as well as interactive pages for students to practise building different types of circuits. Once we finish exploring materials and their qualities as conductors and insulators, we’ll begin with the concepts of magnetism (types of magnets  and electromagnets). This will allow us to learn how motors work, how we make electricity and how we can create magnets just by putting an electric current through something. Who knows, maybe we’ll end up creating a rival to Tesla.

We will be following up this unit with the final focus in grade five science; Wetland Ecosystems. Feel free to take a spin through the Unit SLEs, the Wetland Web Links and the Wetland Vocabulary for a sense of what will be covered. Students will be examining the different types of wetlands, exploring the impact that environments have on adaptations of animals as well as the role of food chains in our ecosystems. As part of this, we will be going on a field trip to the Fish Creek Environmental Learning Centre at the Shannon Terrace Day Use Area in Fish Creek Park on June 5th. Please refer to the Science Resources page for more info.

Language Arts - Creative Writing

We’ve begun our work on making great stories - focusing on the parts of a Story, character development and traits, and the overall planning/writing process. Students have now begun the process of creating their first drafts, which will then be heavily edited, tweaked and reworked as we focus on the different pieces of story writing. The Pixar Story Rules as well as the Creative Writing links on the Language Arts resources page will further support your child when working at home. Even when you’re all watching a movie, have a discussion around what the core problem and solutions was, focusing on the key events and details, all makes an excellent way to tie in classroom discussions with “normal life” things. 

Odds & Ends

As mentioned in the earlier email, on May 11th at 1pm we’ve arranged for a presentation from Carter Duchesne for the Grade 5 and 6 students focusing on cyberbullying and online safety issues. Parents are more than welcome to attend. You can also review the presentation summary and family contract here.

On May 17th, Fish Creek will be taking a whole school photo in the shape of a maple leaf for our school yearbook. Nevermind the fact that it’s an awesome idea but we’re doing this as just one more part of the school’s recognition of Canada’s 150th birthday. Each grade has been asked to wear a particular colour and all grade five students have been asked to wear GREEN.

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Thank you all for your support of the Multicultural Feast - it was incredibly delicious and it spawned some fantastic conversations amongst the students about different cultures, traditions and customs. So, besides the fact that everyone loves a feast, it was an excellent learning opportunity. I also want to thank those of you that volunteered at any time this year - I tried to stop by during the Volunteer Tea to say this in person but if I missed you or you weren’t able to make it - Thank You! Fish Creek School truly appreciates all your support and help.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and I’ll get right back to you as soon as possible.