mrpolsky

May the 4th Be With You - May Update

Tuesday, May 4, 2021 8:06 AM

The force is strong in you… indeed. Happy Star Wars Day! While the Flames have increasingly less chances of making it to the playoffs - big shock there amirite? - we keep rolling here at school. It’s hard to believe we’re looking at only two more months but when it’s good times, it’s good times. Here’s a run down of what we’ve got going on.


Important Dates

Wednesday, May 5th – Hats Off for Mental Health (students are welcome to wear hats to school)

Thursday, May 21st – Spirit Day (Decades Day) and Fun Lunch (Opa!)

Friday, May 22nd – PD Day (no school for all students)

Monday, May 24th – Victoria Day (no school for all students)

**Monday, May 31st – Start of Human Sexuality Health Unit

**We are planning on starting the Human Sexuality portion of our Health and Lifeskills curriculum on Monday, May 31st. Due to the abrupt end of our in-school learning last year, students in grade 5 will receive units for both grade 4 and grade 5. A notice came home yesterday outlining this information. If you do consent to your child participating in this course, there is no need to return the form. However, if you do not consent, the last page of the form must be returned, outlining whether your child will leave the classroom, or remain in the classroom however not take part in the instruction. I have also attaching a digital version of the form here incase your child ‘magically’ lost the form ;)


Language Arts

We have begun to read the first of our two Gordon Korman novels, “Restart”. Hopefully your child has been coming home to tell you the theme of the book!

We are working through our second Creative Writing unit and students have been practicing different ways to practice “showing, not telling” within their sentences. Shortly, they will begin writing their own short story through the lens of a stuck story. A stuck story you say? Yes, a stuck story is when they must un-stuck themselves in their story - think of ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ - through the creation of a simple problem, solution and the development of a narrative arc that is believable and engaging. I also teach the kids how to Photoshop themselves into a photo from their story to really sell just how ‘stuck’ they are. I’m realling excited for these stories - they never disappoint. Lastly, we make sure to always use these Pixar Story Rules to make some really great stories that you’ll all love to read.


Math

We just finished up a very exciting in Probability and I think most students agreed that much of what we learned in this unit was applicable to real life. Next up, we will move into the second part of our Measurement Unit, where students will learn about different units of measurement (focusing on the metric system; mm, cm, m, km, etc.) as well as concepts such as perimeter, area, and volume. As we learn these concepts, we will be applying them in problem solving situations by building and measuring objects through Minecraft Education Edition. We’ve got a pretty sweet project planned so stay tuned.


Science

We are flying through our Electricity & Magnetism unit at a “shocking” pace (haha). Students are “buzzing” with excitement as they use their electricity kits to learn about how electrons flow through simple circuits. We’ve explored what electricity is, how batteries work, as well as identifying materials that are conductors and insulators. This week we’ve been focusing on the difference between open or closed circuits and building series and parallel circuits. With that electrifying concept finished (okay, I’ll switch off  the puns - I just couldn’t resist) we will move on to learning about switches, resistors and how we can use them to solve everyday problems. From there we will move into an exploration of magnetism, how magnetism works, how we can harness this powerful force and even create magnets with electricity. For any and all information or resources on the unit, please explore the links in the Electricity & Magnetism section of the website as well as those shared on the Electricity & Magnetism Web Links page.


Social Studies

We are close to being finished our focus on the Regions of Canada. We will wrap up the Cordillera Region this week and move into the final region, the Arctic. This means we will also be finishing up our Amazing Race. After regions, we will spend the rest of the school year looking at the Histories (yes, multiple histories) of Canada, the ones that  have helped to shape our story and identity. We’ll be looking at the stories of Newcomers to Canada and how immigration has shaped our past, the story of Confederation, the Famous 5, and the North West Mounted Police, among others.

We’ve continued our regular video calls with our sailor, Liam Wright, aboard HMCS Calgary. In case you hadn’t heard, our friends on HMCS Calgary successfully intercepted two large loads of illegal drugs in the Arabian Sea last week. We’d been talking with them about the goals of their mission and stopping illegal drugs is just one of the many important jobs they have. Here’s the link to photos and information about the big bust. We are hoping to have one or two more video chats with HMCS Calgary before the end of the year and look forward to learning more about life aboard our city’s namesake ship.

Last week we also had a very informative visit from our School Resource Officer, Constable Slater. She shared plenty of good information about digital citizenship and the importance of safety when using apps and the internet. I’m sure many of you have done so already, but this would be a great opportunity to have a check-in with your child about their internet awareness. Some great resources for online  safety and digital citizenship are; Media Smarts, StaySafeOnline.org, NetSmartz.org, and others listed here.

Have a great week and as always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Stay healthy and safe,


Daniel Polsky
Grade 5 Teacher | Learning Leader
Fish Creek School | cbe.ab.ca
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