It’s PLAYOFF time! The Flames are top dogs and it’s going to be an awesome April. The C of Red is rising and I couldn’t be more excited. Between that how awesome the school year has been I’d have to say that this are very thumbs up right now (we just need the Blue Jays to get that memo too so if someone can help me out with that, I’d mighty appreciate it). I can’t believe we are into the last three months of school. The year has flown by and we’re coming in on the home stretch. Between a project with 50 robots running around the school to the students writing their own fractured fairy tales, things are flying. All this while I’m left crying into my hands that once again I know nothing about college basketball and no matter how long I invest into researching teams and watching games, I can’t ever make a bracket that is any good. Maybe one day. Anyways… Here’s a run down on what we’ve been up to and what we have coming up in the next few weeks.

Important Dates

**Monday, April 8^th - Mandatory Overnight Fieldtrip Meeting (4:00pm & 7:00pm)**

Friday, April 12^th– Volunteer Tea (am)

Thursday, April 18^th– Fun Lunch and Spirit Day (PJ day)

Friday, April 19^th– Good Friday (no school)

Monday, April 22^nd– PD Day (no school)

Thursday, April 25^th– Fish Creek School 25^th Anniversary (6:30pm)

**Thank you to all those that have signed up for our mandatory meeting about our upcoming overnight fieldtrip. Please note that the first meeting time has been changed to 4:00pm (it was originally 4:30pm). I hope this does not inconvenience anyone. If you have not yet signed up, please do so here.**

Language Arts

We finished “The Breadwinner” right before springbreak, and will now read two novels by Gordon Korman. The first is entitled, “Restart”, which is about an eighth grade student who suffers a concussion and loses his memory. He learns that prior to his concussion, he was quite a bully at school, and this memory loss is giving him the chance to “restart”. 

After taking some time to complete other activities, we are back to our writing unit on fractured fairy tales. Students have now been exposed to several types of fairy tales and fractured fairy tales, and will begin to plan and write their own this week. 

Math

We are finishing off our fractions unit this week, which means the students will be having a unit test on Monday, April 8^th. They are encouraged to use their class notes, takes their duotangs home for studying and to use the Math Resources page to help review. For the test, they can review the following:

• Definition of numerator and denominator
• How to properly draw and name fractions
• Difference between proper, improper, and mixed fractions, and how to move between them
• Finding equivalent fractions
• Comparing and ordering fractions with like and unlike denominators

Students will also be having their April fact frenzy this week. Our next unit of study will be decimals.

Science

We are finishing off our unit on electricity this week by looking at electromagnets, and how electricity is calculated around the home. We will be having a unit test on Wednesday, April 10^th. The study sheet for this can be found here. Our next unit of study will be Classroom Chemistry.

Social Studies

Students finished off their study on the geographical regions of Canada before springbreak, and will now have the chance to write a song about the region of their choice. We will also be receiving our second museokit from the Glenbow next week about the NWMP. During this time, student table groups will be transformed into “troops” and students will work their way up (or down) the officer ranks.

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Nice and short this time so we will see you all on Monday, April 8th at either 4:00pm or 7:00pm.

Have a great rest of the week.

Daniel Polsky
Grade 5 Teacher | Learning Leader
Fish Creek School | cbe.ab.ca
t | 403-777-6400 | twitter @mr_polsky